#jeff x annie

milady-milord-lj:

I don’t know how many people still check this group, but I’m really hoping for some help looking for a fic. I’ve been looking for it for a long time now but I can’t even remember the title, so I can’t be sure if maybe it’s been deleted/the writer’s livejournal was disabled, or if I’m just not looking in the right places.

It was an Annie-centric story with a Jeff/Annie slant about Annie relapsing. I know there are a few stories like that, and while I can’t remember a lot of specific details, one I do remember is that Annie had a box she kept under her bed with reminders of her addiction in there, including a partially full bottle of pills. I’m pretty sure it was a oneshot (but a long one). I can’t remember exactly when it was written, but I know it was written some time during the first three seasons.

If anyone remembers this fic and can point me in the right direction with a link, or even just the title or the author (or a “it’s not online anymore” so I can stop trying to find it if that is the case), I would be super, super appreciative.

This was already answered over at at the Milady/Milord ElJay site:

It’s here: They Can Never Call You By It

the-reylo-void:

liz-marcs:

the-reylo-void:

Listening to The Darkest Timeline podcast with Paget Brewster and having lots of emotions (paraphrasing):

PAGET: Frankie and Jeff were supposed to be romantically involved.

ME:

PAGET: But Joel, you put the kibosh on that.

ME:

JOEL: True. I asked.

ME:

PAGET: And I wouldn’t want to mess with the Annie thing. I LIKE the Annie thing.

ME:

I think I owe a ton of paranoid people over a Milady/Milord on LJ a biiiiiig apology. There were a lot of people saying that Frankie was basically “an age-appropriate Annie” and that it was obvious that they were setting Frankie up to be the romantic interest replacement.

Me (then):  C’mon. There’s NO WAY they would do something like that. Do you know how shitty that would be? A last-minute swoop in from a new character rather than go with the pairing they’ve been teasing for six fuckin’ years?

Me (today): Well, shit. I don’t know what I expected.

I’m just glad that from the sounds of things Joel and Paget were both solidly against it and shut it down (although a little surprised since I haven’t gotten the impression from Joel that he was a big fan of Jeff and Annie). I’m a new fan, but I’m just continually boggling at how… DUMB this show was with some of its behind-the-scenes decisions, particularly re: romance, and wondering how much of an accident it must have been that anything on that front worked at all.

During the run of the show, Joel never really sided one way or the other. It’s after the show ended where Joel said a few minor things that – if you squint – indicated that he wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of Jeff/Annie, even if he was entirely comfortable playing romantic scenes with Alison.

I think the issue is that Joel had a kind of character-actress conflict. On the one hand, Annie is 18. On the other, Alison very much is not, and is a shitload more comfortable playing romantic than Gillian (not a slam against Gillian…she has come out and said she is hella uncomfortable doing any kind of kissing/romance and was even more so at the start of Community).

It also doesn’t help that sometimes when things would get tremendously weird on-set (which according to the cast happened all.the.damn.time because of their crazy-ass shooting schedule), Alison and Joel would kick back, pretend they were a married couple, and that they were hosing an out-of-control dinner party. (This was also recently revealed.)

I think Joel has kinda-sorta changed his mind on the whole Jeff/Annie thing, in part because “Annie” would be in her late 20s in-universe. Also, because Joel is very much a “give the people what they want” kind of guy, and he knows Jeff/Annie is easily the second most popular pairing after Troy and Abed.

So I’m very much not surprised that Joel was against a Jeff/Frankie pairing. What I am surprised about was that there were actually plans to go there.

the-reylo-void:

Listening to The Darkest Timeline podcast with Paget Brewster and having lots of emotions (paraphrasing):

PAGET: Frankie and Jeff were supposed to be romantically involved.

ME:

PAGET: But Joel, you put the kibosh on that.

ME:

JOEL: True. I asked.

ME:

PAGET: And I wouldn’t want to mess with the Annie thing. I LIKE the Annie thing.

