4x10 "Intro to Knots" (The Empire Strikes Back)

"Intro to Knots"

Original Airdate: April 18, 2013

War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. (Okay, look, I promise not to copy and paste the lyrics to “War” as the blog-review this week. Though, I admit that I was tempted to just to see how everyone would respond.) War is painful and it’s damaging. It’s something that we’d all rather brush under the rugs of our daily lives and pretend doesn’t exist. And truly, unless we have immediate family members, close friends, or other loved ones serving in the military, too often we find ourselves taking for granted the fact that so many people fight for us on a daily basis. I never really understood war, but I know that it’s woven into the fabric of our history. I remember studying battles in high school, learning about leaders and armies and tactics. I had the amazing opportunity to visit Rome this past summer and visited Julius Caesar’s grave, as well as the Roman Ruins. I stood in the place where great leaders delivered their nations through wars, where mighty empires like Rome rose and fell. So this episode of Community centered around the idea of an empire – the study group. In the past, I’ve discussed the significance of Megan Ganz’s first episode, “Cooperative Calligraphy.” In my review of it, I noted that it was at the end of this episode that the study group began to function as one unit. Rather than seven individual members, the Greendale Seven became one entity with one purpose: protect the group from outsiders, from anyone seeking to destroy it.

The group’s collective mentality has been both a blessing and a curse, as we’ve seen in this season’s episodes (most notably “Alternative History of the German Invasion”). Sure, the study group has survived paintball wars together, insane teachers, and Chang. They love each other. They spend, presumably, the majority of their time together. They always want to look out for the best interests of the group as a whole. But what happens when an entity is challenged by an outsider who discovers a crack in the armor of the group? What happens when stakes are raised for an empire? Because I do believe that the reason this episode was so tense (and by that, I do mean that it was brilliant in the sense that you could tangibly feel high stakes) was because it was supposed to be: there is more at stake this year for the Greendale Seven than there ever has been. Many of the group members are on the cusp of graduation. With that, however, comes a price: individuality begins to become a dominating force. Empires fall when the goals and desires of the individuals outweigh the goals and desires of the group at large. Nothing divides the study group faster, we see, than the issue of graduation. Watch “Cooperative Calligraphy,” however, because I do believe that the study group emerges victorious because they have learned from their failures. They realize that it is difficult to face an external enemy, but the TRUE enemy is the dissention they create amongst each other. THAT is the most destructive force of all. And it’s something that Cornwallis attempts to mine (and nearly does) throughout the episode.


In case you were so distracted by the adorable kittens at the end of this episode (and let's face it, who wasn't?) that you forgot the plot, here's a recap of the events: The episode opens with Jeff preparing a Christmas tree for the group’s party (from here on out, I’ll be celebrating Christmas on April 18th), when Annie joins. She insists on making Jeff’s apartment, where the party is being hosted, a bit less… bleak. In typical Annie fashion, she goes overboard with decorations (and furnishings) and Jeff asks if they need to have a discussion about playing house again.

I know you all are just dying to listen to me rant and rave about the lack of Jeff/Annie progression, the dismissal of her characterization, the constant need to infantilize her character, make a relationship with Jeff seem creepy, etc. But I’m not going to do that. If you want to read my thoughts about Jeff/Annie, feel free to check out my Explorations of Romantic Chemistry post, where I compare the way that they have been written to the way Liz Meriwether and company have written Nick/Jess on New Girl. It aptly sums up everything I think. My only comment will be this, and then I will move onto more important things like characterization and group dynamics: I am disappointed, but not because I am a shipper. As I elaborate on within my other post, I would much rather have watched Jeff and Annie be completely ignored as a pairing than treated as merely a bone to keep half the Community audience interested. I fear that the writers believed if they dropped Jeff/Annie completely, or made no promises of scenes and episodes between the two characters, that they would lose half of their viewing audience. I would have, honestly, much rather seen the relationship between these two characters completely dropped than merely continue to receive Jeff/Annie “fan service” throughout episodes with no real substance or growth for either of the characters. The bottom line is that I am disappointed, not because I feel slighted. I don’t feel that the writers owe ME anything. I’m disappointed because these characters deserved to be treated better than they were this year, and THEY are who I truly care about.

