History Recap / TheSimpsonsS5E10Springfield

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** Springfield in the 50's has the roads literally paved with gold, which makes it terrible to drive on as gold doesn't have the grip that asphalt does.
** When Lisa complains about Marge's absence in the home due to her gambling problem and there being nothing to eat for breakfast, Homer himself improvises by pouring a jar of cloves and a bottle of Tom Collins mix into a frozen pie crust. Even though Homer is a BigEater with a BizarreTasteInFood, all it takes is one bite of his meal to realize how disgusting it is and conclude that they do need Marge around.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The episode's title.

'''Homer:''' (upset) You promised Lisa to help her with her costume. You made her cry. Then I cried. (begins tearing up) [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers Then Maggie laughed.]] She's such a little trooper.

* {{Irony}}: Mr. Burns is a proud member of the ''Simpsons'' universe's counterpart of the Freemasons, but he's evidently scared of the real thing (when he imagines the microbes on Smithers' face announcing "Freemasons run the country!").

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* ForWantOfANail: Henry Kissinger losing his glasses at the power plant and Homer finding them and wearing them for kicks ended up saving him from being laid off. When Mr. Burns was randomly laying off employees on his security monitors as part of a budget cut, he decided to keep Homer because his glasses [[SmartPeopleWearGlasses made him look smart.]]
-->'''Mr. Burns:''' Better keep the egghead, he just might come in handy.

* NeverMyFault: Homer makes a big mess for trying to protect the house from the boogeyman. When Marge returns home, Homer blames her for not being there and keep him from acting stupid.

** Springfield in the 50's has the roads literally paved with gold, which makes it terrible to drive on as Gold doesn't have the grip that asphalt does.

* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight: Invoked. Lisa's mention of the boogeyman in her nightmare causes Homer to freak out and lock the rest of the family in his and Marge's bedroom along with a shotgun thinking there might be a boogeyman or boogy''men'' in the house. When Marge finally comes home, the bedroom door's got a few gunshot holes in it. Homer says [[NeverMyFault it's Marge's fault for not being here to stop him.]]

* OffModel:
** Homer, Marge, Carl, and Martin's parents all look very strange when exiting the town hall [[https://frinkiac.com/img/S05E10/344643.jpg in this scene]].
** Creator/RobertGoulet has five fingers on his left hand while he's outside Bart's treehouse but then has FourFingeredHands that every Simpsons character has when inside the treehouse.
** [[https://frinkiac.com/video/S05E10/sun6wZ9C-Bu9ER-F-r73J8P5Msk=.gif The weird design of Nelson]] while Robert Goulet sings "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells".
** Lisa's nightdress has long sleeves rather than its usual short sleeves.

* EitherOrTitle[=/=]OverlyLongTitle: The actual title to this episode is: "$pringfield: Or, 'How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling."

* WritersCannotDoMath: After Homer quotes the Scarecrow from ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'''s attempt to recite Pythagorean theory, a man in a stall "corrects" him by saying that it's for "right triangles, you idiot!". Not only is that incorrect - it states the sum of the squares (not square roots) of the two sides of the triangle that form the right angle is equal to the square of the remanning side - it doesn't apply to any triangle at all.

* ADegreeInUseless: Kent Brockman starts his report on mass unemployment by mentioning that joblessness is no longer just for philosophy majors.

* AsHimself: Gerry Cooney and Creator/RobertGoulet.

** The waitress for the proposed "Brittania" casino are straight from England, and are total slags.

* Bowdlerise: On ''All4'', certain scenes are removed such as Krusty's ''Herpes'' chant.

* BigDamnHeroes: Barney rescues Maggie from being mauled by a tiger.

Legalized gambling comes to Springfield as a new revenue stream after news hits that the town's economy is on the down slope. When Mr. Burns constructs a casino, Homer gets a job as a blackjack dealer, Marge finds herself addicted to the slots, Bart opens up his own treehouse casino to show up a teenaged worker who had him thrown out for being underaged, Mr. Burns' constant surveillance of the casino turns him into Howard Hughes in his later years, and poor Lisa can't find anyone to help her make her Florida costume for the school state pageant.

* GameShowAppearance: Homer claims that being a blackjack dealer is his life-long dream, and Marge points out [[FleetingPassionateHobbies he previously claimed his lifelong dream]] was to appear on ''Series/TheGongShow'', which he did in 1977. His act involved him and his pal Barney Gumble playing a giant harmonica while wearing one leg each of an oversized pair of pants.

* GiftedlyBad: Homer is praised by the players at his blackjack table, though only because he's so bad at it that he causes them all to win every time. The second his shift is over and he is replaced by someone else, they all vamoose.

* WomenAreWiser: One of the show's earliest subversions after season one. Homer, if somewhat haphazardly, manages to bring Marge out of her gambling addiction after telling her about missing out on Lisa's costume contest. He then revels in finally having one over her. However, in most other aspects this trope is played straight, as the biggest problem caused by Marge's gambling addiction is shown to be Homer's being too stupid to look after the family by himself, rather than the drain you'd think it'd place on their finances.

** Somewhat justified in that Marge is shown to be winning more often than not. Eventually, of course, luck would turn against her, but for what we're shown, financial issues wouldn't come into play for the Simpsons until she started to lose.

(or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)

-->'''Homer:''' Marge, I want you to admit you have a gambling problem.
-->'''Marge:''' You know, you're right, Homer. Maybe I should get some professional help.
-->'''Homer:''' [[EpiphanyTherapy No, no! That's too expensive. Just don't do it anymore]].