Sorry, Wrong Ed

"Sorry, Wrong Ed" is the 16th episode of Season 4 and the 93rd episode of Ed, Edd n Eddy. In this episode, Eddy takes a phone that Rolf tries to get rid of as he thinks it looks really cool. However Rolf's quaint but cursed telephone of doom starts creating bad luck for Eddy whenever someone answers the telephone. Eddy must now find a way to get the phone's curse off of him.

Plot
Rolf is digging a hole in the lane with a phone beside him when the Eds arrive, naturally attracted by the strange spectacle. Ed wants to help dig, Eddy wants the phone, and Edd is naturally confused by this events. Rolf doesn't offer any explanation for his strange behavior other than that he has to get rid of the phone, which has plagued his family for generations with its curse. As soon as the phone is dropped into its grave and the hole is filled, Eddy suggests that Rolf get a massage from Victor or something in order to relax. Rolf gladly goes on his way, which allows Eddy to command that Ed dig up the phone.

Eddy, the proud new owner of a fancy phone, strolls back to his room with his new possession and puts it on his bedside table. Eddy then walks over and puts a record on. Edd feels annoyed by Eddy having another knickknack for his room, but Eddy is excited about the phone, especially when a call comes in for him. He is about to pick up, when Edd notices that the phone isn't plugged in. Eddy dismisses this as the phone being a cordless, and answers. At this moment, the record on his phonograph begins to wobble and soon flies off, smashing into Eddy's head and knocking him over. Edd and Eddy blame Ed, who was standing by the record player at the time, but Ed denies culpability and hangs up the phone. Another call comes in for Eddy, and Eddy takes the phone, thinking it's Nazz, lying on his bed in order to properly answer it. As soon as he answers, a spring comes loose, shooting Eddy into the ceiling; when Eddy comes down, moreover, he lands on the spring. Ed takes this as a suggestion to go to bed, and he climbs into Eddy's bed to sleep while Eddy extricates himself. As soon as Eddy gets free, the phone rings again; upon answering, a bicycle-propelled ice cream cart bursts through his door, bounces around the room, and lands on him. Ed picks up the phone, informs the caller that Eddy's in pain and will have to call back, and hangs up.

By now, Eddy is convinced that something's wrong with the phone, and he takes it outside. It soon rings again, and Ed goes to get it; Eddy stops him, but to no avail, as Ed merely throws his friend at the phone. Gingerly, Eddy answers, and a polecat steps out from a bush and sprays him. Now convinced that the phone is indeed cursed, Eddy runs inside to hide, and when Edd tries to tell him that curses don't exist, Eddy suggests they test it.

Soon enough, the three have gathered in the construction site to test Eddy's theory. Eddy and Edd are behind a barricade of mattresses, and Ed is dressed in protective clothing. Ed places the phone in the center of the street, and when it rings, Eddy tells him to answer it. Upon doing so, disaster seems as if it will be averted, but suddenly a streetlight comes crashing down onto Eddy's head. Edd goes over and finds what he believes to be the culprit: a rusty nut. Eddy, however, isn't convinced. The phone rings again, and Eddy rushes over to try to stop Ed from answering it, but he isn't in time. Spotting a streetlight, he pushes Ed between him and it, only for a concrete pipe to roll over him from behind.

Fed up, Eddy goes over to Rolf's to try and return the phone. When he gets there, though, Rolf refuses to take it back, and a match of hot potato ensues. Finally, Rolf starts pushing his house backwards to try and get away, and finally runs inside, slamming the door on Eddy. Defeated, Eddy moves to leave, only for the phone to ring once again. This time, Edd picks up, and Eddy gets run over by a truck.

Scared, Eddy runs through the cul-de-sac, his two friends in tow. Suddenly, though, he spots Jonny and pawns the phone off on him, making sure to keep it with Jonny by gluing it to his head. While Jonny calls for Plank to join him and use the phone with him, Eddy runs away. As soon as he's out of sight and out of earshot, he begins to cheer, ignoring Edd's consistent insistence that telephones aren't cursed. Happy and finally ready to finish the day, he suggests that they get some scamming in. His friends agree, with Edd far too ready to get some normality in.

