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"Thomas Fights Back" is the thirty-fourth episode of Season Five (and one hundred and fiftieth overall) of Regular Show. It first aired on July 24, 2014.
Synopsis[]
Thomas wants to get the park founder's statue back.
Plot[]
It's another day at the park, and Thomas is watching funny web clips on the computer in Pops' House. Muscle Man, dressed only in his underwear, walks in with his dirty laundry. After chucking the full load at the intern, he orders Thomas to take them to the drycleaners, much to Thomas' dismay. As Thomas gets on his way, he overhears Benson and Skips talking in the next room. Apparently Benson has decided that Thomas' internship program was taking up too much time, and while he thought he was a good kid, the best course of action may be to let him go. The two senior staff joke that the last thing The Park needs is another worker who stands around all day doing nothing, since that was already Mordecai and Rigby's shtick, and Benson decide to go find Thomas to deliver the bad news.
Upset by what he heard, Thomas quickly calls his mom, fearing he will be fired if he can't prove his worth. He intercepts Benson as he walks out the door and greets him casually. Benson attempts to take this opportunity to break the bad news to Thomas, but Thomas desperately tries to divert the conversation, listing all the chores he completed that day (which, unfortunately, only included putting sawdust on some vomit near the merry-go-round). Luckily for Thomas, their conversation is interrupted by Mordecai on Benson's walkie-talkie, who informs them that "the statue" is missing.
As all the park workers gather at the scene, they discover that the statue of Curtis Montgomery is missing. Benson angrily throws his clipboard to the ground, exclaiming that he can't believe Gene has done it again. When Thomas asks who Gene is, Skips explains that Gene is the prank-obsessed manager of their rival park, East Pines. He reveals that Gene and his crew have made a habit of pranking the park workers every year by stealing their statue, and the park workers have to get it back. This prompts Thomas to ask who Curtis Montgomery is. Benson informs him that Montgomery is the park's founder and shows Thomas a postcard picture of Curtis Montgomery punching a bear in 1851. Thomas offers to help, but his colleagues already have Rigby's "Operation Alien Strike Force" planned for retrieving the statue, and it doesn't include a role for him. As the rest of the workers prepare, Benson instructs Thomas to wait in his office. Left alone, Thomas is determined to find a way to prove his worth to the others.
Later that night, Thomas climbs out onto the roof of Pops' house. Using a pair of binoculars and his own walkie-talkie, he checks on his co-workers' progress. As it turns out, Operation Alien Strike Force was just having Muscle Man draw out the East Pines workers by pretending to be stuck at their gate while the rest of the group dress up as aliens and attempt to scare them into surrendering. Unfortunately, Gene easily sees through their disguises and orders his rangers to fire on them (with tomatoes). The confrontation is broken up when a bright, flashing ball of light appears above the group and causes both sides to retreat.
Back in Benson's office, the tomato-covered Alien Strike Force, along with Thomas, returns to brainstorming. After rejecting Rigby's idea to pretend to be zombies and Muscle Man's plan to blow up East Pines' supply bunkers, Thomas suggests going undercover as an intern to gather information from the inside. Before Benson can reluctantly inform him that they can't proceed with that plan because he is about to fire him, a desperate Thomas pleads with the group for one chance to prove himself as a valuable member of the team. He mentions that during his time there, he's gotten to know everyone and is starting to feel accepted. He also points out that he was the one who accidentally fired what turned out to be a flare that saved them. Muscle Man, however, remains skeptical and accuses Thomas of being too much of a "momma's boy" to succeed in such a role. In response, Thomas flips Muscle Man onto his back and locks him in a surprisingly impressive, albeit painful-looking, restraining hold. Having made his point, Thomas helps Muscle Man up as Benson asks him what his plan is.
In a detailed monologue, Thomas explains his plan to pass himself off as "Nicholas," a new intern at East Pines. He intends to skydive into East Pines territory via Carmenita. Once he secures the position, he aims to gain the trust of the enemy's other interns by bringing them snacks and completing their tasks for them, all while gathering intelligence on the layout of the park, the workers' daily schedules, and most importantly, the secret location of the Curtis Montgomery statue. The entire operation is set to last thirty days. At the end of the thirtieth day, Thomas instructs the others to watch for his signal.
The plan goes off smoothly, and in a rare stroke of luck, the thirtieth day just happens to be the night of the Park Manager's Formal, which Gene and the East Pines senior staff are attending. Having seen Thomas' flare, the other park workers find a box from the undercover intern containing a set of fitted East Pines workers uniforms and a note telling them to meet him at their gate. The group, now fully suited, reunite with Thomas in an East Pines van. As they drive up to the gate, Thomas briefs his co-workers that Gene and his men are at the Park Managers Formal, and it should give them about an hour to retrieve the statue and get out, much to Benson's surprise since he wasn't invited to the park managers formal. After briefly chatting with the gatekeeper Jeff as Nicholas while the others hide in the back of the van, they're allowed through. Thomas parks the vehicle near the silo where the statue is hidden. He tells Rigby, Pops and Fives to wait while him, Mordecai, Benson, Muscle Man and Skips climb in through the top with some pre-prepared grappling hooks.
Back at the gate, Jeff is playing cards with another East Pines worker wearing shades. After losing, the shades wearing worker decides to prank the interns for some laughs instead. Of course, he ends up finding Thomas missing from his quarters and immediately calls to inform Gene, who rushes back to his park.
