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Context Recap / TheSimpsonsS17E17KissKissBangBangalore

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1'''Original air date:''' 4/9/2006
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3'''Production code:''' HABF-10
4
5Homer goes to India to man the country's new nuclear plant, which has been outsourced from the one in America. Meanwhile, Patty and Selma kidnap ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'' star Creator/RichardDeanAnderson.
6
7!! Tropes:
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9* BadBoss: Dissatisfied with the fact Homer's given so many perks to the Indian workers, Burns promptly fires them all (though they're delighted with this, given the number of severance perks Homer wrote into their contracts) and declares he's moving the plant back to ''"an area where the workers are more desperate and ignorant...Springfield!"''
10* BarbaricBully: One of the new developments back in Springfield while Homer is in India is Bart getting a new bully that's aggressive enough to follow him home and break into their house.
11* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Having Richard Dean Anderson trapped with them should be Patty and Selma's dream come true...but then they have a BrokenPedestal moment when they learn he was OnlyInItForTheMoney when he did [=MacGyver=] and he drives them crazy by constantly escaping and then coming back. It gets to the point where they have to show him their boring vacation slides to make him want to leave.
12* BenevolentBoss: After Mr. Burns and the Simpsons fear that Homer had taken over the plant via the formation of a cult, the employees say that they are not worshiping Homer, just appreciating the fact that he gave them coffee breaks, early retirement, personal days, and "muffin baskets and mylar balloons on your birthday!". When Mr. Burns deem this a waste of money, he shuts the plant down and moves it back to Springfield, the workers cheer because Homer wrote into their contracts a golden parachute clause.
13* BlackComedyRape: The Stargate fans ogling [[ManInAKilt a kilt-wearing Willie]] because [[NerdsAreVirgins they have no hopes of getting anything closer to a real girl than him]].
14* BoringVacationSlideshow: To get [=MacGyver=] away for good, Patty and Selma tie him up and show him pictures of their vacation; he's begging to be let go by the end of it.
15* CallBack:
16** As we saw in "A Star is Burns", [[BerserkButton do]] ''[[BerserkButton not]]'' [[BerserkButton badmouth]] ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'' to Patty and Selma, even if you're [=MacGyver=] himself.
17** Additionally, Patty and Selma's boring vacation slideshows from "Krusty Gets Busted" and "Flaming Moe's" are what finally get [=MacGyver=] away for good.
18* CorruptCorporateExecutive: What his family fears the loyalty and obedience of his Indian workers has turned Homer into, with a little AGodAmI thrown in for spice.
19* CouldntFindAPen: While Patty and Selma held him captive, Richard Dean Anderson wrote a message for help in "grape juice and tears".
20* CrowdChant: When the Simpsons arrive in India, the workers are ominously chanting "A-bom-shabai", before it's explained that it means "Vote union" in Hindi.
21* DancePartyEnding: The episode ends with everybody dancing to "Pal bhar ke liye".
22* ExactWords: When Lenny and Carl go to India, they are confronted with two doors: one contains a tiger, and the other contains Homer Simpson. They open both doors, and both have tigers behind them. It's then explained that one of the tigers is named Homer Simpson.
23* GlobalIgnorance: When Homer arrives in India he asks: "This isn't India! Where's the university of Notre Dame, the Indy 500, Wrigley Field, Dodger Dogs?" A woman corrects him: "You ignorant American! you have confused India with Indiana, Indiana with Illinois, and the Cubs with the Dodgers."
24* AGodAmI: It takes almost no time for Homer to become DrunkWithPower to the point of declaring himself a god after Burns gives him complete authority over the plant. Aside from a few bizarre stunts like forcing a monkey to fight an elephant, however, he's such a ReasonableAuthorityFigure that the respect of his apparent "worshippers" turns out to have been fully earned (they don't actually buy his claim to godhood, notwithstanding their appreciation) and even ''Lisa'' declares herself [[SoProudOfYou proud of him]].
25* GoneHorriblyRight: When Richard Dean Anderson refuses to talk about ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'' with Patty and Selma, they kidnap him. But he manages to [[MacGyvering MacGyver]] his way out, and with new love for the show, asks them to make it harder to escape, [[TheThingThatWouldNotLeave refusing to leave]].
26* IWarnedYou: When it looked like Homer had become a power-mad king, Smithers tried to tell Mr. Burns that putting him in charge was a bad idea. Burns replies with "Shut the hell up!".
27* LoonyFan: Patty and Selma are this towards Richard Dean Anderson; idolizing him for ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'', but indifferent at best towards ''Series/StargateSG1''. Then he says ''[=MacGyver=]'' was [[BerserkButton just a paycheck]]...
28--> '''Patty:''' Richard Dean Anderson just pissed off the wrong Richard Dean Anderson fans!
29* {{MacGyvering}}: By Richard Dean Anderson himself, repeatedly and needlessly, not only conducting improbable escapes but making Patty and Selma "hamburgers" out of grated Slim Jims held together by rubber bands.
30* MoneyDearBoy: InUniverse example; Richard Dean Anderson's reason (as he claims in the episode) to have been [=MacGyver=]. This seems to be {{Subverted}} by how deep in-character he gets after escaping Patty and Selma with a [=MacGyver=]-esque gambit, then returning again and again to conduct similar escapes and watch old episodes with them to the point of getting on even ''their'' nerves.
