“You never lived anywhere. You’re a weapon designed for sex.”

It seems not too long ago since “Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design”, but Thursday’s episode defies the difference of time truly between the two episodes. I sincerely enjoyed “Digital Exploration” not only because Subway was hilarious, but because it boded many references to “Conspiracy Theories”. Both start with a fort, of course, whether it be pillows or blankets, but after that, the similarities end. In “Conspiracy Theories” we got to see Troy and Abed growing closer, building something together, and destroying it together, only with the other’s permission. However, Thursday’s episode showed the stubbornness of the two, the refusal to sacrifice one’s work for the other, and Troy and Abed’s new (and hopefully temporary) friendship dynamic.

Thursday’s episode was one that was subtly divided into three completely separate plots, so that’s how I’ll be recapping it. Be prepared, and get your pillow fort hats on. Starting with Troy and Abed, the largest part of the episode, of course. Annie, Troy, and Abed’s apartment is filled with termites, and while Annie has a place to stay, Trobed plan on building a pillow fort. However, Dean Pelton ruins it all when he points out that the boys are eligible for a world record. Troy wants to continue the fort with blankets, so that the record will be easier to break, but Abed doesn’t want to compromise quality over quantity. They decided to stick with their pillow fort plan – although Troy does so begrudgingly.

The turning point really comes when Vice Dean Laybourne talks to Troy and compares him to Reggie from Inspector Spacetime, always coming in the sidekick to Abed. When Troy confronts Abed about this, Abed suggests he make his own blanket fort, which Troy goes right ahead to do, trying to hopefully break the world record.

Pop Pop Captain

However, there’s only room for one fort to break the world record, and Troy asks Abed to tear his pillow fort down, since Troy’s the one more interested in the record. Abed agrees, and right about now my heart is breaking. But not like it will a few minutes into the future.

Before Abed destroys his fort, Laybourne visits him and convinces him to be the best he can be, and leave everyone worse than him (i.e Troy) in the past. Now, Abed refuses to tear down his fort, and there’s a full going rumble in the study room, with both sides refusing to ruin their work. As Dean starts to move towards Abed’s for to destroy it, Starburns partially destroys Troy’s fort by throwing a pillow at it. People on both sides start going crazy and fighting, Jeff glances at his phone, and Trobed share a look of pride, yet also fear? regret? I don’t know, all I know is that my favorite friendship is falling apart. They retreat into their respective forts as Abed states, “To Be Continued”. Dun, dun, dun…

Meanwhile, Subway has opened and Pierce and Shirley are mad. They ask Britta to seduce the “Corpo-Huminization” version of Subway, a less than unattractive specimen called Subway.

I totally predicted this in my high school newspaper column, 'Britta Unfiltered'.

Although she perceives them to be entirely different, Subway and Britta are weirdly drawn to each other because of their mutual appreciation for George Orwell and Veggie D Lite. Pierce and Shirley are pleased, but they don’t know that Britta looks longingly into the distance when thinking about Subway. They ask her to do one last task, plant a recorder on Subway, but when the pair meet up again she won’t do it. Little does Britta know that she has her own personal recorder in her bag. Pierce and Shirley play this recording of Britta and Subway having sex for a Subway exec, and while at first he approves of the two having hearts, he changes his minds when things get to risque for a Bay Area citizen.

Jeff and Annie team up when they discover someone named Kim has left a hate letter in Jeff’s locker after he was inconsiderate to the person. After hunting down Kim’s locker, a boy tells Jeff that Kim’s died, so now Jeff will have to go on knowing he was an inconsiderate jerk to this poor girl. However, both Jeff and Annie find out that this boy is actually Kim, and he just hates Jeff for never remembering his name, and constantly thinking he’s a girl. They have a nice apology session, interrupted by Annie’s freak out about how Jeff shouldn’t be apologizing to this oversensitive male. The only reason she partook in this was because she wanted to stand up for the countless girls she feels Jeff has romanced and discarded (I’m looking at Jeff/Annie fans to freak out right about now). Later Annie apologizes to Jeff about her outburst, just as they and Britta meet new Subway. Needless to say, he is not as charming as the last.