Eddy's suggestion for a scam is exceedingly strange, however, as his plot is a breakfast venture. When Edd remarks on the unlikelihood of such a scheme succeeding, Eddy points out that he's got a killer marketing strategy: the cereal is 100% Curse Free! Good and fed up, Edd angrily declares that there are no such things as curses. As if to prove this, a tree comes crashing down on Eddy, destroying the scam. His luck then goes from bad to worse, as a sandbox falls on his head and he is trampled by hippos. Seeing this profusion of bad luck, Double D grins widely, as there is no way at all this could be attributed to Eddy's curse...or could it? Right around the corner sit Jonny and Plank. The telephone is ringing every few seconds, and when he hears it, Jonny assumes that the call is for Plank, and dutifully hands it over before hanging up just a bit later. The trend of answering the phone being related to a misfortune befalling Eddy is readily apparent in what's happening to Eddy as Plank takes his calls.

Memorable Quotes

 * Edd: "A ceremonial telephone burial? My, how quaint."

Eddy: [cleaning the dirt off the phone] "I'll give you... a shoelace for it!" Rolf: [seeing that Eddy has taken the phone out of the hole] "FOOL!" [He whacks Eddy's hand with a shovel.]
 * Rolf: "Come no further!" [continuing to dig] "Rolf must complete this task forced upon him or we are all doomed!"

Rolf: "Victor's hooves are magic on Rolf's hardened muscles." [He turns around and bows as he walks away.] "Thank you, Ed-Boy, thank you."
 * Eddy: [to Rolf, walking him away from the phone's grave] "I've got a feeling you've cracked there, Dracula. Why don't you get Victor to give you a massage or something? And I'll guard the big bad phone for ya."


 * Ed: [as he digs up Rolf's phone] "Dig a hole, dig a hole, dig a hole…"

Ed: "Is that a new phone?" Edd: "Please stay with us, Ed."
 * Eddy: [looking at the phone in his room] "Cuts a figure in society don't it?"

Eddy: [angry] "So? It's called a cordless, grandpa!"
 * Edd: [looking underneath the phone as it rings] "Strange. There doesn't seem to be any connection, yet-"

Eddy: "Get away from my phone stupid! Probably Nazz..." Edd: [sarcastically] "And I'm Theodore Geisel."
 * Ed: [when the phone rings] "Got it!"


 * Edd: "Looks like you could use a new mattress, Eddy. Shall we ask Rolf if he's buried one somewhere?"


 * Ed: [speaking into the phone] "Eddy's in pain now, he'll have to call you back."


 * Ed: [smelling Eddy after the skunk has squirted him] "Who stepped on a duck?"

Edd: "Test it?" Ed: "Like mustard?"
 * Eddy: [looking at the phone] "I say we test it."

Ed: "And itchy!"
 * Eddy: "Bad phone! Evil! Rotten!"

Ed: "Was that your dark side, Double D?"
 * Edd: [getting really angry] "Telephones aren't cursed, Eddy! THEY'RE PLASTIC! Calm down, Double D, think ocean waves, sea mammals, arias…"

Ed: "Or bathtub rings!" Edd: "I'm gonna be sick!"
 * Eddy: "Whoo hoo! I'm off the hook, no more bad luck!"

Eddy: "This ain't your same old, same old breakfast cereal, Double D." [reveals disclaimer] "It's 100%...CURSE FREE!" Edd: [flabbergasted at Eddy] "Eddy, get off this curse fixation! THERE'S NO SUCH THING!" Eddy: [obviously not believing him] "Says you!" [gets crushed by falling tree] Ed: "Good morning, tree."
 * Edd: "Excuse me, Eddy, but wouldn't a breakfast venture by better suited to a morning clientele?"

Edd: "AHA! PROOF POSITIVE! THESE UNFORTUNATE MISHAPS HAVE BEEN NOTHING MORE THAN COINCIDENCE! Look around you, Eddy! And what do you see?" [Eddy gets zapped by lightning.] "Nothing! Do you see a phone? I don't see a phone! No phone, no curse! I rest my case." Eddy: "WHY ME?!" [He runs away and gets smashed by his collapsing house.] Edd: [still sticking to his belief] "COINCIDENCE, EDDY!"
 * Eddy: "HIPPOS!" [He gets trampled by a hippo stampede. Edd smiles.]

