Mistakes Were Made

“Initially Total displayed a fair degree of diligence and reliability, and thus I agreed to make him a partner in my agency. As it turned out, the diligence and reliability were a ruse.”

Timmy Failure has a strong and well-developed vocabulary, which makes him sound incredibly intelligent when he speaks. The irony comes in the fact that much of the time, Timmy is wrong about what he says, or he is admitting to doing something that suggests a lack of thought and foresight. Timmy’s polar bear is imaginary, but he speaks about him as though he is real; it is never directly stated that Total is imaginary, only implied.

“Always on the lookout for clues, I make an important note in my detective log.

GABE: not tidy.”

Timmy considers himself to be the world’s best detective, but he fails to notice clues that are both obvious and presented to him directly. In attempting to solve the case of the missing candy, Timmy notices Gunnar’s brother covered in chocolate and surrounded by wrappers. Rather than connecting the dots, Timmy makes note of the fact that Gunnar’s brother is a messy person. This initial mistake sets the stage for each of Timmy’s detective failures, which all follow a similar pattern. Timmy sees something obvious and uses it to come to a completely different conclusion.