Director: Tricia Brock — Writer: Tim Saccardo — Aired: March 21, 2013 —Season: Four — Number: Seven Summary: Dean Pelton recruits a wealthy potential student; Jeff and Pierce bond as do Troy and Shirley.
In the study room, the group sans Pierce are watching a special presentation Dean Pelton and Annie are giving about a potential new student for Greendale named Archie DeCoste. He is considered a "whale", the offspring of a wealthy family worth $8 million who could bring much needed funds to the school. Knowing Pierce would get jealous if another rich person was being fawned over, he was excluded from this meeting. The Dean and Annie ask for everyone's help in securing the lucrative prospect. Troy and Shirley have to pass since they are both busy taking a P.E. course but Jeff shocks everyone by volunteering to help. He wants to avoid Pierce who had recently been insisting they spend time together. The next day, Pierce asks Jeff to join him at an Italian barber shop he frequents.
Introducing Archie the Whale.
Jeff bluntly turns him down before entering the study room alone where the others are preparing for Archie's arrival. School board members Carl Bladt and Richie Countee make a surprise appearance to check on the progress for the "Whale hunt". When they suggest a more party-themed itinerary such as showing him a fraternity, it immediately inspires Abed who decides to start one himself. Pelton refuses their ideas but Carl insists that he should do whatever is necessary to ensure Archie's enrolment. Meanwhile, Troy and Shirley arrive at their gym class together where Coach Jason Chapman welcomes them and the other students to P.E.E., Physical Education Education. He explains that this class will teach them how to teach P.E. class of their own which amuses Troy.
Physical Education Education class.
This earns him a reprimand from the coach who quizzes him on how he would deal with P.E. class emergencies. Troy is unable to respond but Shirley offers up a solution which impresses Chapman. Back at the library, the greeting committee for Archie made up of Annie, Pelton, Jeff and Britta was waiting on his arrival. When he finally shows up on a scooter, Pierce wanders onto the scene. After Annie pleads with Jeff to intercept Pierce, he reluctantly distracts him by accepting Pierce's earlier invitation to go to a barber shop. After they leave, Archie is officially welcomed to the school. Pelton quickly discards his original itinerary after learning that the scooter he rode in on was a gift from City College. Meanwhile at P.E.E. class, Troy struggles to complete his assignments while Shirley continues to excel.
The whale arrives.
For the next task, Neil and Shirley are picked to head up their own team of P.E. instructors. As they slowly alternate their selections of their classmates, Troy is humiliated when he ends up being the last person chosen. Elsewhere at "Silvio's Barber Shop", Jeff actually finds himself starting to enjoy his time there with Pierce. Back at school, Pelton continues to fabricate fictitious activities to be found at Greendale to Archie. Meanwhile, Abed starts initiating students into his newly formed Delta Cube fraternity. Their antics disrupt the tour of the school Dean was giving to Archie causing him to spill a drink he had onto his new sneakers. Dean and Annie insist that Britta clean his shoes but she angrily refuses and leaves in a huff. At the barber shop, Jeff and Pierce start to bond as they are being given a shave.
Abed and The Delta Cubes.
In P.E.E. class, Coach Chapman has set up a "mocker room" complete with drama students to mimic the conditions in an actual locker room. Shirley passes the simulation with ease but Troy again fails to impress. In the cafeteria, Annie and Pelton throw a party for Archie which includes strippers. Over at Silvio's, Pierce tells Jeff he is proud of him for confronting his father issues. When Jeff's cell phone rings, Pierce snatches it and sees a text Annie sent about Archie. Jeff is forced to admit the true reason he came with him to the shop but insists he has come to enjoy his visit. Pierce is too saddened by the revelation to believe him and leaves. At the cafeteria party, Archie declares to Dean Pelton he has decided to attend the school. Once the Dean makes an official announcement, Magnitude celebrates by saying his catchphrase "Pop, Pop!".
Jeff and Pierce bonding over a shave at Silvio's Barber shop.
Archie sees his signature response and demands ownership of it. Pelton complies and orders Magnitude never to do his trademark expression again. The partying continues on but Annie is conflicted after seeing how much they've compromised their integrity. Later in the library, she discusses this with Pelton but he assures her it was all for the good of the school. As they make their way to the study room they run into Jeff who defends Pierce after Pelton insults him. After Jeff leaves, they are shocked by the sudden appearance of a dishevelled Magnitude. He had spent all night desperately trying to come up with a new catchphrase. Back at P.E.E. class, Shirley finds Troy looking for his missing keys in the Mocker room set up. She apologizes for not helping him in class and decides to make it up to him by teaching Troy how to teach P.E. to Ben Chang.
'Diggidy doo?'
With Shirley's expertise, Troy finally succeeded in becoming a P.E. teacher. Coach Chapman, who had been watching, congratulated the pair for their efforts. In the cafeteria, Dean Pelton, Annie and Magnitude go to confront Archie who is asleep amid the remains of his party. Pelton wakes him up and says that despite all the promises he made, he won't change the school just for him. Archie doesn't mind as he would rather be treated like a normal student than given special privileges. Abed and the Delta Cubes then show up and depants the Dean, Archie and Magnitude quickly retreat. Jeff goes back to Silvio's Barber Shop and sits down in the chair next to Pierce. When he tells him he might start coming to the shop more often, Pierce smiles and the two of them settle into a friendly conversation.
