Remedial Chaos Theory

Yahtzee, the dice game that the group begin to play.

Troy and Abed invite their community college study group to their apartment for a housewarming party. After Abed shows off his Raiders of the Lost Ark boulder diorama, the group begin playing Yahtzee. Jeff rolls a die to determine which of the group must collect the pizza delivery, numbering starting from his left. Abed claims that Jeff is creating six different "timelines" by rolling the die.

Jeff rolls a two, so Annie (Alison Brie) gets the pizza. As Pierce (Chevy Chase) claims he had sex with Eartha Kitt, Britta (Gillian Jacobs) plays "Roxanne" and is stopped by Jeff. Troy finds a gun in Annie's bag. Pierce tries to give Troy a present. Jeff hurts his head on the ceiling fan as he stands up. Annie returns, calling the pizza guy a creep. Similar scenes subsequently arise when the scene is restarted, Jeff rolling a different number each time. It arises that Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) has a baking problem and Pierce's gift is a Norwegian troll. Other recurring scenes include Abed catching the diorama boulder as it rolls, Britta smoking marijuana in the bathroom and Annie inspecting Jeff's head injury.

When Shirley leaves, the group let her pies burn, so she insults them and exits. When Pierce leaves, Troy unloads to Britta about Jeff making him feel insecure. When Britta leaves, Pierce torments Troy with the troll; Britta returns, engaged to the pizza guy. "The Darkest Timeline" arises when Troy leaves. The diorama boulder falls and Annie trips over it, flipping a table. Her gun discharges and shoots Pierce in the leg. Shocked, a cigarette falls out of Britta's mouth and starts a fire. Troy returns to find the troll staring at him. When Abed leaves, Shirley learns Britta smoked marijuana, Troy becomes furious at Pierce, and Jeff and Annie kiss. In a seventh timeline, Abed catches the die and exposes Jeff's plan: there are seven people and the die has six sides, so Jeff never has to collect the pizza. The group make him do so and dance to "Roxanne". Abed suggests that Annie move into the apartment.

The end tag shows the Darkest Timeline: Shirley is an alcoholic; Pierce died; Annie was sent to a mental health ward; Jeff lost an arm; Troy lost his larynx; Britta put a blue streak in her hair. Abed makes felt goatees for the remaining members of the group, suggesting that they all become evil versions of themselves and journey to the main timeline.

This episode was Chris McKenna's sixth writing credit for Community.

"Remedial Chaos Theory" was broadcast as the fourth episode of the third season. The episode premiered on NBC on October 13, 2011, a Thursday 8 p.m. timeslot.[1] It was written by Chris McKenna, his sixth writing credit of the series.[2] The writers used annotated diagrams, or "story circles", one for each character per timeline, displaying the character's actions in that timeline;[3] series creator Dan Harmon later published images of them on Tumblr.[4][5] The episode marks the first directing credit of the show for Jeff Melman.

The episode was originally intended to air as the third episode, but was delayed a week because the episode still needed to be completed, including editing, reshoots, and visual effects.[6][3] Series creator Dan Harmon wrote that this was his decision, which broadcaster NBC agreed to. A number of jokes from this episode are cited in the episode "Competitive Ecology", which was the actual third episode to air due to the re-ordering. In "Competitive Ecology", Pierce mentions his Eartha Kitt story and Shirley references Britta's marijuana usage. A consequence of the re-ordering was that two consecutive episodes, "Geography of Global Conflict" and "Competitive Ecology", had similar B-plots involving Chang and his security guard storyline.[4] The opening lines of "Remedial Chaos Theory", in which Britta and Annie dispute whether the apartment number is 303 or 304, is a reference to the re-ordering.[7][8]

Prior to Harmon announcing that the episodes had been reordered, some fans and critics noticed inconsistencies between "Competitive Ecology" and "Remedial Chaos Theory", speculating that the final timeline shown in this episode was not the one that would be followed in future episodes.[7][9] Harmon commented that the canonical timeline which other episodes continue on from is the final one shown, where Abed prevents the die from landing on a number, saying that no ambiguity was intended.[4]

The song "Roxanne" by The Police plays briefly in several timelines and for a lengthier period in the final one. Licensing of this song used up much of the music budget for the whole third season, leading to the frequent use of "Daybreak" by Michael Haggins and Ludwig Göransson's score for the series in the season's other episodes.[6][8]

"Remedial Chaos Theory" is a concept episode.[10][1] Some critics commented that there was an absence of an overarching plot.[11][10] Storylines play out across timelines, such as Pierce being jealous at Abed for Troy moving to live with him. Other details like Troy and Abed putting a bowl of olives by their toilet occur repeatedly.[10]

When Troy, played by Donald Glover, leaves to get the pizza, a series of disasters ensues; this is referred to as "The Darkest Timeline".

Critics found that each timeline shows how the absence of any member of the group would significantly disrupt or affect the others, variously interpreting each timeline.[12][10][7] The "Darkest Timeline" arises when Troy leaves the group to get the pizza. Critics have commented that this indicates that Troy is the group's linchpin, without whom the group descends into chaos, or that Troy should be leader of the group rather than Jeff.[13][14][10] Some critics found that Annie has a caretaker role, despite struggling to take care of herself, whilst Shirley is a mother figure as the other characters do not take responsibility for their actions.[10][14] One critic opined that without Pierce, Jeff feels insecure about being the oldest.[14] Others found that Troy tries to act mature around Britta, and wants Jeff to view him as an adult, but is immature when just with Abed.[14][15] In regards to Abed, it was suggested that his meta-commentary on the group allows them to confront their issues.[14][10] Though Jeff's consistent interruption of Britta as she tries to sing "Roxanne" initially seems like a joke on her, it is a joke at the expense of Jeff, as the rest of the group happily join in when he is the one to get the pizza.[10] The group would be better off without Jeff, according to some critics.[10][11]

Commentary was made on the episode's allusions to other media, and its usage of props. Similar to the 1993 comedy film Groundhog Day, in which a character is repeatedly woken up to the same song to indicate the same day occurring over and over again, "Remedial Chaos Theory" uses a song—"Roxanne" by The Police—to mark the start of a new timeline.[8] The Darkest Timeline was compared to Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror", in which characters battle evil versions of themselves.[16] Annie's gun is a Smith & Wesson, which David Mello of Screen Rant reported would not discharge in the way depicted in the Darkest Timeline.[8] Pierce's Serbian rum has a Cyrillic label reading "generic rum".[8] Some of Abed's bedroom decorations, such as a Kickpuncher poster, were previously shown in his season one college accommodation.[8]

Later episodes drew on plot points from "Remedial Chaos Theory", such as the Darkest Timeline,[8] which the episode also popularized as a pop culture phrase.[17] Evil Abed reappears briefly in the season three episodes "Contemporary Impressionists" and the finale "Introduction to Finality". In the former, Abed briefly hallucinates Evil Abed, and in the latter he begins to act as Evil Abed when it looks like he will lose Troy as a friend. The fourth season finale, "Advanced Introduction to Finality", has a storyline built around the evil characters from the Darkest Timeline invading the canonical timeline.[16][13]

• "Remedial Chaos Theory" at NBC.com
• "Remedial Chaos Theory" on IMDb
• "Remedial Chaos Theory" at TV.com