The order of Community's non-linear episode

Introduction to Remedial Chaos Theory

Recently I was asked to do a writing exercise that required me to take something I was familiar with and ‘reverse outline’ it, working backwards from a completed story to present it as an outline, with a focus on what the conflicts and themes are.

My choice was the episode of the show Community titled Remedial Chaos Theory, which is one of my favorites. That exercise led to me thinking about its unconventional structure, so I wanted to offer up a brief analysis of it.

What makes Remedial Chaos Theory such a distinctive episode is its premise. One of the main characters needs to leave to get pizza for an apartment warming party, and it explores what happens based on which character leaves. The full episode is also on Youtube, and the source for a gif involving Donald Glover that you may have seen.

I love the episode for how layered it gets while still being fairly simple. There’s a lot to examine about the relationships between characters and the dynamic of the group as a whole. But, this isn’t going to be about that.

What I want to focus on is the order of the timelines. In theory it would be very easy to cut the timelines in a different order from the one seen in the episode. It was this thought that inspired me to take a closer examination of why they’re presented in the order that they are.

You might think from the premise of the episode that it tells seven contrasting short stories, but instead it tells a single story through the revelation of information to the audience and development of themes.

The first timeline: Annie leaves

The reason this timeline comes first is fairly obvious, nothing much happens. What we see instead is the establishment of the baseline for what happens in each timeline, the constants and variables. There’s also the development of intrigue with the discovery that Annie has a gun in her purse. This is all set up for what will come later in the episode.

To briefly list the patterns we see established: Britta being stopped from singing along to Roxanne by Jeff, Pierce bringing up Eartha Kit, Jeff banging his head on the ceiling fan, Shirley leaving the table to check on her pies, and Britta going to the bathroom.

Each timeline will either reinforce, add to, or deviate from these patterns. A deviation from a pattern is the show’s way of calling attention to the factors behind it. To jump ahead, Pierce only telling his Eartha Kit story to impress Jeff becomes more obvious when the audience sees Pierce shove it into every timeline except the one where Jeff is absent.

The second timeline: Shirley leaves

This is the first timeline to offer up a possible conclusion to one of its conflicts, that being Shirley’s baking. And the conclusion is not pleasant, with Shirley having a nervous breakdown.

Now that the audience knows about the rest of the group’s secret pact to not eat Shirley’s baking, the subsequent timelines have the added tension of this secret being revealed. And keep in mind Shirley was driven to a nervous breakdown without it being outright revealed to her, we don’t know how she’ll react to learning about it yet.

Most importantly, it’s made clear that these alternate timelines can both turn out differently and badly from the baseline we saw with Annie’s departure. The first timeline didn’t have any stakes, now the audience understands that Shirley’s place in the group is at stake.

Additionally, the unveiling of Pierce’s gift, the Norwegian troll, offers another reveal that adds to the tension of the following timelines. At the start of each timeline Troy doesn’t know what’s in the present, now we do, and it is essentially a narrative time bomb, because presents are made to be opened.

We also see the refinement of a pattern, Jeff banging his head on the ceiling fan is now followed up by Annie tending to his wound. The conversation that happens as a result changes based on where it happens and who is in the room, it is a consistent variable.

The third timeline: Pierce leaves

At this point the focus shifts from setting up other timelines to developing each conflict. But we still get one important new piece of information for the other timelines, that Britta’s bathroom break is actually a smoke break.

The conflict developed here is Troy’s desire to be seen as an adult and Jeff mocking him as childish. Britta’s explanation of Jeff’s antagonism towards Troy, gives us a lens to look at Jeff’s behavior through for the rest of the episode.

Since the episode is around the midpoint, there’s still space for a timeline like this, where there are no dramatic confrontations and instead merely two people forming a deeper connection. It lets the audience take a breath after Shirley’s breakdown.

In a way knowing that Troy and Britta could have this conversation does add some sense of wasted potential to other timelines, where Troy doesn’t get the space to vent to Britta about Jeff’s antagonism. Especially in the timeline that comes next.

The fourth timeline: Britta leaves

Now that we’ve had a timeline where Britta is a key factor while Pierce is absent, we have a timeline where Pierce is highlighted while Britta is absent.

Pierce’s accusation of Abed being jealous of him is rather transparently a description of Pierce’s own mental state. We see that there’s both far more malice and pain behind the troll gift than the second timeline made it seem, and it still has more timelines to play a part in.

Jeff and Annie’s conversation indirectly answers the question of why Annie has a gun, and knowing about the gun makes the danger of her area more apparent. It’s not as obvious as other conflicts, but it does present an answer to the central question of the first timeline, signaling that the episode is beginning to move towards resolving conflicts.