Having said that, make no mistake about it: I loved this episode. Andy Bobrow (@abobrow), captain of the Jeff/Annie ship (just kidding; but I still love you Bobrow – I promise!), did a fantastic job orchestrating an atmosphere of tension. I, like some others, was a bit distracted during the first half of the episode because I was playing along with the Zeebox Bingo Game. But I became so utterly invested once I could concentrate on the episode and not the game anymore. This, to be honest, is the first episode of the season where I have been on the edge of my seat, pre-commercial. A lot of wonderful character developments and revelations happened throughout the episode, and a lot of important things happened to the group as a whole, exemplifying how far they have grown together over the course of four years. Specifically, there were some nice parallels to “Cooperative Calligraphy.” Minus the tag (which I was ambivalent about, more because of plot development rather than shipping preferences and the implications that the tag presented), I thought that this episode – as a whole – was one of the best, if not the best this season, cohesively. So bravo, Bobrow!

Jeff and Annie hang curtains and the petite brunette continues to decorate his apartment in preparation for their friends. If I watched this episode without any knowledge of who these characters were, I’d swear they were married. You’re doing it wrong, actors! ;) Nevertheless, Jeff discovers a wrapped present that Annie brought and chastises her. They weren’t supposed to exchange any gifts. “A gift creates obligation,” Jeff insists. Annie counters with: “I don’t see it that way!” Remember this conversation, folks. I was challenged to dissect the end of the episode and this will come back around.

As the rest of the study group arrives, they also bring gifts. Come on, Jeff! Don’t you know that “don’t bring gifts” is actually code for “bring presents”? Abed arrives, intent that the group visits a local sushi restaurant in order to reenact “Die Hard.” The only member of the group that is absent is Pierce, of course. Even Kevin (er, Chang) is in attendance. As it turns out, the Christmas party is multi-purposeful. Annie has an announcement: she’s gotten wind from Quendra that they all received a failing grade on their recent history paper. The group, rightfully, is appalled at this news. But no one, except for Jeff, is actually outraged.

What I think is really interesting – and such great development – in regards to Jeff during this episode is the fact that we see the distinct progression from who Jeff was, to who he is, and who he wants to become. Initially, Jeff’s response is to become selfish and enraged. He asks who ruined HIS grade, costing (potentially) HIS opportunity to graduate early. Everything about Jeff’s knee-jerk reaction screams “selfish.” But once he calms down and Annie explains that she’s invited Cornwallis to their party, Jeff formulates a plan to correct (what we learn later is likely his) the poor grade, noting that Annie's plan is good: they'll mingle with the professor and get a passing grade (or an A, as Annie suggests).

As I stated last week (or, well, technically earlier this week), Annie’s biggest vice is her desire for perfection. She always wants to be the best. No, she NEEDS to be the best. Good things happen when Annie is succeeding – her friends succeed too. But, conversely, when Annie fails or feels like her identity (her studiousness) is threatened, she becomes vulnerable. And vulnerable people are cracks in the armor of an empire, remember.

(Sidenote: That cold open has made it onto my list of favorites. Nothing, however, will top “Investigative Journalism.”)

Cornwallis arrives and the group attempts to suck up to him to the best of their ability, with Jeff ushering the professor over to the bar for drinks, and Annie and Shirley serving snacks. Troy gives Abed a “Die Hard”-themed Christmas present, since he knows his best friends is upset that they couldn’t reenact the movie at the sushi restaurant. I do enjoy the fact that Troy and Abed’s relationship is back to a stable place this season. I think we definitely needed to see the tension and conflict that can exist within the two last season, but I thoroughly enjoy them being best friends.

Jeff’s conversation with Cornwallis isn’t quite going as planned, so he attempts to enlist Britta to entice the professor, with the other women. Britta, of course, refuses. In the kitchen, Jeff reveals something to Britta after he realizes that she actually researched her portion of the paper: he didn’t technically do his section of the assignment. Instead, he merely copied the lyrics to “War.” (Jeff, you’re so much better than that!) Britta chastises him for his behavior, understandably. And Jeff makes an excuse when Britta points out that the group relied on him: they, he argues, should have known better than to rely on him. The irony, of course, was that he thought he could rely on the others – on Pierce to pawn his portion off on Neil (aww, Jeff didn’t call him Fat Neil), on Annie to get an A, and on everyone else to do average work and earn them all a C.

