"Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism"
◄   Season Three, Episode Nine  ►
Air date	December 1, 2011 on
Written by	Chris Kula
Directed by	Anthony Russo

“	Annie, do you know how many times a sitcom has done a secretly replace a priceless item thing? Because Abed does, Abed knows everything. I know you think you can think your way out of this with your thinkingness but don't think too much.	”
–Troy

Summary: After Jeff challenges three transfer students to a Foosball game he asks Shirley to train him for the game. Annie accidently breaks Abed's new special edition of The Dark Knight DVD.

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 Images 5 Videos 6 Comments

PlotEdit

Annie joins the rest of the study group in the student lounge and aks them about their weekend plans. As they are talking, Garrett and three students are loudly playing a game of foosball in the corner. Abed mentions that he and Troy will be spending saturday repeatedly watching his newly arrived special edition DVD of "The Dark Knight". Meanwhile, the three students beat Garrett and loudly celebrate their victory. Ignoring Shirley's pleas, Jeff goes to confront them and gets challenged to a game. They agree to never use the foosball table again if he is able to score once. Jeff feigns disinterest and pretends to leave but then quickly attempts to score a point. After he fails and is mocked by the foreign students, Britta tries to snap a photo of his humiliating defeat with her knock-off brand cell phone.

Later at Troy and Abed's apartment, Annie is doing some light house cleaning when she accidentally steps on and destroys Abed's new "Dark Knight" DVD which had been lying on the ground. Troy emerges from his blanket fort room and after noticing Annie's mood displays a similar mortified reaction when shown the remains of the DVD. He insists that Annie just tell Abed what happened since there's no way they hide this from him. Back at school, Jeff has stayed overnight in the student lounge practicing his game at the foosball table. Shirley approaches him concerned he's getting to obsessed with beating the Germans. Jeff then reveals that as a kid he used to love the game but had to give it up because of bullies like the exchange students. He tells her she wouldn't understand as it's a guy thing he needs to resolve. Shirley then shows off her skill at the game which leaves Jeff awestruck.

Elsewhere, Troy and Abed arrive home with snacks for their "Dark Knight" marathon but enter and see that the apartment has apparently been ransacked. Annie rushes towards them claiming they had been robbed and Troy reluctantly goes along with her ficticious account. Meanwhile at Greendale, Jeff catches up with Shirley and begs her to teach him how to play foosball as well as she does. She refuses saying that it's an evil game that brings out the worst in people. Jeff angerily ridicules her piousness but quickly regrets his words and apologizes. He turns to go when Shirley stops him and resignedly agrees to help train him. They meet the next morning, and Shirley reveals to Jeff that an all-or-nothing kill-or-be-killed attitude is the most important skill needed to dominate the game. She illustrates this by aggressively taunting and berating him as they play the game until he finally gets angry enough to score a point against her.

O

ver at Troy and Abed's apartment, Officer Cackowski is going over the details of the crime with the roomates. Annie further embelishes her story insisting it was a break in and theft as not only the DVD was stolen but also some of her jewlery. Before Cackowski leaves he tells them he'll be in touch but in circumstances like this the stolen goods are never recovered . Abed tells Annie and Troy his suspicions that it was an inside job since there were no signs of forced entry and conlcudes that it was the landlord, Rick. Back at Greendale, Jeff and Shirley are stil training when they are interrupted by the Germans. A bried heated exchange occurs and another challange is issued. Both sides agree to play each other on Monday with the stipulation that the losing team never use the foosball table again.

Meanwhile at casa de Trobed, Abed exits The Dreamatorium dressed in his Batman outfit. Assuming the Batman persona he tells his roomates he will see justice done. He begins to leave the apartment via the fire escape and Annie finally confesses everything. Abed doesn't believe her because if she was guilty she would have come forward earlier. He then uses a grappling hook Troy gave him last Christmas to rapel down to the landlords apartment with his roommates following close behind At the same time, Shirley and Jeff are enjoying a meal over at Señor Kevin's and he asks her how she came to be so good at foosball. Shirley reveals that she played the game as a kid as it gave her an outlet for all the anger she had at the time. She then recalls an incident which had a profound affect on her.

