Line #20 Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E10PokeyMom


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/simpsons_12_09.jpg]]
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3	'''Original air date:''' 1/14/2001 ''(produced in 2000)''
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5	'''Production code:''' CABF-05
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7	After visiting a prison rodeo, Marge volunteers to teach convicts how to be artists and befriends a prisoner Jack (guest star Creator/MichaelKeaton) who has artistic potential, but is extremely manipulative. Meanwhile, Homer suffers a back injury, visits a chiropractor, and later uses a trash can to fix people's spines.
8	----
9	!!Tropes:
10	* AffablyEvil: Jack's a convict with a history of violence and fierce temper. He's also very friendly when he's mellow, appreciates all that Marge does for him, and Apu even claims he was polite after Jack shot him.
11	* BaitAndSwitch: After being sent to the infirmary due to injuring his back in the prison rodeo, Homer tells Marge (who asked how he's feeling) that he can't complain. He then pointed to a large sign on the wall that says "No Complaining". But once the Warden explains that the rule only applies to inmates, he begins to loudly complain about it and how unsatisfying his job is.
12	* BlatantLies: Jack lies to Marge about not burning the mural. She believes him, but moments later he sets Skinner's car on fire and Marge sees it. When Marge confronts him, he admits to having burnt the mural, but denies having set the car on fire.
13	* TheBore: More evidence that Skinner aims to take anything fun out of being in school because he has no idea of what interests kids--he gets on Jack's case because he dislikes the original (that has both PantheraAwesome and BrawnHilda, and makes everybody else who sees it feel ecstatic) and he says it's because it's "too exciting and improper" for a school (his own suggestion definitely would fit better on a kindergarten, if one feels generous, and even ''Ned Flanders'' isn't willing to be that generous), he switches food around in the weekly lunch plan because he thinks kids are getting too excited when they get it on Thursdays ''and'' he completely kills a joke about the Superintendent on the unveiling because he says it wrongly and tries to recover by explaining it.
14	* BrickJoke: When Marge is baking a cake for the warden in an attempt to help Jack get parole, she agrees to let Bart have a piece, but only if he finishes his ice cream, which he struggles to do. Later, when she's making cupcakes for Skinner in order to bribe him into letting Jack paint the mural, she gives one to Jack, but only if he finishes his ice cream, which he struggles to do. This makes Marge wonder why no one seems to like them.
15	* BullyingADragon: Skinner pisses off an ex-convict with a history of violence and a preference for arson with his imbecilic decisions and refusal to take the blame for them when they fail. It's probably a good thing that Jack decides to only set Skinner's things ablaze.
16	* TheCameo: Sideshow Bob is seen in the prison infirmary with his face and hair all wrapped up in bandages.
17	* CantYouReadTheSign: After Homer's accident in the rodeo, Marge asks how he's doing. He replies that he can't complain...[[NotHyperbole before pointing to a sign that says "No Complaining"]]. When the doctor points out it only applies to the prisoners, Homer begins complaining about his back and his life in general.
18	* ChaosArchitecture: Marge looks out the kitchen window and sees both the prison ''and'' the school from the same view.
19	* DisproportionateRetribution: After Skinner made him both change the original mural and blamed him for the failure of the new one, Jack set fire to the school.
20	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Principal Skinner's scheduling of the school's lunch menu is an obvious jab at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_programming#Scheduling_strategies how network executives schedule TV shows]].
21	* DownerEnding:
22	** For all of Marge's efforts to help reform Jack, he still goes back to prison after betraying her trust.
23	** It also applies to Homer's lucrative chiropractor business being sabotaged by rival doctors with him unable to do a thing about it. His plot even references the downer ending of ''Film/{{Chinatown}}''.
24	* EveryoneHasStandards: Ned Flanders is one of the strongest MoralGuardians on the show, but even ''he'' thinks that the mural's design is too SickeninglySweet.
25	* EyeContactAsProof: Marge asks Jack to look her in the eye and say he didn't set the mural on fire. He does, and very convincingly too--but she later finds out he actually did it.
26	* FacePalm: Marge covers her face with her hand when she sees Jack setting Skinner's car on fire.
27	* FelonyMisdemeanor: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]. After learning that Jack is in prison for robbing the Kwik-E-Mart and shooting Apu, Marge mentions to him that so many people have shot Apu that the sentence is now down to a $50 fine.
28	* {{Foreshadowing}}: After her first day working at the prison, Marge tells Bart that Sideshow Bob sends his regards and that [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E13DayOfTheJackanapes he's looking forward to seeing Bart real soon]].
29	-->'''Bart:''' ''(chuckling)'' [[VillainDecay Oh, that Bob!]]
30	* {{Hypocrite}}: Skinner. On top of everything else he does during the episode that he refuses to take any faults about, he casually mentions that Jack's attempt to burn the school would have failed ''because it's full of asbestos''.
31	* ImplausibleDeniability: Crossing over with SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: After Jack tries to set fire to the school, Marge finds him and he denies having done that. At the time, Marge and maybe the audience believes him, and so Marge tries to help him get away - but Jack wastes it by setting Skinner's car on fire in front of everybody. As he's arrested, he then admits to Marge that he tried to set the school on fire but denies setting the car on fire.
32	--> '''Marge:''' You crumb bum! You looked me right in the eye and lied to me!\
33	'''Jack:''' Marge, this is the God's truth. I burned the mural, but I did not burn Skinner's car.\
34	'''Marge:''' I just '''''SAW''''' you!
35	* IndyHatRoll: The two investors who expressed interest in buying Homer's trash can leave by narrowly sliding under the closing garage door. This makes Homer and Moe realize they were actually out-of-business chiropractors--nobody else can bend like that.
