#community speculation

I have nothing clever, unfortunately.

But, if you really want my talkin’-out-my-ass guess, the finale is either one of two things, both of which are predicated on the darkest timeline happening in Jeff’s head rather than Abed’s:

The whole darkest timeline is Jeff having a nightmare as he wrestles with either returning to his old life or trying something new

The whole darkest timeline is the result of the school being subjected to monkey gas poison courtesy of City College and Jeff is hallucinating the whole thing

Other predictions: 

Jeff will wind up teaching law classes at Greendale.This is me rolling my eyes since Dan Harmon’s original plan was for all of the Study Group to leave Greendale for the real world, albeit at different rates.

All signs point to Shirley and Annie also graduating this year. Yeah, I’m confused about why Annie’s graduating since she changed major only this year. While it is possible for Annie to graduate a semester later than originally planned (graduating in December 2013 rather than May 2013) if she took an extra-heavy load, there’s no indication that she’s done that other than her repeated problems with getting decent grades in her History class.

All spoilers point to Troy and Britta remaining students at Greendale. There is no clear indication for Abed or Pierce leaving or staying at Greendale.

Ship-wise:

The ending will be an OT7.

The only shippers who’ll be truly happy are the Troy/Abed shippers since there will be no doubt their bro-hood will be re-affirmed.

The short answer:  Here’s the wiki list of S4 Community episodes.

For most of the season, follow the episode production order until you hit the 411, 412, and 413 Trifecta. Those episodes were filmed out of order because of Chevy leaving the show, and because the puppet episode took more time to film.

Without a doubt “Advanced Introduction to Finality” is supposed to be last (411).

The question is the order “Heroic Origins (412)” and “Felt Surrogacy (413)” is supposed to fall in. Is “Felt Surrogacy” supposed to come right after “Basic Human Anatomy (410),” or does “Heroic Origins”?

You’re welcome. I’m glad I could offer an alternate take.

The truth is, I never read “never” in Bobrow’s responses. I also never read that he believed that the age was necessarily issue, just that he thought that it was an issue for Jeff.

I’ll be honest, the only thing that ticked me off about Bobrow’s end of the whole Twitter mess was that he literally called an entire section of fandom pathological, when it was really about a half-dozen to a dozen people who were going nuts on him.

I think part of the issue is that emotions were running high because everyone was convinced that this was the last season, which is where the “never” comes in. However, NBC is such deep shit that Community just might come back for a fifth season.

If it does, the first step they need to take is to fire G&P, because they single-handedly landed the most damaging blow on S4 BY AIRING THE DAMN EPISODES OUT OF ORDER.

Seriously. Re-watch S4. In order. It doesn’t come close to approaching S1-3, but it does improve things, especially Annie’s very subtle storyarc this year. In a lot of ways, this Christmas episode was a culmination of what happened during the Convention episode.

There’s a reason why Jeff called back to it in his teasing.There’s a reason why Abed is suddenly focused on Jeff and Annie pairing off.

This episode was the closing part of the process where Annie gets on equal footing with Jeff. Remember, Jeff wouldn’t have even known there was “a crime” if Annie hadn’t noticed that Kevin couldn’t tie a bow. She was already reaching the logical conclusion when she looked at Jeff and Jeff solved the mystery itself.

Seriously. Bobrow did a much better job in this episode than people give him credit for.

I know, I just know, I'm going to get some shit for this, but you know what? I loved last night's episode. It was literally my favorite of the season.

And I especially loved dat tag because, awesome!

I think part of the problem here is that not too many people have seen Rope. I've seen Rope. I love Rope. And while last night was not a perfect Rope, there was enough Rope in it that I was more focused on the figuring out 1) what "crime" had actually been committed; 2) how it was going to get solved.

Was it:

Annie, in Jeff's apartment, lying about the group's grade in an attempt to get her A

Jeff, at Greendale, plagiarizing a Tom Waits' song and putting it in the group's paper, thereby putting both Shirley's and Annie's shot at valedictorian at risk

Kevin, in Jeff's apartment, tying Cornwallis to a chair and offering to kill him

Ooooh, so many choices!

As it turns out, it was:

Cornwallis, tying himself to a chair, and attempting to mess with the group's collective heads to varying degrees

Does anyone remember who figured out 1) what "crime" had actually been committed; and 2) who solved it and how?

That's right. Annie and Jeff. In that order, and in order of importance.

I know that the whole Twitter-thing with Bobrow poisoned the well for multiple shippers (with the sole exception of the Jeff/Britta shippers, but I have a feeling that they're about to get a punch in the face as well). If it weren't for that Twitter mess, I suspect most Jeff/Annie shippers would have been stoked by last night's episode and wouldn't have been taking that tag so freakin' seriously.

I mean, think about this:  That end tag was clearly in Abed's head and only in Abed's head. They even close-upped on Abed before it started and close-upped on him again looking startled after Evil!Jeff and Evil!Annie started going to town on each other's faces.

People forget:  All of the alternate timelines, especially the darkest timelines, have always been just a figment of Abed's imagination and nothing more, and their relationship to reality has always been sketchy at best. Hell, I even wrote a big-ass meta about it.

Okay, I'm less in love with the idea that Abed's going off the deep end — again — and taking refuge in the Darkest Timeline — again! But that is the cookie crumb trail laid down in last night's tag.

So why did he pick on Jeff and Annie, specifically, in his imagination?

Because Jeff and Annie basically solved "a crime," all while conducting a running argument that got heated at several points throughout the whole episode. Yes, other study group members were involved peripherally, but the main backbone argument was between Jeff and Annie.

Seriously, think about this.

Jeff and Annie solved "a crime", together, using logic and observational skills despite the fact that they were pissed off (at each other as well as other people in the group and Cornwallis), and emotions were running high all over the place while Cornwallis attempted to play mind games with the whole study group.

Yes, that shit actually happened.

Then, while unwrapping presents, Annie was the first to figure out that Kevin couldn't have possibly tied up the professor, and Jeff figured out by process of elimination that the only person who could have possibly tied up the professor was the professor.

And while Jeff and Annie were puzzling it out and exchanging glances while they were figuring out, the rest of the group was actually watching the two of them do it because they honestly had no idea where either Jeff or Annie were going with this.

Yes, that shit actually happened, too. On screen.

Now, if the darkest timeline is basically opposite-land in Abed's imagination, Jeff and Annie basically went from "solving crimes" (okay, not solving a crime, per se, but figuring out that Cornwallis basically conned the group) then it MAKES TOTAL SENSE THAT ABED WOULD MAKE JEFF A CRIMINAL LAWYER AND ANNIE AN ACTUAL CRIMINAL!

This would be a bit more clear if the episodes were actually shown in order this season, instead of the fucked-up order they've been shown in. I think we could better see what the writers were going for.

(By the way, if you have access to Hulu, re-watch this season in its intended order. There is an improvement that makes some head-scratchers this season make a fuckload more sense. It doesn't improve everything, but it improves some things.)

So...based on last last night's episode, and the in-order airing of the season I've watched via Hulu, I'm a-gonna make a prediction about this season under the cut. Don't read if speculation bothers you.