Plot[]
 For a guy who’s not playing you’re sure shooting a bunch of mothers!
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| — Elroy Patashnik |
| Late at night on the Greendale campus, Star-Burns is in the parking garage having just left Vicki's one woman stage show. He is approached by Todd and an unexpected paintball battle erupts between them. Star-Burns gains the upper hand when a third party shoots him and Todd with silver paint. The next morning, Frankie has security escort Star-Burns off campus since paintballing is now prohibited. She dismisses Dean Pelton's advice on handling the matter and instead turns to Jeff for help. Deputy Chief Custodian Lapari is being honored at a "Clean Up Greendale" gala and she needs Jeff to introduce him. As the de facto leader of the campus she asks that at the event he use his influence to persuade everyone not to play paintball.
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| Jeff reluctantly agrees and goes to the Save Greendale Committee meeting to explain Frankie's concerns. However, he discovers they are all playing the illegal contest when the committee members shoot Chang with paintball guns. Jeff himself is also drawn back into the game when several competitors rush the study room. He seizes Chang's abandoned weapon and quickly eliminates them. Frankie arrives a few minutes later and asks about a paintball player who claimed Jeff shot him. Despite her suspicions, Jeff assures her no one on the committee are playing. After she leaves, the committee members point their paintball weapons at each other. Abed ends the standoff by mentioning his suspicions of who is sponsoring the game.
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| The committee joins him in a storage room he converted to conduct his investigation. He shows a connection between a player named "Silver Ballz" who uses silver paint and Greendale's rival school City College. His presentation is interrupted by Dean Pelton who tries in vain to assert his authority. The committee ignores him and agrees to work together to thwart City College's plans. Abed infiltrates the school's Club Club to find a paintball munitions supplier named "Fun Dad" who turns out to be Preston Koogler. When Abed asks him about obtaining silver paintballs, Koogler flees but is stopped by Annie. Before she can get answers about "Silverballz" an unknown player shoots Koogler and fires at her.
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| During the commotion Koogler slips away but Abed manages to obtain a thumb drive he left behind at the club. Elroy identifies it as an encryption key which unlocks a message chain between Koogler and Silverballz. It reveals that a large amount of silver paint was ordered with a message implying Silverballz plans to use at the "Clean up Greendale" Gala. That night at the event the committee members are in attendance spread out to scan for any potential threats. Jeff is coordinating their efforts via headset and checks on Pelton whom he sent to the school's custodial wing. It's there that the Dean is ambushed in an elevator by several custodians and surprisingly eliminates them all before heading back to the gala.
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| At the same time Elroy and Britta engage in a messy paintball battle with chefs in the cafeteria's kitchen. Jeff overhears the conflict on his headset just as he is on stage introducing the gala's honoree Lapari. He becomes disoriented when Frankie has the crowd pop balloons in celebration. Jeff shocks Frankie when he shoots what he believes to be an assassin who turns out to be an innocent bystander. Dean Pelton arrives and declares that Lapari and the custodians are behind the underground paintball contest. A huge paintball battle erupts when Lapari calls in his men and during the struggle Annie, Abed, Elroy and Britta are eliminated.
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| Amidst the chaos Lapari manages to escape with Jeff and Dean Pelton hot on his trail. They follow him inside the school's Custodian hall wing and manage to catch him off guard. Lapari tries to appeal to them, claiming Frankie's changes to Greendale are too drastic and that they could use the money to keep it the way it is. Jeff implores them to stand down, pointing out that improving Greendale is truly a good thing in the long run, and though Frankie will be annoyed she will not fire them. Frankie appears and agrees with Jeff, promising they will suffer no major consequences, but tells them to end the game quickly so things can go back to normal. Once she leaves Jeff proposes that they all eliminate themselves by shooting their own foot. The others agree but when Jeff counts down from three they all shoot each other instead at the same time. Sometime later, Frankie punishes Jeff and the rest of the Save Greendale Committee by having them pretend to be babies.
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End tag[]
| Garrett is on stage in front of a live audience performing stand-up based on surviving Vicki's one woman musical. In particular he mocks a section of her act devoted to her dead mother which the crowd laughs at. However, everyone goes silent when Vicki makes her presence known and confronts Garrett on stage. The audience watches on in dismay only to learn the entire thing was staged to promote a new show starring Vicki and Garrett. The revelation, along with Garrett acknowledging Vicki's very much alive mother in the room, causes the audience to boo. Garrett defends their act by comparing it to Andy Kaufman's subversive comedy and demands recognition for the amount of work they put into it.
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Recurring themes[]
Continuity[]
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Running gags[]
| List of Running gags |
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Running gags in this episode:
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Pop culture references[]
| List of Pop culture references |
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Pop culture references in this episode:
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Meta references[]
| List of Meta references |
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Meta references in this episode:
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Trivia[]
- Frequent background extra Jeremy makes the last of over 45 episode appearances. He is seen dancing in "Club Club" along with Long-haired guy who is making his second to last of over 65 episode appearances.
- Silver Ballz and Koogler exchange emails titled "tips on getting laid".
Quotes[]
- “I'm gonna go get a shovel because theater is dead.”— Star-Burns
| Season Six Episodes | ||
|---|---|---|
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1. "Ladders" |
8. "Intro to Recycled Cinema" |
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| Season One • Season Two • Season Three • Season Four • Season Five • Season Six | ||