ME:

I think I owe a ton of paranoid people over a Milady/Milord on LJ a biiiiiig apology. There were a lot of people saying that Frankie was basically “an age-appropriate Annie” and that it was obvious that they were setting Frankie up to be the romantic interest replacement.

Me (then):  C’mon. There’s NO WAY they would do something like that. Do you know how shitty that would be? A last-minute swoop in from a new character rather than go with the pairing they’ve been teasing for six fuckin’ years?

Me (today): Well, shit. I don’t know what I expected.

dannyspudi:

community hadestown au

• abed is orpheus

• troy is eurydice

• annie is persephone

• jeff is hades

• shirley is hermes

• britta clones herself and she’s all three of the fates

(if u know how the myth ends u can draw parallels btwn that and the ending of geothermal escapism :^))

edit: dean pelton is annies understudy. i dont make the rules.

Hilariously, I always switched Jeff and Annie.

Annie is Hades (she grabbed Jeff in full view of witnesses and dragged him down into the underworld back in Debate 109) and Jeff was Persephone (you know, as the grabee kissed against his will).

Oh! And then there’s the traditional offering of food in the Underworld when it’s just the two of them. Annie (Hades) offers Jeff (Persophone) a quick kiss on the lips. And Jeff turns around and eats Annie’s face in response. Which ends up haunting both of them to a greater or lesser degree for the next five damn years.

I think their personalities more fit with the traditional Hades/Persephone dynamic:  Annie pretty much never wavers once she decides what the rules are and that she should be in charge of enforcing them (Hades). In fact, at the end of the series she’s going to the FBI as an intern. It doesn’t get more law enforce-ish than that.

Jeff, both personality-wise and as a defense attorney, is always looking at ways to creatively get around or enforce the laws (if you look at Greek mythology, Persephone is the one who is always doing this, whether it’s coming up with creative punishments, or giving people a pass on them through creative interpretation of the rules). Plus, he escapes Annie’s circle of influence (Greendale) every summer, while Annie is no doubt preparing for her return to Greendale all summer.

Sooooo….yeah. Glad I’m not the only one who has ever thought this.

multiversemonitoringstation:

There’s a certain subsection of Jeff/Britta shippers who are these people who poured way too much energy into identifying with the asshole straight man early season 1 version of Britta who concoct these elaborate ideas about how Britta was “derailed” due to misogyny or was ruined so J/A could happen and its like bro will you please chill.
Community premiered during the early days of fan engagement via Twitter and Dan Harmon and the staff writers paid close attention to reactions to the early episodes so they could figure out how to optimize the show. 

Troy and Abed got big reactions so they downplayed the Troy/Pierce dynamic and we got TroBed. 

Jeff and Annie really popped in episode 6, so they tested the waters with Debate 109, it got positive reactions, and J/A became central to the show. 

Britta was consistently unpopular until they started playing her up as kind of an awkward fuck up rather than trapping her in the stereotypical woman-in-a-sitcom role where she just lectured everyone for being funny.

It was around the early-midpoint of the season that these shifts started happening and its not a coincidence that people pretty commonly say episodes 7-9 are where the show gets good. 

Honestly in its first 5 or 6 episodes, Community is good, but its kind of generic and bland. Its not that different from Outsourced or any of the other sitcoms at the time that would last a year or so and then fade away. The changes made to its characters and their relationships are what propelled it to the heights it eventually reached. 

It just seems so bizarre and boring to me to get hung up on those very early episodes and then sit through 5 and a half seasons of the show Community became, hating it for not being what you want the whole time.

To add on to this, there’s also something fans tend to miss if they don’t have the DVDs or listen to the commentaries on the DVDs:

1)  Dan admits in the commentary for pilot that Britta as a character literally had no motivation. She was nothing more than “the prize.” That was her whole purpose. She didn’t even have a motivation. She had no character. And worse…Dan even to this day admits that he doesn’t know if Britta believed Jeff’s lie about him being a Spanish tutor.

