History Recap / TheSimpsonsS6E13AndMaggieMakesThree

* GagPenis: When Maggie is born.

Later that evening, Marge and Homer discuss the future: Homer knows that he can't possibly support a third child on his bowling alley paycheck. Marge suggests that he ask for a raise, and while his boss is willing to give it, the alley isn't making enough money to provide for one. Homer then tries to drum up business by wildly firing a gun outside the building and shouting at passerby. This plan fails, and also costs him his dream job. A reluctant Homer knows that there is only one place where he can find work, and goes back to the power plant. Mr. Burns decides to humiliate Homer even further by installing a bleak plaque above his old workstation: "DON'T FORGET: YOU'RE HERE FOREVER." Devastated, Homer returns home and complains to Marge, who tells him that she's begun having contractions.

Back in the present, Lisa is thrilled to hear that the story has a happy ending, but Bart is confused: Homer still hasn't told them why there aren't any pictures of Maggie in the family album. Homer explains that there are plenty of pictures, and that he keeps them "where he needs the most cheering up": his workstation, where the walls are plastered with dozens of photos of Maggie--covering some letters of the plaque the letters to form a new message: "DO IT FOR HER."

!!This episode contain examples of:
* ActuallyQuiteCatchy: When Homer quits and decides to play Burns' bald head like a bongo drum.

** When Homer tries to come up with an idea to attract more customers to Bowl-A-Rama, he's sitting over a table, reading books about marketting and staring at a bowling ball, until he finally seems to come up with a working idea: cue JumpCut to Homer wildly firing a shotgun into the air in front of the bowling alley while yelling at people to "get their bowling here", as described below.

* BittersweetEnding: Homer ends the story with having to quit his dream job and go back to working at the plant with Burns putting up a plaque stating "Don't Forget, You're Here Forever" to crush what's left of his spirit. But when inquired why there's no baby pictures of Maggie, he states there are, just where he needs them most. And we see that that they're in his office, strategically covering the plaque such that the words now read "Do it for her".

* CaptainOblivious: Homer towards Marge's pregnancy. First, while Homer is returning home from the bowling alley, Chief Wiggum drives by and compliments him for his "nice work", which is vague enough for Homer to think he is talking about his new job. Then Apu congratulates Homer for the "little bundle of joy", which Homer surmises to be his salary. Next, Moe tells Homer in no uncertain terms that he got Marge pregnant, but Homer believes this is an abstract way of talking about his enjoyment of his job. When he reaches his home, he notices the neighbors have gathered there with presents. He infers that they're ''showering'' Marge with "little, tiny, baby-sized gifts", yet he still blows it all off. It isn't until Maude Flanders congratulates Homer on his new job when he ''finally'' realizes that Marge is pregnant with a third child.

* DieHardOnAnX: {{Parodied}} (bear in mind, this is something Homer is imagining in the spur of the moment to lie about why there's no pictures of Maggie):

'''Homer:''' Not on ''my'' shift! (''jumps into an overhead vent, jumps out of another one and proceeds to kick terrorist ass singlehandedly while tied-up Lenny, Carl and Burns swoon over him'').

* EveryoneHasStandards: Lisa's well aware that her father's dumb, but his idea to attract customers to the Bowling Alley apprently sounds so dumb, she initally believes that he ''has'' to be embellishing the story.

* ForegoneConclusion: The flashback portion of the episode opens with Homer, having finally settled his debts, quitting his job at the power plant in spectacular fashion and taking a job he's wanted for some time. [[DoomedByCanon We know it won't last]].
* FreakOut: Homer has one after realizing Marge is pregnant with Maggie, giving out a BigNo, yelling hysterically and running upstairs. Marge reveals this isn't the first time this happened. When Bart was coming, he nearly tore off all his hair. When Lisa was on the way, he tore off the rest, both time ending with running upstairs while screaming.

* HappinessInMinimumWage: Homer cleared his debt from his house and first two kids, quit the power plant in grandiose fashion, and happily moved to a much lower paying job at a bowling alley. Shortly afterward, he found out Marge was pregnant with Maggie, which forced him to beg for his old job back.

* IndulgentFantasySegue: Homer's flashback begins with him sitting as his workstation, and then suddenly the power cuts out.

* LawOfInverseFertility: ''Just'' when Homer's settled his debts, taken a lower-paying job he prefers and sorted out the family's finances for the foreseeable future, [[ContinuityNod one of his ineffectual sperm]] manages to stagger out from the herd and make it to Marge's egg.

** Before the end of the second act, Bart and Lisa get up to leave, with Bart remarking "Dad, you can't expect us to sit here for 30 minutes straight" and Lisa deciding to get a snack and maybe go to the bathroom. Marge stays on the couch, but spends the break imagining all the products she'd like to buy.

* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Doctor Hibbert gets a very dark moment when Marge goes to him about her pregnancy, and tells her that if the baby is unwanted, a healthy newborn can reach up to $50,000 on the black market... when Marge reacts in alarm, he covers himself by saying it was just a test.

