Community is still on the bubble for renewal, and far be it from me to try and understand what the NBC execs are thinking, but last night’s episode, “Romantic Expressionism,” was one of the new year’s best half hours so far. Community has an extremely strong cast that has gotten better and better as the show has gone on. Allison Brie and Donald Glover in particular have excelled in their roles, and have steadily provided more of the laughs as the season has worn on. Community deserves to be renewed for a second season, and if you remain unconvinced, make sure you watch “Romantic Expressionism.”
“Romantic Expressionism” is based mostly around Annie’s budding relationship with flighty hippie Vaughn, and Jeff and Britta’s resistance to this idea. They view themselves as Annie’s “Greendale Parents,” and therefore see it as their duty to keep the reformed pill popper away from a guy who never wants to wear shoes or a shirt. It’s understandable rational, but it seems driven by ulterior motives, specifically Britta’s past relationship with Vaughn and Jeff’s small crush on Annie that stems from their Debate kiss. Annie, for her part, has given up on the uninterested Troy, and genuinely seems to like Vaughn, who showers her with affection and praise.
So rather than talk to Annie, Britta and Jeff try to scheme Annie and Vaughn apart. Their plan: get Troy interested in her. It doesn’t take much to convince him to go after her, but Britta lets slip the fact that Annie used to have a crush on him. So Troy goes after Annie, in the first awkwardly hilarious scene of the night, and Vaughn is crushed by the revelation that Annie might only be interested in him because Troy was unavailable.
Annie rightly goes off on Jeff and Britta for meddling in front of the rest of the Study Group, and their reasons for meddling become clear. Jeff then says that all of this boils down to the fact that since they’re not an actual family, any of them could have sex. This led to the hands down funniest scene the show has done yet, with each person looking at someone else, thinking about having sex with them, and then quickly averting their eyes. Every good comedy in recent years has had their big moment that took them to the next level. For The Office, it was the introduction of “that’s what she said.” For How I Met Your Mother, it was the Slap Bet. For Community, it was this scene.
In the end, Vaughn sweetly professes his feelings to Annie with a song about her, and Jeff and Britta realize it wasn’t their place to break them apart in the first place. A couple of good things came out of this story. First, you have Britta and Jeff scheming together, which was pretty fun to watch. They’re a good pairing, so having more than romantic tension should be nice. Second, there was a way to keep Vaughn around. He’s a pretty funny character, and creating something new for him to do will help. Lastly, you have a possible Troy crush on Annie. His attempt to pick her up was very funny, so the prospect of future, similar scenes is awesome.
The B-story for “Romantic Expressionism” revolved around the time honored tradition of ripping on bad movies. In this case, it was the fictional (yet awesome looking) Kickpuncher, a film about a cyborg whose power is that his punches have the power of kicks. Abed, Troy, Shirley, and, hilariously, Senor Chang had no trouble knocking it, yet Pierce struggled greatly. In preparation of a viewing of Kickpuncher 2, Pierce gets a sketch comedy troupe (hey! it’s the rest of Derrick Comedy!) to write him jokes. He’s found out, and leaves angrily, stumbling and falling as he leaves, and finally gets the laughs he’s been dying for. As my dad noted, all Chevy Chase needed to do was say “live from New York, it’s Saturday night!” (Sidebar: if you’re looking for awesomely bad movies to rip on, I strongly recommend TUIW fav The Room as well as the horrendous Transmorfers)
So here we are Community. You’ve reached the next level that separates the new stock comedies of this season (Accidentally on Purpose, The Middle) will never attain. Yes, Modern Family got there a lot sooner, but honestly, who cares. Community is one of this seasons gems, and hopefully, we’ll get many more episodes like “Romantic Expressionism.”
Michael’s Score: 96
Tangled Up In Wires Grade: A
Michael
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