Line #13 Recap/CommunityS2E18CustodyLawAndEasternEuropeanDiplomacy


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/custody_law_0.jpg]]
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3	As the end of Shirley's pregnancy draws closer and the question of who the father of her child is comes nearer to an answer, Senor Chang is increasingly insistent on inserting himself into the child's life -- and by extension, Shirley's. Equally eager to keep him out of their lives as much as possible, Shirley asks Jeff to persuade Chang to sign away his parental rights in the event of the child being his; however, Jeff is soon torn between keeping his promise to Shirley and seizing an opportunity to get Chang, in persuading him to change his ways in preparation for fatherhood, out of his apartment.
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5	Troy and Abed have made a new videogame friend, Lukka, and beg Britta ''not'' to sleep with him, fearing the inevitable disillusionment which will come with her, having entered a failed relationship with him, spilling all of his embarrassing and awkward secrets. Unfortunately, this places Britta in a tight spot when she eventually learns the truth of what Lukka actually got up to during the ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.
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8	!!The ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy" contains examples of:
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10	* AffablyEvil: For someone who is hinted to have done some ''very'' nasty things in the Balkans, Lukka is a rather charming fellow.
11	* AirVentPassageway: Unsuccessful attempt by Chang.
12	* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Subverted; even for Britta, no stranger to this trope in general, apparently Balkan war criminals are a shade too far.
13	* BalkanBastard: Lukka's skill at Troy and Abed's [[UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000 unnervingly realistic war game]] is not a coincidence. He did it for real [[UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars back home]], and he looks back on it with nostalgia.
14	* BlackComedy: Lukka's reminiscing over his past war crimes is at least partially PlayedForLaughs, despite the fact that both the audience and the characters are rightfully expected to be horrified by them.
15	* BluntYes:
16	-->'''Jeff''': I spent the night learning arts and crafts from my cellmate, Chabo. [[RhetoricalQuestionBlunder Did you know that you can make an ashtray using only a cigarette and a snitch's forehead?]]
17	-->'''Andre''': [[NoodleIncident Yeah.]]
18	* BroughtHomeTheWrongKid: A classic example when Chang screws up his attempt to prove he's a good father by picking up someone else's kids instead of Shirley's.
19	* BullyingADragon: Chang calls his arresting officer "Officer baby".
20	* CassandraTruth: [[FelonyMisdemeanor After borrowing a DVD without permission]] Britta is unable to convince Troy & Abed of the real reason they should stop being friends with Lukka.
21	--> '''Britta:''' You guys have to believe me! [[NoodleIncident He's so much worse than Tall Kyle!]]
22	* CaughtOnTape: Abed has a video camera installed in his room which catches Britta stealing the DVD.
23	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when Andre's attempt to convince Chang about the realities of fatherhood ends with Chang fleeing:
24	--> '''Andre:''' I'll go ahead and consider ''that'' point missed.
25	* ConflictBall: Both Troy and Abed have a death grip on it this episode. To wit, they flatly refuse to believe Britta's claims that Lukka is a ''genocidal war criminal'' simply because she's "ruined" some friends they've had in the past by dating them.
26	* CrazyPrepared: Abed subverts this. He doesn't have a security camera, he has a camera for a documentary that occasionally comes in handy.
27	* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: Chang gets himself a pipe in an attempt to look mature.
28	* DramaticPause: Britta attempts this ("May...be...we...do...!") but gets blank stares from Abed, Troy and Lukka.
29	* EveryoneHasStandards:
30	** Britta's terrible taste in men and apparent fetish for jerks, losers and weirdos apparently does not extend to Serbian war criminals. Even Troy and Abed agree that it crosses a line.
31	** Andre is horrified when Shirley and Jeff conspire to accuse Chang of child trafficking so that he is locked away for 20 years, and calls them out on this.
32	* EverythingIsRacist: When the boys Chang brought to Jeff's apartment insist that their mother's name isn't Shirley, it's Laquanda, Chang immediately says "That's racist!" before [[DoubleTake suddenly realizing]] that he's just made a huge mistake.
33	* FelonyMisdemeanor: Abed, Troy and Lukka are ''very'' freaked out by Britta's DramaticPause moment.
34	-->'''Troy:''' I don't want to play any more.\
35	'''Abed:''' I feel sick.\
36	'''Lukka:''' She's strange.
37	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
38	** If you're paying attention, you'll be able to notice ahead of time that the kids Chang brought to the apartment aren't played by the same actors who played Shirley's kids in previous episodes. It's only at the end of the scene where it's revealed that this is ''not'' a case of TheOtherDarrin and Chang accidentally kidnapped a stranger's kids.
39	** Chang escapes through the ventilation shaft at the police station. In the next season [[spoiler: he'll live in the air ducts at Greendale]].
40	* FriendshipMoment: Britta has one of these with Troy & Abed where they agree to go easier on her if she doesn't tell them details about guys she is dating. With the exception of if they have committed genocide or are left handed (Abed's making a chart).
41	* GlassesPull: After Chang kidnaps the kids and Jeff calls him on it
42	--> '''Chang:''' I am nuts, Jeff! Get with the program!
43	* GuideDangIt: Abed's reaction to hearing about the situation in the Balkans.
44	--> '''Abed:''' If I ever go to the Balkans, I'm going to bring some serious cheat codes and walkthroughs.
