Line #38 Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E16HomerLovesFlanders


1	'''Original air date:''' 3/17/1994
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3	'''Production code:''' 1F14
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5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/homer_loves_flanders_5144.jpg]]
6	%%
7	Homer loses out on winning tickets to an upcoming Springfield Atoms football game. What's worse, his goody-two-shoes neighbor, Ned Flanders, won the last pair. After a failed attempt at bashing Flanders' skull in and take the tickets, Homer decides to spend the day with his neighbor at the game -- and Homer realizes that Flanders is not such a bad guy after all...but all the time Homer spends with Ned puts a strain on the Simpsons and the Flanders.
8
9	----
10	!!The tropes in this episode include...
11
12	* AccidentalHero: Homer comes along with Ned to a homeless shelter and gets bored because Ned hands over soup to the needy too slowly, so he pushes him out of the way and starts to serve soup in a mad rush so they can get out of there faster. A reporter that is in the shelter notices this and takes a picture, and so Homer makes the news as a "passionate humanitarian".
13	* {{Acrofatic}}: The normally fat, unathletic Homer is capable of keeping up with Ned's car without getting exhausted.
14	* AesopAmnesia: Homer learns to love and appreciate Flanders, and -- [[GenreSavvy as Lisa predicts]] -- he's forgotten all about it by [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall the following Thursday at 8 pm]].
15	* AllForNothing: Homer's rush to get to a phone so he can get football tickets by popping his car tires on the exit to the Nuclear Plant and then it turns out Flanders won the tickets to Homer's disappointment. He then hits the radio and the station changes to one playing "Two Tickets to Paradise".
16	* AutomatedAutomobiles: Parodied. Homer accepts going to a big football game with Flanders. While they are driving trough the stadium parking lot, Homer spots Lenny and Carl, and makes Flanders duck so they won't see him with Homer, despite Flanders being the one ''driving''. Thus Lenny and Carl see Homer waving at them from the passenger seat of a "driverless" car...
17	-->'''Lenny:''' Hey, look! Homer's got one of those robot cars!
18	''[a loud offscreen crash is heard]''\
19	'''Carl:''' One of those ''[[MadeInCountryX American]]'' robot cars!
20	* BaitAndSwitch: Homer is sad that he doesn't have tickets for the big Springfield vs Shelbyville game and Lisa attempts to put it in perspective:
21	-->'''Lisa:''' It's just another chapter in the pointless rivalry between Springfield and Shelbyville. They built a mini-mall, so we built a bigger mini-mall. They made the world's largest pizza, so we [[DisproportionateRetribution burnt down their city hall]].
22	* {{Bowdlerization}}:
23	** In the UK[[note]]Channel 4 showings only[[/note]], the end of Act One where Homer shouts from his car window that Ned Flanders is his friend was edited to remove the part where Lenny asks Carl what Homer said and Carl says, "I don't know. Something about being gay." This actually caused a minor controversy when the edited version was first shown and led to an apology and the lines being reinstated.
24	** Channel 4 also shortened Ned's nightmare where he walks up the stairs to a tower, assembles a sniper rifle, and fires at innocent bystanders (until a gun-toting mailman returns fire). The Channel 4 version shows Flanders going up the stairs, assembling the rifle, him firing at the screen, and Flanders waking up and realizing he hates Homer.
25	* CatapultNightmare: Ned bolts up out of bed after his nightmare and says that he thinks he hates Homer. At the same time, Homer also bolts up out of bed, only his dream appears to be about Ted Koppel (or, if you're watching the Mexican Spanish dub, Music/MichaelJackson, since Michael Jackson is/was more of a world-renowned star than Ted Koppel).
26	* ComicallyMissingThePoint:
27	--> '''Homer:''' You [Ned] know Stan Taylor?\
28	'''Stan:''' Know me? Ned Flanders saved me. I used to party all night and sleep with lingerie models until Ned and his bible group showed me that I could have more.\
29	'''Homer:''' Professional athletes, always wantin' more.
