Line #1 Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E22InMargeWeTrust


1	[[quoteright:196:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/in_marge_we_trust_promo_picture_1.gif]]
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3	'''Original air date:''' 4/27/1997
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5	'''Production code:''' 4F18
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7	Concerned with the lack of interest the family shows at the church, Marge volunteers there and becomes "The Listen Lady," dispensing with excellent advice- as opposed to Lovejoy, who begins to feel like a dejected failure. Meanwhile Homer, Lisa, and Bart discover a Japanese box with Homer's face on it, and try to find out why.
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10	!!Tropes Are:
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12	* ADayInTheLimelight: For Reverend Lovejoy, exploring his lack of enthusiasm with the church.
13	* {{Animesque}}: The Mr. Sparkle logo, which looks like Homer with huge PieEyes.
14	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: As Lovejoy bemoans Marge usurping his place as Springfield's moral advisor, he asks "What have I done to lose them?", sparking a vision in which St. Eleutherius from the Church's stain-glassed window asks "What have you done to ''keep'' them?".
15	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: The calls by Ned Flanders which ultimately drove Lovejoy into apathy.
16	-->'''Ned:''' Reverend, I'm, uh, I'm afraid terrible something has happened.
17	-->'''Lovejoy:''' Well sit down and rap with me brother, that's what I'm here for!
18	-->'''Ned:''' Well, I was talked into doing a dance called "The Bump", but my hip slipped and my buttocks came into contact with the buttocks of another young man!
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20	-->'''Ned:''' Well, I, I think I may be coveting my own wife.
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22	-->'''Ned:''' I'm meek but, I could probably stand to be meeker.
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24	-->'''Ned:''' I, I ... I think I may have swallowed a toothpick!
25	* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Hokkaido is a ''prefecture'' (as well as one of the five main islands that makes up the Japanese archipelago), not a town or city. As such, you'd be unlikely to find a phone book for the whole island.
26	* BadassPreacher: Lovejoy, saving Ned from a bunch of angry baboons.
27	* BavarianFireDrill: Marge invents her new job as "the Listen Lady" right on the spot, and shortly thereafter, the entire town starts looking to her for good advice.
28	* BlatantLies:
29	-->'''Homer:''' I'd like the phone book for Hokkaido, Japan, please.\
30	'''Librarian:''' Okay. The phone book for Hokkaido, Japan.\
31	'''Homer:''' Thank you. May I please use your phone?\
32	'''Librarian:''' Is it a local call?\
33	'''Homer:''' ...Yes.
34	* {{Bookends}}:
35	** The episode opens and closes with Reverend Lovejoy delivering a sermon. Bored during the first sermon, and passionate during the last sermon.
36	** Reverend Lovejoy lost his passion from helping Flanders, and he rediscovers it while helping Flanders.
37	* BoringReligiousService: The episode opens with Reverend Lovejoy delivering a particularly dull sermon on "The Nine Tenets of Constancy." When his sermon causes the church attendees to [[NapInducingSpeak fall asleep]], Reverend Lovejoy has to resort to playing a loud bird sound to wake them up.
38	* BreatherEpisode: Arguably the most low-key and laid back episode of Season 8 (Mr. Sparkle ad and the baboon fight aside), and happens to be placed in [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E21TheOldManAndTheLisa between two of the]] [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy darkest and most cynical]].
39	* BrickJoke:
40	** When Marge tells Reverend Lovejoy that Ned is in trouble, he replies with "[[SarcasmMode Oh what happened this time? Did he swallow a paper clip?]]"
41	** After the Mr. Sparkle subplot is resolved, while Homer's looking for Flanders in the zoo, he comes across a pair of Japanese tourists who call him "Mr. Sparkle."
42	* CerebusRetcon: Reverend Lovejoy being bothered by Ned's phone calls had been a RunningGag even before he became the TropeNamer for {{Flanderization}} but this episode revealed that Lovejoy was once an enthusiastic and happy to help minister until the stress of Ned bothering him in his downtime over nothing drove him into his current apethetic personality.
