Biology 101
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"Biology 101" is the third season premiere of ''
Community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...
'' and the 50th episode of the series overall. The episode originally aired on September 22, 2011 on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
. The episode was written by
Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan are a television writing team who have worked on television comedies ''Family Guy'', ''Scrubs (TV series), Scrubs'', and ''Community (TV series), Community''. Another project was the television pilot ''Nobody's Wa ...
and directed by Anthony Russo. The episode picks up where the second season left off, with Pierce out of the group. The study group resumes class at Greendale and decides to enroll in biology, but when Jeff is kicked out of the class, he struggles to remain friends with the others. Meanwhile, Dean Pelton runs into trouble as he attempts to improve the school, and Abed searches for new television shows to watch. The episode was seen by approximately 4.00 million Americans in its original airing. It received generally positive reviews.


Plot

Jeff (
Joel McHale Joel Edward McHale (born November 20, 1971) is an American actor, comedian and television presenter. He is best known for hosting ''The Soup'' (2004–2015) and his role as Jeff Winger, Jeffrey "Jeff" Winger on the NBC sitcom ''Community (TV seri ...
) daydreams about an ideal new year in the style of a musical. When Pierce (
Chevy Chase Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He became the breakout cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1976), where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment b ...
) returns and asks to rejoin the group, Jeff resists, arguing they can be friends outside the study group. Abed (
Danny Pudi Daniel Mark Pudi (born March 10, 1979) is an American actor and director. His roles include Abed Nadir on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), for which he received three nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supp ...
) panics when he learns ''
Cougar Town ''Cougar Town'' is an American television sitcom that ran for 102 episodes over six seasons, from September 23, 2009, until March 31, 2015. The first three seasons aired on ABC, with the series moving to TBS for the remaining three seasons. AB ...
'' has been pushed to mid-season. In the group's first
biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
class, Professor Kane (
Michael K. Williams Michael Kenneth Williams (November 22, 1966 – September 6, 2021) was an American actor. He rose to fame for his acclaimed portrayals of Omar Little on the HBO drama series ''The Wire'' (2002–2008) and List of Boardwalk Empire characters, Alb ...
) kicks Jeff out over his phone. Dean Pelton (
Jim Rash James Rash (born July 15, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and filmmaker. He played Dean Craig Pelton on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best ...
), seeking to improve Greendale, orders the removal of the
monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...
in the air vents using knockout gas. He confronts Vice Dean Laybourne (
John Goodman John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He rose to prominence in television before becoming an acclaimed and popular film actor. Goodman has received List of awards and nominations received by John Goodman, various acc ...
) over the Air Conditioning Repair Annex's spending; Laybourne invites Pelton to his office later. Britta (
Gillian Jacobs Gillian MacLaren Jacobs (; born October 19, 1982) is an American actress. She is known for playing Britta Perry in the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), Mickey Dobbs in the Netflix romantic comedy series '' Love'' (2016–2018), and Mar ...
) shows Abed ''Cougarton Abbey'', the inspiration for ''Cougar Town''. Jeff searches for a new class for the group, but Annie (
Alison Brie Alison Brie Schermerhorn (born December 29, 1982) is an American actress, writer, and producer. She earned recognition for playing Trudy Campbell in the drama series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), and had her Breakthrough role, breakthrough starring ...
) uses Jeff's earlier speech to argue they do not have to take a class together. As Jeff leaves, Pierce announces he is now in biology due to Jeff's expulsion. Abed discovers ''Cougarton Abbey'' only has six episodes and panics again. Jeff, feeling isolated, sees Chang (
Ken Jeong Kendrick Kang-Joh Jeong ( ; ; born July 13, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and physician. He rose to prominence for playing Leslie Chow in ''The Hangover'' film series (2009–2013) and Ben Chang in the NBC sitcom ''Community'' ...
) living in the vents and realizes he needs to rejoin the group. Pelton meets with Laybourne, who explains that his annex is highly successful and forces Pelton to stop interfering. Jeff asks Kane about rejoining biology; Kane tells Jeff to give up the phone and to stop closing himself off. Jeff, noticing a picture of Pierce, becomes convinced that Pierce bribed Kane. He grabs the photo to show to the group, but Chang steals it. Jeff follows Chang into the vents and is knocked out by the "monkey gas". Britta introduces Abed to '' Inspector Spacetime'', a long-running series. Jeff, disheveled from the gas, arrives with the picture, but it shows Pierce with a different Black person. Jeff struggles to defend himself; enraged, he attacks the study table with an axe. Pelton arrives and announces Greendale will not be changing apart from budget cuts forced by Laybourne. The cuts cause most of the school's security to quit, leading Pelton to hire Chang as a guard in return for housing. The group confronts Jeff, but Pierce confesses to bribing Kane. The rest of the group turns on Pierce, but Jeff convinces them to allow Pierce back in, realizing Pierce is lying for him. When Annie asks what Jeff will do now, he expresses confidence that a seat in biology will open, which happens when Star-Burns (
Dino Stamatopoulos Konstantinos Pollux Alexandros "Dino" Stamatopoulos (born December 14, 1964) is an American writer, producer, and actor. He has worked on TV programs such as '' Mr. Show'', '' TV Funhouse'', ''Mad TV'', '' The Dana Carvey Show'', ''Late Show wi ...
) approaches Kane about drug dealing.


Production

The episode was written by executive producers
Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan are a television writing team who have worked on television comedies ''Family Guy'', ''Scrubs (TV series), Scrubs'', and ''Community (TV series), Community''. Another project was the television pilot ''Nobody's Wa ...
, their first writing credit for the series. It was directed by executive producer Anthony Russo, his 12th directing credit for the series. The episode was the first to bill
Jim Rash James Rash (born July 15, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and filmmaker. He played Dean Craig Pelton on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best ...
in the opening credits as part of the main cast. It was also the first episode to feature
John Goodman John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He rose to prominence in television before becoming an acclaimed and popular film actor. Goodman has received List of awards and nominations received by John Goodman, various acc ...
and
Michael K. Williams Michael Kenneth Williams (November 22, 1966 – September 6, 2021) was an American actor. He rose to fame for his acclaimed portrayals of Omar Little on the HBO drama series ''The Wire'' (2002–2008) and List of Boardwalk Empire characters, Alb ...
as guest stars.


Cultural references

Two
Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...
films are referenced in this episode. In the first instance, Jeff's hallucination after being subdued by the monkey gas resembles David Bowman's final moments in the film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey''. Later, Jeff attacking the table with an axe while covered in white dust is a reference to the film '' The Shining''.


Reception


Ratings

In its original American broadcast on September 22, 2011, "Biology 101" was viewed by an estimated 4.00 million viewers with a
Nielsen rating Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the #Nielsen TV ...
of 1.7 in the 18–49 demographic.


Reviews

"Biology 101" received generally positive reviews from critics. Emily VanDerWerff of ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'' gave the episode a B+, who found it amusing and enjoyed the "slightly melancholy moments"; she noted that the show was clearly setting up big ideas for the season. Robert Canning of ''
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
'' deemed it "a tight premiere episode" and gave it 8 out of 10, denoting a "great" episode; he enjoyed Pierce's actions in the main plot and the performances of Goodman and Williams.


References


External links


"Biology 101"
at
NBC.com The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
* {{Community (TV series) Community season 3 episodes 2011 American television episodes Television episodes directed by Anthony and Joe Russo