It's a wonderful scam

You don't like It's a Wonderful Life? How could you say that? This is, as far as I understand, one of the most beloved Christmas movies to ever exist for some reason. Yeah, it is. How could you not like it? It's okay. It's totally okay. I mean, you watch it as a kid for a lot of people, and you just kind of accept that it exists, and it's a classic Christmas movie. This is what's baffling to me. You watch it as a kid because there's some adult that actually wants to watch it right yeah and who is that like who wants to watch this i don't think my kids are ever gonna watch it he sits down and is like i want to watch two and a half hours of meandering slow jimmy stewart i know like well like the actual doing random stuff people remember about this movie it doesn't even happen until like two hours in yeah it's it happens at the end of the movie and it's like a half hour of this two and a half

hour movie like it's crazy him experiencing life without him was so fast i was like why is this all i remember of this movie it was over in a freaking flash it's the only part worth remembering i mean it's a good like trope it happens in lots of other things now it's kind of fun yeah i know crazy the movie that popularized it didn't even capitalize on it was like an afterthought i feel like jimmy stewart's voice is like a gilbert gottfried situation right like it has to be where you know like anybody can do a gilbert gottfried right like it's just doing this awful scratchy voice right and that's what he was doing like gilbert gottfried embraced the absurdity of that and he just did that voice all the time it wasn't his actual voice i feel like jimmy stewart's voice has to be that right because everybody can talk like jimmy stewart right but nobody talks like that well i don't know man i lived in washington dc and there was a wealthy older gentleman

named mr smith who came to washington are you joking oh well basically yes so his name was j.s i assume stood for jimmy stewart because he sounded exactly like jimmy stewart he's like well hello uh i'd like to take you guys out for like a dinner before you go home on the plane and you know i i i really uh i really enjoy uh talking to you boys uh you guys are doing great work so apparently that's just a voice that some people have i don't know or that guy was a huge Jimmy Stewart fan, he changed his initials to JS. Patterned his life after him, went to Washington because he did. That's starting to seem likely. Can I say hello and welcome to The Popcorn Isn't Real? I'm Leif Eric and I'm here with my co-host Torvald. And today, we're wishing you a Merry Christmas. Welcome to our podcast. Well, George does sleep a long time. okay actually the first thing i should say is i really do like jimmy stewart i think he's awesome

and i love his voice i love how he talks so if i'm ever talking like him it's it's out of love i'm not making fun of the guy i think he's awesome jiminy cricket yes in boots the last wish has it's jimmy stewart's voice even though the voice of jimmy jiminy cricket did not no i guess he maybe there are some similarities but i don't know no it's it's very jimmy stewart in puss in boots um but no so it's a wonderful life christmas classic for some reason everybody has seen it everybody knows it and even if you haven't seen it you've still seen it parodied you've it's it has become a trope as we said like the trope of someone saying i wish i was never born and then angel comes down and says well here's life if you hadn't been born oh and then they say ah i wish i was born right the muppets did it yeah simpsons did it everyone's done it i mean i think family guy did it probably american dad did it ever ever ever yeah um so i have heard this theory before

and whenever i hear it uh whenever i see it being discussed the people who discuss it act like it's just the way it is they say it's just canon and to me i don't buy it so for those of you who don't know jimmy stewart's like a legitimate like a literal war hero he was like a general in world war ii um and then he came back and just like became a huge hollywood like celebrity like an a-lister actor which was pretty cool um and from everything i've heard of him he was like an absolutely stand-up guy just like a totally cool loving caring like kind dude apparently he came back from the war and he was feeling like a little down and a little like shell-shocked and pretty like you know messed up about everything and frank capra worked with him to come up with it's a wonderful life which was and this is what i've heard supposed to be sort of a representation of coming back from the war to a life you once knew but you no longer recognize and you're now

feeling empty you feel out of place you feel like this is not my life anymore i'm not part of this and i don't buy it i just don't buy that movie because you could make that movie exactly it's not george bailey this is not that go to war he has exactly he was the only person in this movie who didn't go to war everyone else did and if that was supposed to be the theme of the movie it should have been carried throughout the movie but instead it was like an afterthought at the end of the movie right like him experiencing the world as if he wasn't there was not really the point of the movie the point of the movie was his wonderful life right like the end of the movie was just a foil to show you how meaningful the rest of his life had been and that was the point of the movie right like i feel like they didn't even necessarily think of it as you know all encompassing as we would see it now as the plot of the movie they thought the plot was just the wonderful life of