36	* InstantlyProvenWrong: Jack assures Marge that he wasn't the one that set the mural on fire (and he's convincing enough that Marge tries to buy him time to run away--and at the time the audience may also believe him). The ten seconds she bought him were all that he needed for him to set ''Skinner's car'' on fire ([[ImplausibleDeniability and then say that it isn't his fault]]).
37	* {{Irony}}:
38	-->'''Dr. Steve:''' Simpson! You're not a licensed chiropractor, and you're stealing patients from me and from Dr. Steffi.\
39	'''Homer:''' Boy, talk about irony. The AMA tries to drive you guys out of business, now you're doing the same to me. Think about the irony.\
40	'''Dr. Steve:''' ''[grabbing Homer by the collar]'' You've been warned. Stop chiropracting.\
41	'''Homer:''' ''[choking]'' [[SkewedPriorities Not unless you think about the irony.]]
42	* JerkassHasAPoint: Even though he was being an ass about it, Skinner was justified in not being happy with Jack ignoring his original design for the wall mural. Even if his design sucked, he had commissioned a specific piece and given a design for Jack to follow, which he completely ignored at the expense of the school's time and materials. However, as seen under [[Main/NeverMyFault Never My Fault]], this is negated.
43	* LaserGuidedKarma: Skinner pushing Jack around over the mural not only results in the school nearly getting burned down, but his car being set ablaze. Applies to Jack as well, who gets arrested for doing so.
44	* KarmaHoudini: The chiropractors who threatened Homer's life, destroyed his trash can and forced him out of business get away with no comeuppance. Justified, as it references the ending of Film/{{Chinatown}}, which had a similar ending.
45	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Marge's reaction when she mistakenly believes she killed Homer.
46	* MythologyGag: Homer [[BullSeeingRed uses Lisa as a flag to anger a bull]], but his idea of immediately using Bart to calm it down backfires when he realizes he's also wearing red and asks him where his "blue shirt" is ("I don’t have a blue shirt"). For many years Bart wore a blue shirt on official merchandise to distinguish it from the bootlegs, as well as in the Bongo comic series.
47	* NeverMyFault:
48	** When the overly cutesy school mural is met with an overwhelmingly negative reception, Skinner pins the blame entirely on Jack, even though he was the one who forced Jack to paint it in the first place (and over the more heroic-looking mural he made first). He also puts the blame on his botched joke on the unveiling act on comedian Bruce Vilanch, who wrote it (Vilanch, who is in the crowd and is a professional, just says that a better comedian would have salvaged it).
49	** Crossing over with SuspiciouslySpecificDenial and ImplausibleDeniability, Jack sets the school and later Skinner's car on fire and denies that he was the one who did it -- or rather, he denies the school, then ''admits'' to the school, but denies setting the ''car'' on fire even when it's the crime he did in front of multiple witnesses.
50	* NoodleIncident: Whatever Moe submitted as a draft for the mural (we don't see what he drew), Skinner is very disturbed by it.
51	** Jack apparently had an incident with a farm couple but never elaborated on it.
52	* NoOSHACompliance: Springfield Elementary is apparently ''full of asbestos'', which can lead to severe breathing difficulties if it enters a person's system.
53	* PoliceBrutality: Chief Wiggum assures Skinner with a nudge to the ribs that if they find Jack, he'll "teach him the fine art of police brutality." Wiggum catches Jack in the end but doesn't engage in any brutality; he just bores him with his mindless conversation on their way back to prison.
54	* PantheraAwesome: The original mural painting for the school team Puma's Pride is a warrior woman riding a puma.
55	* ShoutOut:
56	** While the episode itself doesn't have anything to do with it, the title is wordplay on ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' and the word "pokey," a slang term for a prison.
57	** Chief Wiggum mentions watching ''Series/{{Oz}}'', ''Series/SexAndTheCity'', and ''Series/TheSopranos''. Jack only gets basic cable in prison but he likes ''Series/SportsCenter'', which Wiggum doesn't understand.
58	** After the chiropractors destroy Homer's back-fixing garbage can, Moe sadly tells him: "[[Film/{{Chinatown}} Forget it, Homer. It's Chiro-town.]]"
59	* ShownTheirWork: When Dr. Hibbert, unable to do anything about Homer's back injury, gives him a chiropractor's phone number, Homer brings up the fact that medical doctors oppose chiropractors. Dr. Hibbert admits that's their official position but he actually believes chiropractors do a good work.
60	* SickeninglySweet: In-universe. Even Ned Flanders thinks Skinner's idea for the mural is too sweet.
61	* SpecialGuest: Creator/MichaelKeaton as Jack Crowley, Creator/CharlesNapier as the warden, Bruce Vilanch AsHimself, and the late Robert Schimmel as a prisoner.
62	* SomethingWeForgot: After Marge expresses disappointment at Jack's talent being wasted while she and Homer leave, it's shown they forgot Bart and Lisa at the prison, something Lisa points out.
63	* StupidEvil: Jack convinced Marge that he's innocent and convinces her to give him an opportunity to get away. He had a perfect chance to get away with his crime of destroying the mural and leaving Springfield. Instead, he decided to stay so he could burn Skinner's car down while laughing in front of everyone, including Marge herself.
64	* TheUnreveal: The "evidence" in Marge's paper bag is never shown off thanks to Jack burning Skinner's car. Likewise Moe's pitch for the school mural is similarly never shown off, but according to Skinner, [[TakeOurWordForIt contains a very skewed take on lovemaking]].

Context Recap / TheSimpsonsS12E10PokeyMom