30	* CouchGag: The Simpsons split themselves in half to sit on two identical couches in the living room.
31	* DisneyAcidSequence: Shelbyville spiked the Springfield water supply, causing Marge to see the walls melting and a turkey fly away after drinking a glass of water.
32	* DisproportionateRetribution:
33	** One example of the hard-core rivalry between Shelbyville and Springfield is that Springfield responded to Shelbyville making the world's biggest pizza by ''setting the Shelbyville town hall on fire''.
34	** It's pretty obvious it's a nightmare, but still it's really weird to see Ned Flanders of all people going on a shooting spree because he secretly harbors ''that'' much hatred for Homer and his annoying antics.
35	* DissonantSerenity: Ned's dream in which he goes in a shooting spree has him climbing up the clock tower and putting together his sniper rifle while whistling "Bringing in the Sheaves".
36	* DoNotAttempt: After Kent Brockman says that a cure for "Pigskin Fever" is to take two tickets and go to the football game, a voice quickly says, "Warning: tickets should not be taken internally". This prompts Homer to declare to Marge and Bart "See? Because of me, now they have a warning."
37	* DudeWheresMyRespect: Homer gets a lot of attention, news coverage and respect for doing good deeds that Flanders already does for years on a daily basis. This starts to irk Flanders until he finally snaps.
38	* EpicRiff: InUniverse, Homer's opinion about the riff in "Two Tickets To Paradise" by Music/EddieMoney is that it's an ''excellent riff''.
39	* EscalatingWar: The feud with Shelbyville is mentioned, but we only see the final prank.
40	-->'''Lisa:''' It's just another chapter in the pointless rivalry between Springfield and Shelbyville. They built a mini-mall, so we built a bigger mini-mall. They made the world's largest pizza, so we burnt down their city hall.\
41	'''Homer:''' They swore they'd get us back by spiking our water supply, but they didn't have the guts.\
42	'''Marge:''' ''[drinks a glass of water and then sees the walls start to run]'' Ooooh. The walls are melting again. ''[giggles]''
43	* EvilLaugh: Bart while seeing Rod and Todd fight over the Pixie Stix.
44	* ExplainExplainOhCrap: Homer asks why he's such a loser. Bart replies, "[[LoserSonOfLoserDad Your father was a loser, and his father, and his father]] -- it's genetic, man!" ''[{{beat}}]'' "[[BorrowedCatchphrase D'oh!]]"
45	* FacelessMasses: At the Shelbyville stadium, [[https://frinkiac.com/img/S05E16/356105.jpg one shot of the stadium audience]] features multiple figures in the distance that resemble the man from the Creator/AardmanAnimations short ''Ident''.
46	* FoodFight: Homer and the Flanders have a one-sided version (where the Simpsons just throw food at them as they react with shock).
47	* FreezeFrameBonus: As the Simpsons and the Flanderses go to the lake, while most of them are crammed into Ned's station wagon, Rod is seen sitting in the boat they are hauling along.
48	* GenreSavvy: Lisa has noticed that a new escapade tends to affect the Simpsons every week and advises Bart to ride it out until the SnapBack hits. By the end of the episode, it seems like Homer and Flanders' newfound harmony might actually stick, causing them to be concerned that their "wacky adventures" might be at an end. Cue jump forward to the following week's time slot when a new silly happening is unfolding and Homer hates Flanders again.
49	* {{God}}: Homer mistakes a waffle sticking up the ceiling for God.
50	* GoingPostal: In Ned's shootout dream, there is a postal worker who retaliates. Incidentally, the postal worker resembles a proto-Ned Flanders in the first season.[[note]]The one with the microphone in "Homer's Odyssey".[[/note]]
51	* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: In the CouchGag, there are two couches in the living room, so the family split themselves down the middle so they can sit on both at the same time.
52	* HauntedHouse: The Simpsons must spend a night there to obtain an UnexpectedInheritance.