a nice guy anyway i don't know so do you buy it do you think that this movie is supposed to be like a representation of someone returning from war i don't know no it's not but like that that sounds fun like you should you should do that movie sometimes someone should yeah anyway no so like if you are familiar with this movie you probably know and like i saw it as a kid i didn't have good memories of it but i know oh it's about a guy who wishes he was never born and he gets to see what life was like if he was never born and he realizes hey my life's not so bad yeah that's well and if there's one scene besides that that you remember from this movie christmas has nothing to do with it well it's him yelling oh i don't have your money your money's at bill's house simpson frank's house yeah i know whatever money's going to your house oh yeah that's a good good scene now in simpsons there were some key differences that

made that scene make a lot less sense because uh they were at a bank which george bailey does not run a bank no it's a little different run well yeah i don't know and i'm not going to talk too much about it because i'm no expert on on that no i'm wondering if it's like some outdated thing that doesn't exist anymore where people would fund each other's house building projects well it's a it's a building and loan i think it's kind of like a credit union which essentially is a bank but just isn't extra steps and less like so less assurity right so like a credit union is a group essentially just a group of people that can all invest in this credit union that will hold their money and invest it well in other projects and maybe i just don't understand how they ever thought they would make money by investing in building other people's houses because they're not accruing value and you can only gain value from a house when it's sold and none of them are

selling right well i don't know i think the idea is that i mean it's essentially a bank the idea is that you are giving money to the bank the bank or the building and loan in this case is lending it out to other people the people who have those loans then pay money back and then that money can go to the people who invested their money in the building it could go in its interest and it also goes into the bank and then everyone makes money you know i understand so this movie really is not very much about the thing you might remember from it. It's entirely just like the two hours of the long life of George Bailey. As told by Joseph the Spaceman. Yes, Joseph the Spaceman. What is Joseph? Was this Joseph like the father of Jesus and he was talking to Jesus? Yeah, I think that's who it's supposed to be. Why is Jesus bossing his dad around? God and Joseph are talking and they invite clarence the little alien or angel i always i always call him gabriel i for some reason i always

think he's gabriel but yeah so is george bailey whoa you're right so um the basic plot of this movie is actually just george bailey always wanted to get out of his his little hometown life yeah and he never could poor george he just can't get out of there he's essentially been screwed over his whole life and he keeps a good attitude he's just a helpful guy who helps everyone of him all the time i felt so bad for him he didn't have a wonderful life he had a depressing life right well and that's the point is that his life gets to a point where he's so depressed he wants to kill himself and then an angel comes and shows him hey even though your life was total crap actually you really did help people so it sucked for you you didn't get to do anything you wanted but you were helpful to other people so you should and i mean as was in my opinion very prudently or aptly stated by what was his name mr potter or something the the

evil billionaire yeah he was like he was like you've done so much for everyone in this town what are they doing for you except like yelling at you and being mean to you he's like no one in this town's gonna stick their necks out for you and he's right except at the end when suddenly deus ex machina everyone gave him a big old bucket of money that wouldn't have happened we saw how they treated him maybe that wasn't a deus ex machina maybe this was all part of a long con that the richest man a lifelong con the richest man in this town who always wanted to control the entire town but never quite did wanted to just get that's true all the money from all the citizens for himself okay And he set up, he staged a very strange thing where people acted like they didn't know George Bailey. Whoa, okay, wait. So that entire segment of the movie, you're saying that that was all an act? Yes, that was an act.

So Clarence is not an angel. he's actually a pickpocket who was hired specifically for this job of duping george bailey okay we'll talk about why all right this is interesting so this movie starts with the stars talking to each other now i think this actually represents two big thugs who work for mr potter who are talking about the job they're going to do and they get their naive little crony clarence to go after the mark. One of these thugs is named Joseph. Okay. The other one's named God. Yeah. I think that's short for Godfrey. That's his last name. Good old Godfrey and Joseph. Okay. I gotcha. Yeah. So wait, is getting your wings, is that like becoming a wise guy? Like, is that what they call it? No, no. A made man. Is that, sorry. Yeah, kind of. Except he doesn't have to kill anyone. Is that like becoming a made man where like now you're part of the family? You got your wings, kid. you successfully pulled off a con yeah okay you know okay i like this and of course that that um

that language came out from of course this being the 1940s where you know there were lots of like servicemen who flew planes who got their wings kind of thing i don't think you need to explain this this is fine all right so uh they're telling clarence the details of george bailey's life because he's the mark they're like here's everything you need to know about his life because you'll need to know this yeah specifically telling him to remember specific parts right they even say you'll need to remember this later that's george bailey yeah they say they call your problem meaning your mark we get to see the details of george's life as a kid uh he loses hearing in his ear because of an ear infection because he saved his brother from the ice which they really shouldn't have been playing on that ice and i know what are they doing i mean if any part of the ice is broken you really shouldn't be playing on that ice yeah exactly i mean it