What I noted in my above paragraph rings true: this is an echo of who Jeff currently is. He’s grown a long way since entering Greendale, but he still thinks that others will be there to support him, allowing him to do less work. This is part of his selfishness, coming into play, when he acts lazy or disinterested. Yes, Jeff has matured. But he still has a long way to go… and that’s what he realizes as well. Where Jeff Winger from first season would have let the group suffer, this Jeff takes corrective action, saying: “I’ll make it right.”

In the living room, Jeff asks Annie how their plan to get on Cornwallis’ good side is going. She informs him that Kevin (er, Chang) is showing their professor a card trick. Horrified at what could potentially go wrong, Jeff intervenes.

Jeff continues to try to suck up to Cornwallis, but the professor sees right through him. Instead, he insists that the reason Jeff is behaving the way that he is centers around the C- that the group received on their paper. … Interestingly enough, Annie failed to mention to the group that they actually received a passing grade on their paper. When confronted by Jeff, Annie defends her statement from earlier – a C- is NOT a passing grade for a valedictorian. While they argue, Jeff insists that he wouldn’t have wanted to spend time sucking up to Cornwallis if he had known they passed their paper. Overhearing the conversation, Cornwallis then declares that they’ve all failed.

Jeff confronts Annie's behavior by barking at her: “You ruined our Christmas dinner so you could be crowned the smartest person at the dumbest school?”

Let's pause, momentarily, and examine this because I noticed something pretty interesting. Annie will forever define herself by grades, by aptitude, by scores, and by comparing herself to others. She and Jeff fight about this momentarily, but I thought I’d pause to note that each of these characters entered Greendale being defined by ONE thing – and all of them are STILL defining themselves by it.

Jeff: former success as a lawyer. He is still intent on getting back to his old life, or – in the very least – getting out of Greendale. And he’ll do just about anything to get it.

Annie: being a model student. Annie’s had to build herself back up from rock bottom and she prides herself in that. Without the affirmation from grades and numbers, she feels worthless – she needs that acknowledgement, and it’s not always a bad thing. But sometimes it is.

Britta: making a difference. Britta defines herself as an activist, and she defines herself by what she does. That is, essentially, WHO she is. She supports causes that she knows nothing about but to her, that is irrelevant. The important thing is that she is DOING.

Abed: relating life to pop culture. Yes, Abed has grown leaps and bounds since the pilot episode. But in this episode specifically, we see that Abed still defines himself by his ability to relate circumstances to popular culture.

Pierce: being cool and accepted. If watching “Economics of Marine Biology” didn’t convince you that Pierce STILL craves acceptance by the group and by Jeff then I simply cannot help you understand his character any further.

Troy: being respected. Troy entered Greendale as an athlete who wanted respect from his classmates because of who he was – because he wore a letterman jacket. In the past few seasons, we’ve seen him struggle with Jeff for the title of Alpha Male, which stems back to Troy’s confidence (again, feeling threatened by Jeff is something that occurs in this episode as well).

Shirley: being independent. Shirley, even though she is married and has a family, has always wanted to find respect and admiration for being a strong, self-sufficient woman. And she still struggles with this identity. She wrestles with being a good mom, a wife, a friend, and student. And in “Intro to Knots,” she admits to being on the fast track to becoming a valedictorian. She strives for respect, like Troy, but to also do life on her own and become successful in the process.

That’s when Jeff decides that he needs to hold a pow-wow with the rest of the group to discuss the current crisis. Jeff barks for them all to follow him into the bedroom, and Kim posted one of my favorite tweets of the night: @dramakim: I imagined Jeff saying "Bedroom, now" to Annie in a different way. #pathological

Annie tells the group that Jeff just got them all a failing grade by insulting Cornwallis in the kitchen. Jeff counters with the fact that Annie LIED to them earlier. Instead of failing grades, they had actually received C’s. What I think my favorite part of this episode right now is this: no one blames Annie for their current situation apart from Jeff. And I think that says a lot, perhaps, about his character and the fact that he was so consumed with caring about HIS chances at graduation, that he doesn’t empathize with people who are like Annie – those who are meticulous. But I think that this scene also says a LOT more about the character of the other group members. Jeff is upset because he’s a lot like Annie… he just can’t see it. He likes things well-ordered. He likes plans. If you throw him off a plan (see: what happened earlier in the episode when he presumed his early graduation would be delayed), Jeff freaks out. When you throw Annie off a plan, she reacts similarly. Annie has always wanted to be the best, but Jeff is always willing to settle. In this episode, they all end up working for the middle, which is interesting and ironic.