53	* HeelFaceTurn: Homer goes from disliking Flanders to being his overbearing best friend. [[StatusQuoIsGod He's resumed his usual hostility to Flanders by the end, though.]]
54	* HiddenHeartOfGold: Moe reads to sick children and the homeless. He even gets ManlyTears as a result of what he reads -- ''Literature/LittleWomen'', for one. Bringing up his volunteer work at the bar earns Ned a threat from Moe, who doesn't want it getting out.
55	* HumiliationConga: Flanders, when taking an alcohol test, trips over, when a church tour bus passes by. When he enters the church everyone whispers and badmouths him. Reverend Lovejoy even titled his sermon ''What Ned did''.
56	* HypocriticalHumor: Homer accuses Marge of ''hating Flanders for years and wanting to bash his brains in with a pipe'', to which Marge correctly points out it was him.[[note]]This is the first of many times where Homer blames ''Marge'' for the messes he caused.[[/note]]
57	-->'''Homer:''' Love, Marge. Don't hate... love.
58	* IKEAWeaponry: Ned carries the sniper rifle he uses for his killing spree in his nightmare disassembled inside of a briefcase.
59	* ImpliedDeathThreat: Moe threatens Ned with one of these after Ned recognises Moe as someone who reads to sick children in the hospital.
60	-->'''Moe:''' If this gets out, the next words you say will be muffled by your own butt!
61	* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Flanders' usual pureness is tested enormously by Homer's obnoxious gratitude.
62	* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: {{Invoked}} by Burns in the most Burns way ever: by breaking Milhouse's leg so that the Springfield Atoms have a "crippled boy" to inspire them to victory with his hope for their success. (Naturally, he's mostly hoping for their success because Burns threatened worse if they failed.)
63	* InsultBackfire:
64	-->'''Homer:''' Why am I such a loser? Why?\
65	'''Bart:''' Well, your father was a loser, and his father, and his father -- it's genetic, man! ''[[[ExplainExplainOhCrap realizes]]]'' [[BorrowedCatchphrase D'oh!]]
66	* {{Irony}}: The episode starts with Homer's usual routine of hating the obliviously generous Ned Flanders. By the third act, Ned is the one hating Homer, while ''Homer'' is obliviously generous.
67	* KentBrockmanNews:
68	-->'''Kent Brockman:''' Tonight, on "Eye on Springfield": just miles from your doorstep, hundreds of men are given weapons and trained to kill. The government calls it the "army", but a more alarmist name would be "The Killbot Factory."
69	* LastSecondWordSwap: ''Stan, Stan, he's our boy. If he can't do it, no one... [[SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion will]]!''
70	* LiteralMinded: [[NoodleIncident Apparently]], Kent Brockman has to append a disclaimer to any pun he might make about "taking" game tickets as a cure for "football fever" because Homer once tried to do just that.
71	* LoserSonOfLoserDad: When Homer asks why he's such a loser, Bart smartly calls him this and adds that this goes down multiple generations -- "it's genetic, man!" -- before realizing [[ExplainExplainOhCrap what he's just indicated about himself]].
72	* MadeInCountryX: Flanders is driving Homer to the big game only for Homer to make him duck so that Lenny and Carl don't see him. Once they see Homer in the passenger seat of a driverless car in motion...
73	-->'''Lenny:''' Hey look! Homer's got one of those robot cars!\
74	''[CRASH!]''\
75	'''Carl:''' One of those ''American'' robot cars!
76	* MadnessMantra: Ned in his nightmare:
77	-->'''Ned:''' There's Homer. ''[fires]'' There's Homer. ''[fires]'' There's Homer. ''[fires]'' '''THEY'RE ALL HOMER!''' ''[starts shooting faster]''
78	* MediumAwareness:
79	--> '''Lisa:''' Don't worry, Bart. It seems like every week something odd happens to the Simpsons. My advice is to ride it out, make the occasional smart-alec quip, and by next week, we'll be back to where we started from, ready for another wacky adventure.\
80	'''Bart:''' [[CharacterCatchphrase ¡Ay, caramba!]]\
81	'''Lisa:''' That's the spirit.
