History Recap / TheSimpsonsS11E14AloneAgainNaturaDiddily

** The deaths of Bleedin' Gums Murphy, Dr. Marvin Monroe, Bea Simmons, and Frank Grimes are focused upon, leading up to Maude's funeral.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Lovejoy's eulogy for Maude.
-->'''Lovejoy:''' In many ways, Maude Flanders was a supporting player in our lives. She didn't grab our attention with memorable catchphrases, or comical accents.\\

* LethallyStupid: Homer's idiocy directly leads to Maude's death.
** Why didn't the designers/architects of the stand put in a safety barrier? It would surely have made Maude bounce back and avoid falling.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Homer is unusually bad here, never showing a moment of remorse for the part he played in Maude's death and even revealing that he was parked in an ambulance bay at the stadium, "preventing any possible resuscitation." (Even though Maude was pronounced dead on the scene by Dr. Hibbert) Then while Ned is still mourning his late wife, he sets about trying to find him a date.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Homer is responsible for Maude Flanders' death; he tells a group of ladies to aim their t-shirt cannons at him, only to duck ''at the last possible second'' as he grabs a bobby pin off the ground. The barrage of t-shirts knocks Maude over the edge of the stadium to her death in front of everybody, including ''her husband and two children!''

* RealityIsUnrealistic: Think ''[[FictionalVideoGame Billy Graham's Bible Blaster'''' is too silly a concept to be real? There actually ''is'' an old game called ''VideoGame/SpiritualWarfare'' that plays very similarly to what's described in the show.

* StatusQuoIsGod: ''Heavily averted''. Maude is KilledOffForReal and Ned becomes a widower. The other two major exceptions to this rule, Apu's marriage and the Van Houtens' divorce, are referenced.

* ForWantOfANail: Maude's death can be attributed entirely to Homer. She goes to get food from the concession stand purely to get away from Homer, who has just taken his shirt off and is jiggling around to get the attention of the T-shirt cannon girls, goading them to fire at him. When they do so, he spots a bobby pin on the floor and bends down to pick it up just as Maude is returning with the food, so the shirts hit her instead, knocking her over the edge.

* ContinuityCavalcade: Maude's funeral. In addition to the above {{call back}}s by Lovejoy, we also see the gravestones of [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E22RoundSpringfield Bleeding Gums Murphy]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E1WhoShotMrBurnsPartTwo Dr. Marvin Monroe]][[note]]Although Dr. Monroe [[RetCon is later revealed to be alive]] in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS15E10DiatribeOfAMadHousewife Diatribe of a Mad Housewife]]"[[/note]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E17OldMoney Bea Simmons]] and [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Frank Grimes]].

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: After Rod and Todd leave for church after Ned refuses to go, he angrily tells God his decision to not go... and we immediately cut to him hurriedly driving to church, apologizing along the way.
* WhamEpisode: First time in the show that a recurring character is KilledOffForReal (since, as Troy [=McClure=] [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E10TheSimpsons138thEpisodeSpectacular notes]], Bleeding Gums Murphy and Dr. Marvin Monroe weren't truly regular characters).

* ContinuityCavalcade: Maude's funeral. In addition to the above {{call back}}s by Lovejoy, we also see the gravestones of [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E22RoundSpringfield Bleeding Gums Murphy]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsWhoShotMrBurns Dr. Marvin Monroe]][[note]]Although Dr. Monroe [[RetCon is later revealed to be alive]] in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS15E10DiatribeOfAMadHousewife Diatribe of a Mad Housewife]]"[[/note]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E17OldMoney Bea Simmons]] and [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Frank Grimes]].

* BogglesTheMind: Ned's solo Scrabble game. Most of the words are about his feelings of loneliness, but also on there is [[PerfectlyCromulentWord 'Flanswered']] and [[FreudianSlip 'Horny']].

* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: PlayedForDrama. Homer is distracted by a bobby pin on the ground after the girls fire T-shirts at him. He ducks at the exact moment Maude returns with her family's food, which knocks her over the bleachers' top row railing.

** Ned turns his back on God and outright ''refuses'' to attend church, much to the horror of his sons. [[SubvertedTrope It doesn't last very long, though]].

* PartingWordsRegret: Flanders regrets that his final words to his wife "No foot-longs" instead of "I love you" or something more meaningful. Homer vows to never let Marge leave the room without telling him how much he loves her, but settles for a pat on the butt after realizing how hard that would be.

** Lovejoy comforts Ned at Maude's funeral.

* ContinuityCavalcade: Maude's funeral. In addition to the above {{call back}}s by Lovejoy, we also see the gravestones of [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E22RoundSpringfield Bleeding Gums Murphy]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsWhoShotMrBurns Dr. Marvin Monroe]][[note]]Although Dr. Monroe [[RetCon is later revealed to be alive]] in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS15E10DiatribeOfAMadHousewife Diatribe of a Mad Housewife]]"[[/note]],[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E17OldMoney Bea Simmons]] and [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Frank Grimes]].

* ContinuityCavalcade: Maude's funeral. In addition to the above {{call back}}s by Lovejoy, we also see the gravestones of [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E22RoundSpringfield Bleeding Gums Murphy]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsWhoShotMrBurns Dr. Marvin Monroe]],[[note]]Although Dr. Monroe [[RetCon is later revealed to be alive]] in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS15E10DiatribeOfAMadHousewife Diatribe of a Mad Housewife]]"[[/note]][[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E17OldMoney Bea Simmons]] and [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Frank Grimes]].

** Meanwhile, Bart (at Marge's suggestion) decides to play with Rod and Todd (which mainly boils down to Bart playing Billy Graham's Bible Blaster as Rod and Todd watch).

* WhamEpisode: First time in the show that a recurring character is KilledOffForReal (since, as Troy McClure notes, Bleeding Gums Murphy and Dr. Marvin Monroe weren't truly regular characters).

* StatusQuoIsGod: ''Heavily averted''. Maude is KilledOffForReal and Ned becomes a widower.

* WhamEpisode: First time in the show that a recurring character is KilledOffForReal.

* PartingWordsRegret: Flanders regrets telling his wife "No foot longs" instead of "I love you" or something more meaningful.

** At the racetrack, when Dr. Hibbert catches a free t-shirt, he states in a serious tone that it features a cartoon of a Ford vehicle [[UrineTrouble urinating]] on a Chevrolet. His wife asks if he doesn't normally find something like this funny and chuckles. He responds that indeed he does, while maintaining his serious demeanor.

* KarmaHoudini: Maude is killed by a barrage of T-shirts fired by cheerleaders who were aiming for a shirtless Homer (who had noticed a bobby pin on the ground and bent over to pick it up), falling off a 20-froot drop on a barrier-less grandstand. Neither the cheerleaders, Homer, ''nor'' the racetrack's owner face any serious repercussions for the circumstances leading to Maude's death (though a throwaway line suggests there was a settlement).

* KarmaHoudini: Maude is killed by a barrage of T-shirts fired by cheerleaders who were aiming for a shirtless Homer (who had noticed a bobby pin on the ground and bent over to pick it up), falling off a 20-froot drop on a barrier-less grandstand. Neither the cheerleaders, Homer, ''nor'' the racetrack's owner face any serious repercussions for the circumstances leading to Maude's death.

'''Apu:''' ''(holding octuplets)'' [[SarcasmMode Yes, thank God those days are over.]]\\

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Ned turns his back on God and outright ''refuses'' to attend church, much to the horror of his sons. [[SubvertedTrope It doesn't last very long, though]].