"Intro to Political Science" is the 17th episode
of the second season of Community. It was
originally aired on February 24, 2011 on NBC.
In the episode, Dean Pelton decides to organize
an election for campus president to welcome
the arrival of Vice President Joe Biden to
Greendale Community College. Among the candidates
are Jeff and Annie, and the race soon becomes
personal between the two. Meanwhile, a Secret
Service agent becomes attracted to Abed, and
the two pursue an unusual relationship.
The episode, which satirizes American political
culture, was written by Adam Countee, directed
by Jay Chandrasekhar, and features the second
appearance of beloved tertiary character Magnitude.
It received mixed reviews from critics.
== Plot ==
Vice President Joe Biden is to visit Greendale
Community College as part of his "Biden Time
Talking About Teaching" tour later in the
day. Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) has seven hours
to elect a student president to meet the VP.
Annie (Alison Brie) plans to run and has plenty
of ideas to improve the school. Jeff (Joel
McHale) mocks her idealism and decides to
run against her to prove his point.
Nominees are determined by applause from the
crowd. Garrett (Erik Charles Nielsen), Vicki
(Danielle Kaplowitz), Leonard (Richard Erdman),
Annie, Jeff, Starburns (Dino Stamatopoulos),
Magnitude (Luke Youngblood), and Pierce (Chevy
Chase) are nominated, but Britta (Gillian
Jacobs) fails miserably to get crowd support
for her outright anti-government platform.
The Secret Service has been observing the
campus in preparation for the VP visit, which
Abed (Danny Pudi) notices. He attracts the
attention of Special Agent Robin Vohlers (Eliza
Coupe). She spot checks his bag and dorm room
for bomb-making material and to get closer
to him. Abed and Troy (Donald Glover) also
host a political commentary program on Greendale
Campus TV (GCTV) to cover the election.
Throughout the debate, Pierce intimidates
Vicki with vile threats. Annie is the only
candidate with ideas in the debate, but she
is constantly shot down by Jeff, who belts
out crowd-pleasing slogans. Magnitude only
says "Pop-pop!", which the crowd loves. Vicki
eventually quits after another attack by Pierce,
who follows her out and reveals he only joined
the race to get back at her for not having
lent him a pencil. Starburns quits as he fears
his drug-dealing reputation will be ruined
by his political involvement. Annie screens
an embarrassing video of Jeff auditioning
for MTV's The Real World, who quits as the
crowd bursts into laughter. Annie feels bad
and withdraws too. They make up in a storage
room, where they are stumbled upon by a remorseful
Pierce, whose face has been stabbed with a
pencil by Vicki.
The race is down to Magnitude and Leonard,
and the debate becomes a back and forth between
"Pop-pop!" and Leonard blowing a raspberry.
In the end, the students vote "South Park"
as the winner.
As Abed and Troy announce the results on their
broadcast, Abed closes by making a reference
to the production of Napalm. This leads to
Vohlers receiving word that Greendale is at
"elevated threat level", forcing Biden to
cancel his visit.
Vohlers returns to Greendale under the pretense
of investigating the "threat", and spends
the night watching a movie with Abed in an
unusual date.
== Production ==
"Intro to Political Science" was written by
Adam Countee, his second writing credit of
the series. It was directed by Jay Chandrasekhar,
his second directing credit of the show.
Eliza Coupe guest starred as Special Agent
Robin Vohlers.
== Continuity ==
During her election speech, Annie mentions
that one of her goals if she is elected is
to catch the Ass Crack Bandit. The Ass Crack
Bandit would later become the basis of the
season 5 episode "Basic Intergluteal Numismatics".
== Cultural references ==
The episode was a satire of American politics,
in particular, election debates. The final
round of the student president debate consisted
of two similar candidates, repeating the same
phrases and arguing over the same issues over
and over again until the audience wonders
if it really matters who wins. After being
sunk in the debate, Annie launches a smear
campaign against Jeff. In the end, the election
was won by South Park.Jeff was insistent throughout
that popularity wins elections, not solid
platforms and promises. His opening speech
was a dig at charming politicians who pander
to voters' need to feel good about themselves.
His talk about how "beer should be cold, boots
should be dusty, 9/11 was bad and I think
freedom is a little better" was a reference
to President George W. Bush's speeches. Annie
also mimicked the structure of George H. W.
Bush's famous line, "Read my lips...".Also
featured in the episode was the Secret Service.
One Secret Service agent racially profiled
Abed, who is half Arab, to pursue a relationship
with him. The agent found nothing more threatening
on him, however, than an illegally downloaded
DVD of the strongly critically panned film
The Last Airbender, which Abed invited the
other agent to keep.
== Reception ==
=== 
Ratings ===
In its original American broadcast on February
24, 2011, the episode was viewed by an estimated
3.79 million people with a Nielsen rating
of 1.8 in the 18–49 demographic.
=== Reviews ===
"Intro to Political Science" received mixed
reviews from critics.
Jeffrey Kirkpatrick of TV Fanatic praised
the episode, saying "There were a number of
high points, starting with Abed's notching
of 'Classic Wingers' into the study desk,
with Jeff similarly notching 'ab mentions'
and Troy tracking only notches, but when the
gang entered the political realm, that's when
it really started to 'Pop Pop.'" He gave it
a 4.5/5 rating. Alan Sepinwall of HitFix said
there were "some funny moments here and there,
and a wonderful Abed subplot, but not one
of the season's strongest overall" and the
main plot "seemed a bit flat." Kelsea Stahler
of Hollywood.com called the episode "average".
Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club called it
"a very funny episode that didn't quite stick
the landing in the third act," blaming it
on the weak Jeff-Annie arc. He gave it a B+
rating
