S3E13 – “Digital Exploration of Interior Design”

Into the realm of the legitimate we go.

Again, it’s hard not to have this episode on my list. I’m a romantic in isolation, and this off-kilter love story caught me off guard. First, more love for the writers — Dan Harmon, Chris McKenna, Dan Eckman — really made Subway a human. It’s funny on the surface, but also (as the show often does) pokes fun at a very real-world problem: corporations having personhood rights. Whew. Let me continue, because at this rate we’ll never get to the buttstuff of the matter.

Moments I Loved (and Questioned)

• Annie’s scream? Iconic. I really hope in that horror movie she’s in soon, she screams a lot. I miss that energy.
  It’s called Together and the first trailer is out.
  – ▶️ Watch the trailer on my TVStarters YouTube –

• The locker story? Not my favorite. Poor Garrett. And Jeff’s ego here is at peak Jeff. Honestly, maybe a little more than I wanted — but it really works in the context of the longer story arc.

• Britta unfiltered. If I’m being real: I loved Annie early on in season one, but by the end of this episode I loved Britta more. This episode twisted my mind and my heart.

• Also: I often wonder where they got all those pillows. Was it just a production trick, or did they seriously source hundreds of pillows?

Turns out — I listened to the commentary — they really built it. Like, floor to ceiling. Hats off to the set designers.
They saved Dan’s ass more than once, and this was one of those moments.
I’ve watched the commentary more than a few times now, and I think they mentioned that someone forgot to get the exterior wide shot of the pillow fort from the outside.
That kills me. I would’ve loved to see it. That structure deserved its moment.
I think they called it an Eckman Fuckup in the commentary.

Rick, Britta, and the Philosophy of Buttstuff

I wanted to love Rick.
And Britta’s / Gillian Jacobs' face when she looks at him?
That’s something from a basic unknown at that point in her career — actor’s name.
Cutting to the blind guy — that was so interconnected, perfectly timed.
Then, of course, Pierce stomps in and calls Britta a whore.

I’ve never seen a show like this.
And nothing in the years since has even come close in my heart and mind.
I’ve watched this episode hundreds of times.
It may sound silly to some of you, my dear readers, but I know many of you understand what I mean: these characters became my friends.
In loss and loneliness, they offered a world I could visit, a place that softened the pain of real life.

Have fun stacking pillows like a baby.

Abed, Roark, Galt

This whole wedge driven between Abed and Troy always gets at my heart.
It’s the crack that forms when one person wants connection and the other just wants the vision to stay perfect.
It’s the beginning of the slow drift.

And look — I can’t be the only one who noticed the pajamas.
UFOs, planes, rockets. That’s not random. That’s a clue.
That makes Abed the Roark character, right? Uncompromising. Obsessed with control and form.

I’d rather see my work destroyed than compromise it.
Yeah, he’s Roark.
Read The Fountainhead — it hits different when you're rewatching Community.

Who is John Galt?

But also… maybe it’s not just The Fountainhead. Maybe it’s a little Atlas Shrugged too.
That whole section later in the episode:

• “More than a dream — it’s here,”
• “Corrupt the host to pacify the parasites,”
• “What if it fell to the Reggies of the world?”

That’s Galt talk. That’s the system breaking down because it can’t carry the weight of people who don’t build.
Explore Atlas Shrugged — I swear they quoted this one almost verbatim in those pillow fort scenes.

Corporate humanoids. Hollow suits walking through purpose-built worlds.
Whew. I’m writing this in 2025 and it’s only gotten worse.

Raised in the Bay Area, I hear a line like “he’s a fatter now” and I question my entire buttstuff thesis. Lol.

Compromise my craftsmanship to placate mediocrity.
It’s a joke in the show.
But it’s also not.

And how this ends — with a pillow fight, somehow — it’s weirdly beautiful.
These two relatively new actors, Abed and Troy, just carrying the whole damn thing.
What comes next, yeah, it’s on your list.
Because you can’t talk about Digital Exploration of Interior Design without Pillows and Blankets.
They belong together.

Randian Rot in the Walls

“More than a dream — it’s here.”
Someone who understands dedication to craftsmanship.
Corrupt the host to pacify the parasites.
What if it fell to the Reggies of the world?

That’s Atlas Shrugged. That’s Galt’s whole speech, compressed and echoed in sitcom form.
I’m not saying it’s a perfect match — but those lines?
That sense of rot, of talent being drained to keep the mediocre afloat?
That’s John Galt energy all the way. And in context, it’s terrifying.

Corporate humanoids. Vision flattened. Purpose stolen and rebranded.
I’m writing this in 2025 and it’s only gotten worse.

“Compromise my craftsmanship to placate mediocrity.”
That line hit in some way harder than reading those long-ass books years ago.

Back to the Buttstuff

The Buttstuff and the Brave New World

I guess the whole point of this is leading to the buttstuff.
For real — they quote Brave New World in this one.
It’s not exactly the same but it matches its meaning.
That line: “You’ve become a physical necessity,” hit me harder than I expected.

Like Troy and Rick, I guess I’m into buttstuff too.
And spoilers, I would’ve picked Britta over those damn Hondas.
Goddammit, Rick.

The thing is, Brave New World isn’t just sci-fi.
It’s a whole system built around consumption and comfort.
People are designed from birth to need three things: soma, sex, and entertainment.

• Soma keeps them numb.
• Promiscuity is mandatory.
• Movies are these wild sensory things called feelies.

But love? That’s not allowed. Wanting someone too much is a problem.

So when Britta says that to Rick, it’s not just about sex.
It’s dependency. It’s longing.
It’s her glitching against the emotional programming she usually hides behind.
It’s Lenina, drawn to John the Savage and not knowing what to do with the feeling.
Read Brave New World — and then tell me Subway didn’t fund its own satire.

People in that world aren’t born to love.
They’re made to perform roles.
Want becomes need, and pleasure becomes something you owe the system.
That’s the scariest part. You lose your sense of what’s real. Of what’s yours.

“You can’t have a lasting civilization without plenty of pleasant vices.”
— Mustapha Mond

So yeah, the buttstuff line is funny.
But it also means something.
It’s desire showing up where it’s not supposed to.

I wonder if Jeff’s story is also referencing literature I don’t recognize.
Maybe something I missed. Alas, we can only observe and read so much.
I really wonder if those Subway folks that paid ad money to have the brand in the show understand any of what Dan and team are screaming at the viewers.

The Ending That Lands

The strongest part for me?
Annie’s reaction when she realizes she wasn’t representing the sisterhood.
That stuck with me.

And of course, the later line:

“Who’s Kim?”
As Jeff’s already moved on.

How this ends in a pillow fight? Amazing.
Abed and Troy, both relatively new actors at the time, nail it.
With a far greater range in a 21-minute show than I could have ever imagined.

And of course, what comes next — Pillows and Blankets —
That’s also on your list, right?

You have to watch it together with this one.

📚 Recommended Reading

• The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand – For those Roark parallels in Abed.
• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand – For Galt’s system-breaking ideals echoed in the show.
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley – For themes of pleasure, control, and emotional suppression.