Culture of Pop

31 Days of Halloween Episodes: Epidemiology (Community)

Here at Pop Culture Spin we refuse to accept that Halloween is only one day. We’re going to be celebrating Halloween all month, by highlighting one of our favorite Halloween episodes every day. Today’s we’re looking at the Community episode “Epidemiology.”

Basic Info

Directed by: Anthony Hemingway

Written by: Karey Dornetto

Episode Number: Season 2, Episode 6

Where to Watch It: Hulu

Why It’s Great

In this high-concept episode, the food at Greendale’s Halloween party starts turning everyone into zombies. The characters attempt to escape the zombie outbreak until the only man left standing is Troy.

Despite how silly this episode is, the emotional story is genuinely great. Troy is starting to resist his friendship with Abed after realizing he’s turning into a nerd. But, after Abed sacrifices himself to save the others, Troy decides to embrace the nerdy spirit that made Abed a heroic zombie fighter.

Also, the entire episode is set to Abba’s greatest hits, which is the kind of weird, wonderful extra touch that made Community season two so special.

Why It’s Full of Halloween Spirit

Halloween episodes are a great reason to push the limits of the rules of a TV show’s universe. This episode fully embraces that. Everything somewhat makes sense in universe– it’s just food poisoning that resembles zombie-ism — but, functionally it’s like seeing the characters in an alternate sci-fi universe.

There are a couple of genuinely scary moments, notably when Jeff accidentally smashes a window, causing Annie to be grabbed by a whole mess of zombies.

Costume Count

Jeff is David Beckham

Pierce is Captain Kirk

Britta is a t-rex

Annie is Little Red Riding Hood

Shirley is Glenda the Good Witch

Abed is an alien from Alien 

Troy is Ellen Ripley, then a sexy Dracula

Dean Pelton is Lady Gaga

Chang is Peggy Fleming

Rich is a banana

Star Burns is a pirate

Leonard is a pumpkin

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