Director: Kyle Newacheck — Writer: Vera Santamaria — Aired: March 15, 2012 —Season: Three — Number: Eleven Summary: Andre re-proposes to Shirley and Troy and Abed attempt to become "normal" for the wedding rehearsal. Britta convinces Shirley and Pierce to try and open a sandwich shop in the cafeteria.
In the cafeteria, the study group is bemoaning the fact that the coffee shop is gone. Pierce then arrives dressed in his idea of proper business attire. He is now intent on financing other business ventures outside of Hawthorne Wipes. The group is offended when he shows off his latest investment, talking security cameras that racially profiles visitors. Britta then suggests that Shirley and Pierce start a new sandwich shop where the coffee shop used to be. Suddenly the lights in the cafeteria dim, and music blares. Andre Bennett makes a dramatic appearance holding a microphone and accompanied by back up dancers. Proclaiming his love for Shirley, he asks her to remarry him. She happily agrees as the study group along with the rest of the students in the cafeteria cheer.
"Shall I notify authorities?"
Back in the study room, the group is discussing the upcoming nuptials. Jeff and Britta dislike the institution of marriage although they have different reasons for believing so. Shirley shows up and hands everyone their invitations. She announces the ceremony will be held in the study room and asks Jeff to deliver a toast at the wedding. She also requests that Troy and Abed be on their best behavior for the event. She is surprised when Pierce tells her he's set up a meeting with the Dean to discuss the sandwich shop venture. Britta is annoyed when Shirley says that she won't have time for that since she has to plan for the wedding. In the hallway, Troy and Abed discuss how to purge themselves of their weirdness. Abed suggests a 24 hour session in the Dreamatorium in order to do this in time for the wedding.
Pierce's third investment option.
In the student lounge, Britta confronts Shirley over her true reasons for not wanting to go through with the sandwich shop idea. She doesn't want Shirley abandoning her dream of starting her own business. Britta volunteers to take over her planning duties to free up Shirley's time. Shirley finally relents and agrees to give it a chance. Later, Shirley and Pierce meet up to discuss the business proposal but after seeing how clueless he is, she attempts to calls it quits. Before she can leave, Pierce reveals that he was fired from Hawthorne Wipes after his father passed away. Although he has money left, he has no idea what to do with it and would sincerely like to start a business. Feeling sympathy for his situation, Shirley decides to give it another shot. Over in the study room, Britta and Annie are meeting with Shirley's wedding coordinator.
Annie, Shirley and Britta.
Britta stuns everyone when she manages to create an impressive floral arrangement. Meanwhile in Troy and Abed's apartment, the two exit the Dreamatorium seemingly normal. Back on campus, Jeff is in the Campus courtyard struggling to write the toast because of his beliefs about marriage. ("Daybreak") He asks Annie for advice and she suggests that he look deep inside his heart to find his words. She believes that his cynical attitude is a facade and that there's something real in there he's denying. Elsewhere, Shirley and Pierce give their sandwich shop presentation to Dean Pelton who seems excited by their business proposal. Meanwhile, in the study room, the guests for the wedding rehearsal started to arrive. Annie compliments Britta on the great work she's done, but Britta is distraught.
Normalized.
She explains that by doing such a great job, she's become exactly the type of woman she avoided becoming all her life. Troy and Abed show up acting normal which concerns Annie. Andre appears and is worried that Shirley has yet to arrive. Jeff arrives slightly drunk and still struggling to write the wedding toast. Meanwhile, Shirley is in the cafeteria laying out her plans for her sandwich shop to the Dean. When he agrees to her proposal, Pierce suggests a toast to their new business partnership. Shirley suddenly remembers the wedding rehearsal and quickly leaves. She finds an angry Andre waiting for her unwilling to excuse her lateness and unimpressed with the news about her business venture. Andre insists she abandon those plans and go back to just being a housewife.
The pitch.