But what I truly love the most is that when Jeff and Annie are fighting with one another (I do love when they fight), rather than blame ANNIE for their problems, Britta turns her judge-y face toward Jeff (this is a lot different than what happened in, oh, say, “Cooperative Calligraphy” where the two women duked it out verbally before turning on everyone else in the group, as well). Jeff, Britta insists with her face, was the one who taunted Cornwallis, after all. The group blames him, more than Annie And Jeff takes the fall for what occurred, which I think shows pretty good growth, again, in his character: he may not always react in the way that we want him to initially, but new Jeff is intent on making right.

The group emerges from the bedroom once they hear Cornwallis’ indignant cries and find that Kevin has tied the professor to a chair. Annie treads lightly on the situation, apologizing for Kevin’s behavior and prepared to untie him. Jeff stops her, however. The study group now has their only enemy captured – they have the upper hand, and the leverage they need in order to get Cornwallis to raise their grade from an F back to a C- (or, as Jeff adds once he looks over at Annie, perhaps even an A). Cornwallis, however, doubts that they’ll get away with much of anything. He threatens to call the police, but Jeff reminds him that he’s outnumbered and really, whose story is the police most likely to believe anyway?

And then, something interesting happens. Cornwallis doubts the strength of the study group’s “empire.” He notes that empires crumble from within, and he can prove it. He’ll be able to pinpoint the weakest member of the group – the one whose selfishness will destroy everyone – by offering an A to the person who unties him, while promising to still fail the rest of the group. It’s a moment that is indicative of how the group used to behave, as everyone leaps to their feet, shouting at one another not to cave. Jeff, likely voice of reason, steps in and insists that everyone stop listening to Cornwallis.

But what Cornwallis knows is this: an empire doesn’t need to fight an external enemy. Swords and weapons aren’t the strongest weapons at an empire’s disposal. The strongest weapon, of course, is ONE person. Cornwallis merely planted an idea which (much like Inception) grew and grew until it consumed the thoughts of the group members. The study group never gave in, though, to Cornwallis’ idea. The group from “Cooperative Calligraphy” did, though. They turned on each other… fast. Their selfishness and short tempers caused them to hurt one another. That is why the empire crumbled. And the only way that it was rebuilt was through Jeff’s realization that the group NEEDED to walk out of the room trusting each and every other member. If they didn’t, they’d never be able to trust each other again.

Cornwallis insists that he is attempting to teach the group a lesson about how self-obsessed nations are doomed to failure: there is always one person in the group who desires to become the betrayer – that person who receives all the glory, even though they are shunned by history and their empire alike. Cornwallis’ job is to, like I noted at the beginning of the episode, pinpoint the highest stakes. Who in the study group would have the most reason to betray their fellow friends? I do like that he attempted to “sway” Abed, who really was just interested in watching everything unfold, rather than participate.

Cracks, the professor instructs, are often hidden within alliances. And the strongest alliances are romantic entanglements. He pinpoints Troy and Britta, noting that since they are dating, members of the group must have SOME sort of issue. Everyone laughs at the implication, including Britta and Troy. Britta notes that she and Jeff used to date, and he has no problem with her new relationship.

Jeff tells Britta to quiet down, as information is ammunition when it comes to an enemy. And truly, that’s what their “empire” is warring against throughout the episode. Cornwallis is the enemy, and Jeff is the commanding officer of the empire. Jeff also corrects Britta: what they did was not considered to be dating. Cornwallis takes Jeff’s innocent statement (because it WAS an innocent statement) and fashions it into a weapon. Truly, the group quickly learns that Jeff was correct – had Britta remained silent, Cornwallis would have no ammunition. Now, he can build a weapon out of an idea and an assumption. He can construct fears and doubts in the mind of Troy (who already has insecurity issues when it comes to Jeff). Again, Jeff knows that this is what a good enemy DOES – they find the weakness, and when they do, they exploit it and use it to destroy an empire. The information never has to be true – it only has to be able to do damage in some way, shape, or form.