Trivia

 * Goofs:
 * While he was digging the hole to bury the phone, Rolf threw much of the dirt over the fence, leaving a barely large enough mound of dirt to fill the hole back up; after putting the phone in the hole, there is suddenly enough dirt to completely fill the hole.
 * The candle that Eddy knocked off his table in order to make room for the phone disappeared for the rest of the scene.
 * After Eddy gets crushed by the hippos, Edd points at Eddy, who is normally colored. In the next scene, he is burnt black before he gets zapped by the lightning bolt.
 * The back of Eddy's house is colored blue rather than pink in this episode. The same mistake is made in "Take This Ed and Shove It."
 * It took both Edd and Eddy to lift Ed off the ground in "Dawn of the Eds" and "Virt-Ed-Go," but in this episode, Eddy lifted both Ed and Double D off the ground without a problem.
 * In the episode "Dawn of the Eds," Ed was wearing extra items as protection from dumpster contents, which could've added weight to his body.
 * In the episode "Virt-Ed-Go," Ed was grabbing onto the ground for dear life, making him harder to move.
 * Edd had no concern over what happened to Eddy in this episode, while in "Cry Ed" he got upset when Ed dropped a house on Eddy. Of course, he could have been more focused on trying to prove to Eddy it was all a coincidence while not caring for his safety and getting agitated when trying to prove there is no curse.
 * This is the 17th time Kevin is absent.
 * This is the 23rd time Nazz is absent. She is mentioned by Eddy.
 * This is the eighth time Jimmy doesn't appear.
 * This is the 13th time Sarah doesn't appear. She is mentioned by Ed.
 * This is the 67th time the Kankers don't appear.
 * This is the fourth episode to not contain any of the female characters. Other episodes that female characters don't appear in include "Button Yer Ed," "Gimme Gimme Never Ed," and "The Luck of the Ed."
 * Running Gags:
 * Eddy getting cursed by the phone whenever someone answers it.
 * Edd trying to prove that all the curses caused by the phone are just mere coincidences.
 * Edd: "And I'm Theodore Geisel." This is a reference to author Theodore Seuss Geisel, who is more commonly known as Dr. Seuss.
 * When Ed says, "Who stepped on a duck?" it is possibly a reference to Al in Caddyshack who said exactly that when he farted.
 * The ice cream bike that appeared in the third curse was playing a chime of the Mexican Hat Dance. This was the third time that the chime of that music was played. The first time was in "Honor Thy Ed" during the Haunted House Dare, and the second time was in "Once Bitten, Twice Ed" during the Raccoon Round-Up/Mutant Land scam.
 * The only way to remove the curse from the new owner of the cursed phone appears to be pouring salt on top of it while burying it in the ground as Rolf was doing that as part of the curse removal ritual.
 * The phone rings twenty-seven times throughout this episode.
 * This is the second time a truck is seen. The first time was in "Quick Shot Ed." In "Read All About Ed," a truck was heard at the end of the episode, but it was never seen despite dumping a load of newspapers on the boys.
 * When Edd answers the phone, he responds with his real name and nickname together, as in "Eddward Double D."
 * The cursed phone's design is based off of an 1896 Swedish telephone.
 * In retrospect, it seems obvious that giving the phone away wouldn't have removed the curse from the bearer's family, as not only did Rolf refuse to give the device to Eddy, but both Ed and Edd answered the phone for Eddy without taking the effects of the curse.
 * Rolf apparently has the strength to move his own house.
 * This is the first episode where we see Eddy's house fully destroyed. The second episode is "Run for your Ed."

Curses (in order)
All the bad things that happen to Eddy are as follows:
 * A record flies out of his record player and hits him.
 * A spring in his mattress pops out, sending him flying into the ceiling and back into his bed.
 * An ice cream bike and cart comes into his room and crashes on top of him.
 * A skunk comes out of nowhere and sprays him.
 * A streetlight falls on him.
 * A cement pipe rolls over and flattens him.
 * A truck runs over him.
 * A tree falls on him.
 * A sandbox falls on him.
 * A hippo stampede tramples him.
 * He gets struck by a bolt of lighting.
 * His house collapses on him.
 * Many other unknown things happen off-screen during the scene where Jonny answers the phone.