82	* MisophoniaGag: Ned finds Homer breathing noisily through his nose so annoying that he yells at him at the top of his lungs, even though they're in church.
83	-->''"STOP IT! BREATHE THROUGH YOUR DAMN MOUTH!"''
84	* MistakenForGay:
85	-->'''Homer:''' ''[calls to Lenny and Carl as he and Flanders drive by]'' THIS IS NED FLANDERS, MY FRIEND!!\
86	'''Lenny:''' What did he say?\
87	'''Carl:''' I don't know. Something about being gay.
88	* MockingMusic: Subverted. Homer fails to win the tickets to the game, hits the radio and suddenly ''Two Tickets To Paradise'' by Eddie Money starts playing on another channel. After a moment of despair, however, [[ActuallyQuiteCatchy he gets caught in the rhythm and sings along]].
89	* MushroomSamba: Homer comments that Shelbyville threatened to spike Springfield's water supply after Springfield burned down their city hall, but they didn't have the guts. Cut to Marge drinking some water in the kitchen. Sitar music suddenly plays and Marge comments that the walls are melting again. A cooked turkey pops out of the oven and flies away.
90	* MyCountryTisOfTheeThatISting: Flanders drives Homer to a sports game. When Homer notices Lenny and Carl he pushes Flanders' face down from sight because he is afraid of being seen with him. Lenny notices Homer's car is driving without a chauffeur and assumes his driving "one of those robot cars". As the car crashes, Carl sarcastically remarks: "One of those ''American'' robot cars."
91	* NamesakeGag: The Helter Shelter is named after its founder, Father Helter.
92	* NeverMyFault: Homer during an argument with Marge over her concerns about him spending too much time with Flanders:
93	-->'''Homer:''' Admit it, Marge: you've hated Ned for years! In fact, you tried to bash his head in [[PipePain with a lead pipe]]!\
94	'''Marge:''' That was ''you!''\
95	'''Homer:''' [[MoralMyopia Love, Marge. Don't hate; love.]]
96	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Ned's extreme generosity in giving Homer his extra ticket, treating him to food and drinks at the game, and finally giving him the winning game ball after a friend on the team had offered it to him, wins Homer over at long last...at which point he becomes ''[[TheCatCameBack unshakeable]]'' and causes all kinds of problems for Ned in the process.
97	* NoodleIncident: After Kent Brockman says that a cure for "Pigskin Fever" is to take two tickets and go to the football game, a voice quickly says, [[RattlingOffLegal "Warning: tickets not meant to be taken internally"]]. This prompts Homer to point to the announcement and declare to Marge and Bart, "See? Because of me, now they have a warning."
98	* NothingIsScarier: We don't find out what frightened the Simpsons in the HauntedHouse.
99	* NotSoAboveItAll: Homer and Bart start a food fight during Ned's speech that even Marge and Lisa join in.
100	* ObliviousToHatred: After haunting the "Flandereses" for some time, Homer says of Maude that she "has a thing for me, but she hides it behind a mask of low-key hostility."
101	* OutOfCharacterAlert: Homer's love for Flanders. Lisa lampshades this and asks, "What's next, A's on Bart's report card?"
102	* TheParody: Flanders' children watch a religious children's cartoon TV show.
103	* PrecisionFStrike: Ned yelling at Homer to "breathe through your ''damn'' mouth!" In this case, the word is said on the show all the time, but not by Ned.
104	* {{Protectorate}}: Flanders blocked out all TV channels on his satellite dish, except two, to protect his children.
105	* PetTheDog:
106	** Moe reads to sick children in the hospital.
107	** Homer's impassioned defense of Ned at the end of the episode is a perfect example of this trope.
108	* RageBreakingPoint: During prayers, Ned finally explodes at Homer after hearing him inhale loudly through his nose.
