Moss and the German

Moss and the German
Episode Number	Series Two, Episode 3
Airdate	Friday September 7, 2007
Previous	Return of the Golden Child
Next Episode	The Dinner Party

Moss and the German is the 3rd episode of the 2nd Season.

Summary

Worried that his life is stagnating, Moss enrols in a German cookery course. Jen discovers that the only place in the building where she can now enjoy a cigarette is a smoking area that is somewhat identical to Soviet Russia.

Plot

Moss and Roy are preparing to see a movie that they just obtained. Moss, plagued with worry about his life stagnating storms out and proclaims to Roy that they are like "an old married couple", with Roy as the wife, much to Roy's embarrassment.

Jen is at an open meeting and goes outside for a cigarette. However, she is put off by the street, claiming it is too "soviet". Noticing Moss is troubled, Jen suggests that he should meet other people, claiming that Roy and Moss spend too much time together. Jen walks off but is interrupted by Douglas, who wanted something work related but couldn't remember what department he was in. Douglas sees the DVD that Roy has on his desk, and invites Roy to his house to watch it.

Jen converses with Yorg, a Russian, about the state of the street, claiming that Yorg is being pessimistic. Moss informs Jen that he had signed up for a German cookery class via an online ad, unaware that the host is a cannibal (a spoof of the Armin Meiwes incident). Moss enters Johann's (the cannibal) house and, tricked by the idea that it's a cookery class is confident and ready for anything. However, Johann is quickly revealed to be a cannibal after Moss asks about how long the course will last. Moss shows Johann the ad and Johan informs Moss that he didn't put it down right because his English wasn't particularly good. Since he put down "I want to cook with you", Moss quickly indicated that Johan wanted to cook with him, using him. Moss politely turns him down, leaving Johann disappointed.

Roy arrives at Douglas' apartment and prepares to watch the film, but Douglas recognizes the movie and points out there's a twist in the end, then proceeds to guess what the twist is, which aggravates Roy. The next day, Moss walks in and tells them about the "cookery" course. Jen insists that Moss should inform the police about Johann, but Roy informed that Johann has a good TV set, asks to watch the film at his house.

Jen is outside having a cigarette, then Yorg rushes over to say that they have a new smoking room. They walk to the new smoking area, with Soviet-style music playing, but Jen is baffled by the new area: a vandalized shelter. Jen, after a heartfelt speech leaves Yorg there and rushes off. Moss and Roy arrive at Johann's with Roy in the hopes that once the film is over, they could get out of there. Moss pulls the out the DVD and Roy tells Johan that he wanted to watch it before he got eaten, leaving Johann in an impatient state. Just as the film starts, the doorbell rings. An exasperated Johann answers the door, which turns out to be the police, who arrest Johann, Moss and Roy.

Moss and Roy are sitting in a dark interrogation room, where they are questioned about the DVD, which turns out to be an illegal copy. Just before the policeman interrogating them fills them in on the twist, an annoyed Roy slaps the policeman. As the credits roll, Johann is sitting on his sofa playing the IT Crowd theme on his cello.

Trivia

• Roy's shirts: Pig with a factory stack and writing "Pink Floyd in the Flesh". A CTRL key.
• Moss' engaging with Johan is an allusion to and parallel to the Armin Meiwes affair when Johann, like Meiwes, places an online advertisement looking for a willing individual to be eaten.
• Johann's doorbell briefly plays 'The Birdie Song' originally by Black Lace but famously covered by The Tweets as 'The Birdie Song (Bird's Dance)' whenever someone rings it.
• Johann plays out the episode with a cello rendition of the show's theme tune during the end credits scene.
• The "Piracy is a Crime" advert is featured in this episode.
• When Douglas attempts to predict the twist in the DVD that he invited Roy over to watch, at one of his predictions are that one of the characters in the film may be transgender, this could be seen as foreshadowing towards the episode The Speech.
• Even though Jen implies cannibalism to be illegal and tells Moss he should have informed the police about Johann due to this and Roy tries to actually get Johann arrested for being a cannibal, cannibalism is actually legal in Britain so long as both parties give consent and the cannibal doesn't kill the person that they're going to eat.
• DVD cover of the movie says the movie name is "새벽의 황당한 저주", which translated into English is "Dawn's Absurd Curse". It is a Korean name for "Shaun of the Dead" (British comedy/horror movie from 2004).