Lastly, after seeing the kind of meaningful relationship Britta and Troy can have, it’s almost tragic watching Britta immediately get engaged to the pizza guy in this timeline. We saw the support she can give to others, now we see what happens when she doesn’t have the rest of the group to help keep her bad habits in check.

Tonally, this marks the shift to darker timelines. The tameness of the first and third timelines won’t return until the end of the episode.

The fifth timeline: Troy leaves

It is at this point in my rewatch that I asked a question that helped me think about the themes of this episode. Why isn’t this timeline, which ends with everything going up in flames and is even labeled the darkest timeline, the penultimate one? Wouldn’t it make more sense for the darkest timeline to be the one shown before the best one?

The answer I reached was that the darkest timeline is just bad luck. In tragedies we see characters brought low by their own vices in spite of their virtues. Tripping on a model boulder isn’t the result of a character flaw, it is misfortune. What happens is so dependent on luck that it’s improbable that it will happen in another timeline, all of the chaos is contained within that specific roll of the die.

Though even amidst all of the failed rolls, we see Pierce get shot as a result of trying to kick away his present, demonstrating another side to his character. That is a product of his particular mixture of vice and virtue, but even then the randomness involved makes it less dramatic than his role in both the prior and proceeding timeline.

While it might not be the last or second to last timeline, the darkest timeline still features payoff for established patterns. Annie’s gun, Britta’s cigarette, and the model of the rolling boulder scene from Indiana Jones were all building up to this. It has less impact without the build up of the previous timelines.

Although the exact events are unlikely to repeat, it adds a heightened sense of danger as we explore the final roll of the die.

The sixth timeline: Abed leaves

To reframe what I asked about the fifth timeline, why is this timeline the one that precedes the final timeline? The apartment not going up in flames is an objective improvement. Wouldn’t anything other than the ideal resolution be a waste of time now that we’ve seen the worst outcome?

My proposal is this, what we see in this timeline is far more dangerous to the friendship of the study group than the darkest timeline. Disaster can unite the survivors. The self declared evil study group we see in the post credits scene is still willingly around each other.

While the darkest timeline was ruled by objects, this timeline is upended by secrets. The pact to not eat Shirley’s cooking, Britta taking a smoke break, Pierce’s present being a mean spirited prank, Jeff’s insecurity with his age, all of them come out. By the time Abed returns nobody in the study group can bring themselves to look at each other.

Community is about the study group and their relationships with each other. The show survived the loss of individual members of the group, but it still needed a core group. By threatening to break apart the study group as a whole, this timeline endangers the show itself.

Thankfully, this isn’t the final outcome.

The final timeline: Jeff leaves

The repeating of Jeff’s system for the roll of the die in every timeline can feel repetitive, but it was the show’s way of giving the audience chances to realize what Abed does in this timeline, that Jeff made a system where he would never have to get the pizza.

Luck and chance are a key theme in this episode, here we see it resolved. Rolling the die is a trap, a rigged game. The best roll is to not roll at all, to try and take control of the chaos.

In a way the rest of the timeline can feel anti-climatic. None of the conflicts that we’ve seen developed across multiple timelines are brought up. On the surface all the conflicts are merely swept aside for an easy resolution. The keyword of course is ‘on the surface.’ To explain why this is the ending, look at what all the different conflicts have in common.

Although before giving my take on the reason why, I’ll let the characters speak for themselves and add emphasis.

He’s butting antlers with you because you’re a threat now…. [Jeff]’s whole personality is based around guarding himself. You don’t have to be like that to be a man.”

-Britta talking to Troy in the timeline where Pierce leaves.

“Because you’re lonely and crazy!”

-Pierce unintentionally describing himself when denying that he’s jealous of Abed and Troy’s friendship in the timeline where Britta leaves.

“Sometimes I feel like making desserts is the only thing I’m good for in the group.”

-Shirley after Britta eats her pies in the timeline where Abed leaves.

“It won’t matter what happens to us as long as we stay honest and accepting of each other’s flaws and virtues.”

-Abed after refusing to let Jeff roll the die.

The common denominator is each character trying to assert or resist a certain role in the group. Jeff is guarding himself from the perceived threat of Troy’s success to his own role in the group, Pierce is acting out due to loneliness, Shirley feels her baking is a requirement to be with the group, and so Abed’s call for acceptance and unity is what keeps the group from fighting.

Dancing and singing along to Roxanne lets the study group have fun together without worrying about their dynamic. That is why Shirley lets her pies burn, Pierce discards his present, Troy lets himself cut loose, and Jeff is content to watch on the side. What they really wanted was to fit in.

There is a lot more that can be said about Remedial Chaos Theory, but this is where I’ll end this analysis. This started as a writing prompt, and I’ve come away with a greater understanding of both the episode and the importance of reader information in developing conflicts.