Written by Alex Rubens and directed by Tristram Shapeero, the episode originally aired on January 16, 2014 on NBC.
Walton Goggins guest stars as Mr. Stone, Pierce's executor who leads the polygraph test.
During the session, the group is asked a series of personal questions that reveal selfish things they have done, such as Troy (Donald Glover) and Abed (Danny Pudi) using Jeff's (Joel McHale) Netflix account without his permission, Abed hiding GPS tracking devices on everyone to track their locations, and Annie (Alison Brie) having slipped the members of the group pills in order to make them more alert for studying.
Pierce was supposed to do this for his father but never did, causing him lifelong regret, and he believes the experience will help Troy discover who he truly is.
After rambling about his aspirations, he reveals that Pierce died of dehydration while collecting the sperm samples he gave to the group.
It also resolves the character arc of Pierce, played by Chevy Chase who left the show after the previous season.
This episode was chosen for a 2020 benefit table read where the cast and Dan Harmon reunited over video conferencing to raise money for the COVID-19 pandemic.
"[5] Eric Goldman of IGN gave the episode a rating of 9 out of 10, saying "Another great Season 5 episode [...] managed to feel like an effective spiritual sequel to both “Cooperative Calligraphy” and “Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking” the latter, the episode where Pierce acted like he was dying and first gave “bequeathments.” Completely dialogue-driven, it delivered a funny and involving scenario, incorporating Pierce's voice into the group one last time, even without Pierce present.
This was Community at its finest no matter what part of its timeline you're talking about, a shoestring-budget masterpiece that maximized a simple premise to highlight the series' biggest strength: the bonds between the study group that make them a surrogate family for each other.