The Real Thomas

The Real Thomas is the eighth episode of Season 6 (and the one-hundred and sixty-first episode overall) of Regular Show. It aired on November 20, 2014. This episode is a half-hour special.

Sypnosis
Thinking he is up to something, Rigby sets out to stop Thomas.

Plot
Late one night at the park, Rigby is woken up by his grumbling stomach. Heating up a pizza pouch in the kitchen, he hears rustling sounds and an inaudible argument being exchanged just outside the house. When he goes to investigate, he sees a man the shape of Thomas in a ninja outfit fighting a man in a suit, witnessing Thomas defeat the man. Rigby approaches Thomas about this, who feigns ignorance. As Rigby keeps questioning, Thomas knocks him out with a neck press (the same one he used to knock out the agent).

Rigby is woken up by Mordecai the next morning, where he finds himself back in his bed. After a brief after sleep drowse, he immediately remembers what he witnessed the night before. During the morning staff meeting, Benson announces their only jobs are to stay out of his way while he shows his date, a preschool teacher named Natalie, around the park (leading to a humorous exchange with the park questioning about what happened to Audrey, as well as no one remembering about their break-up). Rigby, desperately trying to get a word out about Thomas, finally is able to by explaining what he saw that night. Though they don't believe him, he takes them to the site of the attack, still leaving them unconvinced. Just as they write him off, Thomas arrives acting his normal self. Rigby pounces on his duffel bag (since Thomas had it with him that night), but it proves to be just laundry. Thomas once again feigns ignorance, leaving the park upset at Rigby. Rigby remains undeterred as he sets out to find the truth about Thomas.

Spying on him, Rigby follows Thomas to a lone sprinkler, where he takes a call from "mom". After messing with the sprinkler, Rigby distinctly hears the word "Russian", before Thomas departs. Investigating the sprinkler, Rigby finds Russian writing etched into the sprinkler. He takes this evidence to Mordecai, Hi Fives, and Muscle Man (after noticing Benson with his date, Natalie, commenting on how "he actually had a date"). Thoroughly unconvinced still, the three are finally convinced after a chance encounter by Muscle Man as he goes to the cabinet for chips. In the cabinet is the man in the suit Thomas defeated (who is revealed to work for the C.I.A), falling on top of Muscle Man. In that instant, two men arrive claiming to be from the "American Intern Society of America", looking to review Thomas, but they carry heavy Russian accents. Mordecai and Rigby set off to find Benson while Muscle Man and High Fives stay to stall the men.

Mordecai and Rigby make their way to the AV room. Inside, they find a secret room bearing high tech equipment, along with Skips and Pops tied up. When they go to free them, Benson is heard just outside flirting with Natalie, only to be handcuffed and thrown inside. As they ponder the situation, Natalie walks into the room with a dramatic slow clap, revealing her Russian accent and her name to be "Natalia". As she explains she's a Russian spy, she tells the park how one of their own was working under their nose for the past two years. Benson, even more confused, questions who. On cue, Natalia reveals "Nicolai", who turns out to be Thomas, and which turns out to be Thomas' real name. Thomas, in his Russian accent, reveals he is a Russian spy as well.

Nicolai (Thomas' real name for the rest of the plot) explains how he was abandoned as a child and that the only family he ever had were the higher ups in the Russian government, where he was given exclusive K.G.B training. He also explains about the state of the parks in Russia being incredibly outdated. At this, General Romanoff creates a plan for him and Natalia to don American identities, infiltrate American soil, for Nicolai to find work at a park (resulting in him working as an intern at The Park and change his name to Thomas), and finally to create the necessary modifications for their plan. Betrayed, Mordecai and Rigby plead in Nicolai (who still call him Thomas), wanting an answer for why he did it since they thought they were friends. Natalia announces their new orders from Romanoff and they depart, taking the park crew hostage.

Meanwhile, Muscle Man and Hi Fives are still stalling the men at the door. Losing patience, they start to batter-ram at the door. As they try one last swing, Muscle Man opens the door as they rush inside, crashing into the wall knocking them out. They set out to find the rest of the guys. Making their way through the park, they find the crew being held hostage, being forced inside a van. Nicolai digs into his duffel bag, reaching under a trap in the bag to reveal a control pad with a detonator. He initiates a countdown as the van driver plays Russian anthem music through the speakers. On 1, the park explodes along the borders, freeing the park from the ground and showing the modifications Nicolai made over the two years: turning the park aerodynamic with the help of an engine and some boosters. He uses the control pad to direct the now-airborne park to the direction of the Russian border. Elsewhere at the UN, the US President gets word on the park, who turns to the Russian President for answers. The Russian President, like Nicolai, feigns ignorance. Mordecai and Rigby plead to Nicolai one last time, who can only explain that they're safety is guaranteed once they enter Russia as they'll be forced into a hard labor camp. However, once he's inside the chopper, the van driver reveals he's going to drive them off the cliff under orders from Natalia, killing them. Before he can make it, Muscle Man and Hi Fives appear with the cart and the crew manages to escape the van before he drives off the edge. Now safe, the park crew follow the chopper via Carmenita.

