The Psychology of Letting Go (7 Oct. 2010)

Pierce's religion convinces him that the spirit of his dead mother is captured in a cheap lava lamp, Jeff has a crisis of faith when he learns he has high cholesterol, and Britta and Annie try to raise money for the oil spill.

Director:

Anthony Russo

Writers:

Dan Harmon (creator), Hilary Winston

Stars:

Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Joel McHale	...	Jeff Winger
Gillian Jacobs	...	Britta Perry
Danny Pudi	...	Abed Nadir
Yvette Nicole Brown	...	Shirley Bennett
Alison Brie	...	Annie Edison
Donald Glover	...	Troy Barnes
Ken Jeong	...	Señor Chang
Chevy Chase	...	Pierce Hawthorne
Betty White	...	Professor June Bauer
John Oliver	...	Professor Ian Duncan
Patton Oswalt	...	Male Nurse Jackie
David Jean Thomas	...	Chief Umbootu
Pat Crawford Brown	...	Pierce's Mom (voice)
Amber Lancaster	...	Christine
Natalina Maggio	...	Hot Girl

Storyline

Pierce deals with the death of his mother and the group comes together to comfort him in his time of need. Professor Duncan struggles to take over the anthropology class with no training, as Professor Bauer takes an unexpected leave of absence after her classroom hijinks put Jeff Winger in the hospital.

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Plot Keywords:

lava lamp | anthropology class | high cholesterol | reference to tom berenger | petroleum | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 October 2010 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Krasnoff Foster Productions, Harmonius Claptrap, Russo Brothers

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Trivia

A lady in the background can be seen pregnant (beginning), delivering a child (during oil fight), and with a baby (near end).

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Goofs

In the scene where the Professor circles and underlines the "Anthropology 101" written on the board (Around 4-5 minutes in), there is a continuity error regarding the underlining. There is one line under "Anthropology 101", then when Chang enters there are two lines. When the pictures cut to the Professor moments later it goes back to being only line.

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Quotes

Jeff Winger: I can't believe I made out with both of you.

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Connections

References Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997)

User Reviews

First Disappointing Episode

As a huge fan of Community, which has jumped to the top spot on my list given the winding down of shows like House and The Office, I came away very disappointed by this episode. There was nothing particularly funny as a whole about this episode, except for Abed's background (and I mean background) story. Jeff's revelation of death and the death of Pierce's mom both had good moments (Mom's CD, Patton Oswalt's confession of accidentally telling patients they have AIDS, and John Oliver telling Jeff he's just been worshiping himself), and Shirley's "skinny bitches" line made me laugh.

However, the fighting between Annie and Britta seemed unnatural and really out of nowhere. In this episode, the talk of religion came off more heavy-handed and, ironically, judgmental compared to Season 1's Comparative Religion. I don't know if the writers have an ax to grind, but it came off that way. This isn't why I disliked the episode as much as that nothing important or funny happened, and that's a waste and a step backwards.