To give you an idea how bad this is (considering that Britta was originally supposed to be the female lead of the ensemble):  Annie and Shirley actually had more character motivation and the writers’ room knew their motivations while writing the pilot while Britta was nothing more than a plot point. In fact, Dan says in the commentary for the pilot that Annie was originally set up to be Jeff’s antagonist for the series, which you can clearly see in the pilot and the first couple of episodes.

2) It was the women in the writers’ room who were behind the change in Britta’s character in mid-season one and beyond. The *HATED* Britta. They told Dan that if they knew Britta as she existed in the first half of season one in real life,they would avoid the shit out of her. They were the ones that made her a kind of loveable loser.

3) For anyone who things Britta got dumbed down or turned into a slacktivist fake, clearly didn’t watch the second episode where Britta flat out admits she’s a slacktivist fake who often talks out of her ass. Imagine the second episode of the series in Season 3 where people say Britta is the most flanderized. Do you think that would be all that out of place in Season 3? Now take “Science of Illusion” (the one where Britta decides to play a practical joke on Chang and it spirals out of control) from Season 1 and put it in Season 3. It’s a perfect fit! What I’m saying is, if either one of these Season 1 episodes were filmed and aired in Season 3 instead, people would be claiming that Dan was Britta-bashing.

The thing is, Britta had elements of being a loveable fuck-up underneath the humorless straight-man cipher “man prize” that existed for most of Season 1. I often wonder if people who look at Season 1 Britta as if that version of the character was the best version of Britta were watching a completely different show.

Just dropping this here for some holiday reading from moi. These are not new, but if you’re looking for fics to read, I’ve got some here:

Kai and Gerda in Bleak Midwinter (Community; Jeff PoV; Jeff and Annie friendship/UST; S4)
It takes a moment for Jeff to realize that he’s not witnessing Annie passively daydreaming. He’s witnessing Annie actively wanting.

I Wish I Had a River (Community; Annie PoV; group fic; pre-S6)
Annie’s not feeling the holiday cheer. The Magic 8 Ball doesn’t help.

A Gift of Ordinary Magic (Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Harry Potter crossover; Xander PoV; post-S7)
There’s only one thing a muggle can do when the magic abandons the world on a cold Christmas night: fight like hell to get it back. 

Big thanks to @inkentumbls!

The mystery fic that was driving me crazy is Chang-cuffed by ficcingagain on LJ.

It’s as funny and sweet as I remember. I did misremember the reason why Jeff and Annie ended up handcuffed together. And the key was lost rather than hidden. But other than that, I was pretty close. I’ve now bookmarked it on LJ.

I tried Google. I went through the dated archives. I went through tags. I went through multiple other LJ communities. But here it is thanks to the kindness of strangers!

I’m kinda hoping that someone here bookmarked this story, but somehow I doubt it. It’s worth a shot, tho:

FANDOM:  Community
SHIP: Platonic Jeff/Annie with shippy undertones
AUTHOR:  Not sure. All I know is that it’s someone who wrote exactly ONE J/A Community fic
WHERE WAS IT:  The story was on someone’s personal Livejournal, but a link to it was posted on the Milady/Milord Livejournal (or possibly Community_TV Livejournal, but I doubt it because this Community_TV turned pretty anti-J/A around this point, I think out of self-preservation because Milady/Milord was such a massive LJ community and the J/A ship was drowning out discussion of all other ships in fandom).
WHEN WAS IT:  It was posted somewhere between “Geography of Global Conflict” (S3) and before the start of S4.

