Community: Season 1, Episode 15 "Romantic Expressionism" Review

 "You don't see me saying anything crazy about Abed and Troy's weird, little relationship."

-Shirley Bennett

"Romantic Expressionism" picks up with Jeff (Joel McHale) and Britta (Gillian Jacobs) spotting Annie (Alison Brie) and Vaughn (Eric Christian Olsen) flirting with each other.  Later, Annie asks for Britta's blessing to date Vaughn and reveals that she has given up on ever dating Troy (Donald Glover) because he seems more interested in Abed (Danny Pudi) than anyone else.  Britta gives Annie her blessing, which angers Jeff, who says creepier and creepier guys will now see Annie as an option.  Later, Star-burns (Dino Stamatopoulos) mentions to them that he has the hots for Annie, which resolves Jeff and Britta to break up Annie and Vaughn to set her up with Troy instead.

Jeff and Britta tell Troy that Annie is in love with him and using Vaughn to make him jealous.  Troy attempts to flirt with Annie in front of Vaughn.  Annie admits that she used to have feelings for Troy, but doesn't anymore.  Vaughn doesn't believe her and storms off.  Annie gets angry at Troy, who reveals what Jeff and Britta said to him.  They both separately confront Jeff and Britta for interfering in their love lives.

At study group the next day, Jeff and Britta apologize to Annie, who tells them to treat her as an adult.  In response, Britta snaps at Annie for getting with her ex.  This breaks out into an argument with the group because they do see each other as family, but they are also not related to each other and each one could be a romantic prospect to another.

The group hears music playing outside the library and find Vaughn singing a song for Annie.  Britta gives Annie her genuine blessing to date Vaughn and the two lovebirds run off together to look at clouds.

While all this has been happening, Troy and Abed plan to have a bad movie night and invite Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) and later Chang (Ken Jeong).  Pierce (Chevy Chase) more or less invites himself and the group make jokes as they watch Kickpuncher, but none of Pierce's jokes land.  Abed invites Pierce to another movie night the following evening to watch Kickpuncher 2, which the others aren't thrilled about.

Pierce watches Kickpuncher 2 with the Greendale Sketch Comedy Troupe to preplan jokes.  When Pierce arrives at movie night, he learns that the group is planning on watching a different movie instead, but Pierce insists on watching Kickpuncher 2.  He starts throwing out jokes at rapid-fire pace and when the group calls him out, Pierce admits to coming prepared and tries to leave in a huff, but trips and falls, which causes everyone to laugh, which he enjoys.

The episode ends with Troy and Abed making a Kickpuncher fan film.

What Works:

So. I'm not the biggest fan of the Jeff and Britta sabotaging Annie and Vaughn storyline, at least at first.  Once we get the confrontation in the study room, the episode shifts into high gear.  We get an all-time classic study room scene with the group discussing the weird relationship dynamics happening among them and all of them checking each other out as viable sexual partners.  There's some excellent face acting from everyone with my favorites being when Annie and Britta check each other out and any time Abed wiggles his eyebrows.

The Annie and Vaughn storyline also ends on a really high note.  Vaughn's song to Annie is really sweet and it's a cute scene overall.

I think the bad movie night storyline lacks some punch for lack of a better term, but I do love everything involving Kickpuncher itself.  As someone who loves bad movies, that's one I would absolutely love to watch.  Plus the fan film Troy and Abed are making is my favorite part of the episode.  There is some really cool costume design, especially Punchkicker.  And since Britta wasn't available to play the love interest, the lack of enthusiasm from Troy as he and Abed leave to shoot the sex scene is hilarious.

Finally, Donald Glover once again steals the show when he tries to hit on Annie.  His performance is just so over-the-top and it works so well against a confused and angry Alison Brie.

What Sucks:

Like I said above, it takes a little bit for the romance plot to get interesting.  I don't find some of the earlier scenes with Jeff and Britta discussing the situation and plotting against Vaughn very interesting or funny.  It definitely picks up as it goes along and sticks the landing, but first half of the episode isn't the strongest material we've seen on this show.

Finally, I've hosted and attended a good many bad movie nights in my life and I think a bad movie night storyline had potential, but doesn't land here.  I don't think any of the jokes about Kickpuncher really land and the payoff with Pierce finally getting a laugh is lackluster.  The overall idea is funnier than the ultimate execution.

Funniest Moment:

For me, the funniest moment of the episode is when Troy reluctantly agrees to go shoot a sex scene with Abed for their Kickpuncher fan film.

Heavenly Human Being:

The Heavenly Human Being Award goes to the MVP of the episode.  For "Romantic Expressionism," this Award goes to Annie Edison for being the most mature person involved in the romantic storylines.  There wasn't much to work with here, but Annie at least tried to communicate with Britta in asking for her blessing.   This is her 3rd time winning this Award, which puts her in 2nd place.

Verdict:

It takes a little while for "Romantic Expressionism" to really work for me, but it really works by the end.  I love the study room confrontation, Vaughn's song, Donald Glover's performance, and the Kickpuncher fan film.  The early parts of this episode aren't as interesting or funny and the bad movie night storyline never reaches its potential, but this episode has still got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good