** [[RuleOfThree A third instance]] of the trope was {{subverted|Trope}} when Homer told the family about his failed attempt to attract customers. Homer repeatedly fired a shotgun in the air while shouting "Bowling here!" Lisa asked Marge to make him "tell the story right" and Marge dejectedly explains "That's what really happened".
* NegativeContinuity: The two times Homer reacted to Marge being pregnant with Bart and Lisa were vastly different than what was shown on "I Married Marge"[[note]]1.) Homer and Marge weren't married nor were they actually living together when they discovered that Marge was pregnant with Bart, 2.) They were in Dr. Hibbert's office, where Dr. Hibbert himself was the one who informed them that Marge was pregnant, and 3.) Homer yelled "D'oh!" so loudly that a man in traction felt bad for him[[/note]] and "Lisa's First Word."[[note]] 1.) Homer, Marge and Bart were living in an apartment on the Lower East Side of Springfield and 2.) When Marge first told Homer that she was pregnant again, he was actually happy about having another baby--at least until Bart flushed his car keys down the toilet[[/note]]
* NewBabyEpisode: When Bart asks why there are no pictures of Maggie Homer tells the story of Maggie's birth. After paying off his debts, Homer quits his well paying job at the power plant and gets his dream job as a pin-monkey, but after Marge reveals she's pregnant with Maggie, Homer tries, and fails, to ramp up business at the bowling alley to get a raise, and is devastated when he has to beg Mr. Burns for his old job to make ends meet. At the very end, Homer reveals that Maggie's pictures are in his work station, to serve as inspiration as to why he still works at the plant.

* PartiallyConcealedLabelGag: Homer quits his job at the power plant to work at a bowling alley, but he has to return to the power plant eventually because he makes more money working there and he needs to support Maggie. When he returns, Mr. Burns puts a plaque over his desk that reads "don't forget, you're here forever." In the present day, Homer has now put pictures of Maggie over the plaque, making it read "do it for her."
* PetTheDog: When Homer has to quit his job at the bowling alley, his boss Al Grumble and the rest of the people there wish him farewell and thanked him for doing a great job of the place, even giving him a bowling jacket as a going away gift.

* PursueTheDreamJob: Homer quit the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant to become a pin-monkey at the local bowling alley as soon as he got out of debt. Once he learned that Marge was pregnant with Maggie, however, he tried to get a raise by attracting more customers, but was ultimately forced to give up the job and go back to the power plant.

** Marge and Homer are depicted as living in their house on Evergreen Terrace when Marge was pregnant with Bart, even though "I Married Marge" and "Lisa's First Word" had respectively shown that the two were still living with Marge's mother when Bart was born, and that they didn't move into Evergreen Terrace until shortly before Lisa's birth.

* SoulCrushingDeskJob: Homer is well established as hating his job as a safety inspector at the Nuclear Plant. He wants to work in a bowling alley. Funny that Homer happily trades his cushy job with a place where he has to work manually or deal with dirty shoes. Homer ecstatically quits, making sure Mr. Burns, the owner of the plant, knows how much Homer hated it. Then Marge realizes she's pregnant and Homer has to beg for his old, higher-paying job back. Mr. Burns re-hires him, but has a plaque mounted in Homer's small office that reads "Don't forget: You're here forever." Homer uses pictures of Maggie to cover letters in such a way that the plaque now reads: "Do it for her."

* TranquilFury: Jokingly turned up to eleven when Homer plays Mr. Burns' head like a bongo drum:

* ForegoneConclusion: The flashback portion of the episode opens with Homer, having finally settled his debts, quitting his job at the power plant in spectacular fashion and taking a job he's wanted for some time.[[DoomedByCanon We know it won't last]].

-->'''Marge:''' Besides, that backtalking boat sets a bad example.\\

--> '''Lisa''': ''(After hearing the part about the shotgun)'' Mom, make dad tell the story right!
--> '''Marge''': ''(Resigned tone)'' That's what really happened.
--> '''Lisa''': ''(Disappointed)'' Oh.

--> '''Mr. Burns''': According to company policy, it is now customary to give you the plague.
--> '''Smithers''': Uh, actually, sir, it's pronounced "plaque."

--->'''Homer:''' ''[sighs]'' I love you, Marge.\\

* BittersweetEnding: Homer ends the story with having to quit his dream job and go back to working at the plant with Burns putting up a plaque stating "Don't Forget, You're Here Forever" to crush what's left of his spirit. But when inquired why there's no baby pictures of Maggie, he states there are, just where he needs them most. And we see that that they're in his office, covering the plaque that the words now read "Do it for her".

--> '''Lisa''': ''(After hearing the part about the shotgun)'' Mom make dad tell the story right!

--> '''Lisa''': Oh...

** [[RuleOfThree A third instance]] of the trope was {{subverted|Trope}} when Homer told the family about his failed attempt to attract customers. Homer shot a rifle in the air while shouting "Bowling here!" Lisa asked Marge to make him "tell the story right" and Marge dejectedly explains "That's what really happened".