PREMISE:  Told from Jeff’s PoV. Jeff and Annie are “arrested” by Security Guard Chang and find themselves handcuffed together in an “interrogation room.” The cause is some kind of shenanigans have happened on campus and Chang is convinced the Study Group is behind it. Jeff and Annie were nabbed because that’s who Chang found first (I’m pretty sure tasering was involved). As far as Jeff and Annie know, the Study Group wasn’t involved (I think it turns out that Pierce and Shirley are solely responsible, but it was a “side adventure” and not a Study Group thing), but Chang doesn’t believe them and threatens to hold them until they come clean. Comedic interrogation follows that somehow results in Chang hiding the key and Jeff and Annie escaping while handcuffed together. They reach Troy and Abed and convince them to take them to the police station to see if they have the key for the model handcuffs they’re stuck with. There’s another comic interlude where Jeff has to let Troy drive his car because he can’t do it while handcuffed to Annie. For one reason or another, the Police don’t have a key to match the handcuffs because the handcuffs are some kind of unusual model that the police don’t use. In any case, Jeff and Annie are stuck and Cassa TroBedNie at least overnight while handcuffed together. I don’t remember how they actually manage to get out of the cuffs.

WHY DO YOU WANT TO FIND IT:  It was a great story, well-written, in-character for S3, and hella funny. Also, the Jeff voice was on the slightly unusual side, in that he is an actual functional adult who has kind of accepted his life had been turned into a Looney Tunes cartoon.

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO FIND IT:  I thought I had bookmarked it on Livejournal, but I had not. I tried going through the tags on Milady/Milord Livejournal, but considering this was someone who wrote exactly ONE J/A Community story, they don’t have a tag.

FOUND! @inkentumbls got the goods for me.

The mystery fic that was driving me crazy is Chang-cuffed by ficcingagain on LJ.

Chris McKenna, Dan Harmon’s right-hand man, had this odd head canon for S6 where both Abed and Jeff were secretly in love with Annie, and therefore had a low-level rivalry going all season, while Annie was completely clueless about all of it. When people on Twitter went, “WtF?” He backed off and said it was a joke.

Re-watching this season…you only have to squint a little bit to make a case for it.

Obviously the commentary for these episodes are not the actual plots of the episodes, just justification for why they belong on the list.

Ladders
To set up the season. And for Jeff’s freakout over Annie’s injuries.

Basic Crisis Room Decourm
Some strong Jeff/Annie undertones,

Queer Studies and Advanced Waxing
That Milady/Milord exchange at the end.

Law of Robotics and Party Rights
The scene where Annie offers Jeff some advice about being honest about his feelings.

Advanced Safety Features
Some good Jeff/Annie interactions.

Intro to Recycled Cinema
Jeff forgets that Annie is playing his daughter and NOT his love interest.

Grifting 101
Annie and Jeff butt heads a little bit. Annie ends up eating a little bit of crow.

Basic RV Repair and Palmistry
Abed’s speech at the end with key shots of Annie and Jeff reacting on particularly apropos lines. 

Wedding Videography
Jeff spends most of the episode drunk, with the occasional flash of heartbroken. Annie names Jeff as one of the dragons she needs to slay. Frankie has opinions about this state of affairs.

Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television
Jeff’s daydreaming again. Annie has a staring role. The door is left open for future developments.

Obviously the commentary for these episodes are not the actual plots of the episodes, just justification for why they belong on the list.

Repilot
Necessary to set up the season.

Introduction to Teaching
Very much a Jeff/Annie episode.

Basic Intergluteal Numismatics
Duh-doy.

Cooperative Polygraphy
Not a Jeff and Annie episode. Some interesting Jeff and Annie moments. Plus, Annie’s reaction to Jeff collecting the underwear of his conquests.

Geothermal Escapism
Jeff and Annie team up in a post-apocalyptic world.

Analysis of Cork-Based Networking
Not a Jeff and Annie episode. However, Jeff’s protective instincts once again kick into gear when he runs over other members of the study group to “save” Annie. Plus his willingness to help set up the mid-terms dance.

Advanced Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
Jeff and Annie slide into the Dad and Mom slot during the game when they find themselves on the same team. Plus the sweet interaction between them at the end.

G.I. Jeff
Not Jeff and Annie by any stretch. But it’s interesting to note that Annie is the most competent of the G.I. Jeff bunch (besides Jeff himself), and is the only one capable of flying his G.I. Jeff plane when he’s out of commission. Also, Annie’s voice is the first real-world voice that breaks through to him. Less crazy about the age reveal.