109	* RattlingOffLegal:
110	-->'''Kent Brockman:''' Springfield has come down with a fever -- Football Fever, brought on by the biggest game of the year: the Pigskin Classic between the Shelbyville Sharks and our own Springfield Atoms. If you have the fever, there's only one cure: take two tickets and see the game Sunday morning.\
111	'''Announcer:''' Warning: Tickets should not be taken internally.
112	* ScareDare: The Simpsons must spend a night in a haunted house to get their inheritance.
113	* ShadyScalper: A scalper buys all 30,000 tickets to the Springfield football game even if he only has $10 to pay for the lot. Unfortunately for Homer, who was the next guy in line and had spent a whole week camping in line to get them.
114	* ShamingTheMob: The parishioners surround Ned after his angry outburst, but then Homer stands up and defends him, which gets the others to forgive Ned.
115	* ShaveAndAHaircut: When Homer pierces all four of his tires he yells out, "D'oh-d-d-d'oh-d'oh!" in the rhythm of this bit. Unfortunately, we don't get a "D'oh d'oh!".
116	* ShoutOut:
117	** Homer listens to Music/BobbyMcFerrin's "I'm Worried, Need Money" on the radio, [[SongParody a stab at his one-hit wonder]] "Don't Worry, Be Happy".
118	** Flanders has a painting of Creator/LeonardoDaVinci's ''Last Supper'' hanging on the wall. This is also a reference to the religious mother in ''Film/Carrie1976'', who has the same painting hanging on her wall.
119	** Homer fails to win the tickets to the game, hits the radio and suddenly "Two Tickets To Paradise" by Eddie Money starts playing on another channel.
120	** The homeless shelter is named "Helter Shelter", after the Music/TheBeatles song "Helter Skelter".
121	** Moe reads ''Literature/MyFriendFlicka'' and ''Literature/LittleWomen'' to the sick children.
122	** ''Film/TheTenCommandments1956'': Chief Wiggum says to Flanders, "Where's your Messiah now?", much like Creator/EdwardGRobinson is popularly believed to do in this film (although this is actually from a Creator/BillyCrystal routine spoofing it). An extra joke is that Wiggum is based on Robinson's accent.
123	** ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'': Homer appears through Flanders' hedge, much like the Terminator robot, who is so liquid that he can go through walls. Then when he chases Flanders' car with two golf clubs his attack mimics the scene where the T-1000 chases John, Sarah and the T-800 and clings on to their car.
124	** ''Film/{{Vertigo}}'': Flanders' dream shows him climbing up a staircase into a tower.
125	** Homer awakes from his dream and thinks he hates Ted Koppel. Then he concludes that he actually likes this ABC journalist and goes back to sleep.
126	** ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'': Homer flies the boat over the parking lot, much like James Bond did in this film.
127	** ''Film/{{Psycho}}'': The haunted house is Norman Bates' house.
128	** Ned positions himself in a bell tower and starts shooting people like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman Charles Whitman's shooting spree]].
129	** In a scene that usually gets cut from syndication, Homer plays his [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Rappin' Ronnie Reagan]] tape for the road trip the two families take to Lake Springfield. It's an actual real-life video/tape (and not a gag created by the writers), but he doesn't just say "Well" a lot like in the episode.
130	* SnapBack: {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d well in advance by a GenreSavvy Lisa, who understands that Homer's newfound appreciation for Flanders won't outlast the week's adventure. It doesn't.
131	* SongParody: Homer orders nachos and sings "Nacho Man", [[SongParody in a pun on]] "Macho Man" by Music/TheVillagePeople.
132	* SoupOfPoverty: Homer and Ned volunteer together at a soup kitchen, feeding soup to homeless people.
133	%%* StatusQuoIsGod: {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d by Lisa. Parodied at the end when Homer is back to hating Ned for no reason.
134	* SurprisinglyCreepyMoment:
135	** The final scene is the Simpsons spending a night in a haunted house in order to fulfill a will's "OnOneCondition". As we get a general shot of the very creepy house (with a bat flying around included), Homer tempts fate by saying that there is nothing wrong and then we get a weird sound and the whole family screaming in terror at ''something'' before cutting to credits with "evil" music.
