Over the duration of Contemporary American Poultry, Jeff gradually loses control over the study group who once admired his famous ‘Winger speeches’ and were silenced by a single hand gesture. They become corrupted by the power they receive through the chicken business, each with their own use in the trade. In the case of Abed he becomes the new crime lord of Greendale, trading chicken fingers for favours and holding the students in the palm of his hand.

It’s not to say that Jeff becomes the moral compass during this episode, but as he loses his power he begins to see more clearly the corruption that’s happening around him and decides to stop it (for his own gain, of course). Jeff becomes Kay Corleone as Troy closes the door on Abed being praised by his loving public, and he makes his mission to remove the favours that have appeared in his group’s lives: Troy’s monkey, Annie’s backpack, Pierce’s entourage, Britta’s PA, Shirley’s crush and Abed’s power.

But why is this episode so good?

Purely for being structured differently to the ones previous and for the rest of the show’s run so far, showing Community‘s potential. There is only one storyline throughout compared to the usual handful, and it all concludes at the end quickly (with a Sixteen Candles reference), rather than having a story that permeates into the next episode. Change may not always be good, but in this instance it created one of the best episodes by providing us with something different: an almost direct homage to Scorsese’s Goodfellas. Writers Emily Cutler and Karey Dornetto would come back to write the episodes Modern Warfare and Epidemiology respectively.

9. Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking (2.16)