Basic Story
Necessary to set up “Basic Sandwich.”

Basic Sandwich
It’s been 84 years…or about fucking time we got some confirmation all up in here. Too bad Annie never finds out.

I had some serious issues with how Jeff and Annie as individual characters and together were portrayed this season.

Obviously the commentary for these episodes are not the actual plots of the episodes, just justification for why they belong on the list.

History 101
Jeff really doesn’t like it when Annie is mad at him.

Paranormal Parentage
Couples costume. Running argument about Pierce with Annie (as always) defending him.

Conventions of Space Time
I like to pretend that Annie was pulling a con so she could use Jeff’s credit card to order room service and just got in over her head. It’s a much better episode that way.

Alternative History of the German Invasion
Jeff defends Annie in that one scene.

Economics of Marine Biology
I could rant and rave for a very long time about how it’s out of character for Jeff to suddenly become Pierce’s biggest defender while Annie is the one who always treats Pierce like shit. And we’re supposed to buy it, despite three-and-a-half years of the opposite being the case. Despite the fact that we have an episode in this same season showing that this isn’t the case. But still:  Jeff/Annie plot line.

Intro to Knots
Strong Jeff/Annie vibes.

Advanced Introduction to Finality
Funny how Jeff/Annie was supposedly all in Annie’s head, hunh? Yeah. This episode pretty much says the opposite.

Obviously the commentary for these episodes are not the actual plots of the episodes, just justification for why they belong on the list.

Biology 101
Based on some things Annie did in this episode, she still hasn’t forgiven Jeff for all of S2.

Geography of Global Conflict
Jeff’s protective instinct kicks in, Annie goes overboard. Per the DVD commentary, both Alison Brie and Joel McHale were hella confused by the couch conversation and thought Dan Harmon was pulling “secret sex” again, only this time with Jeff and Annie. Turns out the answer is no. Andy Bobrow had a headcanon that Jeff and Annie had a fling over the summer, which Dan shot down. Hard.

Remedial Chaos Theory
Alternative timelines, including alternative Jeffs and Annies.

Competitive Ecology
Jeff and Annie team up for a project. It…doesn’t go well.

Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps
Annie’s take on “Twilight” is worth it.

Regional Holiday Music
Yes, the Sexy Santa Dance is cringey. It’s supposed to be. Except Alison plays it straight.

Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts
How many times does Annie show up in Jeff’s heart again?

Digital Exploration of Interior Design
Annie’s fishing for an apology using a mysterious letter in Jeff’s locker as a way to get it. She fails. Per the DVD commentary, the original concept was that Jeff finds a letter in his locker that is easily the most romantic he’s ever read and is desperate to find the author. Annie agrees to help. Plot TWIST:  Annie’s playing him. Turns out she wrote it in the aftermath of “Paradigms of Human Memory” in S2 and she’s trying to get the letter back. It was supposed to mark “a big change in the Jeff/Annie relationship.” It was nuked as a result of NBC putting the series on a mid-year hiatus.

Pillows and Blankets
Jeff and Annie in a time of civil war.

Origins of Vampire Mythology
Not even remotely and Jeff and Annie episode, but important to the overall arc.

Virtual Systems Analysis
Abed-Jeff and Annie. Sort of. Important to the overall arc.

Basic Lupine Urology
Duh-doy.

Course Listing Unavailable
Not a Jeff/Annie episode. But need to watch for “Curriculum Unavailable.”

Curriculum Unavailable
Some nice background interactions between Jeff and Annie.

Obviously the commentary for these episodes are not the actual plots of the episodes, just justification for why they belong on the list.

Anthropology 101
Cringey as hell, but necessary for the overall arc.

Accounting for Lawyers
Not a Jeff/Annie episode, but Annie holds an important key to solving the mystery of Jeff’s disbarment.

The Psychology of Letting Go
Not at all a Jeff/Annie episode, but necessary for the overall arc for the tension with Britta.

