The Trap story
Lou Paloma, an obnoxious, egotistical, mean-spirited deadbeat who cannot hold down a job, is horribly in debt, and is both unfaithful and abusive (verbally and physically) to his wife, Irene ropes her and his brother, Billy, into a plan to fake his own death, collect his life insurance money, and escape to a new life in Rio de Janeiro. Unfortunately, Lou is unaware that both his long- suffering wife and brother, who have developed an attraction to one another, are planning to double-cross him. Michael J. Fox, who directed this episode, plays the prosecutor, and James Tolkan plays a policeman investigating the "murder scene". Directed by: Michael J. Fox. Story by: Scott Alexander.
21 total · 1 choice · 9 major · 11 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| betrayal | choice | Irene (Lou's wife) and Billy (Lou's brother) pointedly double-crossed Lou by keeping all the $500,000 in life insurance money for themselves, and marrying behind his back. |
| brother and brother | major | Lou twisted his coroner brother Billy's arm into helping him fake his own death. Billy repaid the favor by taking up with his more than willing wife. |
| coping with a problematic person | major | Irene (Lou's wife) and Billy (Lou's brother) used Lou (brash, prideful, and obnoxious) faking his own death as an opportunity to eliminate him from their lives. |
| facing financial ruin | major | Lou and Irene were struggling to pay the bills, leading Lou to come up with the idea of faking his own death to cash in on his $500,000 life insurance policy. |
| family financial problem | major | Lou and Irene were struggling to pay the bills, leading Lou to come up with the idea of faking his own death to cash in on his $500,000 life insurance policy. |
| husband and wife | major | Lou and Irene Paloma. The story centers around Irene seemingly going along with Lou's plan to fake his own death, with the help of his coroner brother Billy, collect his life insurance money, and start new lives in Rio de Janeiro. |
| insurance fraud | major | The story centers around Lou, Irene, and his coroner brother Billy prematurely cashing in on Lou's $500,000 life insurance policy by elaborately faking his death. |
| love triangle | major | Irene (Lou's wife) and Billy (Lou's brother) used Lou's faking his own as an opportunity to indulge in their romantic desire for one another. |
| murder | major | The gullible police detective took at face value that Lou had been stabbed and beaten to death. A complicated chain of subsequent events led to Lou being convicted for his own murder. |
| romantic infidelity | major | Irene (Lou's wife) and Billy (Lou's brother) couldn't keep their hands off one another from the moment Lou faked his own death. They had a steamy make-out session on top of Irene's undeceased husband's coffin, from within which he was listening to the lovemaking noises with perplexity. Lou goaded his wife, Irene, into beating him over the head with a fire iron by confessing to having had sexual intercourse with her best friend, Betty LaRue, in the back room of a beauty bar. |