"Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy"
◄   Season Two, Episode Eighteen  ►
Air date	March 17, 2011 on
Written by	Dan Harmon and Andy Bobrow
Directed by	Anthony Russo

“	So you're saying if I get a job and my own apartment Shirley might let me be part of my baby's life?	”
–Chang

Summary: The study group organizes a baby shower for Shirley while she tries to keep Chang out of her life. Britta is interested in Abed and Troy's new friend, Lukka (Enver Gjokaj), who, as it turns out, has a dark past.

Contents 1 Plot 2 End tag 3 Recurring themes 3.1 Continuity: 3.2 Running gags: 3.3 Pop culture references: 3.4 Meta references: 4 Quotes 5 Comments

PlotEdit

Annie throws Shirley a baby shower in the study room . The rest of study group is in attendance along with the baby's possible fathers, Chang and Andre. Shirley thanks Annie for trying to throw a shower that celebrates the possible racial diversity of the child but reiterates that the baby will be raised by her and Andre alone. Chang claims to be fine with that arrangement but still wants to be involved with the child's life in some way. After the Dean joins the party, Britta asks Troy and Abed about a student she saw them both with. Troy tells her it's a classmate from his history class called Lukka. He and Abed have become good friends with him as they enjoy the same video games. Troy then forbids Britta from dating Lukka.

Later, Troy and Abed are playing video games in Abed's dorm room with Lukka when Britta drops by. Much to her friends' dismay, she elicits a dinner invitation from Lukka before he leaves. Britta asks why Troy and Abed don't want her to date their friends. They tell her that in the past she always revealed unsavory facts about their friends after the relationships ended and they don't want to lose Lukka as a friend. She ignores their concerns and walks out. Shirley approaches Jeff in the hallway as one of his classes lets out and asks for his help. She wants him to get Chang, who is currently living with Jeff, to sign a forfeiture of parental rights to ensure Chang won't interfere in her child's life. Jeff is reluctant but agrees to do it for the baby.

Things are getting hot and heavy in Lukka's apartment but Britta interrupts their kiss to ask him to keep their relationship a secret from Troy and Abed. The talk of secrets reminds him of his life in the Balkans and he relates a few grim memories of the civil war in his homeland. Initially turned on by his inner pain, Britta questions Lukka about what he misses only to find out that he was among the aggressors and took sadistic pleasure in ruthlessly murdering other ethnicities.

Jeff returns home and presents Chang with Shirley's legal papers, telling him to sign. When Jeff explains what the document means, Chang begins to tear up because he's worried this might be his last chance to be a father. Jeff tells him that he's not fit to be a father because he doesn't have a job and he doesn't have his own place to live. Chang takes this to mean that if he gets a job and an apartment, Shirley will let him be a father if the baby is his. Seeing an opportunity to be rid of Chang, Jeff encourages this notion.

In the cafeteria the next day, Britta asks Troy and Abed if they know anything about Lukka's history. They are suspicious about Britta's motives but ignore her and prepare for their gaming session with Lukka. Nearby, Shirley and Andre ask Jeff if he was successful getting Chang to sign the papers. Jeff says he gave it his best shot but couldn't convince Chang, who suddenly appears with a pipe, cardigan and newspaper. He makes small talk about the stock market and job prospects and explains that he's trying to be the best dad possible. Jeff quickly slips away but Shirley realizes that Jeff sold her out and chases him down. She yells at Jeff for being selfish but he pretends that he just doesn't want to stand in the way of Chang improving his life.

Lukka proves uncannily adept as he plays a violent war game with Troy and Abed. Britta enters the room and points out there must be a reason why Lukka is so good at the video game which is oddly reminiscent of his experiences in eastern Europe. Troy and Abed, still unaware that Britta had a date with Lukka, try to get her to leave. Not wanting to admit she went against their wishes, Britta starts to exit when Lukka notices a “DVD blu-ray disc” of Kickpuncher III and asks Abed if he can borrow the movie. Abed replies that he never loans his DVDs and he can't be friends with anyone who breaks the rule. Lukka resignedly suggests they watch it together some time. Overhearing this exchange, Britta hatches a plan.

Andre approaches Chang in the commons area and tells him that his act isn't fooling anybody, actions are what matters. If he wants to get his act together, that's good but a real dad is someone who picks them up from school and helps them with their homework, for example. Britta arrives in the study room after an urgent text from Abed, who reveals that his Kickpuncher III DVD is missing. Britta worriedly recalls that this was the movie Lukka wanted to borrow. With increasing horror, she supposes that he took it from the shelf without permission, meaning that Troy and Abed would have to stop hanging out with him! Abed then reveals that he has video footage of Britta taking the DVD. Troy accuses Britta of trying to ruin cool guys for no reason. Britta defends her actions saying she only wanted to avoid telling them that Lukka is a war criminal but Troy and Abed don't believe her and storm out.

Jeff returns home to find that Chang, in an attempt to be fatherly, has picked up Shirley's children from school. Jeff knows this will enrage Shirley so he immediately tells the kids he will take them home. While Jeff is out of the room, Chang discovers that he picked up the wrong children but neglects to share this information with Jeff. After Jeff leaves with the kids, Chang phones the police to report Jeff as a kidnapper. After spending the night in jail, Jeff is released and greeted by Shirley and Andre. Shirley convinced the mother of the boys that Jeff was innocent but encouraged her to press charges against Chang. Jeff begins to concoct a way to increase the maximum sentence against Chang but Andre stops them. He tells them that punishing Chang isn't going to make their lives better and since she was able to forgive Andre, she should be more understanding with Chang.