45	* HammerAndSickleRemovedForYourProtection: Lukka is presumably Serbian, but the episode seems to want to avoid specifying which faction he fought for in UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars. Therefore, he's only ever described as being from, "the Balkans."
46	* HeyWait: When Britta is about to leave Abed's room, Lukka shouts after her "Wait a minute" but then it turns out he wasn't talking to her but spotted the blu-ray disc of ''Kick Puncher 3 - The Final Kickening'' on a shelf next to the door.
47	* IKnowMortalKombat: Inverted. Lukka committed war crimes in the Balkans before coming to Greendale, which is why he's so good at Troy and Abed's combat video game.
48	* INeedToGoIronMyDog: This line by Jeff combining this trope with LookBehindYou:
49	--> '''Jeff:''' Oh look, is that a reason to leave?
50	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Whether she ruins their male friends or not, Troy and Abed are pretty dickish to Britta this episode. They do acknowledge at the end that they've been a bit hard on her and resolve to treat her better, however.
51	* JumpingTheShark: Lampshaded. Abed has made sweatshirts commemorating the [[Recap/CommunityS1E23ModernWarfare paintball adventure]]. "It's all downhill from here" is printed on the back.
52	* LastSecondWordSwap: Britta
53	--> '''Abed:''' You're not allowed
54	--> '''Britta:''' Not allowed?!
55	--> '''Troy:''' You'll ruin him
56	--> '''Britta:''' I'll ruin him?!
57	--> '''Abed:''' Stop repeating
58	--> '''Britta:''' Stop rep...rimanding me and explain why I'll ruin him
59	* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: After Lukka spoils the mood, a standard "[[LosingHorns Wa Wa Aa Aa]]". plays. Lukka's jazz musician neighbor is a real mood killer.
60	* LosingHorns: Heard during Britta and Lukka's makeout session after she discovers he committed atrocities when he was a soldier in his homeland. They're actual sounds coming from Lukka's next door neighbor practicing playing his trombone.
61	* ManipulativeBitch: Shirley is clearly not shy about using her pregnancy to guilt people into doing what she wants, frequently with the refrain "You're not gonna make a pregnant woman [do X]!". Taken to the nth degree in her argument with Jeff, in which she ''makes him storm off instead of her'':
62	-->'''Jeff:''' Let me guess: I’m not going to make a pregnant woman storm off?
63	* MomentKiller: Lukka's neighbor. Although Lukka himself does a pretty good job of killing the moment for Britta when he fondly reminisces about performing atrocities in the Balkans.
64	* OnlySaneMan: Andre, when he convinces Jeff and Shirley that their plan to have Chang imprisoned might be a little bit over the top. Also when he tries to convince Chang that acting like a StandardFiftiesFather doesn't mean he's ready for fatherhood.
65	* OutOfFocus: Annie and Pierce.
66	* ShoutOut: Abed and Troy gift Shirley at her baby shower a bottle of purified water, claiming that [[VideoGame/{{Fallout}} in the future when their child is a lone scavenger in a nuclear wasteland, pure water will be worth its weight in gold]]. Troy also wanted to get a Sawed-off Shotgun, a possible weapon in Fallout, but claims they were too expensive.
67	* SignificantReferenceDate: The end of the episode occurs on St. Patrick's Day, the same day this episode first aired. Abed, Britta, and Troy are all wearing green. Ends up being a DressesTheSame instant when Troy realizes both he and Britta are wearing the same neckerchief.
68	* StandardFiftiesFather: Chang acts and dresses like one in an attempt to show Shirley he can be a responsible dad.
69	* StrippingSnag: Chang's attempt to fix the pool table results in a girl getting her skirt ripped by a protruding nail.
70	* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: Abed has a security camera set up in his dorm for an autobiographical documentary. It comes in handy every once in a while.
71	* TakeThat:
72	-->'''Jeff''': Hey, who am I to stand in the way of someone trying to put their life together? What am I, daytime television?
73	* UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000: Abed, Troy, and Lukka are playing what seems to be an outright genocide simulator. It's likened to Lukka's experience committing real genocide in the Balkans.
74	* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Lukka applies his real world knowledge to show how it can be done. Though honestly any game that awards points for killing unarmed villagers is just asking for this to happen.
75	** It looks and sounds like a standard run & gun game, but apparently it contains sophisticated infrastructure systems to allow strategies like cutting off the enemy forces' supplies at the root by terrorizing the countryside. It seems the game is designed with cruelty potential on the genocidal level in mind...
76	* WasJustLeaving: When Abed wants Britta out of his room he announces "Britta was just leaving."
77	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Abed and Troy aren't friends with Lukka anymore...but there's still a [[KarmaHoudini Balkan war criminal]] loose in Greendale.
78	* WhatTheHellHero: Andre is horrified that Shirley and Jeff are conspiring to get Chang locked away for 20 to life for human trafficking (Jeff isn't above a little perjury) rather than just 3 to 5 for kidnapping.
79	** However, had they gone through with it, Chang wouldn't have been able to [[spoiler:take over the school]] in season 3. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice job, Andre!]]
80	* WholePlotReference: The Britta/Troy/Abed storyline is essentially a recreation of the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf".
81	* WilhelmScream: Comes from the video game as Abed fires a grenade launcher.
82	* YouNoTakeCandle: Lukka talks like this at times.
83	-->"You have DVD blu-ray disc."

Context Recap / CommunityS2E18CustodyLawAndEasternEuropeanDiplomacy