The Psychology of Letting Go

Did You Know?

• Patton Oswalt guest starred as Nurse Jackie.
• Betty White appeared briefly as June Bauer.
• Gillian Jacobs described the oil-drenched fight scene as about a 9 on a scale of strangeness.

Plot

Troy is horrified when he finds Pierce’s mother dead, but Pierce remains calm, explaining that his Reformed Neo-Buddhist church teaches she isn’t dead—she’s been vaporized and stored in an energon pod, which is actually a lava lamp, and will return in a few years. The study group worries and wants to help Pierce face reality, but Jeff argues they should just accept Pierce’s beliefs. In anthropology class, Ian Duncan takes over as the teacher after June Bauer was suspended for assaulting Jeff.

Duncan is clearly unfit for the role. When Chang arrives, Duncan uses the restraining order against him as payback for Chang’s assault the previous year. Chang gets hurt and secures his own restraining order against Duncan, who calls it mutually assured destruction and reconciles with Chang. Jeff’s blood test shows high cholesterol, making him depressed and questioning his extreme health regimen.

He lashes out at Pierce’s cult beliefs, driving Pierce and Troy to the morgue to prove Pierce’s mom is dead and not vaporized. On the way, Pierce finds a CD his mom made and plays it. In the recording, she insists she is dead, not vaporized, and asks him to accept it, adding that life is short and he should make the most of it. Pierce dismisses the message, but Jeff is so moved he abandons his plan.

Later, eating unhealthy ice cream, Jeff accepts that nobody lives forever. Meanwhile, Annie and Britta run a fundraising campaign for the oil spill. Shirley, jealous of being left out, makes snide comments. Annie unknowingly flirts with guys to get donations, making Britta jealous. Britta then tries to outdo Annie, and the two end up arguing in the cafeteria while trying to raise funds.

Themes

This episode explores life’s meaning, mortality, and death. Jeff confronts the fact that he cannot avoid dying, no matter how healthy he tries to be. Pierce’s reaction to losing his mother shows how people, religious or not, use belief systems to handle grief and value life. As Pierce’s mother’s final message plays, Abed helps deliver a baby in the Greendale parking lot. That birth, set against the voiceover, underscores the ongoing cycle of life and death.

Cultural references

The episode took aim at AOL for its focus on fluff pieces, especially pointless animal stories. Pierce’s loyalty to a cult that swindles him with a lava lamp and claims his mother was vaporized inside it parodies Scientology. Jeff locates the Buddhist meteor crater at the base of Mount SkyMall and the SharperImage valley, a jab at two pricey, eccentric shopping catalogs. Ian Duncan’s takeover of the anthropology class, despite his complete ignorance of the subject, satirizes flaws in American education. Annie and Britta built a diorama of the BP oil spill to raise money, and Annie referenced the Haiti earthquake. The recorded message from Pierce’s deceased mother echoes a device from Taxi. The episode closes with former teacher June Bauer explaining Inception to African tribesmen.

Reception

When it first aired in the United States, roughly 4.20 million people tuned in, and it earned a 1.8 rating among adults aged 18 to 49. Critical reception was mostly favorable. Cory Barker of TV Overmind awarded it a B+, praising the writers for delivering slightly different takes on familiar storylines while keeping the humor intact. Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club gave it an A−, calling it enormously funny. Kelsea Stahler of Hollywood.com noted the episode contained politics, jealousy, AOL News, and even death. Alan Sepinwall of HitFix, who also appeared as one of the men watching Annie and Britta argue, described it as a funny and sweet narrative about mortality, grudges, and other things we must release. Matt Richenthal of TV Fanatic rated it 4.1 out of 5.