On the chopper, Natalia tells Nicolai the park crew are dead, leaving Nicolai disgusted as it wasn't part of the plan. Suddenly, they appear in the rear-view mirror (relieving Nicolai), just on their tail. As Mordecai, Rigby, and Benson make it on board, Natalia reveals their true plans: to bypass the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (which calls for Russia to never fire a missile at the U.S.A and vice versa), they were going to bring the U.S to their missile, starting and finishing with the chunk of the park and starting World War III. Nicolai, completely unaware of this ulterior motive, is horrified as he never intended to hurt anyone. Having a change of heart (helped by Mordecai, Rigby, and Benson's pleas to remember the good times they had as friends), he begins turning the park around, but Natalia stops him. During the struggle, Natalia breaks free of Nicolai and goes for the control pad, but he manages to knock the chopper controls off, swerving it to its side, causing Natalia to fall out of the open hatch to her death (eaten whole by a whale). Rigby is able to catch the falling control pad, with Nicolai saving him from falling out as Rigby hits the override. The park is saved just in time as it barely touches the tip of the missile, and the US rejoices.

Back home, Benson offers Nicolai a job full time at the park (something Benson said he was going to do during the morning staff meeting that day), but Nicolai regretfully has to decline since he must go on the run now that he's a traitor to Russia and the U.S. Nicolai tells the park that although he'll be in hiding for the rest of his life, this won't be the last of Thomas they see. At this, he runs off into the sunset (just as he takes out a couple more agents) as the crew tearfully look on. Rigby ends the episode saying "Do Svidaniya (Russian for goodbye) Nicolai, you'll always be Thomas to us."

Characters



 * Thomas (Antagonist later Protagonist)
 * Rigby
 * Mordecai
 * Benson
 * Muscle Man
 * Hi-Five Ghost
 * Skips
 * Pops
 * Natalia (main antagonist)

Minor Characters

 * Anatoly
 * Premier Koshkov
 * General Romanoff
 * Karpov
 * President Davis
 * Secretary Clifton
 * General Pat McMurphy
 * Audrey (mentioned)
 * Promise Pie (flashback)
 * Garrett Bobby Ferguson (flashback)
 * Garrett Bobby Ferguson, Jr. (flashback)
 * Thomas' Mom (flashback)
 * Jennifer (flashback)
 * Farmer Jimmy (flashback)

Trivia

 * The flashback of the episodes are Exit 9B, Pie Contest, The Christmas Special, Thomas Fights Back, Journey to the Bottom of the Crash Pit, and The Thanksgiving Special.
 * It is revealed Benson and Audrey have broken up (however no one seems to remember this but Benson).
 * Thomas' real name is revealed to be Nicolai. The episode Thomas Fights Back might have hinted this when Thomas used the name "Nicholas" when he went uncover as a new intern for East Pines.
 * This episode is seen by some as a commentary on the current political situation between the United States and Russia. References are made to the various nuclear arms treaties, and the Russian commander's reaction to be accused of stealing US land is similar to Vladimir Putin's reaction to be accused of assisting the Ukranian Separatists in the Ukraine Crisis.
 * President Davis resembles 42rd president Bill Clinton, while his wife resembles former First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
 * Karpov resembles Zangief, a character from Street Fighter video games. And also his name is referenced to Karnov, a 1987 platform arcade game and also a character from a fighting game called Figter's History Dynamite.
 * This episode is considered to be Pro-American Propaganda by newsblog Russia Today (RT).
 * This episode show that Rigby has knowledge of Russian language, as evidenced at the end of the episode.
 * This episode reveals that Muscle Man has a fear of being trapped under an "unresponsive person".

Errors

 * Thomas said he was born in Kiev, but Kiev is not a city in Russia, it's the capital of Ukraine. It is possible, though, he was born when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. This is very likely, as the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, and Thomas is in his 20's.
 * In the flashback to Pie Contest, Promise Pie can be seen chasing Mordecai and Rigby, but in the actual episode, there isn't a single moment where P.P. was chasing them
 * During the flashback scene from "Journey to the Bottom of the Crash Pit", when Mordecai, Rigby, Muscle Man, and Hi-Five Ghost needs to borrow rock climbing equipment from Thomas, Thomas was wearing a blue baseball cap owned by a CIA agent, but Thomas wore a red baseball cap in the original episode.

Gallery


The gallery for "The Real Thomas" can be found here.