31* MyCountryTisOfTheeThatISting: When Lenny berates Moe for using imported electricity, he points out the beer and the seats are imported as well. When Carl asks him if he has anything made in America, he produces a weapon that backfires when he tries to shoot.
32* NationalStereotypes: Several references to UsefulNotes/{{India}} are made:
33** Mr. Burns has given Smithers an arranged marriage.
34** Mr. Burns crawls out of a basket like a cobra entranced by a snake charmer.
35** Mr. Burns says: "I don't want my scooped out monkey head to get cold", a reference to monkey heads being a national dish in India, a stereotype popularized by ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom''.
36** The Indian workers show Homer the Hindu gods Ganesha, Vishnu and Shiva, whom he confuses with Film/TheElephantMan, Johnny Sixarms and [[ComicBook/TheSmurfs Papa Smurf]].
37** Mr. Burns spends time floating in the Ganges river with "his friends," which are actually corpses.
38** Lenny and Carl are told to choose one of two doors, one having a Bengal tiger.
39** The sing and dance number near the end shows the Taj Mahal, Bart playing tablas and is a reference to UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} musicals.
40* NoodleIncident: Before Mr. Burns started showing a movie about outsourcing, he asked for a minute of silence for the workers who died in some heroic, well, whatever it was, we never got to know because "heroic" was the last word Mr. Burns said before Homer chanted for the movie and the subject of the heroic deaths was never brought up again.
41** Homer asks Marge what's happened in Springfield since he'd been gone. Marge tells him that Chief Wiggum "was gravely wounded in a bank shootout".
42* PunBasedTitle: The title is a pun on ''Film/KissKissBangBang''.
43* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: What Homer turns out to ''really'' be to his workers, in contrast to what his family expects. In one of his random displays of job-related compassion, sensitivity and honesty, Homer takes it upon himself to ensure that the workers receive all the rights of American workers, including regular breaks and decent wages. The near-reverence his workers have for him is because of his benevolence, not because of his demands for it.
44* SeriesContinuityError: Bart has to ask Patty and Selma what "a [=MacGyver=]" is. In earlier episodes he was not only well aware of the series due to their extreme fandom, but used his knowledge of Selma's habits surrounding her viewing of the show to determine and foil Sideshow Bob's plot to kill her in the 1992 episode "Black Widower." This seems to be an intentional case of TimeMarchesOn being reflected in the world of the show, as the former episode premiered when [=MacGyver=] was itself still on the air, while a 2006 setting would make Patty and Selma fans of a series that ended before a kid Bart's age [[ComicBookTime would even have been born]].
45* ShoutOut:
46** Homer has a cardboard standee of [=McDonald's=] mascot Mac Tonight.
47** Comic Book Guy says: "What in the name of Creator/SteveDitko?"
48** The bully who threatens Bart at home is shown in silhouette, but recognizable as Sluggo from ''ComicStrip/{{Nancy}}''.
49** Homer says: "I'm not a god. God has a white beard and invented [[Literature/TheDaVinciCode the Da Vinci Code.]]"
50** The Indian workers show Homer the Hindu gods Ganesha, Vishnu and Shiva, whom he confuses with Film/TheElephantMan, Johnny Sixarms and [[ComicBook/TheSmurfs Papa Smurf]].
51** Lenny and Carl having to choose a door which may contain a tiger is a reference to the short story ''Literature/TheTiger'', in which a young man must choose a door, knowing it will either house a beautiful lady who is NOT the woman he fell in love with, or a man-eating tiger
52** Burns mentions being served dinner in a "scooped-out monkey's head", a reference to ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom''. Homer is dressed as Mola Ram when people think he went mad with power.
53** When the Simpsons travel to look for Homer under the presumption that he went mad in the jungle and thinks he is a God they travel by boat, while "The End" by Music/TheDoors plays on the soundtrack. These are all references to ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', which takes place in Vietnam, by the way.
54** The song sung at the end is "Pal bhar ke liye" from the UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} film ''Film/JohnyMeraNaam''.
55* StockLateralThinkingPuzzle: Lenny and Carl travel to India to see Homer. While in a dungeon, they're told by a guard that one of the rooms contains a tiger, the other, Homer Simpson. They open both doors to find a tiger in each room; the guard elaborates: "One of those tigers is named 'Homer Simpson'."
56* SuspectIsHatless: Homer tries to find Apu's cousin Kavi, who is "medium height, dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair". The trouble is, he's in India. Luckily he only has to ask two passers-by if they're Kavi. Even more fortunately, [[UncannyFamilyResemblance Kavi looks and sounds almost exactly like Apu]].
57* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: Creator/RichardDeanAnderson finds escaping from Patty and Selma's clutches like [=MacGyver=] to be exhilirating and refuses to leave their apartment, insisting that they find new ways to trap him, instead.
58* TriviallyObvious: Comic Book Guy says that, out of the four "Star" franchises (''[[Franchise/StarWars Wars]]'', ''[[Franchise/StarTrek Trek]]'', ''[[Franchise/StargateVerse -gate]]'', and ''Search''), ''Stargate'' is his ''third'' favorite.
59* VacationEpisode: The Simpsons travel to India.
60* WeNamedTheMonkeyJack: When Lenny and Carl arrive at the Indian plant, one of the employees tells them to choose between two doors, [[Literature/TheLadyOrTheTiger behind one of which is Homer Simpson and behind one of which is a tiger]]. When they open both doors, revealing a tiger behind each, they're told that [[ExactWords one of the tigers is named "Homer Simpson."]]

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