means it's not frozen over well and you definitely shouldn't be sledding your sleds towards the broken part of the ice stupid kid but i mean kids kids do stuff george talks to his future wife he calls her brainless oh after she whispers in his deaf ear i'll love you till the day i die he tells her how he's going to have lots of wives and even a harem so yep good good goals george bailey when george is a kid rich man potter wants the bailey brothers savings and loan to foreclose on all the houses they haven't made their payments they don't though i'm not sure how they keep their business afloat if they don't foreclose on people who don't pay yeah i know it's nice and they're trying to be nice if i didn't pay the payments on my house i would expect to be foreclosed on though so i don't know i mean i guess this is like great depression right like where no one has any money. Well, no, this is before the Depression, actually.

No, I know, I know, I know. But it would have been made just after the Great Depression. It was made in 1946, I think. So it was probably this lingering mentality of, if only we helped each other, if only we just, if everyone gave a little bit, then we would all... That makes sense. Everyone was getting foreclosed on, and it sucked, yeah. An important thing that happens here when George is a kid. George works for a drug-slash-candy man named Mr. Gower who's like trying to poison kids or something right so Mr. Gower in a fit of just I don't know like insanity he's upset yeah a fit of insanity because of the bad news he got right he's like no one gets to have a son reaction and he tries to poison someone using George Bailey as his patsy he sends George to give him the poison when George doesn't do this he smacks george in the ear until he bleeds yeah then george promises i won't ever tell a soul you

tried to murder someone hope to die i won't um anyway this will be important later but yes mr gower is an attempted murderer george knows this and mr gower doesn't want anyone else to know this so this movie was not well liked when it came out it was a bomb it was only well remembered and successful by a generation of kids who watched it on tv that's when it became popular and that's because there was literally nothing made for kids on tv at that time so movies would come on and kids would just watch them watch whatever's on yeah so and they watched this for christmas and so a generation of people were like this is the epitome of good movie for christmas and do you want to know why this was always on tv because this movie is one of the few examples of ip that has actually gone into public domain and then come out of public domain so um it yeah no one people cared about it so little when it was first made that they just didn't even bother and they let it lapse

in the public domain they like didn't actually you know do the copyright stuff and it was free so they everyone put it on tv all the time they were like hey we need a christmas movie here's a christmas movie we can show this one for free let's do it so it ended up being on tv everywhere all the time and became like a beloved classic and then the people who owned it were like hey we should be making money off of that so they took it to court and they managed to prove somehow that i guess the music in the movie and the script of the movie both should still be copyrighted um so So I guess that they had done the proper paperwork on both the script and the music. So they were like, hey, put this out of public domain again. And the judge was like, well, OK. So now it's not public domain. You can't you can't just watch it. That doesn't seem like it should be allowed. I know. I agree. I think when something's public domain, it should be done deal.

Like the public owns it. You can't steal it back from the public. Yeah. Anyway, anyway, whatever it's our property. So we flash forward to George Bailey is now played by Jimmy Stewart. And Joseph tells Clarence, you take a good look at that face. That's the mark, essentially. So he's showing him a picture. He's like, this is it. Now, for some reason, George is talking to a suitcase salesman. And he doesn't like the suitcase he's showing him. He wants one that's bigger. And the suitcase salesman is like, I don't suppose you'd like this old second hand job. George is like, now you're talking. Boy, would I love a hand job. Oh, second hand job. Oh, man. He already gave him one. That sounds awesome. We didn't see that part. I didn't even catch that. That's amazing. By the way, if you like this movie, we're going to be just crapping all over. No, if you like this movie, you're in the right place.

We've done that. You know that. Let's keep going. So the suitcase salesman was trying to sell George a small suitcase. And a secondhand job, apparently. That is already paid for. A larger suitcase, which he calls secondhand, but appears to be very good. That was bought specifically for George by Mr. Gower. When George says no to the first suitcase. He's trying to get double money here. This guy is bad. He should have given him the suitcase that was bought for him. His friend had already bought him a suitcase. They were trying to surprise him. Come on. So why is he showing him? What if George had said, yeah, I'll buy this suitcase that you gave him? He would have taken the money. Well, then he would have said, no, I've got a better one for you. They were showing him something they knew he wouldn't like. So then they could surprise him with the awesome one. No, he's trying to make the suitcase that was already paid for sound bad by calling it the second-hand job.

