The Real Thomas

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

Sypnosis
Thinking he is up to something, Rigby sets out to find out who the real Thomas is.

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 "Nikolai", 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.

Nikolai (Thomas' real name for the rest of the plot) explains how he became a Russian Spy. During winter time in Kiev, Nikolai was abandoned by his parents as a child, he was quickly adopted by government officials and was declared property of the State. He was raised by the K.G.B., where he was trained to be a ruthless and elite agent where he pledged loyalty only for Mother Russia. Years later, the K.G.B. embraced Thomas to help out Ministry of Medo-Management (MOMM) current situation, as the corporation is dedicated to park research and espionage, they struggle to improve overly outdated Russian parks making Russia become a laughingstock. Russians questioned and couldn't figure out how the U.S. was able to create outstanding parks. So, General Romanoff assigns Nikolai and Natalia to Operation Park Lift, where they must infiltrate into U.S. soil surreptitiously. Nicolai and Natalia obtains fake identities and profiles given by their commander to avoid suspicion from the U.S. government. They successfully entered the U.S. with no resistance, and begin their operation which they done it phase by phase, while also eliminating potential threats sabotaging their plan. Skips still questions how Nikolai successfully managed to install all of his Russian duty activities without them even noticing it, Nikolai answers that he had his ways, by explaining that being the Intern was considered a low-ranking people which was the perfect cover for Nikolai to implement his plans without the others noticing. Betrayed, Mordecai and Rigby plead in Nikolai (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. Nikolai digs into his duffel bag, reaching under a trap in the bag to reveal a control pad with a detonator. He initiates Phase 8 of the Operation in 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 Nikolai 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 a UN conference of world leaders mainly U.S. and Russia, President Davis of the U.S. and President Koshkov of Russia are seated in a confrontation meeting. Just then, U.S. intelligence deliver urgent information that is a matter of national security to the President, radars pickup the land formation of the park that is heading straight to the Russian border. President Davis asks what is the meaning of the situation, General McMurphy answers by accusing the Russians are stealing a piece of the U.S., however President Koshkov seems to deny his claim. Despite that, President Davis is warned that if the land piece reaches Russian territory, the Russian military will claim it for themselves resulting them to never get the land piece back. Mordecai and Rigby plead to Nikolai 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 Nikolai the park crew are dead, leaving Nikolai disgusted as it wasn't part of the plan. Suddenly, they appear in the rear-view mirror (relieving Nikolai), just on their tail. As Mordecai, Rigby, and Benson make it on board, Natalia reveals that she intends to bypass the US-Russia Nuclear Arms Treaty, the Treaty that made Russia to swore never to fire any missiles against the U.S., by bringing the chunk of U.S. land piece close to a missile launching point and blowing it up, reigniting the Nuclear Arms Race and eventually prompt America to take action, starting World War III. Back at the U.N. conference, U.S and Russian relations worsen and also causing an outrage in all of the world leaders. Despite President Davis and his diplomats accusing Russian leader Koshkov, that what they are doing is a threat to the nation and a violation of the Treaty, President Koshkov points out that they haven't fired any missiles at their territory, humiliating the President. President Davis then asks that aren't they only blowing up part of their own country, Koshkov responds he has nothing to worry as it's a 'big country'. Meanwhile, Nikolai, completely unaware of this ulterior motive, is horrified as he never intended to hurt anyone. Natalia only responds that the U.S. can use the ruins to rebuild the park again, Rigby tries to disenchant Nikolai, but Natalie tells Nikolai to remember all the terrible things they've done to him, just for being an intern. But Rigby tells Nikolai to discard their old hatred on him and recall instead the good times they had. Having a change of heart (helped by Mordecai, Rigby, and Benson's plead 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 Nikolai 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 Nikolai 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. With the prevention of a conflict, the U.S. and the other world leaders rejoices as Russia is humiliated of their plan to fail, frustrating Koshkov.

Back home, Benson offers Nikolai a job full-time at the park (something Benson said he was going to do during the morning staff meeting that day), but Nikolai regretfully has to decline since he must go on the run now that he's a traitor to Russia and the U.S. Nikolai 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 on behalf of the park workers, saying "Dasvidania (Russian for goodbye) Nikolai, you'll always be Thomas to us."

Characters



 * Thomas
 * Rigby
 * Mordecai
 * Benson
 * Muscle Man
 * Hi-Five Ghost
 * Skips
 * Pops
 * Natalia
 * President Davis
 * Secretary Clifton
 * General Pat McMurphy
 * Anatoly
 * Premier Koshkov
 * General Romanoff
 * Karpov
 * Promise Pie
 * Garrett Bobby Ferguson
 * Garrett Bobby Ferguson, Jr.
 * Thomas' Mom
 * Jennifer
 * Farmer Jimmy
 * Audrey

Trivia

 * 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 Nikolai.
 * 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 Ukrainian Separatists in the Ukraine Crisis.
 * When Nikolai and his partners try to steal the park for a replacement of Russia's park, it could possibly be a reference to Russia taking the Crimea in March 2014 because Russia took Crimea's land for themselves and Thomas and his Russian gang tried to accomplish a similar goal.
 * President Davis resembles 42nd 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 Fighter'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 the Russian language, as evidenced at the end of the episode. Either that or he only knows "До свидания" ("Do svedanya" = "Goodbye").
 * This episode reveals that Muscle Man has a fear of being trapped under an "unresponsive person".
 * As of this episode, Thomas is no longer considered part of the cast.
 * Thomas does not have a mom because she abandoned him when he was a baby, Thomas' "Mom" who talks to him via phone is really a Russian organization codenamed M.O.M.M.
 * When Rigby checks out the sprinkler heads, there is Russian text on it saying "ОСТОРОЖНО!" ("Ostorozhno!"). Translated to English, the word means "Caution!" In the European version it does not appear.
 * When Romanoff showed Thomas and Natalia's plan in the flashback, the line says "Операция парк лифт" ("Operatsiya 'Park Lift'") which means "Operation 'Park Lift.'"
 * In the opening titles of the episode, every word appears to be translated into Russian language, however, this could be to coincide with the episode itself. This does not appear in the European version.
 * In the European version of the episode, Russia is changed to a fictional country called "Druznia" and "Russian" to "Druzhnic" (possibly as ironic reference to Russian друзья (Druzya), "friends"). This was most likely done to avoid insulting Russian (or pro-Russian) viewers, particularly at a time of political tension in Europe involving Russia and its neighbor Ukraine.

Episode Connections
The episode  Thomas Fights Back  might have hinted Thomas's real name when Thomas used the name "Nicholas" when he went undercover as a new intern for East Pines.
 * 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.
 * The way that Benson explains how he cheered up is very similar to  Mordecai 's breakup with  Margaret.
 * The way the Park Theft was planned is also they very similar to the Statue Theft in the episode.

Errors

 * Thomas said he was born in Kiev, but Kiev is not a city in Russia, rather the capital of Ukraine; furthermore, the onion-domed building in the background as he says this resembles St. Basil's Cathedral, which is in Moscow. 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. It is further supported by the fact that much of the Russian equipment seen is labeled with the Cyrillic letters CCCP ("SSSR") for Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик ("Soyúz Sovétskikh Sotsialistíčeskikh Respúblik")) (in English "USSR" and "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"), rather than the current РФ (Российская Федерация, Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) for "Russian Federation."


 * 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.
 * Throughout most of the episode, Natalia is seen wearing lipstick. When Thomas reveals himself to be a Russian spy named Nikolai, Natalia's lipstick is missing.