Community Episode 5.06 Analysis of Cork-Based Networking

In the study room, Annie leads a meeting of the Save Greendale Committee. She's organized a binder full of tasks that need to be completed in order to improve the Greendale campus. Abed starts a discussion about "Bloodlines of Conquest," a popular "Game of Thrones"-type television show. After Abed complains about Britta complaining about spoilers, Britta decides to spitefully read the novels that the show is based on and spoil the remainder of the storyline for Abed.

Annie assigns tasks to the group (which everyone reluctantly accepts). Jeff, Duncan, Shirley and Chang will help her organize the Mid-term dance while Hickey takes care of a simple tasking: getting a fallen corkboard in the cafeteria re-mounted. As Hickey predicted, the simple task proves to be more difficult than it should be, thanks to a tangled web of corporate bureaucracy. When Hickey returns to the study room to declare the mission a failure, Annie decides to take the matter into her own hands. Jeff, Duncan, Shirley and Chang are left to plan the Mid-term dance on their own.

Meanwhile in the hallway, Britta attempts to spoil "Bloodlines of Conquest" for Abed. Luckily, Abed procured a set of noise-cancelling headphones, rendering him completely immune to Britta's spoiler attempts. In the midst of Britta's spoiler barrage, Abed meets an attractive deaf girl and decides to learn sign language so that he can communicate with her (even though she can read lips).

Annie and Hickey head to the janitorial department to deal with the fallen corkboard, but the janitors are reluctant to help. They'll need a work order to rehang the corkboard, and that can only be obtained from a custodian. The custodian (played by Nathan Fillion) is happy to help Annie, but he demands something in return: the porn blocker on the school's computer network is inhibiting his ability to watch dirty videos during work hours. If Annie can get the porn blocker lifted, then she can have her work order.

The head of the IT department (played by Paget Brewster) is happy to help, but she has a demand of her own: if she gets a better parking space, she'll lift the porn blocker and Annie and Hickey will get their work request. They meet with the head of the Parking Administration Department (played by Robert Patrick), who demands an end to the school's carpool program in exchange for a better parking space, which will lift the porn blocker and get the dynamic duo their coveted work request.

Meanwhile, the party planning committee has no idea how to proceed without Annie's guidance. Chang has an idea, but nobody wants to hear it (after all, his last great idea was killing people and conquering the school like a warmongering dictator). Nevertheless, they have no other party theme ideas, so they decide to run with Chang's bear-themed party decorations. Just as they complete the decorations, they realize that Chang got the idea from the day's top news story, a horrific bear attack at a kid's birthday party. In a last ditch effort, they turn all the bears into dogs and have a "Fat Dog"-themed Mid-term party.

Hickey points out that, by eliminating the carpool program in order to get a better parking space in order to get the porn blocker lifted in order to get the work order created in order to get the corkboard rehung, Annie is actually making Greendale slightly worse, which is exactly the opposite of the Save Greendale Committee's mission. Tangled in red tape, Annie struggles to find a way out of the bureaucratic nightmare.

Later that night at the dance, Abed discovers that his new crush, the deaf girl, has been bribed by Britta to spoil "Bloodlines of Conquest." Britta tries to rub her cleverness in Abed's face, but he doesn't even care about the spoiler. He actually liked the girl. Britta feels terrible, but all is not lost: on the way out of the dance, Abed runs into Rachel, the coat check girl that he met last season but never called. They quickly make amends and leave the dance together.

Hickey feels bad about subjecting Annie to the bureaucratic nightmare that is Greendale politics. Fed up with red tape, he finally decides to take matters into his own hands. He marches into the cafeteria in the middle of the dance with a screwdriver and fixes the corkboard himself. The janitorial team attempts to stop him, but Annie intervenes, attacking the janitors until they back off. As if on cue, the rest of the student body discovers that the theme of the party is actually bears, not fat dogs, and everyone freaks out.