History Recap / TheSimpsonsS5E20TheBoyWhoKnewTooMuch

* NonGivingUpSchoolGuy: Skinner will stop at nothing to get Bart back into the classroom. When Bart destroys a bridge, Skinner just ''walks through the river''.
--> '''Bart:''' Oh my God. He's like some sort of... [[BuffySpeak non... giving-up...]] [[TropeNamers school guy!]]

* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: Bart ditches school after the school day has been lengthened, with Skinner in [[ImplacableMan hot pursuit]]. He gets away and witnesses an accident that later implicates Mayor Quimby's nephew Freddy. He later testifies on the stand to clear his name, which proves to Skinner that he indeed played hooky. Skinner, petty as he is, gives him three months detention -- "Wait... make that ''four'' months detention."

* DoesNotLikeShoes: The picture at the top says it all. Admittedly, Bart is only this way for a few seconds, and this episode is perhaps set in summer, but Bart appears to want to be barefoot in this episode. Of course, it's also a reference to Huckleberry Finn, who is perhaps the most famous example of a fictional boy who did not like shoes.

** Also while the trial appears to be a criminal case but is being run as a civil trial.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed

* RogueJuror: Homer deadlocks the jury for the sole purpose of staying sequestered and enjoying the free hotel room and amenities it entails.

* ShowWithinAShow: Bart watches a TV show episode of ''[=McGarnigal=]'' that [[CoincidentalBroadcast bears a striking similarity to his situation]].

* SoapWithinAShow: Bart watches a TV show episode of ''[=McGarnigal=]'' that bears a striking similarity to his situation.

* HairTriggerTemper: Freddy. Having it go off in the middle of declaring under oath that he ''didn't'' had it almost did him in.

** Freddie ''threatens to kill everybody in the courtroom'' because his own lawyer doesn't say "chowder" as "chow''dah''". This one backfires on him hard because he did it right after testifying that he ''didn't'' had such a HairTriggerTemper.

-->'''Defense Attorney''': You certainly would never lose your temper over something as trivial as the pronunciation of the word "chowder."\\

* DisproportionateRetribution: Bart skipped school and when he confessed to it so Freddie Quimby wouldn't be sent to jail for a crime he didn't commit, Skinner gives him four months detention.

** Skinner admits to be a petty man right before defying SavedByTheAwesome and give Bart three... no, ''four'' months' detention for skipping school just ''one day'' (he also went all "Hah! I '''knew''' you would slip up!" right when Bart testified (and thus confessed his skipping), unnerving the rest of the jury (and Apu telling him to stop acting like that).

* ForWantOfANail: Had he not gotten distracted by the bottle of champagne, Freddy undoubtedly would have assaulted the waiter, as he had his fist cocked back and was blatantly threatening him.

* ImagineSpot: Bart has one when Skinner passes him when exiting the jury box:

(Bart has a daydream where Bart's on trial and Skinner's the judge)\\

(flashes forward to the future, where Bart is serving the sons of the school bullies)\\
'''Bart''': (now with a hoarse voice, a la Lunchlady Doris) More cream corn, Jimbo Junior?\\

* ImplacableMan: Skinner, when he chases Bart.

* InstantlyProvenWrong: Lisa. When Bart compares going to school to being in prison, Lisa scoffs at the comparison. Then Otto drives up on a prison bus because the regular school bus is being repaired.

* MauriceChevalierAccent: The French waiter’s accent becomes the object of Freddy’s ridicule.

--> '''Milhouse''': (slurring) I lost all feeling in the left side of my body. (tries to lift hand but fails)\\

** Even worse is that he was almost home free at that point.

* OddCouple: Skinner and Homer at the hotel.

** While skipping class, Bart found Homer and then hid before Homer saw him. To avoid getting caught for skipping class, Bart pushed his hair forward in hopes Homer wouldn't recognize him. Homer, on the other hand, actually saw and recognized Bart but was too afraid of getting caught for skipping work to care about the boy skipping classes so he put a hair comb on his face to pass it as a mustache. They pretended not to recognize each other.

* SmallNameBigEgo: The waiter that was more willing to frame Freddy Quimby for assaulting him than admit he was merely TheKlutz.

* SkippingSchool: Bart ditches school and is pursued by [[NonGivingUpSchoolGuy Principle Skinner]].

* BerserkButton: Freddy really doesn’t like it when people mispronounce “chowdah.”
-->'''Defense Attorney''': You certainly would never lose your temper over something as trivial as the pronunciation of the word “chowder.”
-->'''Freddy''': That’s “chowdah!” “Chowdah!” I’ll kill you! I’ll kill all of you! [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill Especially those of you on the jury!]]
-->'''Defense Attorney''': [[{{Understatement}} Wow, that didn’t go well.]] The defense rests.

** The clip of the ShowWithinAShow "[=McGarnigal=]" that Bart watches has the titular detective asking a kid named Billy to testify and promises he will be safe... GilliganCut to DaChief telling [=McGarnigal=] that Billy was killed by whoever tried to frame McGarnigal for foiling their chance to put him away and his throat was sliced open, and [=McGarnigal=] telling his chief that he was eating a sandwich.

* ViewersAreGoldfish: The ShowWithinAShow, ''[=McGarnagle=]'', has the title character's name stated four times, including once by him.

** The clip of the ShowWithinAShow "[=McGarnigal=]" that Bart watches has the titular detective asking a kid to testify and promises he will be safe... GilliganCut to DaChief telling [=McGarnigal=] that the kid was killed to keep him quiet and his throat was sliced open, and [=McGarnigal=] almost vomiting up the sandwich he was eating at the time.

* AssholeVictim: What Freddy ''would'' have been if Bart hadn't vouched for him. While he didn't beat up the waiter, he's still not a very nice person--or a "horrible yet innocent person", as Lisa puts it.

** Jasper claims he needs to ride the dolphin on ''Series/{{SeaQuestDSV}}''.

* ShowWithinAShow: Bart watches a TV show episode of [=McGarnigal=] that [[CoincidentalBroadcast bears a striking similarity to his situation]].
* ShoutOut: Skinner's NonGivingUpSchoolGuy moment is a ShoutOut to ''Film/{{Westworld}}'' where a robot does the same walking through a river trick.

* WouldHurtAChild: The head of TheMafia, on the episode of "[=McGarnigal=]" Bart watches.

* IgnoredEpihany: Skinner tries to find where Bart is playing hooky, but all the places he expects Bart to be hanging out (like the 4-H Club) are abandoned. Skinner asks himself if he's really become this out-of-touch, but then only concludes, "No, it's the ''children'' who are wrong."

** Played straight with Bart -- his day of playing kookie places him in a couple of potentially life-threatening situations and he comes off right.

* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: Given that Freddy Quimby straight up says "I'm not through demeaning you", it's not hard to believe that not wanting to look like a klutz was the only reason the waiter framed him.

* StealingFromTheHotel: Homer takes "souvenirs" from the hotel room where he's being sequestered, including the table at one point. At the end he has put ''all'' of the room's furnishings into his bedroom.

* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: Given that Freddy Quimby straight up says "I'm not through demeaning you", it's not hard to believe that not wanting to look like a klutz was the only reason the waiter framed Freddy Quimby.

* StockFootage:
** When Bart is fleeing from Skinner, a shot of Bart running down a hill from "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E1KampKrusty Kamp Krusty]]" was re-used.
** When Bart is running away from Principal Skinner, one of the scenes is of Bart running across a field to a wall, which was reused from "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E19DogOfDeath Dog of Death]]".

** Jasper claims he needs to ride the dolphin on [[Series/seaQuestDSV]].