7. Troy's Birthday
YahooOn his 21st birthday (not his 20th, because not everyone is 10 twice) the group took Troy out to a bar to celebrate becoming an adult. Little did they know how well he would take to the responsibility of adulthood. In the course of the night we learn that Shirley had some dark years in an alcohol induced haze, Pierce (who had previously broken both of his legs) needed people more than he would admit, Annie was self-conscious about herself to the point of having an existential crisis, and Jeff and Britta - Troy's evening mentors into the world of adulthood - didn't really know what the hell they were talking about and were just as lost as the rest of them. Due to these revelations the majority of the group got pretty sloppy drunk, leaving Troy the only sober one among them. Instead of shouting YOLO and knocking back his first 7 and 7 as a 21-year-old, he gathered up his friends and got them home safely. On a night that most young adults use to celebrate their new found independence and freedom, Troy took adulthood by the horns and showed that responsibility and love outweigh shots and scotch. The most touching part of it all was that it showed a new layer of the Troy character. Spending the majority of the show's run as a childish buffoon (who thinks that all dogs are boys and all cats are girls) it was nice to see a beloved character grow up, even for a moment, right in front of our eyes.
Key Line: "You're a man now." - Jeff WInger