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Recap / Regular Show S 02 Ep 08 Rage Against The TV

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After their television set breaks down, Mordecai and Rigby seek new TV to help them win a video game, which summons a virtual enemy from the game.


Tropes:

  • Artifact of Doom: Heavily implied with the weird crappy TV the gang gets from Muscle Man's friend, Jimmy, who was forbidden to sell it by his boss; after plugging the game console into the TV and resuming the final level, a city wide blackout occurs, and a manifestation of the Hammer is hologrammed around the TV, the console, and the controllers.
  • A Winner Is You: In-universe. What ending does the duo get after finally beating the Hammer? A simple "You Win" screen. Doesn't bother them in the slightest though.
  • Big Bad: The Hammer.
  • Cassandra Truth: "The Hammer" is viewed as such a Nintendo Hard Final Boss, that Muscle Man doesn't believe Mordecai and Rigby are close to beating him. The duo had to set up a new TV to prove to him they are telling the truth.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The Hammer's weakness is revealed early on to be furniture. In the final battle with the Hammer in the real world, they take everything around the room and smash it on him. This weakness is also exploited in the video game by Mordecai and Rigby as they smash furniture onto him repeatedly until he goes down and they win the game.
  • Coincidental Broadcast: The TV commercial on Benson's television.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Everyone, but Mordecai and Rigby, nearly call it quits after the only TV they were able to get is unable to function due to its bizarre inputs and outputs, but after an inspiring declaration from Mordecai, everyone chips in to make the television functional.
  • Hypocrite: Benson complains that he's busy when Mordecai and Rigby come in asking for his TV. Benson refuses and goes back to just watching TV. This serves as Hypocritical Humor because he's always calling Mordecai and Rigby "slackers" yet Benson is also lying about being busy as well.
    • On top of that, he condescendingly says that when Mordecai and Rigby are talking about the Hammer, they couldn't be possibly talking about work, said the guy who appeared to have spent all day at home.
  • Groin Attack: The Hammer is defeated in the real world by Skips putting a chair over himself as the Hammer was about to pounce on him; the Hammer's crotch lands on the backboard of the chair, weakening him enough so that the guys could restrain him, disrupt his physical form, and allow Mordecai and Rigby to defeat him in the video game.
  • The Law of Conservation of Detail: Because the audience already knows that Mordecai and Rigby are in need of a TV, Benson cuts them off with, "Cut to the chase, I'm busy," when they attempt to tell him of their situation.
  • MacGuffin: Any decent television set to finish the video game.
  • MacGyvering: When the weird, crappy TV is unable to be plugged into either the game console or the power outlet, the gang modifies it in order to make it work: Muscle Man cuts out the incompatible power cord of the TV and splices it with the power cord from his own broken TV, Skips breaks Pops' radio and hotwires the speakers into the TV so that it would have sound (which wasn't necessary, but nice to have), and Mordecai just forcibly inserts the audio/visual cables into the incompatible hookups of the TV. After all this, the TV works... but ends up releasing the Hammer into the real world.
  • Mr. Imagination: Mordecai and Rigby go and ask Pops if he has a TV; he takes out an old radio:

    Mordecai: Pops, that's a radio.
    Pops: It's a TV if you close your eyes.
    (he then switches on his radio and closes his eyes)
    Pops: Now hook up your game so you can defeat The Hammer! (laugh)
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: A literal example: after Mordecai and Rigby prove that they got to the final level of the game by revealing what the Hammer looks like and verifying the answer with a game guide, Muscle Man gets out his TV so they could finish the game (also, so he could see the duo fail); however, he forgets to unplug it, causing the TV to get yanked out of his hands as he exits his trailer and get smashed on the ground, to MM's horror.
  • Rousing Speech: Mordecai gives one after all hope seems lost after the weird TV doesn't work.

    Muscle Man: Forget this, man. You guys aren't even gonna beat The Hammer anyway. Just turn it off.
    (he tries to turn the video game console off, but Mordecai stops him)
    Mordecai: No! We can't just give up. I wanna beat this thing. We may never get this far in the game again. Now, come on, will you please just help us? Please help us?
    (his attention is actually on the TV instead of the others; Muscle Man puts his hand on his shoulder to assure him that they will help out)
    Muscle Man: Let us try...bro.
  • Oh, Crap!: Muscle Man has an epic "oh, crap" face after he accidentally breaks his TV and everyone panics when the weird TV ends up bringing the Hammer into the real world, who starts beating the crap out of everyone.
  • Percussive Maintenance: The conflict starts when the house TV breaks and it'll only turn on for a couple of seconds when you hit the top of it; Mordecai and Rigby try defeating the Hammer by having Rigby play the game while Mordecai rapidly hits the top of the TV. It turns out impossible to play the game that way, so the two search for a new TV.
    • Later on, at the end of the fixing the TV montage, Mordecai forces the audio/visual cable from their console into the non-compliant hookup of the weird TV they got, nearly breaking it, but getting it to connect anyways.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After the Hammer is defeated, Benson comes to the house to plug in his TV after the city-wide black-out the rest of the gang caused. He sees the damage in the living room and instead of getting angry like he usually does or even inquiring as to what happened, he simply leaves with a blank face and without saying another word.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The TV ad that says the store is "literally" giving TVs away means it in a metaphorical sense. The store is actually selling them for cheap. Even though the TV the gang gets from an employee is dated or complicated, it was literally given away. The employee was fired as a result.
    • Also, all of the TVs shown in the commercial they were said to be "giving away" are old-school CRT models. Notice how the clearance section is completely empty except for the weird black and white model, meaning the crew were beaten to the punch as everyone else had already walked away with the half-decent models.
  • Visual Pun: Mordecai and Rigby beat a boss by kicking him in the junk... as in, the trash he's carrying.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: The Hammer's weakness is... furniture.

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