At a local YMCA she not only beat a boy at the game but also cruelly bullied him by jabbing the kid with a foosball rod which caused him to pee his pants. As the other kids in attendance cheered her on, she added further humiliation by nicknaming him "Tinkletown". A horrified expression on Jeff's face makes her stop her story. A shocking revelation sets in as Shirley realizes he was the boy she bullied years ago after he calls her by the nickname she had as a kid, "Big Cheddar'". After getting over his shock at facing his childhood tormentor after all this time, Jeff angrily leaves the restaurant calling her a monster. Meanwhile back at Trobed's apartment complex, Abed manages to make it to the fire escape of his landlord's apartment in one piece. Abed, as Batman, interrogates Rick the landlord only to find out that he only has shoes and a piece of a broken DVD, which is planted by Annie. Annie confesses to Abed, only for Abed to claim that he is Batman and that while he forgives her, Abed will not because he is ruthless, and therefore to not tell Abed.

The following Monday, Jeff and Shirley go up against the two Germans. Jeff and Shirley juggle the ball between one another before leaving in in the center, which causes infighting between the two German players. Jeff and Shirley then decide to quit and walk out hand in hand in front of the other members of the study group, with Pierce wondering when the two became close. The two are then seen walking away as little kids, thus showing a truce between Big Cheddar and Tinkletown.

End tagEdit

Leonard's youtube frozen pizza review.

Recurring themesEdit

Continuity:Edit

• Previously:
  • In the Season One episode "Communication Studies", Britta is knitting an eyepatch for her new handicapped cat she got to replace the one that had just died, Suzie B. In this episode the cat's name is revealed to be Daniel and it just had eye surgery.
  • Jeff recalls the time he and Shirley made fun of Britta's ex-boyfriend's tiny nipples in "Social Psychology".
  • Officer Cackowski recalls teaching Annie a lesson on gun safety
• That just happened: Annie is now living with Troy and Abed in their apartment since the episode "Studies in Modern Movement".
• History Lesson: Jeff and Shirley's shared past history is explored.
• Familiar face: Officer Cackowski returns in this episode with his first appearance of Season Three.
• First appearance: The Germans make their first appearance in this episode. They are scheduled to return in Season Four.
• I'm Batman!: Abed resurrects his Christian Bale inspired Batman persona from "Introduction to Statistics".
• School uniform: Abed dons his Batman Halloween costume.
• School song: Troy hums the song "Daybreak", it's second time it's heard on the show in Season Three.
• School supplies: Britta's Toterola and the student lounge's Foosball Table are prominently featured.
• This must be the place: The student lounge, Troy and Abed's apartment, Señor Kevin's

Running gags:Edit

• Shut up Leonard!: Shirley tells Leonard to shut up and then says she's seen his YouTube videos where he reviews frozen pizza.
• Catchphrase: Juergen says a misphrasing of the popular phrase "It's on like Donkey Kong!".
• Sexy Voice: Shirley gets very into the zone when playing foosball.
• Annie's Boobs: Annie hides a piece of Abed's DVD in her bra when they go to the Landlord's apartment.

Pop culture references:Edit

• Alert nerd!: The Batman franchise is referenced and featured prominently in this episode.
• Shout out: Batman star actor Christian Bale is referenced.
• IMDB: the German film "Das Boot" is mentioned by Jeff.

Meta references:Edit

• Use your allusion: Jeff mocks the Germans by mentioning their country is known for it's well-engineered cars.
• Parody: During Jeff and Shirley's intense over the top foosball showdown, the scene shifts to an anime inspired cartoon which is known for not only having many such confrontations but also overly dramatizing them which this scene is also doing.
• Linguistic Irony: One of the Germans says "I wish there was a word to describe the happiness I feel at your misfortune!" referring to the German word Schadenfreude, which means exactly that.

ImagesEdit

VideosEdit

Community - Inside Foosball(02:45)
66 views

Troy Humming Daybreak - 'Community' Season 3 Episode 9 "Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism"(01:41)
71 views

Season Three Episodes
1. "Biology 101" 2. "Geography of Global Conflict" 3. "Remedial Chaos Theory" 4. "Competitive Ecology" 5. "Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps" 6. "Advanced Gay" 7. "Studies in Modern Movement" 8. "Documentary Filmmaking: Redux" 9. "Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism" 10. "Regional Holiday Music" 11. "Contemporary Impressionists"	12. "Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts" 13. "Digital Exploration of Interior Design 14. "Pillows and Blankets" 15. "Origins of Vampire Mythology" 16. "Virtual Systems Analysis" 17. "Basic Lupine Urology" 18. "Course Listing Unavailable" 19. "Curriculum Unavailable" 20. "Digital Estate Planning" 21. "First Chang Dynasty" 22. "Introduction to Finality"
Season One • Season Two • Season Three • Season Four • Season Five

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