History Recap / TheSimpsonsS21E9ThursdaysWithAbie

* LivingEmotionalCrutch: When Lisa loses Larry, she finds out that Nelson is looking forward for it, mentioning that it's the thing that keeps him sane.

* ThisIsReality: Grampa looks at "Hoover-villes" and closed banks thinking that they are re-staging TheGreatDepression as a side attraction to the "Tinseltown Starliner"'s heritage trip (just like the "bulls" that beat up Moe while singing), only for Marshall to tell him that those are ''actual'' shanties and failing banks in the wake of the Great Recession, much to Abe's consternation.

* RealityEnsues: Grampa looks at "Hoover-villes" and closed banks thinking that they are re-staging TheGreatDepression as a side attraction to the "Tinseltown Starliner"'s heritage trip (just like the "bulls" that beat up Moe while singing), only for Marshall to tell him that those are ''actual'' shanties and failing banks in the wake of the Great Recession, much to Abe's consternation.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Bart doesn't like Larry the Lamb, but still feels responsible enough to take him back to school because he knows other people like him.

* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler: Larry has been miraculously fixed by the final scene with no explanation. In all fairness, he's a toy lamb.]]

* AsHimself: Mitch Albom (author of ''Tuesdays'') attempts to snatch Abe from Marshall.

--> Homer: Isn't that cute? He thinks he's a pack. (Runs for his life)

* TakeThat: There are two potshots aimed at newspapers: First, Abe tells Marshall that at least something will die before him. Later, when Homer wonders if the world has gone upside-down (as a result of Grampa being interesting), he decides to check if ''Cathy'' is funny for once. It isn't.

* DownTheDrain: Larry the Lamb ends up in the sewers after Lisa looks away for a second. She asks Wiggum for help, but he tells her that it's up to the "water police", which he admits it doesn't really exist.
* EpicFail: When Mitch Albom shows up at the asylum, the residents decide to throw him out. They're so slow it takes them six hours to do it.

* RealityEnsues: Grampa looks at "Hoover-villes" and closed banks thinking that they are re-staging TheGreatDepression as a side attraction, only for Marshall to tell him that those are actual shanties and banks in the wake of the Great Recession.

** The episode is a WholePlotReference the book ''Tuesdays with Morrie''.
** Passengers at the "Tinseltown Express" include Will Rogers, Shirley Temple, Fred Astaire, W.C. Fields, Laurel and Hardy, Boris Karloff (in character as Frankenstein) and most important of all... Clark Gable.

* EpicFail: When another writer shows up at the asylum, the residents decide to throw him out. They're so slow it takes them six hours to do it.

* AwardBait: Goldman decides [[spoiler:to kill Grampa so that his death]] will win him a Pulitzer.

* Irony: Bart is the only one at class who doesn't want to take Larry for the week-end. Guess who gets Larry...

* TakeThat: There are two potshots aimed at newspapers: First, Abe tells Marshall that at least something will die before him. Later, when Homer wonders if the world has gone upside-down (as a result of Grampa being interesting), he decides to check if ''Cathy'' is funny for once. It isn't.
* WorldWarII: The first story Abe tells Goldman is about the time he and his fellow Navy men rode on some sharks after their ship is wrecked by a missile... launched by them. Actually, Grampa is still friends with the servicemen and the sharks.

* TakeThat: There are two potshots aimed at newspapers: First, Abe tells Marshall that at least something will die before him. Later, when Homer wonders if the world has gone upside-down (as a result of Grampa being interesting), he decides to check if ''Cathy'' is funny for once. It isn't.