Line #4 Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E20LastTapDanceInSpringfield


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/last_tap_dance_in_springfield_promo.gif]]
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3	'''Original air date:''' 5/7/2000
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5	'''Production code:''' BABF-15
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7	After seeing a film about a shy, bookish, Spanish girl who becomes a tango dancer's partner in a contest, Lisa begs Marge to let her take tango lessons, but ends up taking tap lessons from a former 1930s child star modeled after Creator/ShirleyTemple and tries to hide the fact that she's terrible at tap from Homer and Marge. Meanwhile, Homer gets laser eye surgery and Bart and Milhouse hide out at the mall after Nelson announces that he's going to summer camp with them.
8	----
9	!!Tropes:
10	* AbortedArc: Homer's laser eye surgery and eyes crusting over subplot comes to an abrupt end after he's tricked into driving Kearney and the other bullies trick him into buying them cigarettes and Jack Daniels by Kearney impersonating Marge's voice. By his next appearance, his eyes are back to normal.
11	* AntiMentor: Vicki is a dance instructor who expects her students to get by with almost no actual instruction. This is on top of being a tremendous {{Jerkass}} who uses the class [[VicariouslyAmbitious to relive her glory days]], showing no regards to her students' wellbeing (she made sure they smiled during a show by ''[[FrozenFace stapling their mouths in place]]''), and openly demeaning her less gifted students.
12	* AnvilOnHead: Wiggum gets it when going "[[TooDumbToLive a million-to-one]]" with the giant mousetrap. The first lion the cops let out [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike does the exact same thing]] but to presumably more fatal results.
13	* BaitAndSwitch: In "Tango de la Muerte":
14	--> '''Coach:''' As your wise but alcoholic dance coach, I know that somewhere your father is looking down on you and smiling. Oh, there he is!\
15	''(father waves from balcony)''
16	* BeautifulAllAlong: Parodied with ''La Tango de la Muerte''. When the male lead begins dancing with Lisabella, [[TheGlassesGottaGo her glasses fly off]], [[SlipknotPonytail her ponytail loosens]] and her shirt slightly unbuttons, bearing more of her top.
17	* {{Bowdlerise}}: Vicki's line after discovering Lisa's shoes ("I'm ever so pissed") is sometimes cut out on television and follows on with Lisa apologising.
18	* CaptainObvious: Homer upon receiving a postcard Bart sent from "camp."
19	-->'''Homer:''' "Dear Mom and Homer, I'm having fun." [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Aww, it sounds like he's havin' fun]].
20	* ChekhovsGag: There's an entire bit focusing on Chief Wiggum setting off a cheese-baited mouse trap rigged to a suspended anvil in an attempt to catch the mall rat. After a scene where Professor Frink helps out Lisa, Wiggum releases a mountain lion to hunt down the rat... and the lion immediately goes for the cheese. Cue AnvilOnHead.
21	-->'''Lou:''' Should I get the backup lion, Chief?\
22	'''Wiggum:''' Would you?
23	* CouchGag: Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie (dressed in jungle loincloths) swing onto the couch on a vine. Homer, however, swings by and crashes offscreen.
24	* CreditsGag: The entire ending credits sequence was done in the style of old-time movies.
25	* CuttingTheKnot: Lisa's automatic self-tapping shoes go haywire, and soon Lisa is out of control. Almost everybody flees except for Marge and Homer, who saves the day by tripping Lisa.
26	-->'''Lisa:''' Whew! Thanks, Dad.\
27	'''Homer:''' I didn't think, I just acted.
28	* DirtyCommunists: Referenced:
29	--> '''Lisa:''' But my parents are counting on seeing me dance. And I've worked ever so hard.\
30	'''Vicki:''' I'm sorry, Lisa, but giving everyone an equal part when they're clearly not equal is called what again, class?\
31	'''Girls:''' Communism!\
32	'''Vicki:''' That's right. And I didn't tap all those Morse code messages to the Allies till my shoes filled with blood just to roll out the welcome mat for the Reds.
33	* TheEnd: The episode ends by cutting away to a "The End" title card right as Homer is about to [[ItMakesSenseInContext get electrocuted by a weasel ball toy]].
34	* ExactWords:
35	--> '''Vicki:''' You've just got to turn that frown upside down!\
36	''(Lisa smiles)''\
37	'''Vicki''': That's a ''smile'', not an upside down frown! Work on that, too.
38	* FunWithAcronyms: Bart writes "I 8 PP" on Homer's eye test, which he reads ("I ate pee pee.").
39	* TheGlassesGottaGo: The shy librarian in ''Tango de la Muerte'' turns out to be beautiful when she takes her glasses off.
40	* HiddenDepths: Ralph Wiggum turns out to be the best student in the class.
41	* {{Hypocrite}}:
42	** Lisa initially criticises the Tango Dancer's choice of partner until said partner shares Lisa's name.
43	** Vicki yells at Marge "Don't live through your child!" when that's clearly what she's doing with her students.
44	* ICantDance: Subverted in that Lisa is terrible at tap. However, it's implied that she could have been much better at it if she got some more specialized instruction than [[AntiMentor the rote "tappa tappa tappa" method Little Vicki used]].