43	* ContrivedCoincidence: The image of Homer was actually the result of a joint venture between two companies, even merging their previous logos; a big-eyed fish, and a light bulb.
44	-->'''Lisa:''' Hey! It was all a coincidence!
45	-->'''Bart:''' Yep, there's your answer, fishbulb.
46	* CouchGag: The couch is replaced with a "Vend-A-Couch". Homer puts a coin in, but nothing happens. Homer pounds on the wall until the couch falls on him.
47	* CrisisOfFaith: Reverend Lovejoy spends the episode grappling with one when Springfielders start trusting in Marge's spiritual guidance more than his.
48	* DadaAd: The Mr. Sparkle commercial starts out fairly normal, with the mascot coming to life and doing a housewife's dishes and making her baby laugh, then it cuts to scenes like Mr. Sparkle turning some underwater go-go dancers into sumo wrestlers, and a news reporter interviewing a two-headed cow, which Mr. Sparkle makes shatter like glass. [[TruthInTelevision Japanese commercials are actually like this.]] If anything, Mr. Sparkle is ''tame'' compared to some of the real ones.
49	* EpiphanyTherapy: When Moe calls Marge at the church office and admits he's lost the will to live, Marge (in her new job as "the Listen Lady") kindly tells him "That's not true, Moe; you have lots to live for." This immediately perks up Moe, who tells her she's been a lot more encouraging than Reverend Lovejoy.
50	* FelonyMisdemeanor: Ned Flanders does this to ''himself''. He gets so wound up about things that ''are not even sinful'' (such as being afraid that he's coveting ''his own'' wife) he constantly harasses Reverend Lovejoy about them, eroding his passion for preaching.
51	* HeroesGoneFishing: Lovejoy likes playing with his train set in his spare time, as we see during Ned's montage of calls and later during his HeroicBSOD.
52	* HeroicBSOD: Lovejoy, when his flock begins going to Marge for help, and realizes he hasn't done anything to inspire people.
53	* HouseAmnesia: After Homer watches the Mr. Sparkle promo video:
54	-->'''Homer:''' Well, it was a good ride while it lasted. Come on, kids, let's go home.\
55	'''Bart:''' We ''are'' home.\
56	'''Homer:''' That was fast.
57	* HypocriticalHumor: One of the calls we see Lovejoy take from Ned in the montage that shows how Ned single-handedly destroyed the reverend's love for his job is Ned complaining that he is meek "but could stand to be meeker". The Latin American translation of the scene changes Ned's complaining to him saying he doesn't thinks he's being ''humble enough''.
58	* KarmaHoudini: Jimbo, Kearney and Dolph, as usual, face no repercussions for harassing Ned and simply leave when they lose sight of him, not to mention their abuse forced him to hide in a zoo enclosure inhabited by ferocious baboons.
59	* LackOfEmpathy: Ned's overbearing neurosis on every single thing he does made him incapable of recognizing how draining he was on Lovejoy's enthusiasm to the point he destroyed the man's ability to care.
60	* LetsSeeYouDoBetter: When Marge brings her concerns about Reverend Lovejoy's efforts to reach out to his parishioners, he snarks, "Oh, I don't see ''you'' volunteering to make things better." To the surprise of both of them, Marge decides that that's exactly what she's doing.
61	* ManiacMonkeys: A troop of vicious baboons attack Ned when he unwittingly ends up in their enclosure while hiding from the bullies.
62	* MathematiciansAnswer: Realizing where Ned is, Donny's Discount Gas, the Simpsons go there and ask Donny if he saw Ned being chased by the bullies. Donny just replies with "I see lots of stuff", though he does then admit that he did see Ned being chased.
63	* MotifMerger: In-universe example: Merging the smiling fish logo of Matsamura Fishworks with the lightbulb logo of Tamaribuchi Heavy Manufacturing Concern, the two companies involved in the production of Mr. Sparkle dishwashing detergent, results in a grinning yellow head that just happens to resemble Homer's.
