"Economics of Marine Biology" is the seventh
episode of the fourth season of the NBC sitcom
Community, which originally aired on March
21, 2013.
Dean Pelton enlists the help of the study
group in order to enroll a wealthy new student
whose laziness is expected to bring much needed
funds to Greendale.
== Plot ==
Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) asks Jeff (Joel McHale),
Britta (Gillian Jacobs), and Annie (Alison
Brie) to help Greendale recruit Archie (Zack
Pearlman), a lazy 22-year-old who has rich
parents and given his history of spending
seven years in high school, will likely inject
the community college with tuition funds.
While the Dean has set up wholesome activities
to show Archie around the college, the school
board would like to recruit him by any means
necessary — including drugs, strippers and
parties.
Not wanting Pierce (Chevy Chase) to be jealous
of the attention given to the potential student,
the Dean asks Jeff to spend the day with Pierce
in order to take him off campus.
They go to a barber's place where they have
their beards shaved.
Jeff expects it to be a bore, but then starts
enjoying it, and regrets shaving his face
himself.
After seeing Archie arrive with a new scooter,
gifted to him by City College, Greendale's
competition in enrolling Archie, the Dean
chooses to throw his ideas out and take the
school board's suggestions.
Troy (Donald Glover) and Shirley (Yvette Nicole
Brown) start their first class of Physical
Education, but the course is actually P.E.E.
(Physical Education Education), where they
are taught how to be gym teachers.
Troy flounders under the pressure, but Shirley
is quite adept at the class and quickly becomes
the top student.
When Troy is depressed by his poor performance,
Shirley comforts him and the two work together
to help continue Chang's (Ken Jeong) rehabilitation.
During a cafeteria party, with strippers and
balloons, Archie overhears Magnitude (Luke
Youngblood) saying his catchphrase, "Pop!
Pop!"
In order to make his decision and enroll,
Archie demands ownership of the catchphrase,
to which the Dean reluctantly agrees.
The next day, the Dean and Annie see a disheveled
Magnitude, now struggling to cope with life
and come up with a new catchphrase.
They realize what they have done is morally
wrong.
The Dean wakes up Archie, who has passed out
from the partying, and tells him that the
Greendale he experienced was not the real
Greendale and that if he wanted a college
that gave him special treatment it would be
elsewhere.
Archie still enrolls, appreciative of the
honesty and being treated like normal.
Pierce intercepts a text message meant for
Jeff and finds out that he was being distracted.
He is upset at the ruse.
Jeff apologises and asks the rest of the group
to be nicer toward Pierce.
== Continuity ==
Abed starts a new fraternity, the Delta Cubes.
== Production ==
This aired as episode seven, but was the sixth
episode produced.
== Reception ==
The episode was initially watched by approximately
2.95 million viewers.The episode was met with
mixed reviews.
Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V.
Club rated the episode with a B, saying it
was, "the most like an episode of classic
Community that any episode has all season,
but it’s also curiously hollow, without
any thematic weight."
where Alan Sepinwall of HitFix said it was,
"perfectly decent example of the kind of campus
hijinks episodes the series did a lot in season
1 before shifting towards more ambitious concepts
in seasons 2 and 3." and Gabrielle Moss of
TV Fanatic remarked, "Do you think I couldn't
tell that the Abed frat micro-subplot was
eighty times more interesting than anything
actually happening on screen in this episode?"
Eric Goldman of IGN gave the episode a positive
score of 8.5, praising Chevy Chase's performance
as Pierce
