"Trilogy of Error" is the eighteenth episode of The Simpsons' twelfth season. According to the DVD's audio commentary, the episode's structure is based on the 1999 movie Go and (since Lisa's story's music is based on the movie Run, Lola, Run) a working title for the episode was "Go, Simpsons, Go."
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Plot
The story is told in three interlinked parts. These depict: Homer's rush to the hospital to get his thumb reattached; Lisa's rush to school to win the science fair; and Bart and Milhouse's run-in with Fat Tony and his illegal fireworks ring. Each part tells the story from Homer's, Lisa's, and Bart's point of view.
Homer's day
Homer wakes up and goes to the bathroom, then he goes to the kitchen to have breakfast with the family. Marge is serving a health French cereal called Mueslix for breakfast. The family refuses to eat it. The door bell rings and Bart identifies it as Milhouse. Meanwhile, Lisa shows Homer her science project, Linguo the talking grammar-correcting robot, to her dad who fixes Homer's sentence from "Me like beer" to "I like beer". This causes Homer to give him some but Linguo short circuits. Homer then tries to take a brownie from Marge, but Marge accidentally cuts off one of Homer's thumbs. Marge calls 911 but Chief Wiggum thinks it is a deliberate murder attempt and asks for her address, forcing Marge to state her address as 123 Fake Street. She takes Homer to the hospital herself, but Dr. Hibbert cannot help Homer because his insurance will not cover his costs, so they head to Dr. Nick's clinic. On the way Marge accidentally crashes into Rainier Wolfcastle's Ferrari F40. He smashes their windshied and Marge and Homer steal his car while he's distracted. They make a stop at Moe's tavern to get a jar of pickle brine to preserve Homer's thumb but he wastes time drinking. When he comes out, Homer realizes that Marge has left the tavern, so he hitches a ride from Cletus. Cletus takes him but the clinic is on fire. Homer decides to go to Shelbyville hospital, but Cletus' truck has been stolen. Instead, Homer walks all the way to Shelbyville hospital but realizes that he'll never make it. Just as he's about to throw away his severed thumb, he hears an explosion and Linguo's head lands near him.
Lisa's day
After fixing Linguo, Lisa misses the school bus. Finding her bike gone and seeing her parents leaving for the hospital, she starts running to the school (in a manner reminiscent of the German movie "Lola Rennt") but manages to get a ride from Krusty's limousine. However, Krusty takes her to the West Springfield Elementary School. While she is there, Lisa meets a boy named Thelonious that is just like her. After spending time with him, she notices the time, and then leaves the school and tries to find a ride, so she stops at Moe's Tavern to see if her dad is there. Homer is not there, but she finds Chief Wiggum listening to a police radio from which a voice emanates that she identifies as Fat Tony's. This causes Wiggum to speak into the receiver the words "Fat Tony, is that you?" He starts hearing shots, and offers Lisa the job, which Lisa declines. Upon exiting the tavern Lisa finds Marge and she takes her to school. But then Marge's car (stolen from Rainier Wolfcastle) runs out of gas. Marge and Lisa see Cletus' truck and they hitch a ride, but when he exits his truck they steal it and they drive to the school themselves. They never arrive because Bart comes out of the manhole in front of them.
Bart's day
When the door bell rings, Bart answers it. It is Milhouse, and he has found something in the woods. To get there, Bart rides his bike and unlocks Lisa's bike for Milhouse to use. They go into the woods and find a cave full of sacks of fireworks. Bart takes some and they test them out, but they blow up Dr. Nick's clinic. Bart and Milhouse hide in a building which happens to be 123 Fake Street, the address which Marge gave to the police earlier. The police catch them but give them a chance by asking them to help find the person that is selling the fireworks. They find Fat Tony but then a voice comes out of the speaker hidden in Bart's clothes, with the words "Fat Tony, is that you?". Fat Tony realizes that Bart has a wire and Bart lights the fireworks in Tony's hand, and they escape. Fat Tony and his cronies chases the boys through the sewers until they emerge above ground where Marge and Lisa are. Having been chased down the street, Bart and Milhouse get trapped in a dead end with the mobsters. To save the boys, Marge throws Linguo at the gangsters and it explodes from an overload of the mobsters' bad grammar.
Conclusion
At the end, Fat Tony gets arrested. Homer is thankful that no one was hurt, but Marge points out his severed thumb and Lisa's destroyed science project. Fat Tony offers a solution that fixes their problems. Lisa brings the mobsters to the science fair, and Legs (Fat Tony's henchman) reattaches Homer's thumb. Lisa gets an A, and Mr. Teeny points out that the plot made no sense.
References
The tripartite structure is drawn directly from Alan Ayckbourn's 1973 play, The Norman Conquests.
External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: "Trilogy of Error" |
- "Trilogy of Error" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
- "Trilogy of Error" at the Internet Movie Database
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