Looks like Dan Harmon & co. decided there will be a broad push towards introducing new characters/love interests. Based on upcoming reports, we'll have Shirley's punk ex, (I think) a new boy for Annie, and (this part confirmed) guest stars for Britta and Abed. There's also going to be some resolution about Chang and who gets to join the study group:
Rapproachement! And a good old fashioned entry competition! As far as subtext in the first image, I'm pretty sure there was some Annie/Banana hints laid back in the Halloween episode.
I claim no special powers here, but I've done a pretty good job anticipating some of the character shifts. After Anthropology 101 I was thinking by
the end of the second season we might have Jeff tempted to return to the law practice, of course that happened next episode. And my impression of the bar episode in response to criticism that it wasn't exciting was that the show was burning off some of the existing character relationships in order to move forward. Between all the new characters and bringing the Chang issue to a head, I think Dan Harmon's got some brilliant stuff coming down the pipe for us. And Shirley's baby, which, holy crap, I still do not have a good feeling about. By February she'll be 4 months pregnant!