An argument between them ensues causing and Shirley storms out of the rehearsal. Troy and Abed are accosted by Elijah and Jordan but the now normal duo have no desire to participate in their shenanigans. Meanwhile, a drunk Jeff and Britta loudly proclaim to all the guests their dislike of the institution of marriage. Jeff mentions his parents failed marriage while Britta is convinced her party planning skills means she is destined to be forced into will force her into an antiquated gender role. Outside the study room, Andre and Shirley continue to argue about their future. Andre expects Shirley to go back to being a housewife but Shirley doesn't want to give up on her business plans. Annie interrupts to ask their help in defusing a situation involving Jeff and Britta. They find the drunken pair trying to get the priest to marry them.
An altar-cation ensues.
Their lectures to Jeff and Britta eventually becomes a discussion about their own issues. Shirley states that Andre had his chance with the stereo business and now she wants the same opportunity. Andre agrees causing the minister to offer he can marry them now so they can save money. ("Greendale Is Where I Belong") Shirley and Andre consent and are pronounced husband and wife again. As the celebration kicks off, Troy watches Abed line dancing when Annie's Boobs pops out of an air vent. The monkey awakens Troy's inner weirdness and he convinces Abed to give up being normal. Dean Pelton shows up and informs Shirley that the school board has given a contract to Subway instead. Annie does her best to cheer Shirley who is worried with how Pierce will take the news. At Cornelius Hawthorne's grave, a drunk Pierce taunts his father's tombstone bragging about his new business.
Pierce uses the soft serve ice cream machine in the cafeteria but he fails to turn it off and it won't stop releasing ice cream. This foreshadows/backshadows him doing the same thing at Yogurtsburgh in "Heroic Origins".
Recurring or debuting plot points in this episode:
Googly eyes: Andre proposes to Shirley and they end up having the actual wedding at their rehearsal. A look inside Jeff's heart reveals several pictures of Annie and Annie's boobs (not the monkey) as well as his cell phone, a mansion, a dog, a yellow TVR Griffith sports car, his favorite scotch The Macallan (neat) and Alicia Witt.
History lesson:
Shirley and Andre's past relationship is expanded on as he mentions having met her in 1991 at the "Spring Fling" dance. Shirley's maiden name is revealed to have been Edwards.
Britta reveals how deep her feminism roots goes mentioning to Annie that she didn't even want to give Santa a Christmas list as a kid due to not wanting to depend on a man for anything.
Identity crisis:
Shirley is torn between what she wants to become, a business women, and what Andre wants her to be, a wife and mother.
Britta struggles against who she chooses to be, an independent women, and what she perceives to be her destiny as a normal housewife.
Mad skillz: Britta displays a great talent for wedding planning.
Middle Eastern Magic 8 Ball: Pelton tells Shirley that her Sandwich Shop idea was rejected by the school board in favor of a Subway sandwich place which sets up the events in the latter half of the season.
Replay: Jeff says he needs a drink to avoid dealing with the issue at hand. This is similar to his reactions in the alternate timelines found in "Remedial Chaos Theory".
That just happened: Pierce reveals that he was fired from Hawthorne Wipes after his father's death.
Recurring or debuting running gags in this episode:
Annie's Boobs:
The monkey reappears and inspires Troy to stop acting "normally" and return to being weird.
When Jeff looks in his heart a picture of Annie's Boobs, among other things, flashes up on his chest.
Bag-ul: Britta says "Steppenwolf Wives" instead of "Stepford Wives."
Biggest laugh of the night!: The "Trouser Bench" malfunctions when Pierce sits down and later, he breaks the ice cream machine.
Gasp!: Abed gasps repeatedly after Shirley asks them all to behave normally at her wedding. He explains his gasping was the noise that people make when they are offended in all the movies Annie rents. Annie gasps at that statement.
It's a mixer, it's a mixer!: Abed is able to instantly remember Pierce's ranking of his marriages.