Basic Rocket Science
Per the DVD commentary, it’s around this episode that Jeff and Britta started their secret sexcapades. Jeff comes to Annie’s defense in this episode. Fans still debate over whether Jeff lied to protect Annie or was telling the truth.

Epidemiology
Not at all a Jeff/Annie episode, but lays some of the groundwork for “Asian Population Studies”.

Cooperative Calligraphy
For THAT fight scene between Jeff and Annie.

Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design
Duh-doy,

Asian Population Studies
Another duh-doy.

Celebrity Pharmacology Studies
Not at all a Jeff/Annie episode, but fills in some important background on Annie.

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
Annie is the one that got Jeff to intervene to begin with.

Intermediate Documentary Film Making
Not at all a Jeff/Annie episode. Jeff gets protective of Annie. Also fills in some important background on Jeff. Turns out both Jeff and Annie have a history of parental abandonment. This weirdly never comes into play for their friendship/UST.

Intro to Political Science
Per the DVD commentary, the writer’s room had fallen behind and needed to come up with an episode quick. This script (which had Annie and Jeff battling it out through proxies) had languished undeveloped because the plot was too complicated. So they quickly stripped it down, and had Annie and Jeff battling each other directly. The reasoning was they could throw a half-assed script together, throw Jeff and Annie in the foreground, let Joel McHale and Alison Brie sell the shit out of it, and then call it a day.

Competitive Wine Tasting
A key scene between Jeff and Annie sets up Annie’s heartbreak in “Paradigms of Human Memory”.

Paradigms of Human Memory
My heart still breaks for Annie.

Fistful of Paintballs
Some nice Jeff/Annie scenes.

A Few Paintballs More
To close out “Fistful of Paintballs,”

Someone asked this over on Milady/Milord, as there used to be an “Episode Guide to Jeff and Annie” floating around on Tumblr that somehow got nuked.

I decided to come up with a list for them. I’m so pleased with it, I’m going to post it here.

Obviously the commentary for these episodes are not the actual plots of the episodes, just justification for why they belong on the list.

Pilot
If you listen to the DVD commentary for this episode, Annie was originally set up to be Jeff’s primary antagonist who’d narc him out every chance she got. Think Tracey Flick with a chip on her shoulder and Jeff as a target in her unforgiving sight. This characterization never made it out of “Pilot,” but you can see the intent is there.

Spanish 101
For the first ever Milady/Milord exchange at the beginning.

Football, Feminism, and You
Funny thing about this episode. If you listen to the DVD commentaries, it was considered a Troy/Jeff episode, with Annie/Jeff being a distant subplot. Whoops!

Introduction to Statistics
Per the DVD commentaries, the little dancing scene at the end is what convinced Dan Harmon to at least play with the idea of Jeff/Annie.

Home Economics
Not a Jeff/Annie episode. But I think it’s interesting in that it kind of highlights why the original pairings of Jeff/Britta and Troy/Annie aren’t particularly healthy.

Debate 109
Duh.

Investigative Journalism
Not going to lie. The journalism storyline irritates. And Annie’s apology to Jeff at the end makes me want to pull my hair out. But it is undeniably a Jeff/Annie episode.

Romantic Expressionism
First example of Jeff deciding to mess with Annie’s love life. That, and Britta knowing that the easiest way to manipulate Jeff is to play the “Annie is in danger” card.

Physical Education
For Annie perving on naked Jeff.

Basic Geneaology
Jeff repeatedly going to Annie for advice throughout the episode.

Beginner Pottery
Lays the groundwork for Season 2′s “Asian Population Studies”

English as a Second Language
Not strictly a Jeff/Annie storyline, but one that is important to the overall arc.

Pascal’s Triangle Revisited
Dat cliffhanger, though.

charming-fan-girl:

Serious question why was the group in Community so grossed out and not okay with Jeff and Annie kissing because of the age difference but it’s ok when she likes Rick who has to be the same age as Jeff or older

This is an interesting question. In all honesty, I think everyone had different motivations.I’m going to go in order of what I think will get me the least amount of hate to the most amount of hate:

Meta Reason (i.e., Dan Harmon and the Writers):  Basically to reinforce two things:  1) Annie is attracted to older men without really understanding what that could mean in terms of a relationship and 2) Good older men would see Annie as a vulnerable young woman and not take advantage of her attraction to them.

