Valentine’s Day is not the best holiday for a special episode. Christmas and the other winter holidays have more angles from which to approach, and Community did a wonderful job dealing with Christmas in a way that expanded its emotional universe while using the gimmick of claymation in “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas”. But Valentine’s Day episodes typically take the same stance on romance every time. “Early 21st Century Romanticism” isn’t the best episode, but it’s a valiant effort at breaking the cycle of simple love stories, or at the very least for not sucking as much as Glee in dealing with this corporate holiday.
Greendale has a Valentine’s dance, and somehow Jeff and the rest of the group get into a fight when Jeff disagrees over the prowess of the Barenaked Ladies. This reference is exceedingly old, especially given that the original lead singer left the band two years ago and was then arrested for cocaine possession, but the fervor with which Troy, Annie and Britta defend BNL is convincingly endearing. This leads to an arbitrary fight, and thus the group is separated for Valentine’s Day. Jeff and Duncan end up watching soccer at his apartment, now with a homeless Chang as a stowaway, who very purposely turns the small get together into a raucous party. Any moment that Starburns and Leonard can get some more screen time is always a good idea.
As usual, the best parts of the episode feature just how important the friendship of the study group is to each member. Abed and Troy are both infatuated with a sexy librarian, but take very formal steps to ensure their friendship isn’t harmed by a crush on the same woman. Though the trope of the librarian is tired, their commitment to friendship is still such a joy to watch. Again, Pierce is relegated to a villainous role, albeit a smaller one, but at least this time it’s somewhat explained by his use of painkillers following his broken leg. This is clearly a longer plot that will be explored later, and I trust the show to handle it well, but it has been a nagging small problem over the last few weeks.
Britta befriends another female student whom she believes to be a lesbian and accuses Annie of intolerance, though Annie finds out through another friend that the other girl thinks Britta is a lesbian. This leads to a rather awkward-but-still-somehow-funny scene at the dance where Britta and this girl dance together and end up kissing. It’s absolutely predictable, but the show has been doing a lot of showing up Britta for being overly and oppressively tolerant, and this episode does a good job for the first time in a while of showing students outside the study group. It’s nice to see Annie make a connection with someone in a similar friend situation as her.
It all ends in a voice-over from Jeff, sending a message to the rest of the group apologizing for their “fight” and saying that he loves them, loves the study group and is glad to be with them. Again, this is endearing, and the show spends a lot of time enforcing the bond these characters have made, but in comparison to most episodes of the show, “Early 21st Century Romanticism” just didn’t rustle up the same kind of fervor and energy the show has become known for.