History Recap / TheSimpsonsS2E13HomerVsLisaAndThe8thCommandment

Episode - 7F13\\
First Aired - 2/7/1991

* InsufferableGenius: Lisa and Marge guilt trip Homer into giving up cable. Homer eventually admits defeat, but tells them he loathes them for it. They just smirk in response. Earlier, Lisa did the same to Marge over testing two grapes in store, Marge was similarly annoyed by it while Lisa just smiled. She's right and both sides sure know it.

* InsufferableGenius [=/=] RightlySelfRighteous: Lisa and Marge guilt trip Homer into giving up cable. Homer eventually admits defeat, but tells them he loathes them for it. They just smirk in response. Earlier, Lisa did the same to Marge over testing two grapes in store, Marge was similarly annoyed by it while Lisa just smiled. She's right and both sides sure know it.

* RealityEnsues: Lisa forces Marge to admit she ate two grapes to a grocery store clerk. Rather than comically overreacting, the clerk does not care and openly mocks Marge for asking to be charged for them.
-->'''Clerk:''' Uh, I need a price check on two grapes. Yeah, you heard me, Phil. Two measly... stinkin' grapes.

** Despite the episode being heavily rooted in Christian morality, Ned Flanders is only seen in the opening scene, and his angry reaction to being offered free cable is shown to be the result of him just generally disliking criminals rather than being a violation of the Eighth Commandment, which is you'd expect him to object to. Likewise, he briefly mentions that he got basic cable because he wanted to watch the arts and crafts channel; while this isn't ''completely'' inconsistent with his more established character, just about any future episode would have shown him more interested in the Christian channels.

* ShoutOut:
** The sequence where Homer stops the cable guy's truck is a frame-by-frame homage to ''Film/NorthByNorthwest''. The plate on the truck even reads [[FreezeFrameBonus ''1NBNW'']].

* IAmNotShazam: [[InUniverse In-universe]]. Bart's comments while watching hours of movies on cable: "This is where Jaws eats the boat!" "This is where Die Hard jumps out the window!" "This is where Wall Street gets arrested!"

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: At the very end of the episode, when Homer cuts the cable, the picture is replaced by static just before the credits, implying the viewers was also stealing cable.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Drederick Tatum is a parody of Mike Tyson. His opponent Watson is based on Marvin Hagler.

* ParallelPornTitles: The two adult films Bart watched were "[[Film/StardustMemories Stardust Mammories]]" and "[[Film/BroadcastNews Broadcast Nudes]]".

** The sequence where Homer stops the cable guy's truck is a frame-by-frame homage to Film/NorthByNorthwest. The plate on the truck even reads [[FreezeFrameBonus ''1NBNW'']].

* SpecialGuest: Creator/PhilHartman as the Cable Guy, Moses, and Troy [=McClure=]

* ThisIsThePartWhere: "...Film/{{Jaws}} eats the boat!" "...Film/DieHard jumps through the window!" "...Film/WallStreet gets arrested!"

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: When Homer says he only invited a few close friends to watch the fight, and then Apu shows up, it's meant as a joke: the idea is that Homer [[HypocriticalHumor has actually invited anyone and everyone to watch the fight]], even if they're less a "close friend" and more just a "guy I see at the convenience store a lot". Since this episode aired, however, the show has really built up the friendship between Apu and the Simpson family, to the point where him showing up at a gathering of Homer's close friends would make complete sense.

-->'''Clerk:'''"Uh, I need a price check on two grapes. Yeah, you heard me, Phil. Two measly... stinkin' grapes.".

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: At the very end of the episode, when Homer cuts the cable, the picture is replaced by static just before the credits, implying the viewers pirated also cable TV.

* StealingFromTheTill: Homer. When Burns and Smithers arrive to the Simpsons' house to see the match, the former puts away ''a lot'' of stuff he stole from the power plant, from pencils to a computer, before the latter enter.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: It seems unusual for Lisa to be so gung-ho about Christian morals after she's been a Buddhist for several seasons, not to mention more concerned with the environment and social justice than her own moral status. She still would not be okay with Homer stealing, of course, but the point is that there would be another reason for it than the one of this episode.

* IAmNotShazam: [[InUniverse]].Bart's comments while watching hours of movies on cable: "This is where Jaws eats the boat!" "This is where Die Hard jumps out the window!" "This is where Wall Street gets arrested!"

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: It seems unusual for Lisa to be so gung-ho about Christian morals after she's been a Buddhist for several seasons, not to mention more concerned with the environment and social justice than her own moral status.

* [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil Cable Piracy is Evil]]: This trope is played remarkably straight. Even the guy who hooks up the cable is later shown to be stealing car stereos and breaking into houses. Homer, who's shown to have stolen from Moe's and work and is an unabashed alcoholic and JerkAss, comes to view this (although only after [[SoapboxSadie Lisa and Marge]] guilt-tripped him to the point he gave in) as a kind of [[EvenEvilHasStandards evil even]] ''[[EvenEvilHasStandards he]]'' [[EvenEvilHasStandards can't support]].

* [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil Cable Piracy is Evil]]