2x15 Early 21st Century Romanticism

[8.1/10] It’s funny the things you notice on rewatch, like a subtle theme in this one of the members of the group looking for affection and fulfillment in other places and coming back to their friendship when they realize it’s what they really want.

That’s most adorable and most obvious in the Troy/Abed story. Their joint efforts to woo the librarian are, as she herself puts it, the cutest thing to ever happen to her, and there’s that combination between sweet and weird in their courtship efforts that’s the foundation of the Troy/Abed relationship. Troy bailing on the librarian when she says Abed’s weird, only to end in a hug with his best friend, is a nice note to close on.

The Britta/Annie story is fun in that regard too. There’s a solid comic setup in Britta and Page both thinking the other’s a lesbian and having the smug pride of being a progressive straight person as the only reason each has befriended the other. But for all the satire of that (and the gleeful schadenfreude of Britta and her ersatz counterpart being secretly judged by Annie and her ersatz counterpart), there’s also heart when Britta realizes that far from the “brave admiration” she thinks she wants for her friendship choices, she’s more touched by Annie’s support, which ends in just as nice of a hug as Troy and Abed.

Then there’s Jeff. His “this is a fight” moment with the group, which somehow gets cross-pollinated with an amusing riff the Barenaked Ladies, is silly but archly so, with that comic tone that Community mastered. His hosting Prof. Duncan, and eventually Chang, and eventually a whole party gets a little loony, especially when it turns into an elaborate scheme from Chang to squat there.

But I like the aftermath, where Jeff is the life of a party, but realizes he misses his friends. The fact that they can get by without him, and the realization that being their friend is a blessing, something he wants, not an obligation, is that extra depth that set this show apart. Naturally, he tries to impart some encouragement to Pierce, who has been chatting with a pain pill-encouraging hallucination of Andy Dick. Okay, this show is weird too. There’s a definite dark goofball quality to Pierce’s psyche convincing himself to keep taking pills, that goes just plain dark when Pierce is laid out on a park bench.

It’s the characteristic glimmer of something sad and serious in the midst of all the heart and frivolity. But that just makes this episode more complex and interesting and rich. Overall, a nice off kilter holiday episode that has a sideways and somewhat fractured but still affecting moral behind it.