Romantic entanglements don’t work for Cornwallis to use against the group. That particular weapon isn’t quite strong enough. So he turns to the one weapon he used earlier – the desire to pursue the path to become valedictorian. Annie, however, insists that she’d never turn against the group. But Cornwallis was not talking about her: he was talking about Shirley. The group is surprised, but Annie is floored (and then angered). Annie and Shirley are both extremely competitive (remember “Herstory of Dance”?), and now Cornwallis can use this ammunition to his advantage. One of them, surely, will become the betrayer. The stakes have been ticked upward in both Shirley and Annie’s favors, after all.

Jeff urges Annie not to give into Cornwallis’ deception, but the professor continues to rattle on, hitting every weak point in Annie’s life. He insists that her friends are already upset with her for throwing a disastrous party. They don’t REALLY want to help her. And she DOES need that A in order to succeed in becoming the valedictorian (this also helps explain a bit more as to Annie’s behavior during “Intro to Felt Surrogacy”). Annie, in our minds, is most likely to cave. She’s vulnerable, she’s driven, and that often causes people to act irrationally. But, heroically, Annie stands her ground and refuses to cave (though it looks like it takes everything within her to do so and she looks utterly traumatized and exhausted after she does).

The last bit of ammunition that Cornwallis has is his most powerful, he believes. In order to take down an empire, you can try to stir the empire against one another – you can throw obstacles at them, cause dissention, etc. But those tactics have failed Cornwallis. And, in hopes that the group will do the work for him, he goes after the most powerful figure in the empire – the leader.

Jeff admits, under pressure from Cornwallis, that he ignored his section of the paper, failed, and therefore was the one to cause them to earn a C- in the first place. Cornwallis, really, played two strategies here: 1) if he believed Jeff would openly admit to failing his portion of the paper, he also believed the group would finally turn on him for it, or 2) he believed Jeff would NOT confess his misdeeds and that would cause the group to turn on him. Either way, Cornwallis believed that the empire would be destroyed. An empire, after all, is only as strong as its leader. What happens, then, when the leader fails to protect the empire as a whole and only looks out for his own interests?

This strategy, being the most powerful, works. Upon learning about Jeff’s selfishness, Annie punches his arm, Shirley yells at him, and the group begins to fight with one another… while Cornwallis sits, pleased with himself. But then… the doorbell rings.

As it turns out, the guest at the door is Dean Pelton, who was wondering what all the fuss was about. As the group attempts to shield him from the tied-up professor currently being held hostage in the apartment… they look around and notice that he is no longer tied to his chair. Momentary panic sets in as Jeff attempts to usher the dean out of the door.

Cornwallis appears, drink in hand, from the corner of the room and notes that SOMEONE untied him. But who? Cornwallis’ tactics crumbled, though the group doesn’t know that. Once they became distracted from their anger toward Jeff upon the doorbell ringing, the professor lost the last bit of ammunition that he could rely on. So he fell back onto the final, and lowest, form of destruction: manipulation and flat-out lying.

Jeff launches into a really interesting Winger speech, then. He explains that they’re not an empire. They are flawed, selfish people. And that means that at any point in time, each one of the members is helping save another member because of something selfish or stupid they did. It’s this notion that since no one is perfect, everyone is flawed. And the further you fall, the more humble you become because you realize that you can accept those who fall and continue to fall because you, too, have been in their shoes. It’s a beautiful speech, really, because it’s true. Humanity is defined by imperfection. We are all imperfect people, helping other imperfect people make it through life. And sometimes we do things right. Sometimes we mess up. But it takes the broken to understand the broken. And once broken people choose to support others at the very places where they fall, they begin to rise back up again and grow – together.

Once Cornwallis notes that this sort of speech is EXACTLY what a betrayer would say, Jeff – angered – ties the professor back to the chair and the group decides to resume their Christmas celebrations and open their gifts. When Kevin presents them each with a gift, Annie notices that the bows are untied. She hesitantly asks Kevin (Chang, DANGIT) how to tie a knot… which, as it turns out, he cannot do. Annie and Jeff have a revelation at the same time: the professor had never been really tied up in the first place. Instead, he had merely pretended in order to curb his loneliness during the holidays. Jeff uses this information as leverage in order to try and earn the group a passing grade.

When Jeff attempts to persuade Cornwallis to give them all As, for Annie's sake, she tells Jeff that he's overreaching. (Look! Annie's growing!) And Jeff’s growing because he wanted to take an F for his portion (which would have prevented him from graduating early) so that Shirley and Annie could be graded fairly for their A-worthy portions. But the mother of three refuses – they will all take the same grade. Pass together, fail together, the point – Shirley reaffirms – is that they will do it together.