Oh, yeah. I don't know how that makes it sound bad, but okay. Now, regardless, though, this is a clear message from Mr. Gower. He's saying, now you're old enough, get out of town. Never come back. Yeah, get out of here. Don't tell anyone what I did. Yeah, don't open your mouth. Okay. Then there's actually some racism where George and his brother are upstairs at their house. And I have no idea what they're doing up there, maybe having sex, I don't know. Uh-oh. No, I'm sorry. They're not. They're like singing. They're roughhousing. The dad says, oh, let them alone. I wish I was up there with them. Oh. Getting a third-hand job. Yeah, there you go. So their black servant, she's African-American. Her name is Annie. She hits the ceiling with a broom to get them to be quiet. She says, this is why all children should be girls. The mom says, well, if they were all girls, then there wouldn't be any.

And then she looks at Annie and says, oh, never mind. I think the joke here is she thinks this black person is not intelligent enough to understand where babies come from. Oh, no. I don't know. I don't know. I'm not sure. That was what I got out of. maybe it's just like and then i'd have to explain sex in front of my husband and he doesn't know how it works yeah well wait we have two kids censor censoring laws were like real i don't know if you could call them laws but censoring standards were really strict back then like they couldn't even show you know two people in the same bed you know so maybe they can't even discuss that like boys and girls make babies like i don't know speaking of strict censoring there's actually one really surprising line in this movie where his girlfriend she yells to her mom because her mom's like what are you doing with that boy and she says oh we're making violent love and i was

like oh my gosh that's a little uh that's kind of a big thing to say for such an old movie like that seems like it should have been censored um it turns out making love did not always have the same meaning that it does now it kind of took on a new meaning during like the 60s and 70s where it meant like sex uh before that it just meant like courting like you know any sort of like you know action that is like cuddly or kissy or anything like that i feel like making violent love to someone would always mean sex i don't know but there's you can read like older books um and it will describe like uh you know a fancy party and it will be like he turned the corner and he saw six couples making love in the corner. And it's not that, right? They're literally just like cuddling, holding hands, you know? So it had a very different meaning before the meaning that we know. So she wasn't saying he's like passionately sexing me up.

She was saying, you know, he's passionately kissing me or something like that. Sorry, keep going. George's weird brother, Harry, looks like he's going to hug Annie and says, Annie, my sweet, have you got those pies? She seems very threatened and says, you lay a hand on me, I'll hit you with this broom. He says, Annie, I'm in love with you. There's a moon out tonight. Then he spanks her as she screams and he chases her into the kitchen. Like, I don't know. This seems really bad. That all happens. I must have been watching very closely. Yeah, well, I had to rewind it several times, but he definitely does that.

So George Bailey goes to the high school dance. He is not a high schooler, but whatever. They seem to supposed to be like, you know, 17, 18 year olds, but they're clearly like 30 year olds. So that was odd. So anyway, he and Mary, his kind of girlfriend, get dropped into a swimming pool and they're walking home. She's wearing a robe. This is the only part that I remember all that well from when I was a kid that isn't like the, you know, the actual part people remember at the end. Oh, it reminds me of Bill's house. Well, that part too. They're singing, hey, Buffalo gal, Mary's hair is completely dry, but she wears a robe as though she changed into it because her clothes were all wet. When you sang, we were talking about this and you started singing, hey, Buffalo gal, won't you come out tonight? Come out tonight. I had no idea that you were making a reference to It's a Wonderful Life. I thought you were referencing Simpsons because that's the song that Homer sings when he's trying to make money to pay for the dog's operation by singing in Moe's bar.

they're like dance rummy and mo's like hey that rummy used to be my best customer so uh mary says she's 18 and then he kind of goes oh and she says too young or too old i'm not sure what answer she was expecting but i really hope she didn't think he was going to say too old well he's supposed to be like 18 as well here right well he graduated the year before he's at least 19 or 20 all right yeah well he steps on a robe almost pulls it off seems to realize that this might be a good idea to try again later he threatens to vandalize a house she asks him not to he says i'll get you the moon mary then you could swallow it and it would yeah it would dissolve and the moonbeams would shoot out of you i don't know this this theme's weird i think that's why he was shooting all those lasers out on the cover of air to the empire he swallowed a moon it could be there's a pervy fat old man watching them asking them to kiss for his amusement

now george is into this idea he tells the old man come back so i can show you some kissing that will put hairs back on your head hearing this mary turns and tries to run away so she does not want george to kiss her he steps on her robe again to prevent her from escaping this time it's not an accident i thought nope not an accident he already did it once it's not an accident this time he knew to avoid it this is when jimmy stewart strips his teenage girlfriend naked shoves her into a bush then blackmails her for sexual favors to get her clothes back she threatens to call the police he says they're far away and they would be on his side anyway yeah i know not not great She threatens to scream, and he says that maybe he could sell tickets to seeing her naked. Yeah, I know, I know. He's riffing on the idea of putting on a show for the old man from a few seconds ago. Right. So I think this was supposed to just be an example of his boyish playfulness.

