"Studies in Modern Movement" is the seventh episode of the third season of the American sitcom Community. It was originally broadcast on November 10, 2011, on NBC. In the episode, the study group helps Annie move in with Troy and Abed. Annie is worried about living with Troy and Abed's "manchildren" antics. Meanwhile, Britta and Shirley lock horns over religion and morality, while Jeff is forced to spend the day with Dean Pelton. The episode was written by Adam Countee and directed by Tristram Shapeero.
Plot
Annie is moving in with Troy and Abed. The rest of the study group have decided to help her move, except Jeff, who pretends to be ill and concocts an elaborate plan while shopping for clothes to fool Britta. While packing at Annie's old apartment, Britta warns Annie that being roommates with Troy and Abed will not be easy, because the reasons she legitimately adores them will become the reasons she will despise them in living together. Troy and Abed wear special T-shirts with a Twitter hashtag—#AnniesMove—for the occasion, and are live-tweeting the event. Troy and Abed's childish antics start to annoy Annie, but she tries to play along. Troy damages the apartment's electrical outlet, and Pierce offers to help her fix it before her landlord comes. Shirley is concerned that Annie's "cohabitation" with Troy and Abed will lead to her moral decay. Britta brushes her off by slamming her religious uptightness. While shopping, Jeff runs into Dean Craig Pelton. "Craig" knows that Jeff is avoiding helping Annie move from Troy and Abed's tweets, and blackmails Jeff into spending the day with him. Jeff reluctantly has lunch with him at a Mexican restaurant and joins him in a green screenkaraoke session singing "Kiss from a Rose" in matching outfits. He even appears to be enjoying himself after the song is finished, but the Dean then lets it slip that their accidental run-in, and day together, only happened because he read Jeff's Greendale e-mails, and Jeff becomes violently outraged. Britta and Shirley ride in the same car on the way to Troy and Abed's place, and spend the time arguing over religion and morality. Britta picks up a hitchhiker to prove that she is moral without being religious. However, the hitchhiker begins talking about Jesus, to Shirley's delight and Britta's dismay. He and Shirley have a friendly chat until he claims to be Jesus himself, which upsets Shirley but delights Britta, who is also pleased that their passenger thinks marijuana should be legalized. When the hitchhiker then starts singing about anti-race mixing and drinking human blood, Shirley and Britta are horrified and throw him out of the car together. While fixing the electrical outlet, Pierce damages the circuit and the wiring in the wall burns a line down the wall. To cover it up, Pierce decides to paint over the wall. Instead, he makes a mess of the paint and ends up getting high over paint fumes. Troy and Abed show Annie her new room—a blanket fort. Annie is uncomfortable with it, having been told the apartment has two bedrooms. She discovers the apartment's second bedroom, which Troy and Abed have decorated into a "Dreamatorium". This leads to her finally expressing her unhappiness at Troy and Abed's childishness, and she decides to nix her plans to move in with them. Troy and Abed eventually decide to give their room to Annie while moving into the blanket fort. Jeff arrives at the apartment and admits that he faked illness to get out of helping. The group forgives him, then reveal that they saw his rendition of "Kiss from a Rose", which was tweeted by Dean Pelton.
Production
"Studies in Modern Movement" was written by Adam Countee, his third writing credit of the series. It was directed by Tristram Shapeero, his sixth directing credit.
Cultural references
The "Dreamatorium" in Troy and Abed's apartment closely resembles a Star Trek holodeck. When he "runs into" Jeff at the mall, Dean Pelton says, "This is just like that Lake House movie... I can only assume, even I have limits." Troy and Abed's use of bubble wrap closely mirrors a scene with Chandler and Joey from the TV show Friends. Shirley also mentions the show, stating "I've seen enough episodes of Friends to know that cohabitation leads to sex, drugs, and something Parade magazine called 'Schwimmer fatigue.' "
Reception
Ratings
In its original American broadcast on November 10, 2011, "Studies in Modern Movement" was viewed by an estimated 3.49 million people, with a Nielsen rating/share of 1.5/4 in the 18–49 demographic.
Reviews
The episode received mixed reviews from critics. Ethan Alter called "Modern Movement" one of Season 3's better episodes. Leigh Raines of TV Fanatic gave it a 4.5/5 rating, saying: "It's not every week that a show has me laughing out loud, but 'Studies in Modern Movement' accomplished just that." Kelsea Stahler of Hollywood.com said, "This episode wasn’t mind-blowing. It wasn’t out there. But it was rich with character. It felt like hanging out with your hilarious, messed up friends – but those that could really only exist on television – for a half-hour. And sometimes, that’s all you need." Alan Sepinwall of HitFix said, "I like seeing the relationships evolve in the way that they have, and I enjoyed the episode overall, but it ultimately felt a little lightweight." The A.V. Clubs Emily VanDerWerff gave the episode a 'B', saying, "There are a lot of good ideas in 'Modern Movement,' but I don’t know that they ever really coalesce into anything more than a collection of stories..."