Britta is studying alone in the study room when Troy and Abed enter. They relate how they asked Lukka some questions and learned about the things he did while in the military. Britta admits that she hadn't told them because she didn't want to be the one to ruin another one of their friendships. Abed apologizes for how hard they have been to Britta lately. They all agree to be more mature about how they handle tricky relationship issues in the future. Abed then invites Britta to watch a movie but she accidentally spoils the entire plot for them.

End tagEdit

The study group is seen at the end of a study session: Jeff, Shirley, Troy, and Britta are using their phones, Annie is on her laptop, Pierce is trying to use a calculator, and Abed is listening to his iPod while using his tablet.

Recurring themesEdit

Continuity:Edit

• Previously: Abed had sweatshirts printed to commemorate last year's paintball game. Later, Jeff is seen wearing his at the police station.
• Familiar Faces: Andre Bennett makes another appearance.

Running gags:Edit

• Nice outfit:
  • Dean Pelton wears a sedge hat along with a dashiki when he attends the baby shower.
  • Chang dresses up like his vision of the perfect dad, no doubt gleaned from watching family sitcoms: Horn-rimmed glasses, a smoking pipe, a cardigan, and a newspaper under his arm.
  • Troy is horrified to see that Britta is also wearing a green handkerchief around her neck and discreetly removes his own before she notices.
• Rhyme time: Lukka gets into the act with "Easy peasy lemon squeezy."
• Turning it into a snake: Britta does a bizarre dance while trying to sing for Lukka.
• Changuage: Chang admits that he doesn't "chang a lot of chicks."
• Gay, he's so gay!: A police officer says that Jeff's nipple guards are "the gayest thing I've ever seen."

Pop culture references:Edit

• Shout out:
  • Pierce calls Joe Kennedy "History's greatest chump."
  • Lukka connects Britta's name with Britney Spears.
• Name that tune: Britta attempts to impress Lukka with a Britney Spears song but it comes out as a mash-up of ...Baby One More Time by Britney Spears and Genie in a Bottle by Christina Aguilera.
• TV Guide: Chang talks about recording Bones on his VCR.
• IMDB:
  • Jeff thought Shirley meant Jurassic Park when she was actually talking about It's Complicated.
  • Troy and Abed invite Britta to watch Catfish with them.

Meta references:Edit

• IRL: Jeff wonders, "Why is everybody at this school obsessed with race?" The answer is that Community's creator Dan Harmon, by his own frequent admission, is obsessed with race.
• Up against the wall: The end tag could be a spoof on the fact that we never see the study group actually studying in the study room. In the DVD commentary, writer Andy Bobrow reveals that the tag originally ended with Jeff giving Britta a birthday card as everyone leaves but that part was cut after they realized that it wasn't the right time of year for her birthday. 

QuotesEdit

“I seem to recall a story about a man named Joseph who happily raised a child that wasn't his.”— Andre

“History's greatest chump. We're talking about Joe Kennedy, Right? ”— Pierce

“You know, you really shouldn't say 'you people'.”— Andre

“Oh, it's okay. Pierce was having trouble quitting offensive phrases cold turkey so we've created a bargaining system. We traded 'you people' for some of his other favorite phrases.”— Annie

“Yeah, I really got Jewish-personed out of that one.”— Pierce

“Hit me with your genie's bottle...rub it all over me.”— Britta doing her best Christina Spears impersonation

“Don't saw the floor! Don't saw anything! I'm tired of confiscating saws. Gimme that, take this.”— Jeff

“"Parental Rights"? You're adopting me!”— Chang

“Who am I to stand in the way of someone trying to put their life together? What am I, daytime television?”— Jeff

“Something terrible has happened. My Kickpuncher III: The Final Kickening DVD is missing.”— Abed

“That's awful. Somebody took it? Who would...? Wait, Kickpuncher 3? Wasn't that the movie that Lukka was...? You don't think... Unless... You don't suppose... However---No. That would mean that you guys would have to stop hanging out--- Nooooo!”— Britta

“We have video of you taking the DVD, Britta.”— Abed

Season Two Episodes
1. "Anthropology 101" 2. "Accounting for Lawyers" 3. "The Psychology of Letting Go" 4. "Basic Rocket Science" 5. "Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples" 6. "Epidemiology" 7. "Aerodynamics of Gender" 8. "Cooperative Calligraphy" 9. "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" 10. "Mixology Certification" 11. "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" 12. "Asian Population Studies"	13. "Celebrity Pharmacology 212" 14. "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" 15. "Early 21st Century Romanticism" 16. "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking" 17. "Intro to Political Science" 18. "Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy" 19. "Critical Film Studies" 20. "Competitive Wine Tasting" 21. "Paradigms of Human Memory" 22. "Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts" 23. "A Fistful of Paintballs" 24. "For A Few Paintballs More"
Season One • Season Two • Season Three • Season Four • Season Five

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