Yeah. But even saying that is kind of easy to me. Just listen to what I'm saying. You shouldn't take advantage of any situation. All this stuff actually happens how I'm saying it. Does it sound like boyish playfulness? Well, I mean, not with the tone you're giving it, but, you know, maybe if you had a little more of a playful, innocent tone, it might not sound so bad. What am I doing here? Well, this doesn't happen every day. Yeah, exactly. He just abandons her naked in the bush, all alone in the middle of nowhere. He couldn't help it. His mom was dying, right? His dad. His dad had a stroke. I mean, he had to leave. And he gave her her clothes. It's not like he took it with him. He threw it back and said, here you go. I got to go. all my bad right so yeah george bailey's friend sam gets really rich from investing in plastics made from soybeans which was george's idea and yet george doesn't get any money from that

well and this we're gonna get into this when you know during the bank run which i think is pretty soon so the bank calls in a loan from the bailey building and loan which is not a bank but it's basically like a bank they gave the bank all their money but it still wasn't enough to pay off the loan. They have no money left in the savings and loan so if anybody comes in and says gives me my money they cannot do it that's the point. Right. So then there is a bank run on the Bailey building and loan essentially because everyone because everyone well but here's the thing Potter owns the bank the person calling in the loan who just took all of the the building and loans money He owns the bank because he just bought it just now. And he closed it down for two weeks. So no one can get any money. So normally they would get their money from the bank, but they can't. So they're coming to withdraw their investment from the building and loan because they need money now.

Potter also says that they can move their shares to his bank. He's offering to buy out their shares. And he will give them 50 cents on the dollar. He's saying, I'll buy your shares for half what they're worth because I closed the bank. Well, right. And this is exactly you're interpreting it 100 percent correctly. And this is what I mean, you can see it today with like what is it called? Check cashers are like people who will give you your check before you actually get it from your job. Money advance. Yeah. Essentially, you can go in and they will cash your check before you get it. basically they're saying hey you know we know you're gonna get paid so we'll just give you the money now and you pay us back and then you end up paying the back with it's ridiculous like 70 percent interest right and the what you're you know what they say this is designed for you to do is oh you're supposed to pay us back next week so of course you know it won't add up to much

anyway but what they're hoping you'll do is pay them back next month or next year and then you're paying like you know 30 40 50 times what you actually got from them which is what ends up happening too often. And it's exactly what this, you know, horrible man is doing here. He's saying, oh, you know, I've created a situation where you don't have the money you need to continue your life. I'll just buy all your stock. I'll buy all your investments at half price and then you'll have money. You can continue your life. You'll have money now, even though you lost 50% of its worth. It's ridiculous. The movie is, it's a very depressing reflection of today, right? Like it's rich businessmen getting everything stupid people who are too stupid to realize that the rich businessman is taking advantage of them and also too stupid to work together and help each other and then one guy who wants to help them and everyone else just takes advantage of him right

everyone just wants to wants to use him and get what they can from him and they don't realize that he's the only one looking out for them and it for what for everything bad about this movie it portrays that exact situation very well like it does a great job portraying that so So when it was right after the Great Depression, so like you might say we're currently in the second Great Depression. All right. Well, well, and the thing here that they even talk about is that George during the Depression, Mr. Potter buys everything in town except because he's got a loan because he has money so he can survive weather the storm. Yeah. Depression is a it's a it's a fire sale for him. He can get everything at 30 percent, 40 percent, 80 percent off. Right. George Bailey gives his $2,000 to all his patrons and he just gives it away as a gift. He's not even having them sign papers. He says it's a loan, but it's not.

They don't have to pay it back. He's never getting it back. There's no evidence. Well, it was supposed to be his honeymoon money. That was all his savings that he was going to start his wedding, his married life with. Poor George. The point here is that Mr. Potter is willing to go to extreme measures and devious means. to essentially own the whole town. That's his character. He's Scrooge McDuck, right? Like, he doesn't care. He just wants money. There's a scene where George Bailey is now helping everyone own their own houses. They're not living in Mr. Potter's slums. Mr. Potter's like, we got to do something about that. And to show he's such a big shot, I just love this. His, like, assistant is like, hey, you've got someone outside waiting for you. And he says, tell a congressman to wait. Whoa.