45	* ILikeThoseOdds: Police Chief Wiggum asks Lou the odds of seizing cheese from a trap before the [[AnvilOnHead anvil falls on him]]. Lou says the odds were a million to one, and Wiggum says the trope name word-for-word.
46	* InstantExpert: In one of Vicki Valentine's old movies, she claims she can't dance, but is able to instantly copy her butler's advanced tap dancing.
47	* InvoluntaryDance: Lisa's automatic self-tapping shoes go out of control when the audience at her recital applauds, and she can't stop dancing.
48	* ItsAllAboutMe: Vicki Valentine, as she is still intent on throwing herself behind everything. Even the curtain pulling.
49	--> '''Vicki:''' No one upstages 'Little' Vicki! (growls)
50	* JerkassHasAPoint: As snooty and condescending as Little Vicki is, she is right that Lisa isn't able to tap dance and to not put her in the play.
51	* TheLastTitle: The name of the episode.
52	* LeParkour: Lisa ends up doing this once her tap-dancing shoes go out of control.
53	* LogoJoke: The Gracie Films VanityPlate has the logo moving up to show the cat in the old Little Vicki movie rubbing its eyes. (This was the only visual change to the Gracie logo for a LogoJoke until Season 28's "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS28E19LookingForMrGoodbart Looking for Mr. Goodbart"]].)
54	* MagicFeather: At the very end, Frink tries to make Lisa feel better by saying that his tap-dancing shoes were deactivated, prompting Marge to tell her ItWasWithYouAllAlong. Then Homer (in typical JerkAss InnocentlyInsensitive fashion) brings Lisa's dawning hopes down when he then says that the shoes ''were'' active and shows everybody the switch as proof.
55	* MyLittlePanzer: When Lisa arrives to Dr. Frink's home asking for help, Frink shows her a weasel ball toy and says like a MadScientist that he will make it a weapon. [[BrickJoke The last scene of the episode]] is Homer noticing the toy running around and bending to grab it while Frink yells to not touch it... SmashToBlack with sounds of high voltage and Homer screaming in pain.
56	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Vicki is not only based on Creator/ShirleyTemple, but the butler in her old movie is based on Bill "Mister Bojangles" Robinson.
57	* NoodleIncident: Vicki Valentine mentions that she once ruined Creator/BuddyEbsen's credit rating. When asked why she would do that, she says Buddy knows why.
58	* ReTool: ''The Cyborganizer'' does this in the ''first episode''[[note]]the title character starts out working for the N.Y.P.D., then somehow ends up working for a modeling agency and trying to raise a son as a single father[[/note]], much to Homer's dismay.
59	* ShapedLikeItself: On finding himself in a candy store with Milhouse, Bart says, "We're like two kids in a candy store!"
60	* ShirleyTemplate: Little Vicki, of course.
61	* ShoutOut: ''Tango de la Muerte'' has some similarities to ''Film/{{Strictly Ballroom}}''.
62	* ShowWithinAShow: ''The Cyborganizer'', as well as an old Little Vicki movie an envious Lisa watches.
63	* SpecialEffectsFailure: In-universe; the old "Little Vicki" movie Lisa watches has Vicki's sick cat Powderpuff react to Vicki suddenly being able to tap-dance by rubbing its eyes in disbelief with obvious fake prop arms held offscreen. This is shown again [[LogoJoke during the Gracie Films logo]] at the end.
64	* SpecialGuest: Creator/FrankWelker as the lions Wiggum lets out in the mall.
65	* TemptingFate: Bart and Milhouse note that one advantage of spending a week at the mall instead of camp is not having to hear "stupid camp songs". Then they pass by "Stan's Keyboards", where a man at the store is singing an advertising jingle based on "If You're Happy And You Know It".
66	* TooDumbToLive:
67	** Chief Wiggum [[PoliceAreUseless decides to test a giant mousetrap]], thinking he could take the cheese before the anvil dropped... despite the odds being [[MillionToOneChance "a million to one"]].
68	** Homer follows suit at the end when Frink's weasel ball toy entices then electrocutes him.
69	* TrickedOutShoes: Lisa tries to perform in her class's recital with a pair of automatic self-tapping shoes. Unfortunately, they were designed by [[BunglingInventor Professor Frink]] and end up going haywire.
70	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
71	** Homer's laser eye subplot stopped with him blinded by his eye crust and taken to the liquor store by Dolph, Jimbo, and Kearney (with Kearney driving and pretending to be Marge). It's never brought up again nor do viewers see what happened when Homer tried to buy Jack Daniels and cigarettes for the trio. Next we see, Homer is with Marge encouraging Lisa, and his eyes are fine.
72	** It's never explained how Bart & Milhouse got out of the mall, since the plot disappears after the puma eats the ball.
73	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Homer leads the audience in giving Lisa standing ovation for her performance, causing her self-tapping shoes to overload and go crazy. In his defense, nobody knew she was wearing them.
74	* YouGetMeCoffee: After Lisa gets her TrickedOutShoes, she asks Vicki for a spot in the recital other than operating the curtain. Little Vicki tries to discourage Lisa, but then Ralph gets sick from eating the plastic candy props for the recital. Vicki declares that only one person can fill in the leading role left by Ralph, so she turns to Lisa, and asks her to... ''help her into Ralph's costume.''

Context Recap / TheSimpsonsS11E20LastTapDanceInSpringfield