Community Episode 4.12 Heroic Origins

The group is busy studying for their history final, but Abed is preoccupied with something else: he's researching the group's origin stories. It seems unlikely that everyone in the group - all from distinctly different backgrounds - would cross paths and become such good friends without some cosmic interaction. Yes, Abed believes they were destined to meet each other. Everyone in the group is eager to hear his theory - everyone, that is, except Jeff. Meanwhile, Chang looks on from an undisclosed location, ready to finally enact his vengeful plot against Greendale.

Abed has been doing exhaustive research into the lives of every member in the group - he's made a "Crazy Quilt of Destiny" to help map out their interconnectedness. Abed begins to lay out his hypothesis of the group's origins, beginning in 2008 with a ridiculously nerdy Annie bumping into the ever-popular football star Troy in high school. Annie says everyone already knew she went to high school with Troy, but Abed continues mapping out his theory. A receipt he found when snooping around Shirley's house helps prove they were at the mall on the exact same day...

Back in 2008, Shirley was at the mall buying lingerie for a special night with her then "faithful" husband. With Shirley's location established, Abed moves on to Jeff and Britta, who crossed paths around the same time when Jeff represented Britta's anarchist society in court. Once free of their charges, the anarchist group left Britta for a more stable lifestyle, and she was left wondering how to go on as an anarchist without her organization. When reading Abed's news clipping, Shirley realizes the stripper anarchist Jeff kept out of prison was the same stripper that Shirley's husband cheated on her with... if he didn't represent Britta's stripper friend, Shirley's marriage might still be perfect!

Elsewhere, Chang, as Kevin, pays Dean Pelton a visit for his usual mail call. Dean Pelton is hesitant to entrust "Kevin" with today's mail, since it's Greendale's lease renewal, and if it were to be delayed at all, the Dean fears their campus would quickly be turned into a casino and mid-sized concert venue... thanks to the fact that they sublet their land from the Arapaho Indians. When "Kevin" pulls out his puppy-dog face for Dean Pelton, his boss is guilt tripped into giving him the document to deliver. Of course, Chang has other, more nefarious plans.

Abed is excited at all the new revelations; they're really filling in some great plot holes! But Shirley doesn't view them as plot holes... after all, this is her life they're talking about. Jeff claims his involvement in the stripper case was just as damaging to his own life, as it's what led to him being disbarred for not having a degree. It's the reason he's at Greendale. Troy seems to be the only one that likes the connections, as it's given him an opportunity to forgive Annie for ruining his high school experience. What? Annie didn't do any such thing! Troy explains...

Back in high school, when Troy won all the senior class superlatives, including "Most Likely to Succeed," Annie lost it. She was already addicted to prescription drugs, but the snub infuriated her. She lashed out at Troy and called him a "mindless robot." When he asked her if she even went to his school, Annie freaked out and ran through a plate-glass door. Troy explained the awards were a curse in the long run, forcing him to put on a front. Shirley begs Abed to stop - he's just rehashing their traumatizing experiences. But when she mentions her location at the mall during her complaint, everything falls into place for Abed... he's connected the dots.

Shirley went to the mall to pick up her kids from the movies after Abed scared the poor children away from seeing Star Wars Episode One. Because of this, Abed was forced to see a therapist after receiving a restraining order at the theater, and inadvertently outed Annie for stealing his doctor's prescription pad. In her escape, Annie bumped into a desperate Britta running through the halls with a monkey on her head. Abed realizes he was the one who brought everyone together. He's the super villain in their origin story. But Britta thinks they've all made their share of bad decisions. Jeff concurs... he thinks he's the true villain of the group.

When celebrating his court case victory with his stripper defendant, Jeff inadvertently encouraged the girl to go after Shirley's husband, who was abandoned momentarily by his wife when she went to pick her children up from the movies. He actively endorsed pain, and he apologizes to Shirley for it. The mood has turned sour in the study group, and everyone decides to finish studying on their own.

All Abed wanted was to make a prequel, and now he's ruined everything. Jeff finds him sulking at a local fro-yo shop and tries to cheer him up. Coincidentally, Shirley is at the same store and pulls up a chair. Within moments, the whole group has descended on the fro-yo shop serendipitously. Troy tells everyone it's the place where he first decided to go to Greendale. Same with everyone else! Coincidentally, Dean Pelton and Chang were passing out Greendale fliers on the same day everyone happened to be at the frozen yogurt shop, and for their own unique reasons, each member decided to attend at the same time. What are the chances? It's amazing; maybe they really were all meant to be together.

Abed pays "Kevin" a visit and thanks him for linking all the stories of the study group by handing them those fliers that day. As a way of showing his appreciation, he asks "Kevin" to go get fro-yo with him. "Kevin" says it's too late for that. When Abed says "Kevin" also provided the group with a chance to reinvent themselves, Chang drops his plan for revenge and decides to do a little reinventing of his own. But his evil partner still has other plans...