He's like, he's got a congressman outside waiting, but George Bailey is a bigger threat. You know, I got to deal with him now. Well, I mean, it's like if you made a movie today and you had Elon Musk being a big, rich asshole, and then he's like, Mr. Trump is waiting for you. He's like, tell the president to wait, right? Which is actually surprisingly realistic, because that's essentially what happens. Exactly what he would do. So he says, the Bailey family has been a boil on my nose for long enough. And he brings George Bailey in, and he offers him $20,000 a year to work for him. And now George is 28, making $45 a week. And that doesn't sound like much. It sounds like very little. But George says no. He says, I'm sticking with the building and loan. You're not going to run me out of it. I'm not going to work for you, Potter. But I think that Mr. Potter now has the idea, well there are two people who run this company there's george bailey and there's one of the

founders uncle billy bailey it's george's uncle yeah uncle billy is like shady as heck what is with that guy so in this movie would have you believe uncle billy is just like a weird loopy guy who just loses a ton of money like no the main problem of this movie is that uncle billy gave all the money to the evil billionaire right did i did i miss something no isn't that what are correct so i believe what actually happens is he potter is like okay didn't work with george i'm going to billy and billy says yes yes that's clearly what billy is clearly getting something out of here where he and potter are going to take the just money they're going to get as much money as they can from the town yeah he's going to eventually sign over building and loan over to potter somehow he literally took all the bank's money or not bank the savings and loan right took all the money and he gave it to mr potter right the worst person he could have given it to he

could have given it to the townspeople thousand dollars and he's supposed to be depositing it in the bank yeah it's the people's money potter comes in and tell me if this sounds like some kind of con potter comes in right before depositing it uncle billy makes a big show in front of the crowd of people taking potter's newspaper and commenting on the fact that his nephew harry just won a medal of honor which is something he knows already and then he very surreptitiously gives the newspaper back to potter with the envelope that has eight thousand dollars folded in it yep that's that's a money drop he just gave it to him that's not you don't do that absentmindedly that's how you give someone eight thousand dollars right his thing is that he constantly has this evil crow hanging out with him all the time it's like the the symbol of like evil right like is this is like edgar allen poe's the crow nevermore right like it's constantly

hanging out with him landing on him cawing or it's the symbol of all father odin who had crows that knew everything and it's implying uncle billy knows more than he's letting on he's not just some one-eyed old man okay no does he also ride to work every day on his six-legged horse well no it's a it's a car but it has six wheels whoa dude go sleipnir yeah oh man i want to buy a sleipnir that's a great car six wheels oh man oh man clearly Uncle Billy gave that money to Potter yeah Potter sees that he has the money tells his helper to look sharp meaning be casual and he looks out the door makes sure that Uncle Billy leaves he's like alright that part of the job is done Uncle Billy makes a big show about I don't know where it is also Uncle Billy does not just own a crow he owns like a bunch of birds and a squirrel and squirrels and crap yeah I mean I wouldn't be surprised if he had an eight-legged horse

like that would be totally fitting he owns all kinds of weird animals george gets mad shakes uncle billy says one of us is going to jail and it's not going to be me yes but uncle billy knows that that's not what george is going to do because two minutes later george takes the full rap he's like yeah it was my fault i did it he says that to potter first he goes home and kind of abuses his family yeah okay wait so did i see this correctly did one of george's kids like sneak up on him and like jump out and growl at him in a santa mask like one of his kids roars at him while wearing a mask as though it's a scary mask but yeah like a halloween thing but it's a santa mask and it's christmas it's like does this kid not know what santa does he's supposed to be really little he thinks that's like a monster i mean those santa masks are kind of scary like also who has santa masks is that something people

did i don't know maybe back in the 40s i don't know so he goes to potter to ask for a loan potter mentions that no one will believe he wasn't betting this money spending it on the stock market he didn't just give it to his like mistress who he loves to kiss did yeah he did because violet came in and he gave her money and she kissed him he has a 15 000 life insurance policy and it's potter who puts it the idea into his head he says you're worth more dead than alive and Potter also says he's going to call the police put a warrant out for his arrest with the two policemen in town Bert and Ernie wow well Ernie is the the cabbie but yeah that must be where Jim Henson got those names from and what was it Short Time didn't they have Bert and Ernie in Short Time yeah everyone's seen Short Time that's not like a long lost movie that literally no one's ever seen it's such a good movie it's a great movie

it's so good So some random guy makes sure to point out to George, look, there's a big gash in this tree. See, there's a big gash in the tree that you crashed into. So George, I understand that some, you know, like the heavy stuff is going down in his life. But this asshole is drunk driving like God shouldn't be answering his prayers. God should be smiting this guy like strike him down. This guy sucks. I mean, I can forgive a lot of crap. Drunk drives like three feet. But yeah, I don't care. He crashed. three feet too far he could have been a person i hate this guy don't he did he should have killed himself jump off the bridge yeah well that's what he's going to do yeah but then what there's some guy already there and clarence jumps off and he asks george for help george i gotta say clearly jumping off this bridge is not a good technique for suicide because jumping off this bridge fails

