Like a later episode about a lost dog, this show features a different sort of Mr. Wilson--one who happily will defraud and lie to acquire some money.
Here John has entered a contest hoping to win $1000. He gets a phone call saying he won "a prize" and the man will come by tomorrow to present it. Figuring he must have won a big prize because they wouldn't come by in person for a smaller prize, Wilson now has to figure a way to fool the man into thinking that his entry essay was truthful--specifically that he has four sons.
Coincidentally, Dennis and three friends have just asked Mr. Wilson to join their club. He now schemes to invite the boys over for a party the next afternoon. At the party, he tells them he wants to fool an old friend, just as a joke, and asks them all to pretend to be his sons. He even has fictional names for his sons. Eloise has left the house, wanting no part of his fraudulent scheme.
A slight switch in the plot might have made the whole thing work for me. Had he first learned that the contest required people to have children AFTER learning he had won, I could see him figuring it's not fair to tell him he won then tell him about a rule he didn't know about. But Wilson clearly knew the rules and lied on his essay to win the prize. I truly am disappointed in the producers for allowing this otherwise likable neighbor to Dennis to become such a money-grubbing liar.
The rest of the show deals with Wilson trying to get the boys to go along with the deception. The balk when they find out the truth about why he wants to fool the man. Of course the scheme backfires and Wilson never gets the prize he thought he was going to. But his character took such a sad twist from the usual that I found this episode not very funny at all.
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