The gifts that they exchange are perfect (The Brownie Bible! Cat-astrophies calendar! And do I spy Jeff with a Flameless Candle?), but Jeff notes that since he brought no gift, his gift to the group is that they can hold it over his head until next Christmas. Annie then says this: “No, stupid. Gift doesn’t create an obligation. It’s the obligation that’s a gift.”

Clinton (@comedy4cast) and Brittany (@Little_Moff) challenged me to diagram Annie’s statement here. Remember that, earlier in the episode, Jeff insisted that gifts created obligations. And the reason he noted this was because Annie brought a gift to the party: once one person brings a gift, everyone else in the group feels that they, too, are required to give gifts and will be terrible people if they do not. Jeff, of course, is the only person who does not bring gifts for the study group to the party. This is when he sarcastically notes that his gift to the group is that they are able to hold this against him for the next year.

Annie, however, reprimands Jeff. Gifts don’t create obligations. Obligations, she reasons, ARE the gift. While Jeff looks befuddled, I had to replay the scene a few times before I think I understood what Annie meant. According to Dictionary.com (yeah, I had to), “obligation” can have an array of definitions including “the act of binding or obliging oneself by a promise” or “a binding promise, contract, sense of duty, etc.” I believe what Annie was attempting to convey was that gifts aren’t created out of obligations. The rest of the group didn’t give one another gifts in order to create guilt or inequality. In Jeff’s mind, giving a gift establishes a contract – you give me a gift, and I present one to you of equal value.

(KIND OF LIKE THIS SCENE, actually! Thank you, Kim. I love you.)

But Annie subverts that notion by asserting that their obligation to one another – to promise to be there for each other, that unspoken, binding contract that exists between their group – is the REAL gift. Presents don’t create obligations. Obligations between people that are preexisting ARE the gifts. WHEW. Maybe I got that right. Or wrong. … Bobrow?

Dean Pelton returns at the end of the episode with presents for the group: kittens! As he passes out the little furry balls of joy, Abed muses about the other timelines that exist, wondering exactly what's happening in those. At the end of the episode, we see a tag which depicts evil!Jeff getting evil!Annie out of the insane asylum. The two appear to be romantically involved, and vow to get the others in the group so that, together, they can return to the prime timeline and destroy it.

I don’t know quite how I feel about the evil timeline resurfacing. I thought it was wrapped up rather nicely in “Remedial Chaos Theory,”  but now that it has returned, it raises some interesting questions: Abed seems to know exactly what is happening in that other timeline, which is interesting. Wouldn’t he try to stop the evil study group from infiltrating the prime timeline? Is this merely a way for Abed to ensure that the group has one last adventure before graduation? An epic finale, of sorts? We may never know. But one thing is for sure: the study group – the empire – went into battle with Conrwallis during this episode. And they emerged, Study Group Victorious. And that is something to celebrate.

Additional de-lovely aspects about the episode include:
- “Mi casa es su… art project.”
- Way to go, wardrobe department, on everyone this episode. But especially Joel. That ensemble WORKED. Also, Alison’s dress was adorable, as was her festive necklace.
- “… Does Annie live here now?” I love that Jeff doesn't definitively answer; he just shrugs.
- “Would you excuse me? I’ve just seen an old friend.” “Hurry back soon!”
- “That’s my judge-y face.” “Noted.”
- “If there’s a human version of Scrooge McDuck, this guy’s it.”
- “You put Britta ahead of me?” “None taken!”
- “Oh my God. Jeff… do you have any Milk Duds?”
- “Can’t we just say a ghost did it again?” Favorite callback to an episode EVER.
- “And as compensation for the mental anguish you caused us, you’ll give us an A.” “Jeff. Overreaching?” “Fair enough.”
- The kitten that Abed is holding is cleaning its nose with its paw. I SQUEALED.
- JUDGE ANNIE MEBANE.

Thanks for being patient and enduring this rather LONG review! :) Next week we are headed into the past in "Heroic Origins" as we discover the origins of each of the study group members and how the group was destined to be together from the beginning.

Stay safe, readers in Boston and the surrounding areas. I'm sending my love and prayers to you all. <3