to kill at least two people. Well, he jumps off and he's fine. He saves another guy after jumping off. So clearly it wasn't going to do much. Also, I just want to say, now I realize why in Simpsons Homer is always going to jump off a bridge when tiniest little things don't go his way. Yes, it's because it's a whole lot of life. It's true. Clarence claims to be an angel. He doesn't do anything supernatural. Some wind blows and opens a window. He makes the door blow open. Oh, and he takes away George's injuries. How can he do that? So George is cut on his lip, and that cut disappears. What? But Clarence is the one who pointed out this cut. George wasn't even aware he had it before Clarence pointed it out. He's a pickpocket, as we'll find out. He just, sleight of hand, put a little bit of fake blood on his lip, and then later he just wiped it off. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's true.

George had no idea he was injured until he told him. Then they go outside and, oh, his car is gone. How could they have done that? Maybe they just moved the car. But the gash in the tree is gone. That's true. The gash that someone suspiciously pointed out to him so he would know there is a gash on this tree. Yeah. That was a fake gash. Well, and I mean, whether there was a gash or not is up for interpretation because he was quite drunk. He was very smashed. Someone's telling him there's a gash. There might as well be, right? Like, who knows? And the very small town sign that used to say Bedford Falls now says Pottersville. In Pottersville. I mean, I can think of one person who definitely already had that sign made because he wants this town to be his anyway. He was like, oh, hey, I have this in my garage. He's like, welcome to Pottersville. Let's just put it up. Right. Now Mr. Gower is hated by the whole town because he poisoned someone.

What's happening here? So I think they would have had a hard time getting Gower to go along with this. No, they have an easy time getting him to go along with this because Potter knows. Somehow Potter found out that he attempted to murder someone. This is blackmail. Gower has to go along with the plan. He has no choice. Otherwise, he's going to tell the police. Okay. So what I'm thinking is happening is he wants to arrest George Bailey. He's telling all the people who like George Bailey in town that, oh, I'm going to have him arrested unless you do my plan. Yeah, I gotcha. Yeah, he's saying this is the only way you can save George. And that makes sense. That's why they would go along with it. Now, George doesn't have his identity, his money, his valuables, his random flower petals or necklace or whatever it is. Clarence just pickpocketed him, okay? And he puts him back later. Yeah, Clarence is really, really good at pickpocketing.

He's like a master. He is. He's clearly not good at anything else. Clarence clearly has some sort of two-way radio or something in his ear because he's talking to Joseph about how he's doing on this job. So this whole town looks different or does it? We look at the town. What's different? It's the same set. What has changed? People put up different signs. That's it. And it's darker. Now, this could be one of two things. They put up a few signs, right? That's the only difference with the building and loan is there's a different sign up. Or it could be that George has just never walked around at night on these streets. He didn't notice that there are nightclubs. doesn't know what nighttime looks like i mean i've probably put up the signs i think george has walked the streets of his own town right i think all they did was put up signs because and that's actually what the people in the in making the movie did they didn't change the set

it's the same set they just put up a few signs so yeah ernie the cabbie would be an easy person to bribe and blackmail now the cop bert we know the cops in this town are corrupt george bailey himself said that they would be on his side for stripping his teenage girlfriend naked and asking her to do sexual favors for him so it's not a stretch that was as important as you think it was that's not a stretch to say that mr potter could bribe the police also but we actually don't even know if bird is in on this because bird is just chasing after george he doesn't necessarily even act like he doesn't know george and he's just doing what he's supposed to be doing which is find george and arrest him because there's a warrant out on george for his arrest right now so burt might not even be in on this okay but he is clearly a bad cop because when george runs away from him he starts shooting now regardless of your interpretation of this movie he shouldn't

start shooting george is running away and he's unarmed but anyway this is this is totally believable that cops would do that because yeah do do that so also clarence just like disappears at one point i don't really think that happened because george isn't even in that scene that's just clarence being fanciful telling fanciful stories no wait that just represents because that's it's when the cop is trying to arrest him that just represents what a good pickpocket he is he can squirm out of any situation you know and people just don't even know it's like where did go he's got like he's like he's got like a 20 in his sneak skill you know yeah he can just like it's like skyrim he could sneak behind you and just steal all your clothes okay he wouldn't even yeah george goes to his house and it's all ruined because well let's let's let's think about this we know that his house was falling apart it was the infamous slum in town that no one wants and

