Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design

"Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design"
Community episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 9
Directed by	Adam Davidson
Written by	Chris McKenna
Production code	210
Original air date	November 18, 2010 (2010-11-18)
Guest stars
Kevin Corrigan as Professor Professorson
Episode chronology
← Previous "Cooperative Calligraphy" Next → "Mixology Certification"
List of Community episodes

"Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" is the ninth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Community, and the 34th episode of the series overall. It aired in the United States on NBC on November 18, 2010.

Plot

The episode opens with Dean checking Jeff's class schedule, and asking his secretary to cancel all his appointments.

In the study room the study group looks at Annie's diorama. Shirley comments that her kids don't do nearly as many dioramas as they do at Greendale. Troy and Abed decide to hang out in Abed's dorm room in a blanket-fort. The Dean interrupts the group and tells them that Jeff made up his own Independent Study course and instructor -- Professor Professorson, so he won't be getting credit for that class. Jeff insists that the class is real. The Dean asks Jeff to take him to Professor's class, and Annie accompanies him, saying, "This I gotta see".

Jeff leads Annie and the Dean to a supply closet and suddenly panics, seeing that there is no class. However, he says that because his course is about conspiracy theories, Professor Professorson must have set the whole thing up to teach him a lesson. Annie and the Dean, however refuse to believe him, just as a man walks around the corner and introduces himself as Professor Professorson (played by Kevin Corrigan). Despite never encountering the Dean, Professorson has his faculty I.D. saying that he teaches night school. Just when Annie apologizes for doubting him, Jeff admits that he made up Professor Professorson and he has no idea who that man was.

In Abed's dorm, the blanket-fort is complete but Troy thinks they might be too big for it. However, they decide that they will make a blanket fort for "men". One of Abed's friends, Pavel, interrupts their fort fest, and they allow him to join in the fun. But, they insist that Pavel combine his blanket forces with theirs in order to participate.

Jeff runs into Annie in the library. She admits she has done some sleuthing and she found that the mysterious Professor is actually Professor Wooley and does work at night school. But, he already had the Professorson I.D. so there is still a conspiracy at hand – and Jeff realizes he may actually have to do work for his fake class after all. Just then, Annie can't start her diorama car. Then, Jeff gets a call from an altered voice who warns him to keep his little friend away from night school. Jeff tackles Annie just as the toy car explodes…with tiny, little sparks.

Back in the dorm, Abed and Troy's blanket fort acquires more troops and fuzzy blankets and now extends through the halls of the school.

Jeff and Annie infiltrate night school to solve the mystery but when they get a hold of the class list, each listing is fake with classes like "History of Something" and "Learning!" They spot Wooley and ask to sit in his math class, but he darts down the hall, eventually finding his way to Abed and Troy's fort which has become its own underground city. Troy and Abed lead Jeff and Annie through the blanket fort before catching Wooley.

He takes them to a room full of papers and fax machines and tells them that night school isn't real, he made it up. He started out like Jeff with just one fake class, and then he got so wrapped up in the lie he had to create other professors and students and classes until he had an entire school. Jeff feels like someone is trying to teach him something. Wooley keeps talking about unicorns and time-desks, and Jeff recognizes the Dean's words. Plus, on the way over, Jeff passed the drama department, where he saw Wooley's real name and title as head of the department. Jeff decides to teach the Dean a lesson.

Annie and Jeff hatch a plan using fake guns. They invite the Dean to the library where they're holding "Professor Wooley" and turn him in to the Dean for fraud. Annie shoots Wooley with the fake gun saying he broke the rules, and the Dean pulls out a gun and shoots Annie. Jeff can't believe the Dean shot Annie with a real gun, so he pulls out a gun and shoots the dean. Annie immediately springs up, demanding an explanation. She says that she and the Dean worked together the whole time to teach Jeff a lesson. The Dean gets up – Jeff's gun was also fake. It turns out Jeff realized the Dean was too dumb to plot against him so he called the Dean and asked for help to teach Annie a lesson about trust and friendship. But Annie gets angry at Jeff, telling him he "buried" her "like some shameful secret" when they had kissed, and shoots him three times, causing the Dean to switch teams again. With that, Jeff jumps up and they reveal the real plan which was to show the Dean that he can't keep switching allegiances or he's not participating in a plot, he's just doing "random crap". Just then, a cop walks in and shoots the drama professor in the chest with a shotgun. But once again it's just another plot to teach a lesson – this time about misusing prop guns.

In the end, the study group sits in one part of the blanket fort, and Jeff says that though it is unclear what lessons they learnt from the whole thing, he is proud of Annie for handling it all so well. However, he does note how she apparently went "off script" during her confession and Annie shyly insists she was just being believable. Just then, Abed receives news that Troy's and his fort hit the front page of the Greendale newspaper. With the news that they've "gone mainstream", they have no other choice but to follow protocol – which means destroying the fort. As the fort falls down around the group, Annie leans over towards Jeff but their close proximity causes them to look at each other. Troy and Abed then decide to make a cardboard submarine.

Troy and Abed sign off by playing a word game making fun of pretty much every action movie ever. Of course this makes Troy think they should write a screenplay together.^[1]

Production

The episode was written by Chris McKenna, his fourth writing credit on the series. It was directed by Adam Davidson, his fourth time directing the series. He has previously directed episodes for series like Big Love, Fringe and United States of Tara.

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "Conspiracy Theories And Interior Design" reached approximately 4.4 million households with a 1.9 rating/6% share in the 18–49 demographic.^[2]

The episode received positive reviews from the critics. Cory Barker, of TV Surveillance, said, "but good lord [it] is hilariously funny and flat-out fun" and ""Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" is simply an amazingly fun episode of the best comedy on television at the height of its powers."^[3]

Furthermore, Kelsea Stahler, of hollywood.com, said "The "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" episode is a departure from the outlandish, grand zombie- space-simulator-Betty White fueled romps and a return to the formula that the show perfected back in season one. The show also keeps the childish wonder and the ensuing hilarity that Donald Glover's Troy brings to it with a subplot in which he and Abed create a blanket-fort city that takes over an entire dorm. Say what you will about relying on formula, but Community's formula is 100 percent its own and when it comes to this stuff, nobody does it better."^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} http://www.hollywood.com/news/Community_Recap_Conspiracy_Theories_and_Interior_Design/7734153
2. ^ http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2010/11/19/thursday-final-ratings-my-dad-says-30-rock-outsourced-adjusted-down-the-office-adjusted-up/72859
3. ^ http://tvsurveillance.com/2010/11/19/community-conspiracy-theories-and-interior-design/

External links

• "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" at NBC.com
• "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" at TV.com
• "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" at TV Tropes