It originally aired on January 2, 2014 on NBC; and was written by series creator Dan Harmon (after he was re-hired to run season 5) and Chris McKenna and directed by Tristram Shapeero.
This is the final episode of the series to feature Chevy Chase as Pierce Hawthorne, making a cameo appearance following his departure in season 4.
After meeting briefly with Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) while looking for the files he needs for his case, Jeff is re-united with his former study-group, including Annie Edison (Alison Brie), Shirley Bennett (Yvette Nicole Brown), Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs), Troy Barnes (Donald Glover) and Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi), and convinces them that he is working on a way to save the college from the lawsuit.
He uses this as a ruse to find out all of the negative things that have happened to each of the study-group members after they graduated (including Shirley's family leaving her due to her business, Britta ending up as a bartender, Annie becoming a drug rep, and Abed's film degree going nowhere); information he plans on using to convince them all to start their own lawsuits against Greendale.
Jeff soon comes to regret this decision, and after happening upon a holographic projection of Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase) in the school's courtyard, speaks with Dean Pelton.
However, after two days of brainstorming Harmon ultimately decided to instead have the episode be a "second pilot" which would take the next two seasons in a new story direction about Jeff returning to Greendale as a teacher as the rest of the study group re-enrolls.
[3] The episode features a guest appearance by Chevy Chase, who left the show as a main cast member during production of season 4.
[4] To keep the appearance hidden, the crew were only informed if they needed to work on it, and the table read featured an alternate scene in which Jeff meets Star-Burns.
[6] Throughout the episode, Abed related the potential reboot of the study group to the ninth season of the medical comedy-drama series Scrubs; Troy reacts angrily on learning the protagonist John "J.D."
Dorian (Zach Braff) does not appear in the last four episodes of said season, obliquely referring to Donald Glover's upcoming departure from Community.
[...] The show has always pulled no punches about the bleakness of the gang's lives (and life in general), but the darkness was especially notable, [...] with only a few dim sources of real hope.
"[13] Eric Goldman of IGN gave the episode a rating of 8.5 out of 10, signaling generally positive reviews, saying "I’m elated to say that “Repilot” is just the beginning of even better things to come for a show that has been able to successfully rebound in a way few others could pull off.