you just break the windows whenever you feel like it i think that he just kind of has a new perspective on life he thought he fixed it up better than he did but his family has actually been living destitute this whole time we know that it's it's all broken down because every time he goes upstairs the thing comes off the stairs you know i think he just never really noticed that i've been so busy he was so busy working when did he have time to fix up this house he didn't hire someone to do it he doesn't have any money you know and we know he's been coming home late every day he barely spends any time with his family. So like he just didn't have time to fix up the house and he's only just now kind of like he's deluded himself into thinking he had this wonderful life and he doesn't. And they knew that well I mean Mr. Potter knew that suddenly the veil would be lifted and he would see his house for what it truly is

for some reason. Well no that's not even part of the plan that's just something that happened. Oh it's just a fringe benefit it just happened okay. His kids probably are asleep upstairs but he didn't go inside he didn't go upstairs yeah oh man and it's probably nicer on the inside actually like they fixed up the interior so well he just never really looked at his house from the outside he was always too busy thinking about work coming home and then he finally looked up and was like ah i'm inside when he comes home he's like looking at papers and stuff and then you know yeah he's never paying attention so anyway um we also know from like when he comes home and abuses his family that he is the type person when in a crisis he stops paying attention to the things around him you know he doesn't even notice his kid he's like squeezing his kid to death when his kid is just trying to scare him with a santa's mask yeah two other people that they got in on

this con are his mother and his wife, Mary, the two people who would give anything to see him not go to jail or commit suicide. Right. They're going to go along with the farce. The portrayal of what Mary is now was clearly cooked up by old man Potter because she's an old maid, a spinster who never got married. She wears glasses and works at a library like it's just like a an offensive stereotype of a woman who didn't get married in the 40s kind of thing. Well, and she's like totally okay with this she's like just gonna go along with it well yeah because she's gotta save george because otherwise he's going to jail she has no choice fair enough yeah he does he does kind of have the leverage here and she's just wearing like a scarf over her head and glasses the police come to arrest him he runs away they shoot at him he goes back to the bridge and suddenly everything's back to normal bert catches up to him which makes sense because bert was just chasing him

And so, like, nothing is different, right? Bert is no longer shooting at him because George is no longer running. The lip cut is back. Well, how did that happen? Well, because Clarence put it back on. He has all his stuff back in his pockets. The sign is changed back to Bedford Falls. Well, how do they do that? He wishes Mr. Potter a Merry Christmas. Potter says, go home. They're waiting for you, implying that Mr. Potter is in on this whole plan. He knows what's going on. When he goes home, one of the first things he says is, look at this wonderful old drafty house proving that it is just a wreck normally yeah it's still drafty that's the first thing he says because he's realized now and it is a little nicer on the inside of course now mary comes in from outside she's all also she takes off her headscarf that was her disguise she's already taken off the glasses yeah you're right why is she still wearing that oh she came in too quick

almost broke the illusion she says she was looking for george but no her kids are sleeping upstairs Why did she leave the house just to look for George? No, she was out because she was in on this whole facade. That's why she didn't get back home as fast as George did. The bank examiner is there with an arrest warrant. Uncle Billy comes in. He's got tons of money. All the people from town have tons of money. Sam gives them $25,000. It's all going to be invested into the Bailey brothers building and loan. And guess what? Uncle Billy is now working with Mr. Potter. He's going to get a cut of that. And eventually they're going to find some other way to throw George under the bus. But before they did that, they knew they needed to use George and how well-liked he is to milk all the money they could out of the town so that Potter owns everything. Yeah, it's free cash. I don't quite understand why this required them to make George think that he'd never been born.

Well, because I think that, um, oh no, did I find a hole in, in, in your, in your theory? Well, because, um, you know, he just hates George Bailey and he was like, he was thinking, he was like, what would it be like if George was never born? But it had the opposite effect.

wow i mean maybe so here's my thoughts i guess maybe um they needed to get george into a more malleable state so that you know once they get all the money from everybody they can convince george easier to take the actions that will allow them to funnel it back to mr potter i don't know I have no clue. Yeah, that makes sense. Sorry, I'm doing my best to you. Yeah, I think it was clearly a plot, a con to get all the money they could from all the people in town. I will say maybe one other possibility here. Maybe George was in on it. Maybe he was also trying to get all the money from all the people in town. But why did he have to trick himself? Well, maybe that was just him being drunk and having like a seizure of having a hallucination. I don't know. It's a fun theory. It makes a boring movie a little less boring. Music for this episode was provided by Christine. I hope you liked it. Everyone have a Merry Christmas.

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