'Community' Recap: Act of God

The gang sits in class at Greendale where Professor Duncan, played by John Oliver, has completely given up pretending to teach, and instead is playing YouTube videos on the projector. He is justifying his lesson plan by explaining that because anthropology is the study of man, nothing is off limits. The class agrees and prompts him to show their favorite videos and their auto-tuned remixes. After watching “Ski Lift Ninja Crotch Rip,” Shirley asks if they can watch videos about God. The class beings to scoff, but Duncan explains that if they are going to watch videos about farts, they have to give equal time to God. The search yields a video called “God of Farts,” as the opening credits roll.

In the cafeteria, Shirley asks Abed if he will help her make a new viral video with a Christian message. Abed resists the idea, but after reading the New Testament he eventually agrees because he sees Jesus as E.T., Edward Scissorhands, and Marty McFly combined. However, when he explains his ideas, Shirley is not amused. Abed wants to make a “meta-film,” called ABED, from the perspective of a filmmaker telling the story of Jesus, where all filmmakers are Jesus and all cameras are God. Shirley thinks that the movie sounds like one that only filmmakers would like, and tells Abed that she no longer wants him to help her make a video. Abed is already invested in the idea. “This IS the movie,” he says.

Shirley gets Britta and Troy to reluctantly film a Jesus rap, but their filming is interrupted by a loud noise outside. They head outside to find Abed making and living his meta-movie, dressed as Jesus. He tells the captivated crowd, “The film is the story. The story is us. We are the film.” Greendale is hooked, but Shirley confronts Abed about pretending to be Jesus, and scolds the crowd for feeding his delusions. Someone points out that Shirley sounds like a real life Pharisee trying to take Abed/Jesus down. The crowd turns on Shirley when she calls Abed a lunatic.

When it’s time for Abed to film the final scene, he realizes he’s made a terrible “self-indulgent, adolescent mess,” but doesn’t know how to keep the school from seeing it. The hype has become bigger than the film. Shirley overhears him praying for God to do something to take the movie away from him. Back on set, Shirley destroys the camera and film with a baseball bat, answering Abed’s prayer.

Meanwhile, Pierce is feeling out of touch with “Youtune” and the younger generation. He befriends a group of elderly and rebellious students known as “The Hipsters” because they’ve all had hip replacements, and begins acting out. They play poker and drink alcohol on campus, pretending to be senile and delirious when caught by the Dean. “Excuse me mister, what year is it?” Pierce asks pathetically, claiming poker “helps him remember.”

When the Hipsters steal the Dean’s car to go joyriding, trouble ensues. Richard, the driver, really does forget where he is. “Where am I? How do I drive?!” he says as the car rolls into a light pole. The rest of the Hipsters make a break for it, but Pierce won’t leave his friend. “Who are those people who ran away? My friends?” Richard asks, as Pierce realizes that they might not be.

Jeff, Pierce’s emergency contact, picks him up from Greendale’s security office, while the rest of the Hipsters are left to rot having been long forgotten by their own friends. Back in Anthropology class, Shirley and Abed make up when Abed debut’s his video, which is now a film of Troy performing a Christian rap. Professor Duncan is forced to make the class actually open their books because “Abed has broken the Internet.”