Remedial Chaos Theory
It follows a community college study group at a housewarming party for members Troy (Donald Glover) and Abed (Danny Pudi).
"Remedial Chaos Theory" is a concept episode, with each timeline showing how the group is affected by the absence of one of its members.
After Abed presents his Raiders of the Lost Ark boulder diorama, the group begin playing Yahtzee.
Jeff rolls a die to determine which of the group must collect the pizza delivery, numbering starting from his left.
As Pierce (Chevy Chase) claims he had sex with Eartha Kitt, Britta (Gillian Jacobs) is stopped from singing along to "Roxanne" (1978) by Jeff.
It arises that the group thinks Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) has a baking problem and Pierce's gift is a Norwegian troll that scares Troy.
Other recurring scenes include Abed catching the rolling diorama boulder, Britta smoking marijuana, and Annie inspecting Jeff's head injury.
The end tag shows the Darkest Timeline: Shirley is an alcoholic; Pierce died; Annie was sent to a mental health ward; Jeff lost an arm in the fire; Troy lost his larynx trying to eat the troll; Britta put a blue streak in her hair.
Abed makes felt goatees for the remaining group members, suggesting that they become evil and try to journey to the main timeline.
In "Competitive Ecology", Pierce mentions his Eartha Kitt story and Shirley references Britta's marijuana usage.
A consequence of the re-ordering was that two consecutive episodes, "Geography of Global Conflict" and "Competitive Ecology", had similar B-plots involving Chang (Ken Jeong) and his security guard storyline.
[7][8] The opening lines of "Remedial Chaos Theory", in which Britta and Annie dispute whether the apartment number is 303 or 304, is a reference to the re-ordering.
[9][11] Harmon commented that the canonical timeline which other episodes continue on from is the final one shown, where Abed prevents the die from landing on a number, saying that no ambiguity was intended.
[16][17][13] Some critics found that Annie has a caretaker role, despite struggling to take care of herself, whilst Shirley is a mother figure as the other characters do not take responsibility for their actions.
[19] Annie's gun is a Smith & Wesson, which David Mello of Screen Rant reported would not discharge in the way depicted in the Darkest Timeline.
[21][19][16] In its original broadcast on October 13, 2011, the episode was viewed by an estimated 3.82 million people, up 13 percent from the previous week.
[26][27] Kelsea Stahler of Hollywood.com praised that after the first three episodes of the season, the show revisited "experimental, high-concept television laced with absurd comedy".
[30] Robert Canning of IGN found that the episode "told a great story, it satirized a specific aspect of pop culture and it, above all else, was full of laughs.
[15] In Cory Barker's ranking for TV.com of all 110 episodes of the series, "Remedial Chaos Theory" was listed first overall, with the description "smart, narratively inventive, constantly funny, and somehow still couched in character relationships".
[33] Ranking it as the tenth-best television episode of the 2010s, Sadaf Ahsan of the National Post praised it as "effortlessly funny".
[34] Melanie McFarland of Salon, ranking it as the best episode of 2011, lauded it for "extraordinarily merging scientific theory, sci-fi, and reality".
[36] The Ringer listed it as one of the 100 best television episodes since 2000, calling it the moment when the show shifted from a "quirky middle-of-the-lineup sitcom" to "experimental art".
