Pascal's Triangle Revisited


"Pascal's Triangle Revisited" is the twenty-fifth and final episode of the first season of Community. It originally aired in the United States on NBC on May 20, 2010. In the episode, the group gets ready to say goodbye for the summer at the end-of-year dance. Britta and Professor Slater compete over their affections for Jeff, while Annie considers leaving Greendale and Troy looks for a new place to live. The episode received generally positive reviews, with critics both praising and criticizing the final twist.

Plot

To celebrate the end of the school year, Dean Pelton announces the upcoming Transfer Dance. Jeff and Annie learn that Britta has been nominated for queen of the dance. In her therapy session with Professor Duncan, Britta expresses doubts about the dance. Chang arrives and asks Duncan to help him cheat in his classes; Duncan ridicules him instead. Jeff passes Professor Slater in the hall, and she expresses interest in getting back together. At a party, Troy, looking for a place to live, gives Abed strong hints about moving in together, but Abed ignores them. Annie's boyfriend Vaughn tells her he's been recruited for a hacky sack team in Delaware. Jeff and Britta run into Slater at the party; noticing Slater's interest in Jeff, Britta decides to attend the dance.
At the dance, Annie tells the group she's moving to Delaware with Vaughn for the summer, but she privately tells Jeff she's leaving for good. Pierce invites Troy to live in his mansion, which Abed encourages. Shirley urges Britta to express her feelings for Jeff. Duncan accidentally tells Slater that Jeff and Britta had sex, and Slater confronts Britta about it. Seeing Jeff and Slater together, Britta blurts out that she loves Jeff; Slater follows suit. Jeff isn't sure how to respond, but Duncan interrupts with a drunken rap. Chang, angry about earlier, attacks Duncan, and Jeff sneaks out in the ensuing chaos. Troy decides to accept Pierce's offer.
Outside, Jeff runs into Annie, who decided not to move after all. They discuss the uncertainty of their relationships, and Jeff realizes he should return to the dance to fix things. He tells Annie he's happy she's back, and they share a hug, then suddenly kiss.

Production

The episode was written by Hilary Winston and is her fourth writing credit for the show. It was directed by Joe Russo in his eighth directing credit for the show.

Cultural references

During one scene, Abed attempts to recreate a scene as an homage to the finale of Cheers. Jeff greets Duncan by calling him Dudley Moore. Troy expresses his enjoyment of the Happy Days episode where they jump the shark. When announcing the nominees for "Tranny Queen", one of the names heard is Danielle Harmon, a female version of creator Dan Harmon's name. Star-Burns expresses support for "Team Coco"; Dino Stamatopoulos, who plays the character, was a writer for Late Night when Conan O'Brien hosted. Pierce calls Abed "Rain Man" when listing off members of the study group.

Reception

Ratings

In its original airing, "Pascal's Triangle Revisited" was seen by 4.41 million American viewers, placing fourth in its time slot behind Bones, The Mentalist, and FlashForward. It scored a 2.0/7 in the 18-49 demographic, keeping it even with the previous week and placing second in its time slot behind Bones.

Reviews

The episode received generally positive reviews from critics. Jonah Krakow of IGN gave the episode 8.8 out of 10, denoting a "great" episode. He noted that the episode "had a lot going for it, especially for those of us who have followed along for the entire season. Between the three hefty storylines,, there were dozens of references to earlier episodes of Community, which was an amusing nod". He also thought the kiss between Jeff and Annie "was a nice twist on the overused love triangle storyline." Alan Sepinwall of Uproxx remarked that with the previous episode also feeling like a finale, "maybe felt like a show that’s so self-aware about its place as a TV show couldn’t accommodate all of its finale ideas into just one episode." He thought "the self-awareness got in the way of the comedy" and was initially disheartened when the episode seemed to be building around the Jeff-Britta relationship, but he enjoyed the ending and remarked, "there is a lot of comic mileage to be had here, whether that kiss leads to more right away or not." Writing for Paste, Sean Gandert gave the episode an 8.4; he noted that "the episode’s real Big Change is that Jeff and Annie are now together and it’s a match that, while perhaps less immediately obvious than the Jeff/Britta thing, is a lot more enjoyable for everyone watching the show." He also remarked that "the episode still spent a fair amount of time with the other men in the cast and working out their issues" and that Troy moving in with Pierce was "a nice set-up for next season."
Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club was more critical of the episode, giving it a B and opining that while the episode was "very funny", it "forces quite a bit of stuff." She wrote that she "did like the vibe the episode gave off of a bunch of people coming to the end of their first year of college and realizing that they really do like each other as much as they always said they did", but felt the kiss between Jeff and Annie "didn't have the chemistry the two had in the debate episode, simply because there was no build to it." However, she did complement Jeff's final speech to Annie as "ridiculously well written" and felt that "Abed's attempts to turn the scenario into a season finale were both funny and an odd commentary on the strengths of the Troy and Abed friendship." Andy Greenwald of Vulture thought many of the smaller details in the episode, including the return of many guest stars and Troy eating an enormous cookie, were amusing, but he "didn't dig Britta and Professor Statistics catfighting over Jeff for no good reason." Similarly to VanDerWerff, he commented that while the final kiss had chemistry, "it didn't really feel necessary."
Margaret Lyons of Entertainment Weekly criticized the kiss, remarking, "Much as I love the energy between Joel McHale and Allison Brie, this isn’t a couple I want to see go the distance."
In a retrospective ranking of all 110 episodes of Community, Cory Barker of TV.com placed the episode 60th, remarking that it "did some lovely and fun things with the concept of the season finale and love triangles."