Think of how the whole story plays out in “Asian Population Studies.” Jeff is undoubtedly attracted to Annie, despite him dating the more age-appropriate Britta. Meanwhile, “good” older man (or at least the one painted as being the “good one” in the eyes of the characters) Rich, ultimately turns down Annie’s overtures specifically because she’s too young.

Think about this:  Both Jeff and Rich treat Annie somewhat the same. Both pay a lot of attention to Annie, they compliment her, listen to her, and do take her somewhat seriously in limited circumstances. However, Rich is held up as the “right” way to deal with Annie when the friendship starts taking a turn into crush-ville. He lets her down gently, is honest about why, and then eases out of her life. Jeff, by contrast, is not honest, blows hot-and-cold, and (in season two, anyway) encourages Annie’s attraction when it’s convenient, and then dumps ice cold water on her attraction when it becomes inconvenient.

Compare and contrast:  Jeff’s on-screen response to Annie when she confronts him is literally a non-answer (not yes, but not no either), leaving Annie to take decisive action when Jeff refuses to commit to any. Rich’s response (as told by Abed) is straightforward, to the point, and lays down clear boundaries.

Dan Harmon & Co. say in “Asian Population Studies” that Jeff is in the wrong from beginning to end (starting with his jealousy over the idea that Annie found someone even before he knew it was Rich, through his attempts at sabotaging a potential relationship between Annie and Rich, through his refusal to be honest with Annie when she confronts him about it, and ending with his request that Rich teach him how to be more manipulative). Meanwhile, Rich is held up as an example of what Jeff should do with respect to Annie.

The sad thing is this:  Jeff never learns that lesson. Whether it’s season two or season six, Jeff is never really honest with Annie about his feelings, what he wants, or why he feels a relationship between the two of them is not possible.

Yes, Rich put up a brick wall, but here’s the thing:  Annie may have been upset about it, but she very quickly got over it. From Annie’s point of view, Jeff strung her along for years without committing to anything.

Now for the character motivations (at least as I see them) under the cut:

Keep in mind, my reasoning below is in character, and is not meant to reflect whether Ithink they’re right (or wrong).

Pierce:  Jealousy, pure and simple. I don’t think Pierce has any objections to younger women dating older men, even if those ages are 20 and 36, respectively. However, I can easily see him objecting to said 20 year-old specifically dating Jeff. Remember, Pierce has always shown himself to be, by turns, admiring and jealous of Jeff’s standing as group leader and (at least at this point in the series) resident “cool guy.” If Annie is dating Rich, she’s at least not dating Jeff. Bonus, Annie dating an older guy who’s not-Pierce but also not-Jeff wouldn’t be in his face. While there might be a little bit of protectiveness when it comes to Annie, let’s be serious. If Rich reinforced Annie’s a taste for older men, she just might try to get with him rather than Jeff. And if that next older man on Annie’s hit list just happened to be Pierce, do you honestly think he’d say “no” to that?

Shirley:  Shirley has been low-key routing for Jeff and Britta from the get-go (a fact that comes up in asides through out the first five seasons), and she knows Annie’s got a thing for Jeff. Annie deciding to turn her affection and romantic attention on someone who’s not-Jeff clears away one potentially fatal distraction from her hoped-for rom-com happy ending, while also making Annie happy. In her mind, it’s a win-win. Plus, she could also see an Annie-Jeff match-up as being bad for Annie, especially since Jeff portrays himself as a hound dog. Rich comes across as a super-nice, respectable kind of guy who’d probably treat Annie right, as opposed to a notch on the bed-post.

Troy:  Troy doesn’t particularly care when it comes to the whole question of Jeff vs/ Rich. Annie is friend, and nothing more. She can date who she wants. Troy pretends to care simply because other people care. If they think it’s a bad idea, then it probably is and he’s just missing something. Since he doesn’t want to admit that he can’t see what the big deal is, he’s just going along with what everyone else says.

