School for The Strange

Christopher Thomas is a well-dressed swindler in his early 30s who intentionally bumps into a jogger while strolling in a park in St. Louis, Missouri. Unbeknownst to the witless jogger, Christopher has stolen her wallet, that is until a few moments later when the police are notified and Christopher has to hightail it out of there. With the cops and police dog in hot pursuit, a bell chimes and Christopher finds himself standing in a dark void where a voice welcomes him to Homewardboundsville, Missouri. Christopher next comes to in a long hallway where he is met by Andi Daly, who informs Christopher that they are running behind and need to get a move on. Beyond confused, Christopher learns he is in the School for the Strange and that he is to teach a class of children that, if he is unsuccessful, will result in their disappearing like other swaths of children before them. Christopher tries to talk his way out of the gig, claiming he is the furthest thing from a teacher and has no interest in being one in the first place anyway, yet none of this seems to matter to Andi, whose good nature unsettles Christopher. Andi slaps Christopher and tells him that if he teaches this class he will get whatever stuff he wants, which for Christopher means tons and tons of money. But it is up to Christopher to look after and protect these children so they are not erased from existence, and all he has to do is get them to solve the simple equation of 2+2. But Christopher meets his match in the form of the kids in his classroom, with Garden, Hobbs, and others giving him a hard time, barely able to get out the equation he is there to teach them. Then suddenly the science teacher named Kate O Connor arrives asking for pencils. Kate warns him that two other generations of kids were wiped out by the nasty administration and that it all comes down to Christopher. The Garbage Can turns into a feral dog and nips at Christopher to the delight of all the students. Just then Kate’s brother George, an inventor, appears and is very protective of his sister after Christopher made a crack about being partial to boobs. George is accompanied by a poorly constructed robot, who fortunately is there when Christopher’s foot ignites and puts it out. Other kids in the class offer Christopher their special powers, but all he wants is to teach them the equation and get out of there, which is when Jerry O Terri appears with Andi. The entire class answers the equation, 2+2=4, and Jerry decides to keep everyone around. Thinking he now gets all his money, Andi assures him that what he really gets is his wishes coming true, because he is at the School of the Strange to stay.