Modern Warfare (Community)

"Modern Warfare" is the twenty-third episode of the first season of Community and originally premiered on May 6, 2010, on NBC. In the episode, after the Dean announces the prize for a friendly game of paintball, Greendale sinks into a state of all-out paintball war, with every student battling for supremacy. During the chaos, Jeff's study group teams up in order to last longer in the game. Meanwhile, Jeff and Britta confront their unresolved sexual tension.

The episode was written by Emily Cutler and directed by Justin Lin. The episode's plot is a pastiche of multiple action movies, such as Battle Royale, Pitch Black, The Matrix, Die Hard, Terminator, 28 Days Later, The Warriors, Rambo, Predator, and the films of John Carpenter and John Woo. The episode came third in its timeslot and received universal critical acclaim from critics praising its writing, direction, and performances; it is often ranked among the show's greatest episodes. Two paintball sequels followed this episode: the two-part season 2 finale ("A Fistful of Paintballs" and "For a Few Paintballs More"), and season 6's "Modern Espionage".