Meanwhile, Thomas and the others are just about to move the statue out of the silo with a forklift. The intern urges his teammates to hurry, as Gene would be back any minute. This comes too late, as he opens the door to find Gene and his men already waiting for them outside. The two sides have a standoff, Gene demanding they leave the statue while Benson declares that the statue belongs with them. The East Pines manager threatens to call for backup, but Thomas, having a trick or two up his sleeve, uses reverse psychology and tells him not to. Gene indignantly announces that he doesn't take orders from interns, to which Thomas replies that he's not their intern, he's the park's intern. Thinking he has them cornered, Gene patronisingly calls this touching and presses the call button on his walkie-talkie. Unbeknownst to him, Thomas had rigged the device to blow up a stack of barrels near the door, and Gene and his team are promptly knocked down by the explosion.
Thomas and the Park gang seize the opportunity to make a swift escape on the forklift. They load the retrieved statue into the van and flee with the rest of the group. Meanwhile, Gene and his men attempt to follow in the nearby carts, only to find that they have no fuel in any of them. Gene tries to call Jeff at the gate, but none of the men's walkie-talkies have any working batteries in them, then Gene says they're gonna have to use emergency phone. At that moment, Thomas arrives with Muscle Man in the front seats. Jeff, unaware of the situation, asks "Nicholas" why he was out again and who Muscle Man is. Overwhelmed with nerves, Muscle Man freezes and struggles to respond, but Thomas steps in to cover for him, explaining that Muscle Man is a maintenance worker Gene asked him to drive home. Jeff informs them that he will need to verify this with Gene, as this is the first he has heard of it. He attempts to call his boss on his walkie-talkie, but, of course, he cannot get through.
As Gene's group rushes to the emergency phone, he tries to use it to alert all East Pines personnel about the security breach. To his shock, he discovers that the line has been cut. This triggers a flashback for Gene, revealing that while Thomas was busy doing the other interns' chores, he secretly sabotaged their equipment. In the flashback, Thomas is seen cutting the wires of the emergency phone with a knife. He then puts batteries in the walkie-talkie and carelessly throws the batteries on the floor. Next, he uses the knife to cut the wires on one of the East Pines carts. When the flashback ends, Gene realizes what has happened. Overwhelmed with frustration, he drops the phone, shattering it into pieces on the floor. He then screams "Nicholas!" into the sky.
Back to the front gate, Thomas is trying to convince Jeff to let them through. However, Jeff grows suspicious of the situation and orders him and a sweating Muscle Man to step out of the van. As the pressure mounts, Rigby quietly urges the others to just ditch the statue and escape. Startled by the unexpected noise, Jeff aims his weapon at Thomas and demands to know what it was. Maintaining his composure, Thomas feigns ignorance and offers to call Gene to confirm their story, leaving his colleagues confused. With Gene and his crew approaching quickly on foot, Thomas dials Gene's number. To Jeff's surprise, Gene's voice comes through the speakers, demanding that Jeff let them through. Flustered, Jeff immediately opens the gate, just moments before the real Gene calls out from a distance, telling him not to let them through. But it's too late; Thomas slams on the accelerator and barely squeezes through the half-opened gates. The East Pines crew chases them onto the streets, but it's no use — they have escaped, along with the statue. Frustrated, Gene screams "Nicholas!" into the sky once again.
Finally safe back at The Park, the team return the statue to its rightful place. Benson, pleased with the result, apologizes to Thomas for doubting him. Rigby asks how he managed to pull off that trick with Gene's voice, and Thomas replies that he had it pre-recorded. The team congratulate him on a job well done. Muscle Man tells him that he'll always see Thomas as a "momma's boy", though he lets out a rather undignified yelp when Thomas pulls his martial arts stance again, much to the others' amusement. Able to keep his job, Thomas receives an incoming call from his mom and informs her of the good news.
Characters[]
- Thomas
- Muscle Man
- Benson
- Skips
- Mordecai
- Rigby
- Pops
- Hi-Five Ghost
- Gene
- Rival Park Members
- Jeff
Locations[]
- Park
- East Pines
- Silo
Trivia[]
- The date of the Manager's Formal and the operation to take back the statue was on June 4, which means the day the mission started was on May 5.
- This episode reveals that Gene has hair, despite being made of metal.
- Curtis Montgomery was the founder of the Park.
- Skips reveals that Gene and his goons steal the statue of Curtis Montgomery from the park every year, and the park workers have to get it back.
- This time the park truck is based off a Chevrolet C/K.
Episode Connections[]
- The Park's founder was first hinted in Season Two. (TV: Appreciation Day)
- The girl Hi-Five Ghost skated with in "Bald Spot" can be seen at the Park Manager's Formal.
- There are several instances in this episode that foreshadow Thomas' true self in "The Real Thomas." His fighting stances, his alias "Nicholas" hinting his real name later on revealed to be "Nikolai", and him saying "Mission accomplished!" at the end of the episode.
- The statue of Curtis Montgomery appears again in "Cheer Up Pops" where it gets destroyed by Muscle Man.
Pop Culture References[]
- The Park founder, Curtis Montgomery, has many references to Jebediah Springfield the founder of Springfield, from The Simpsons.
- Both founders of the Park in Regular Show and Springfield in The Simpsons have statues in their homage, and to the scenario where the statue of the Park is was inspired by the Springfield Square.
Production Notes[]
- This is the final episode to be boarded by Andres Salaff before leaving for Adventure Time in October 2013, but got to board on his final Regular Show project, Regular Show: The Movie.
Alternate Versions[]
UK[]
- "No starch this time! It wrecks havoc my pepperonis!" was changed to "No starch this time! It wrecks havoc on my chimichangas!
- "Fire at will!" was changed to "Tomato blast them!"