The Trouble with Trillions

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"The Trouble with Trillions" is the 20th episode of the ninth season of The Simpsons.

1 Plot
2 Trivia
3 Cultural references
4 External links

Plot

On January 1st, right after New Year's Eve, Ned completes his yearly taxes. Later that year, just before midnight on April 15, Homer realizes he did not do his own taxes. He rushes and provides false information before driving like mad to the post office. The IRS discovers Homer's fraud and arrests him. Held by the government, Homer says he will do anything to stay out of prison. Agent Johnson of the FBI decides that Homer can be useful. With a hidden microphone under his shirt, Homer uncovers that his co-worker Charlie leads a group planning to assault all government officials.

With his superiors impressed, Johnson sends Homer on a secret mission. They reveal that in 1945, President Harry Truman printed a one trillion-dollar bill to help reconstruct post-war Europe. He handed the vital cargo over to Montgomery Burns to transport to the Europeans. However, the money never arrived and the FBI suspects Burns still has the money with him. As satellite photography can only confirm that the trillion-dollar bill is not on the roof, Homer is sent in to investigate. Arriving at Burns' estate, Homer searches for the money before Burns, who believes Homer is a reporter from Collier's magazine, reveals that he kept the money on his person. Johnson and Agent Miller burst in and arrests Burns for grand-grand-grand-grand-larceny. Burns shouts how the US government oppresses the average American and tells Homer to write "don't let the government push you around". Moved by Burns' speech, Homer knocks out the FBI agents and frees Burns.

After a tense moment where Homer unsuccessfully attempts to feed the bill into a vending machine, Burns takes Smithers and Homer in his old plane, setting off to find an island and start a new country. Over the Caribbean, Burns finds a fine island although it already has a name and is in fact a country - Cuba. Going before Fidel Castro, Burns fails to buy the island: Fidel asks to see the trillion dollar bill, and Burns hands it over. Then Burns asks for it back, to which Castro immediately responds: "Give what back?". Then, the episode immediately cuts to a scene where Burns, Smithers, and Homer are on a make-shift raft. Burns announces he will merely bribe the jury when Smithers, Homer, and himself are put on trial, prompting Homer to exclaim "God bless America!" and salute.

Trivia

Ned Flanders finishes his tax return on January 1st and is reminded by Maude of the opening hours of the post office. On New Year's Day post offices are closed.
When Homer is quickly writing his tax return he is wearing a wrist watch; then for a couple of seconds it's not there; then it comes back.
During the scene when he is being interrogated Homer's tax return turns into a ball of string in one shot.

This is a reference to the Burns and Schriber sketch about the taxi driver.

Townspeople in line at the post office on tax return day are Apu, Captain McCallister, Carl, Doctor Hibbert, Groundskeeper Willie, Jack Marley, Karl, Kirk Van Houten, Krusty, Lenny, Lionel Hutz, Luann Van Houten, Mayor Quimby, Ms. Albright, Miss Hoover, Miss Pennycandy, Mr. Largo, Mrs. Glick, Mrs. Krabappel, Principal Skinner, Professor Frink, Rainier Wolfcastle, Ruth Powers, Snake Jailbird, Superintendent Chalmers, and Otto, although he thought it was the line for Metallica.

Cultural references

The title "The Trouble with Trillions" is a play on the Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles".
The museum Burns has in his house has a painting showing Burns or an ancestor in a kilt. It may be a play on Scrooge McDuck as the stereotypical Scottish miser.
Mr. Burns believes Homer is a reporter from Collier's Weekly, a magazine which ended publication in 1957.
When Homer says "It goes all the way to the president" is a reference to All the President's Men.
There is a caricature of Che Guevara on the Cuban Duff ad, saying El Duffo o Muerte similar to Cuba national motto: Patria o Muerte (Homeland or Death).
Homer states that he has not been fired "...after three meltdowns and one China Syndrome". China Syndrome is a hypothetical result of a nuclear meltdown where the nuclear slag drains down into the earth and contaminates ground water, named after the movie 'The China Syndrome'.
When Homer, Smithers, and Mr. Burns are in Cuba they hail a taxi. As they get inside, Mr. Burns remarks 'This is the new Packard we've been hearing so much about'. This is a reference to the Packard Motor Car Company, a vehicle manufacturer that went out of business in 1958, as well as the fact Cubans have a good reputation for making cars last a long time. Burns also was not aware of the Cuban Revolution, when he is informed by the driver that Fulgencio Batista is no longer in power (and had been dead for over thirty years when the episode aired).