Community: Season 1, Episode 11 "The Politics of Human Sexuality" Review

 "Don't eat the crab dip!"

-Troy Barnes

"The Politics of Human Sexuality" picks up with with Annie (Alison Brie) helping the Dean (Jim Rash) set up for Greendale's STD Fair.  Jeff (Joel McHale) feigns interest in the fair when he meets the Dean's new secretary, Sabrina (Sara Erikson), who he flirts with.

Pierce (Chevy Chase) tells the group that he has a new girlfriend, Doreen (Sharon Lawrence), who he met in his marketing class.  Pierce asks Jeff to go on a double date with him to the STD Fair and when Jeff declines, Pierce suggests Jeff probably couldn't get a date anyway.  This gets under Jeff's skin and he tries to find a date, but is unsuccessful.  Britta (Gillian Jacobs) suggests that his immature view of women is his problem.

At the STD Fair, Jeff meets Pierce and lies, saying that he didn't even try to get a date.  Pierce is sympathetic to Jeff's dry spell, but this bothers Jeff, and with some help from the Dean, he convinces Sabrina to be his date to the Fair.  Jeff meets Doreen and is very impressed by her personality and sophistication.  When Pierce and Sabrina aren't around, Doreen tells Jeff that Sabrina isn't very bright and is on the shallow side and that he can do better.  Later, Jeff and Sabrina make out in his car, but he loses interest in her due to her immature behavior and leaves. 

Doreen breaks up with Pierce and tells him he will have to pay if he wants to continue the evening.  Jeff and Pierce talk and Pierce comforts Jeff in accepting his maturing behavior.  He then asks Jeff to borrow some money so he can continue his night with Doreen and Jeff agrees.

Meanwhile, the Dean is very impressed with Annie's work on the STD Fair and gives her the honor of performing the condom demonstration, which will be on an anatomically-correct mannequin.  Annie is terrified as she has never seen a penis close up.  Embarrassed and nervous, Annie asks Britta and Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) to help her break into the Dean's office so she can practice and they agree.  They end up getting caught by Officer Cackowski (Craig Cackowski), a security guard.  Dean Pelton and the school counselor, Gail (Liz Cackowski), are brought in to address the situation and when she refuses to say the word "penis," Annie says she is comfortable with being sexually repressed and that if more people were like her, they might not need to have an STD Fair.

Troy (Donald Glover) feels threatened by Abed's (Danny Pudi) natural athletic ability and challenges him to several athletic events.  Abed wins all of them until he finally loses a footrace on purpose to make Troy feel better.  

Dean Pelton has condoms made for the STD Fair with Greendale printed on the side.  When several students start a condom, water balloon fight, it's discovered that the print has made the condoms defective and leaky.  With the Fair taking a sexy turn, the Dean races to find Troy to have him run to the main office and make an announcement about the defective condoms.  Troy tells the Dean that Abed is actually the fastest student on campus and he goes instead.  Unfortunately, Abed simply tells the students not to use the condoms and doesn't explain why, which leads to students simply engaging in unsafe sex.

The episode ends with Abed reading a textbook to Troy to help him fall asleep and then getting him a glass of water.

What Works:

Straight up, this is simply a hilarious episode of Community and it never fails to make me laugh.  If I just want to put on a random, funny episode, this one is a go-to for me.  I've probably watched this episode more than any other episode from season 1.

Jeff's storyline is a really fun one.  We get some good development for the character, as well as another nice scene with Pierce.  These become scarce as the show goes along, so I'm glad we get this moment between these two, who aren't as different as Jeff would like to believe.  

We also get some good side character.  Sabrina has a few very funny lines and I love Doreen.  She's such an interesting character and her conversation with Jeff is a highlight of the season.  I wish she had shown up in more episodes after this one because she's so good here.  Plus the joke that Pierce met her in his marketing class is an all-timer.

Jim Rash gets to go all out here as we get not only more insight into the Dean's offbeat sexual tastes, but also his buffoonery at running Greendale.  He has some great interactions with Annie, Troy, Abed, and Officer Cackowski.

Speaking of Officer Cackowski, we get his first of many memorable appearances here.  He doesn't get much to do in this episode, but I love how he tells on Annie for not saying "penis."

I love how much fun Britta and Shirley have in helping Annie break into the office.  I get a kick out of how funny the characters think the situation is.  It's just a nice moment of friendship for the women of the study group, especially in contrast to Annie's embarrassment and inexperience.

Finally, the Troy and Abed storyline absolutely nails the resolution.  Troy very slowly explaining to the Dean that Abed is the better athlete and telling Abed that he's a good friend is hilarious.  I also love how Abed's sprint to the office is shot.  It makes the stakes feel so much higher even though he's just trying to prevent people from sexing one another.  This episode was directed by Anthony Russo, so of course it's going to have some quality directing.

What Sucks:

I got nothing for you.

Funniest Moment:

This episode has one of the funniest moments of the entire season, which is Troy's crab dip joke.  This is something a friend of mine and I always say to each because it makes us laugh so hard.

Heavenly Human Being:

The Heavenly Human Being Award goes to the MVP of the episode.  This one was a tough decision to make, but I ultimately decided to give it to Abed.  He defeated Troy in several competitions, but threw the race because he could see how much it meant to Troy.  He was just being a nice friend.  He also did prevent the students of Greendale from using the defective condoms.  He could have done a better job of explaining, but he tried.  This is Abed's 4th time winning this Award, which extends his lead.

Verdict:

"The Politics of Human Sexuality" is in the conversation for my favorite episode of season 1.  It's just so damn funny.  From start to finish, this episode makes me laugh with every main character getting to shine, some awesome one-off characters, and one of the funniest lines in the entire show.  This episode has absolutely got it going on.

 10/10: Amazing