"Mark my words, Delta Cubes, you'll pay for this!"
Troy and Britta are lying in bed together and watching a commercial for Let's Potato Chips. After Troy mentions how Britta is still eating "Splingles," Britta responds that they have 30% less fat, causing Troy to tell her he has a headache and she should go home.
Magnitude has his signature catchphrase "Pop! Pop!" taken away from him (and later given back) by Dean Pelton.
Discontinuity:
Britta joins in, stating the biology department needs new animals to dissect. However, in the Season Three episode "Competitive Ecology," Britta objects to dissecting anything with a face.
Carl Bladt mentions Greendale should start a fraternity to get Archie to enroll, but in the Season One episode "The Art of Discourse" Abed and Troy are pledging one of Greendale's fraternities ΩΤΡ (Omega Tau Rho).
History lesson: Jeff reveals as a child he had a Chocolate Lab named Rosie. Pierce mentions as a child he had a German Shepherd named Walter.
Mad skillz: Shirley becomes the star pupil of the class again by showing off her talent for being a good P. E. instructor.
Previously: Pierce briefly mentions his own father issues to Jeff while discussing Jeff's reunion with his father.
Replay: Britta mentions a sheik she met at Trader Joe's who apparently made some kind of offer to her to go back with him to Dubai. In "Digital Exploration of Interior Design," Britta is asked by Shirley and Pierce to sleep with Subway so he could lose his job. She states she is not a whore but if she was one she would be the "super classy" kind who gets flown to Dubai to stay in an underwater hotel.
That just happened: Pierce and Britta both mention to Jeff his recent reunion with his father on Thanksgiving.
Recurring or debuting running gags in this episode:
Attention students!: The Dean announces landing the whale.
Awww!: Annie coos when Archie agrees to go to Greendale because he wants to be treated like a normal student.
Disney face: Annie uses her doe eyes on Jeff to get him to distract Pierce. Dean Pelton tries to join in but Jeff is disgusted by his version of the Disney face.
Gay, he's so gay!: After Jeff mentions to Pierce how much he enjoys the barber shop parlor, Pierce responds with "If you love it so much why don't you gay marry it?" Later, after Pierce mentions how he's proud of Jeff, Jeff responds with "If you're so proud of me why don't you gay marry me?"
Man crush: Dean Pelton jealously scolds Britta for touching Jeff's stomach, something which the Dean himself regularly does.
Pansexual imp: Dean Pelton knows a prostitute well enough to send her a Christmas card.
Name that tune: "A Place with You" by Dick Walter plays in the barbershop.
Shout out:
Dean Pelton tells Archie that there is a "Half-pipe and Hash Pipes" class being taught at Greendale by snowboarder and Olympic gold medalist Shaun White.
Pelton also lies about a bikini class being taught by California artist Ed Hardy.
TV Guide:
During the operation the study group has to distract Pierce and Abed gives him the codename The Walking Dead. Dean Pelton also refers to Pierce as this later in the episode.
Abed names the operation for getting Archie DeCoste to attend Greendale Deadliest Catch.
IRL: When Shirley and Neil pick their choices for their coaching team, the names they call out for the students correspond to past and present behind-the-scenes production crew members on Community:
Reviews:
The A.V. Club gave it a "B", "There are still a few too many story elements, but the show manages to have all but one of them (the Troy/Shirley B-plot) stem believably from the central story. It feels, in a lot of ways, like a throwback to the show’s first season, when it was very good at starting with one central conflict that branched off into lots of smaller stories, with a B-story that complemented and commented on the main plot. “Marine Biology” doesn’t quite reach the heights of that season, but it’s at least somewhere in the same ballpark, and that’s no small feat. This kind of structure can be murderously difficult to make play, because it requires that the story essentially keeps subdividing, like a cell in the process of reproduction. This means that the stories get smaller and smaller and smaller, until some of them aren’t even visible. In this case, that would be Abed’s attempt to start a fraternity—the Delta Cubes—which will do war with the Dean, based on an offhand mention the Dean makes when talking about trying to recruit Archie, a rich young man who has money to burn but no better educational prospects. Seeing Abed run in every so often to pull a fraternity prank or two is fine, I suppose, but it never really does anything or goes anywhere, even as it gets Jim Rash to shake his fist toward the sky and vow to keep the Delta Cubes down, which is fun. I hate to call Simpsons did it for this sort of thing, because Simpsons has done everything, but this joke just can’t compete with the very similar storyline from the “Homer Goes To College” episode and borrows many of the same basic gags."
Quotes[]
“Physical Education Education? Thought that was a typo in the course "cartalog."”— Troy
“It started as a typo, but it's grown into one of Greendale's most successful programs.”— Coach Jason Chapman
