Basic Story
| "Basic Story" | |
|---|---|
| Community episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 12 |
| Directed by | Jay Chandrasekhar |
| Written by | Carol Kolb |
| Production code | 512 |
| Original air date | April 10, 2014 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Basic Story" is the twelfth episode of the fifth season of Community, and the 96th episode overall in the series. It originally aired on April 10, 2014 on NBC. The episode was written by Carol Kolb, making this her series writing debut, and it was directed by Jay Chandrasekhar. The episode is Part 1 of a two-part season finale; Part 2 ("Basic Sandwich") aired on April 17, 2014 on NBC.
The episode received generally positive reviews. Despite positive reviews, however, the episode maintained season lows of the previous week of 0.9/3 in the 18-49 rating/share demo, but increased slightly to 2.56 million American viewers.
The Save Greendale committee shares a moment of quiet after completing a large portion of their tasks. Abed (Danny Pudi) is uneasy because he thinks this is a misleading lull in excitement. Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) then enters to explain that an insurance appraiser will be arriving the next day to determine the value of the school. Abed interprets this news as a crisis, but Jeff (Joel McHale) takes him aside to placate him by explaining there is no crisis and thus no story. Abed seemingly agrees, saying, “So be it. Let the lack of story--.” He abruptly walks away mid-sentence, leaving the camera to pan to a student who is noisily sipping soup at his desk, implying to the audience that there is no story.
Abed realizes he is in a story when he catches himself explaining that there is no story. He attempts to fool the camera he thinks is following him by running away but to no avail. He falls to his knees, helplessly admitting that everything is a story. A white-bearded version of Abed suddenly appears and tells him to keep fighting the story until it falls apart. Abed goes into an existential breakdown as Leonard (Richard Erdman) passes by to say, “Unsubscribe.”
The city’s insurance appraiser, Ronald Mohammad (Michael McDonald), then arrives to assess the campus’s liability. Mohammad enters the school to perform his inspection. In his last safety test, he attempts to rock a vending machine back and forth to see if it will fall down and crush him. Satisfied that the vending machine will not fall, he declares the school has passed his evaluation. He explains to the committee and the school board guys (Carl and Richie) that the school has value. Carl and Richie then plan to sell the school to a private bidder. The Group reacts with stunned silence as Abed returns, ironically saying that the school is now story-free and that they can be content now forever. Dean Pelton then tries to tip the vending machine over on himself, but Jeff pulls him off saying that he can’t do so because they fixed it when they saved Greendale. Jeff comes to the realization that their efforts this year inadvertently led to Greendale being sold.
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