Raging against the machine: Britta rants several times throughout the episode about the gender roles that the institution of marriage reinforces.
Sexy voice: Shirley changes the tone of her voice twice when Britta volunteers to plan her wedding and when Andre is angry at her for holding up the wedding rehearsal. Shirley's sweet sounding tone is explained in this episode when Andre refers to it as her "Sexy Voice".
Shut up, Leonard!: After Leonard corrects Jeff that they are at the rehearsal for the wedding and not the actual wedding Jeff tells him to shut up and that the teenage girls he plays ping pong with are doing it ironically.
The Jim Belushi of...: Annie calls starting a speech with "Webster's Dictionary defines" the Jim Belushi of speech openings.
Alert nerd!: Jeff mentions to Annie that something like marriage, which he truly does not believe in, is his kryptonite when it comes to speech making.
IMDb: The comedy Jack and Jill is mentioned by Shirley.
Dean Pelton tells Shirley that the school board sold the cafeteria space to Subway.
Britta compares herself to the fictional cooking icon Betty Crocker.
Shout out:
Aanie wonders where she's going to get her Sarah McLachlan CDs.
Jim Belushi is referenced (although not in a good way) by Annie.
Britta goes on a feminist rant and mentions Martha Stewart.
Shirley compares Pierce's proposed logo for the sandwich shop to Halle Berry and later brings up Pierce's claim that Adam Sandler stole his idea for Jack and Jill.
Britta says "Yah, well, great. Flowers look good in a pot. There are people dying in Uganda" a possible reference to the viral video Kony 2012, which was released 2 weeks before this episode.
Use your allusion: The Subway shop opening is a reference to both the show Chuck (which used a partnership with Subway to help continually renew the show for new seasons) and the show's own hiatus during which fans employed several different tactics to bring it back.
Well-read: Britta attempts to mention the Stepford Wives. It's possible she had the film in mind.
Parody: Pierce's struggle with the ice cream machine bears similarities with a similar situation faced by a character played by Chevy Chase. In National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation, Clark Griswold tries to stop a water leak while visiting the Hoover Dam in a manner similar to Pierce and the ice cream machine.
After Annie tells Jeff to look into his heart for his wedding toast, his heart clicks through a series of images. Annie appears three times, and what appears to be her breasts appear twice.
After the airing of this episode, a fan theory appeared online suggesting that the girl who Abed was dancing with, and who identified herself as "Danielle", was none other than Tranny Queen contestant Danielle Harmon from "Pascal's Triangle Revisited". In a now-deleted tweet (discussed here, for instance) Dan Harmon agreed to make it official.
After the opening credits when they are in the study room, the whiteboard behind Annie & Shirley reads:
"St.rm.512
Please note that the study room will be closed Friday. If you were scheduled for Friday check with the front desk.
We will be fumigating the library to remove all insects, pest and as we say in Colorado... vermin.
Thanks for your cooperation.
Sorry for the inconvenience."
Quotes[]
“When's our culture gonna outgrow this wedding thing?”— Britta
“You're anti-wedding now?”— Annie
“No, she's just pro-anti.”— Jeff
“No to everything you both said.”— Britta
“We'll try not to embarrass you at your Community College library wedding.”— Troy
“Well..yeah...uh, I had a drink and I looked in my heart and here's what I got so far: 'Webster's Dictionary defines...'”— Jeff
“Gah! Stop! 'Webster's Dictionary defines...'? That's the Jim Belushi of speech openings; it accomplishes nothing but everyone keeps using it and nobody understands why.”— Annie
“I promise to put your dreams before mine.”— Britta
“I promise to bottle up my revulsion at the sight of your hair in the drain.”— Jeff
“I promise to earn no more than 70 percent of what you would make at the same job.”— Britta
“What about babies?”— Jeff
“What about 'em?”— Britta
“How many?”— Jeff
“Pick a number, dick. Like it's up to me.”— Britta
