History Recap / TheSimpsonsS7E9SideshowBobsLastGleaming

* WithCatLikeTread: After stealing his bomb, he walks off with it in wheelbarrow, laughing evilly, only for it to almost topple and detonate. Bob begins walking again, laughing much more meekly this time round.

--->'''Milhouse:''' ''(mimicking a machine gun while pressing buttons on the F-15 console)'' Take that, Mom and Dad! Send ''me'' to a psychiatrist, will you? Take that, Dr. Sally Waxler! ''([[ButtMonkey accidentally activates the ejector seat]])''

** As the episode creators point out in on the Season 7 DVD's director commentary for the episode, Milhouse's scene inside the Harrier jet is the first sign of there being trouble in the Van Houten household that would eventually come to a head in the following season's "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E6AMilhouseDivided A Mihouse Divided]]":
--->'''Milhouse:''' ''(mimicking a machine gun while pressing buttons on the Harrier console)'' Take that, Mom and Dad! Send ''me'' to a psychiatrist, will you? Take that, Dr. Sally Waxler! ''([[ButtMonkey accidentally activates the ejector seat]])''

'''Grandpa:''' Junk?! That's the Wright Brothers' plane! At Kitty Hawk in 1902, Charles Lindbergh flew that on a thimble-full of corn oil. Single-handedly won us the Civil War, it did!\\
'''Bart:''' How do you know so much about history?\\

** Bob crashes the Wright Brothers plane into the shack, but it merely bumps off the building without a scratch. ''Then'' right afterwards it gets crushed by a tank.

** Krusty's plan to milk the potential ratings of being the only uninterrupted entertainment on the city didn't really go past the part of driving to the shack and standing in front of the camera. Having forgot to bring any gear, Krusty tries to make do with improv and whatever is lying around the shack (which isn't much, being in the middle of the desert and not re-stocked since the Fifties). By the time Bob and Bart arrive in the Wright Brothers' plane, Krusty is just shifting in front of the camera, completely out of ideas.

* ImplausibleCorneredEscape: Sideshow Bob escapes this way. He starts off locking the Colonel's bathroom from the inside and teases him from there which makes the Colonel [[OpenSaysMe break open the door]]. Inside he finds nobody and leaves. Then the camera pans to the bin basket with Sideshow Bob inside.

** As Sideshow Bob himself acknowledges, it's ironic he apperared on TV to decry it.

---> '''Bob''': ''(reading the inside of the dud bomb)'' "Best before November 1959." Damn it, Bob! There were plenty of brand new bombs, but oh no. You had to go for that retro '50s charm!

** Bob's attempt at EvilGloating has its effect ruined by the presence of helium, which turns his otherwise BadassBaritone into a high-pitched squeak.

** The episode opens up with Krusty thanking everyone who participated in his show's canned food drive...the contents of which he's used to create "our slipperiest, slimiest [[Series/DoubleDare slop-stacle course]] ever!"

-->'''Bart:''' ''(spitting)'' Are you gettin' lots of bugs in your mouth too?
-->'''Sideshow Bob:''' ...[[BluntYes Yes]]. ''(spits)''

* EverythingMakesAMushroom: Sideshow Bob takes Bart and Lisa hostage next to a '50s A-bomb. His demands are refused, he pushes the detonator, and a mushroom cloud explodes... before the camera pans out to reveal the cloud is, at most, two inches tall. Sideshow Bob then comments that "he HAD to go for the retro charm". The nuclear bomb had a very explicit expiration date written on it: "Best Used Before 1959."

-->'''Sideshow Bob:''' Oh, ''please!'' Let's not embarrass us both with [[CallBack that hoary old stall-the-villain-with-flattery scheme]].
-->'''Bart:''' I...I should've known you were too smart to fall for that.
-->'''Sideshow Bob:''' ''[[ImmediateSelfContradiction Really?]]'' What type of smart? Book smart? Because there are a lot of people who are book smart, but it takes a very special type of genius to--
-->'''Wiggum:''' ''(from outside)'' All right, Bob, it's over! Come out with your hands up!

** The beginning of the episode has Krusty putting Sideshow Mel through a "slop-stacle course," an obvious parody of the similar concept used in ''Series/DoubleDare''.

* AccidentalHero: Krusty's selfish, and with no regard to the town's safety, ignorance of Sideshow Bob's ban on TV is what exposed his bomb to be a dud and [[SpannerInTheWorks ultimately foiled his plan.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** Notice how, when Bob issues his ultimatum over the Tyranno-Vision, his voice sounds ''higher pitched'' than normal? That's because he's hiding in a '''blimp'''.
** As the episode creators point out in on the Season 7 DVD's director commentary for the episode, Milhouse's scene inside the Harrier jet is the first sign of there being trouble in the Van Houten household that would eventually come to a head in the following season's "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E6AMilhouseDivided A Mihouse Divided]]":
--->'''Milhouse:''' ''(mimicking a machine gun while pressing buttons on the Harrier console)'' Take that, Mom and Dad! Send ''me'' to a psychiatrist, will you? Take that, Dr. Sally Waxler! ''([[ButtMonkey accidentally activates the ejector seat]])''

* WhoWouldBeStupidEnough: Early on, Sideshow Bob wonders who would be watching Air Shows. Cut to the Simpsons family cheering at the prospect of it.

'''Sideshow Bob''': (slightly crazed) Escape?! Ooh, huh, I- I never planned to ''escape''. You see, this is a--a kamikaze mission... You and I are going to ''kill Krusty the Clown!'' (banks hard right towards Alkali Flats)

* FlawExploitation: Echoing "Cape Feare," Bart tried to hold Bob up by playing to his ego. It doesn't work...until it does.

-->'''Bart:''' ''(spitting)'' Are you getting lots of bugs in your mouth too?
-->'''Sideshow Bob:''' ...[[BluntYes Yes]].

* CasualDangerDialogue: Bob monologues for a bit on the Wright Flyer before his hostage interrupts him with a pertinent question:

** Bob scoffs at the idea of the Springfield Air Show, disbelieving that people still enjoy "buzz-cut Alabamians spewing colored smoke from their whizz-jets to the strains of '[[Music/{{Scorpions}} Rock You Like a Hurricane]].'" Guess which song is played at the air show later in the episode.