Abed:  Abed has decided that any hook-up between study group members is a bad idea. The whole fallout from “Pascal’s Triangle Revisited” and “Anthropology 101″ led to bad feelings and chaos in the study group. Worse, it made for “bad television” (read:  soured the group dynamics for while), so he’s at the point where he doesn’t want any intra-group hook-ups. Annie switching her affections from Jeff to someone outside of the group eliminates one potential danger. And Abed knows it’s a danger. If you watch the lunch room scene where Jeff objects to Rich, Abed is watching Jeff very, very carefully. He knows that if Jeff really wanted it, Annie and Jeff would be an item (which could potentially lead to another cycle of bad feelings and chaos), and there’d be shit-all he could do about it.

Britta:  This is the one I think people are really going to hate me for. Britta is all for Annie-Rich for a mix of reasons, complicated by a little jealousy and her own feelings of inadequacy and unhappiness.

People tend to forget that at this point Jeff and Britta are in the middle of their secret relationship. It’s pretty clear from the context of season two that it’s not even a little bit monogamous (Jeff and Britta can sleep with other people). Britta doesn’t really seem to have any issues with the arrangement, since we see her pursuing other men on screen and hear references to her seeing other men.

(Side note: I’ve always held that Jeff, at least initially, was more into Britta than Britta was into him. His conversation with Abed in “Critical Film Studies” hint at the fact that his relationship with Britta is not panning out as he hoped. I mean, he’s calling phone sex lines not for the sex, but to cosplay as someone he would peg as being a loser so he can hear someone say they love him despite that. It’s probably no accident that the first time we see or hear of Jeff chasing after another woman is in “Competitive Wine Tasting,” which is the very next episode.)

In short, I don’t think Britta actually cares about Jeff sleeping with other people, unless that “other people” is specifically Annie.

Now, I think the “Annie exception” for Jeff springs from a mix of good and bad motivations.

On the selfless side:  Britta obviously knows that Jeff is a shit romantic partner, a selfish lover who’s emotionally closed off, and (she believes) a generally pretty terrible person. While she’s fine with it in a booty call-casual relationship kind of way, she knows that Annie wouldn’t enter into a relationship with Jeff with that same mindset. Annie’s is still, very obviously, a hearts-and-flowers romantic who’d have no clue how to handle someone with Jeff’s baggage. That means that Annie’s going to get really hurt and possibly damaged if she gets into a relationship with Jeff, at least at this point in her life. Going by some stray comments Britta has made throughout the seasons, I suspect that there’s a little bit of experience on Britta’s side where she did get badly burned in a parallel situation.

On the selfish side:  If Jeff starts acting on his attraction to Annie, that will lead to an unnecessary complication in her thing with Jeff. She would either have to continue her secret relationship with Jeff knowing that Annie was the other woman in this scenario (guilt city, party one), or she and Jeff would have to end it, which she doesn’t particularly want to do. Worse, no matter which way she and Jeff decide to go (keep going or end it), the risk of her thing with Jeff getting public exposure increases exponentially. A wrong word in the heat of the moment is all it takes to a ton of shit to rain down on everyone’s head. The easiest solution all around is just to direct Annie’s attention and affection elsewhere as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

And finally, on the jealous side:  Britta may also be afraid of another “Vaughn situation” where the guy she’s dating (or dated in the case of Vaughn) actually prefers Annie over her. This last bit actually has some support for it. There are a couple of times during season two when Annie and Jeff are being particularly chummy in front of the other study group members where a quick scene of Britta watching them through narrow eyes is inserted. In fact, you can even see in the lunch room scene that Britta is literally glaring at Jeff while he voices all his objections to Rich. She’s not buying anything Jeff is saying.

And…there it is. That’s my reasoning for why everyone objects to Annie dating Jeff, but is seemingly okay with her dating Rich.