In a show like Community full of flawed people living flawed lives, Jeff stands out as somehow both one of the most flawed and one of the most put together. He’s the kind of person everyone wants to be in some ways, while being the kind of person no one wants others to think of them as or admit they’re like.
Somehow both a completely terrible person in the beginning yet a sympathetic and compelling character, he manages to make viewers still like him even after all of the terrible things he does. It helps that he’s surrounded by people who are just as flawed as he is even if they’re not as open and in your face about it as he is.
Hate: His Selfishness
Jeff can be pretty selfish. In their own ways, all of the characters are but Jeff is one of the only ones that is upfront about it most of the time. If it doesn’t interest him or goes against what he’s trying to accomplish, he’s pretty outspoken against it. Most of the time he’ll change his mind and go with the group, but it’s never without a fight.
Redeeming: His Self-Awareness
He’s one of the only characters who is willing to acknowledge most of his negative traits right off the bat. Everyone else is either incapable to acknowledging their worse habits and their effects on the others or is unwilling to admit that they even have them. Jeff, on the other hand, has a decent grip on his worst qualities and is fairly frank about them. Most of the few times he tries to hide them is when he’s using his more unsavory traits to get what he wants, but he always does it on purpose and is fully aware of how awful he’s being.
Hate: His Cynicism
Jeff doesn’t really think anyone does anything for any reason other than to get ahead or get something, and doesn't make a secret of it. It’s a trait that softens as the series goes on, but he never entirely loses it. It doesn’t help that he spends a lot of time only doing good things to give himself a leg up; even once he begins to grow as a person he all too easily falls back into acting good to further his own ends.
Because he knows how hard it is for him to act good only because it’s the right thing do, he still has a problem believing anyone else is acting purely out of a sense of altruism.
Redeeming: His Charm
When he wants to, he can woo almost anyone with his charm. Which leads to hilarity when it fails him. The whole study group started as an attempt to lure Britta in so he could charm her, and even when it fell apart and his attempt to trick her was revealed he still managed to charm everyone in the end. It’s frankly one of the few reasons anyone lets him stick around in the beginning before he started learning how to exist as a halfway decent person.
Hate: His Arrogance
In a group of people that seems to be mostly composed of people who always think they’re right and the best at what they do, Jeff’s arrogance still seems to be some of the highest in the bunch. He’s rarely the one that gives up, and there’s almost nothing he’s come across that he thinks he can’t do. Annie is the only one that comes close to giving him a contest in this area, and even she falls short.
Redeeming: His Lack Of Time For Nonsense
Because he’s so so self aware, he doesn’t have the patience for everyone else’s lack of it. He’s more than willing to call the rest of the group out on their own personality quirks whenever he feels like they’re getting in the way. If Shirley is being manipulative, he tells her. If he thinks Britta is being fake about her social awareness, he’ll put her on blast. Everyone’s denial about their own personality problems seems to irk him just as much as the problem itself.
Hate: His Lack Of Sensitivity
Because he’s so unwilling to let his own issues out in public, he also has a problem letting others air their own out. Whenever anyone shows some emotional weakness, he usually reacts with scorn. Fortunately, the rest of the group is usually there to jump in and call him out on it. He usually comes around pretty quickly when he realizes someone is having a real issue and sticks around to help them through it; even if it isn’t always willingly or gracefully.
Redeeming: His Loyalty
Sometimes he wavers, but in the end he always comes back to the group and Greendale. Occasionally he lets his old life or his old self come back to the forefront, but the new Jeff always wins out in the end. He also doesn’t let anyone else mess around with his friends. If anyone tries to start anything, he’s always there to defend them (sometimes even when they don’t deserve it).
Hate: He’s A Control Freak
Jeff knows what he wants, and he always tries to get it. It softened quite a bit by the fact that they’re all control freaks-,but like many of their other problems, it’s just that Jeff admits that he wants what he wants while no one else will admit that’s what is behind their own actions.
With Jeff, what you see is largely what you get without trying to hide behind fake reasons. Even so, his naked desire for his own ends to be fulfilled can be pretty off-putting.
Redeeming: His Low Self-Esteem
For all of Jeff’s bluster and claims about how awesome he is, he has some severe self esteem issues. He covers it up pretty well most of the time because they lie behind most of his personality flaws. But when you look deeper, it’s always there, lurking just behind the hair and the perfect life he’s always trying to construct around himself. Sometimes it comes out into the open, like his childhood foosball trauma or his complicated relationship with his absentee father.