64	* NapInducingSpeak: Reverend Lovejoy's sermon about constancy puts his entire congregation to sleep.
65	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Marge tells Ned to stand up for his business to a bunch of hoodlums, causing him to be chased into a baboon exhibit at the zoo.
66	* NotSoAboveItAll: Marge, who was the most enthusiastic about going to church, also fell asleep during Reverend Lovejoy's sermon.
67	* OhCrap: Marge, when Maude tells her that Ned didn't come home the night before.
68	** Ned, when he realizes he's in the baboon exhibit and one appears right in front of him.
69	** The librarian who runs off when he realizes he just allowed Homer to make an expensive international call with the library phone.
70	* OverlyLongGag: Homer's comically long long-distance phone dial.
71	* PoorCommunicationKills: Subverted. The Mr. Sparkle company worker that Homer asks about Mr. Sparkle speaks English, but not very well. The worker mistakenly thinks Homer is an American investor interested in the detergent, and mails him a promotional video. The tape isn't quite what Homer was looking for, but when he watches it with Bart and Lisa it still explains where the Mr. Sparkle character came from.
72	* {{Portmanteau}}: "Yep, there's your answer, fishbulb."
73	* RiddleForTheAges: What on earth was wrong with Moe's cat?
74	-->'''Moe''': ''[calling Marge]'' Hi, I've got another problem, this one's about my cat. ''[said cat gives a long, loud moan. Moe covers the phone]'' YEAH, SHUT UP! I'm asking her!
75	* RippedFromTheHeadlines: In the "The Itchy & Scratchy Show" shown in the episode, Itchy stretches the stethoscope to a French nuclear testing site, which is a reference to the French nuclear test in French Polynesia in January 1996.
76	* ShoutOut: This throwaway line by Skinner after he calls Reverend Lovejoy about his mother "punishing" him:
77	-->'''Skinner:''' Mother put cardboard over my half of the television. The other night we were watching ''Film/TheManWithoutAFace''; I didn't even know he had a problem!
78	* StoppedCaring: Reverend Lovejoy started out as an eager young minister willing to help his parishioners, but was worn down by Ned Flanders' ceaseless inquiries.
79	* TookALevelInCynic: Lovejoy after being worn down by Ned.
80	-->'''Lovejoy:''' Finally, I just StoppedCaring. Luckily, by then it was TheEighties, so no one noticed.
81	* TruthInTelevision: Anyone who thinks the "Mr. Sparkle" commercial is strange, it's actually ''toned down'' compared to ''real'' Japanese television ads, which tend to be more entertaining than the actual programs.
82	* {{Tuckerization}}:
83	** Matsumura Fishworks was named after Ichiro Matsumura, a friend of David X. Cohen.
84	** St. Donickus is not an actual saint -- he was named after the episode's writer, Donick Cary.
85	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Ned has absolutely no clue that his neurotic badgering over the years completely destroyed Lovejoy's enthusiasm for being a reverend.
86	* WantsAPrizeForBasicDecency: During his vision, Reverend Lovejoy gets asked what he's done to help Springfield's parishioners.
87	-->'''St. Lucian:''' Tell us, good Reverend, what great deeds have you done to inspire the hearts of men?
88	-->'''Lovejoy:''' Well, I had the vestibule re-carpeted.
89	-->(''beat'')
90	-->'''St. Donickus:''' [[StupidestThingIveEverHeard I've appeared in over eight thousand visions, and that's the lamest reply I've ever heard]].
91	-->'''Lovejoy:''' Oh, now please, I-I thought saints were supposed to be friendly.
92	-->'''St. Donickus:''' You ... you're just lucky God isn't here.
93	* WhatWereTheySellingAgain: The Mr. Sparkle ads. Even with subtitles, they make no sense whatsoever. Justified in that it's a Japanese commercial and Japanese commercials [[TruthInTelevision really are that weird]]. The Japanese dub turns this trope up to eleven, and also overlapping with SelfDeprecation.

Context Recap / TheSimpsonsS8E22InMargeWeTrust