A Simple Plan: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|''"I wanted it to go smooth. Why don't it ever go ''smooth''?"''|'''Malcolm Reynolds''', '''''[[Firefly]]'''''}}

 

A [[Sitcom]] plot where the characters are trying to pull off some kind of easy, straightforward operation; throw a surprise party, open a restaurant, or pick someone up at the airport. Either a series of things go wrong, they screw up through their own natural laziness, cheapness, or stubbornness; or one solitary thing goes awry and the whole simple plan falls to pieces.

 

Not to be confused with the film of the same name (which, itself, wasn't very simple). Also not to be confused with the band of the same name. Which is more complicated than a beginner violinist, but simpler than Beethoven.

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

 

* ''[[Planes, Trains and Automobiles]]'' is about a guy who just wants to back home for Thanksgiving. A whole fiasco erupts from this.

* [[Adventures in Babysitting]]: Heroine is babysitting when her friend calls and asks for a ride out of the city. Heroine takes kids with so that she can still keep an eye on them. Then plot happens.

 

== Literature ==

* Virtually every episode of [[It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia]] revolves around the gang hatching some sort of plan. Usually involving monetary gain or revenge.

* [[Doctor Who]]. Anytime the TARDIS lands and the crew has something relaxing or normal planned—going to the beach, visiting their family, maybe just picking up some milk—will end up with them all running for their lives. ''[[Once Per Episode|Every. Single. Time]].''

{{quote|'''Adam:''' You should ''never'' expect Plan A to go off without a hitch! Me and Jamie, it's usually Plan D.}}

* In Season 3 of ''[[Justified (TV series)|Justified]]'' a corrupt prison guard and his prison nurse buddy have the great idea to break Dicky Bennett out of prison, have him lead them to the $3 million his late mother hid away and then kill him. They do not count on the fact that they will have to take [[Too Dumb to Live|Dewey Crowe]] with them or that US Marshal Raylan Givens will suspect them right away. They also do not realize that most of the money is already gone or that the person holding the rest of the money feels honor bound to keep Dickie alive and is much deadlier than they are.

== Tabletop Games ==

* The RPG ''[[Exalted]]'' has a dramatic example: as penalty for their actions in overthrowing the Primordials, the Sidereal Exalted, Heaven's bureaucrats, were cursed so that whenever they get together in large numbers to create a plan, it usually goes horribly, horribly wrong. How horribly wrong? Well, seeing as their last great get together resulted in the death of Creation's god-kings (mind you, [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|they kind of deserved it]]) and could be indirectly blamed for an apocalyptic disease, an invasion by [[The Fair Folk]], the fall of a Golden Age of magic and technology, and untold amounts of Creation's landmass dissolving back into the Wyld, they can only go up from here.

* The introduction of the [[Shadowrun]] Fourth Edition rulebook has an experienced runner asserting that the scariest words in the world are [[Tempting Fate|"It'll be easy."]] Then goes on to detail a supposedly easy corporate espionage and sabotage mission that, due to a double-cross by {{spoiler|the Johnson's Humanis-connected assistant}}, ended with two of the narrator's team being fatally shot, as well as the team {{spoiler|almost being responsible for the mass murder of a sizable amount of the ork and troll population because of the assistant's poisoning of the stuff that was supposed to go into the rival company's drink to make it taste bad}}.

 

* The plan in [[Knights of the Old Republic]] is ridiculously simple. Find Bastila, find a ship, and get off Taris before you are discovered. [[What Could Possibly Go Wrong?|Easy, right?]]

** [[BioWare|Could this possibly be a trend?]]

 

 

[[Category:The Plan]]

[[Category:Plots]]

[[Category:Finagle's Law]]