NBC's 'Community' Becomes a Guilty Pleasure

Honesty might be the best policy, but the fabrication happens to be funnier. For the cast from last night's episode of NBC's ‘Community,' that sentiment could not be truer as Don Harmon's characters wrestle with self-doubt, sarcasm and copyright infringement.

Still smitten by Britta, Jeff has nearly exhausted all his mental resources to get Britta between the sheets. His unflappable wit, charm and incidental text message relationship with the cellphone number of a random guy that she slipped Jeff leaves her unimpressed. Now, Jeff begrudgingly realizes that Britta might not be that into him.

For somebody so self-involved, it comes as a surprise that they could feel lonely too. But after already sabotaging Britta's relationship with Vaughn (Eric Christian Olsen), her hunky, hippie beau, Jeff feels guilty – perhaps for his very first time. With a finite amount of goodwill left between Britta and him, Jeff plays defense as another character launches an offensive.

Señor Chang hates stereotypes, but he hates cheaters that much more. So after a cheat-sheet from their last Spanish 101 test surfaces, he embarks upon a no-holds-barred warpath to make his students squeal. Either the guilty-party confesses to their misdeed, or the entire class gets flunked. No exceptions, "Except you, Toby." He just gets his chin gingerly rubbed.

Surely enough, the culprit cracks, and Jeff finds himself astonished self-righteous Britta could lower her standards enough for that, but not him. Faced with expulsion from Greendale Community College, Britta must either accept Jeff's legal advice as a former lawyer, or continue her studies elsewhere and not see the statue of esteemed Greendale alum Luis Guzman be unveiled. Unsure about Jeff's ulterior motives, Britta reluctantly agrees to Jeff's help.

Annie and Pierce also spend more quality time together preparing Greendale's school anthem. Equipped with years of expertise penning jingles for his moist-towlette franchise, Pierce promises Annie a smash-hit for Friday's statue ceremony. But as the date approaches nearer, Pierce's confidence dips the more he realizes that all his tunes are really blatant rip-offs of other songs. Yet with Annie's eleventh-hour motivation, Pierce finds the inner strength to commit, and finishes the ballad more quickly than another order of Moo Go Gaipan. Just do not tell Pierce that musician Bruce Hornsby beat him to it.

Meanwhile, Troy and Abed are up to their typical oddball hijinks as Troy attempts to teach Abed about sarcasm. Unfortunately for Abed, he buys everything that Troy says, and does not doubt for a minute that his friend might not be President Obama's nephew, or that he did not invent the Ferrari. Troy later admits that he lied to Abed, and explains that friends sometimes fool each other for laughs. In response, Abed concocts an elaborate scheme to convince Troy that he happens to be an alien from another galaxy. Creeped out, but somewhat impressed by Abed's creativity, Troy calls a truce, and they celebrate with another Extreme Physical Challenge, a la Nickelodeon's 'Double Dare.'

Back at Britta's trial, Jeff fails at appealing to Dean Pelton with his 9/11 tribute speech, but succeeds at persuading the dean that Britta needs psychological help – and not discipline – to rebuild her academic self-confidence. This turn of events helps Britta see that Jeff's self-control can be trusted. In the meantime, she must tangle with the amorous advances of Professor Duncan (John Oliver) – the barmy, British bloke that gets to be her therapist.