136	** The NightmareSequence in which Ned commits a mass shooting from a clock tower, having snapped and believing all his victims to be Homer. Really sold by the way he remains in-character, [[DissonantSerenity walking up the steps whistling a church hymn with no intimation that anything is wrong]] until he opens the case he's carrying to reveal a gun and assembles it as music builds nightmarishly.
137	* SustainedMisunderstanding:
138	-->'''Homer:''' ''[shouting at the ceiling]'' Why do you mock me, O Lord?!\
139	'''Marge:''' Homer, that's not God. That's just a waffle that Bart tossed up there. ''[she knocks it down with a broom handle]''\
140	'''Homer:''' ''[catching it]'' ...I know I shouldn't eat Thee, but... ''[eats it]'' Mmm, sacrelicious.
141	* SwappedRoles: The episode swaps Homer and Ned's usual dynamic, with Homer trying to be Ned's best friend and Ned starting to despise Homer in return.
142	* SweetsOfTemptation: Bart offers Rod and Tod a Pixie Stix, despite the fact that they're not allowed to eat sugar. When they do try it they get hooked on the stuff and start fighting and insulting each other over it.
143	* TakeThat: Subverted when Homer wakes up from a dream.
144	-->'''Homer:''' Marge, I think I hate Ted Koppel. No, wait, I find him informative and witty.
145	** Played straight during the chase scene:
146	--->'''Maude:''' Come on Ned! Move this thing!\
147	'''Ned:''' I CAN'T! IT'S A ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geo_(automobile) GEO]]!''
148	* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: Ned gets a taste of his own medicine when Homer won't leave him alone.
149	* TemptingFate:
150	** Homer taunts the Shelbyville team for losing. Someone throws a beer can at him, but he ducks and scoffs. Someone else nails him with a whole keg, however.
151	** Homer says there's nothing to be afraid of in a HauntedHouse, only to have the entire family scream at something in unison soon afterwards.
152	* TitleDrop: Spoofed; every book Moe reads ends with one of these (even if the original book didn't).
153	-->'''Moe:''' "And then they realized, they were no longer little girls: they were Literature/LittleWomen".
154	* UnexpectedInheritance: Homer's relative uncle Boris dies and leaves him his money in his will. OnOneCondition that the family spents a night in a HauntedHouse.
155	* UnmanlySecret: Moe threatens to kill Ned if he ever makes public that he reads books to the homeless, such as ''Literature/LittleWomen''.
156	* WeWantOurJerkBack: At first, Ned appreciates Homer being nice to him, but he soon begins to miss the old Homer.
157	* WaterSourceTampering: Homer says that Shelbyville vowed to spike Springfield's water supply in revenge for Springfield burning down their city hall, but "they don't have the guts". Three guesses [[MushroomSamba what happens to Marge next]].
158	* WhereIsYourXNow: Chief Wiggum asks Ned Flanders "Where's your messiah now?" when he arrests him. (This is a ShoutOut to the supposed ''The Ten Commandments'' example, with the joke being that Wiggum's voice is based on Creator/EdwardGRobinson.)
159	* WouldHurtAChild:
160	--> '''Burns:''' ''[to players]'' Men, there's a [[LittlestCancerPatient little crippled boy sitting in a hospital who wants you to win this game]]. I know because I crippled him myself to inspire you.\
161	''[cut to a hospital room where Milhouse is lying with a broken leg]''\
162	'''Milhouse:''' ''[to his parents]'' Well, I hope they win, or Mr. Burns said he's coming back.
163	* YankTheDogsChain: When Homer is second in line to get tickets for the football game, the man in front of him turns out to be a scalper who buys out every ticket to sell them for a premium, leaving the booth sold out by the time it's Homer's turn.

Context Recap / TheSimpsonsS5E16HomerLovesFlanders