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%%The World Trade Center appearing in a work made before 9/11 is not an example. There must be a joke that mirrors the attack.
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* CatharsisFactor: Seeing Homer steal a jackhammer and use it to violently destroy the boot on his car is rather satisfying after the humiliation he has endured to this point. The damage it does to his car almost seems WorthIt.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: The Khlav Kalash man has one scene, but he left an impression for his dialogue.
* FranchiseOriginalSin: A holdover from Season 8, Homer's {{Jerkass}} behavior in this episode may have begun his eventual {{Flanderization}}. It does work here, however, since Homer goes through such a TraumaCongaLine throughout the episode that he's still fairly sympathetic. Later episodes would make Homer even more of a jerk, but without [[JerkassWoobie the sympathy]] or even the [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist over-the-top behavior]] that makes his characterization work in this episode.
* HarsherInHindsight: The episode becomes this in light of the 9/11 attacks. The line "they stick all the jerks in Tower One" is one the writer would regret.
* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Barney greatly struggles with being the designated driver in this episode. Two seasons later, he becomes sober of his own accord, meaning he had the strength within him to kick the habit all along.
* HilariousInHindsight: When at Magazine/{{MAD}} Magazine headquarters, Bart sees Alfred E. Newman[[note]]The MAD Magazine mascot[[/note]] talk about a spoof called "[[Music/NewKidsOnTheBlock The New Kids on the Blecch]]". [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E14NewKidsOnTheBlecch Three-and-a-half years later, we got an episode with the exact same name]].
* JerkassWoobie: While this episode portrays Homer very unpleasantly and marked the point in the show where he would become [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] into an unrepentant {{Jerkass}}, his behavior is pretty understandable here because he has a ''really'' rotten time in New York.
* MemeticMutation: No meme, only Khlav Kalash.[[note]]The Khlav Kalash man’s dialogue became a meme format.[[/note]]
* NauseaFuel:
** Bart "displaying" that he was born without tastebuds by ''licking a pole in a NYC subway car.'' Even he admitted that he was way in over his head with that stunt.
** Homer behind the open garbage truck, especially when the bag of used medical equipment bursts onto his face.
* OneSceneWonder: The Khlav Kalash man.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
** The scenes at the World Trade Center towers have dated the episode to pre-9/11. Less obviously, so has the scene where Marge and the kids go up into the Statue of Liberty: the statue itself has been closed to the public since the attacks.
** The joke where Bart visits the headquarters for ''Mad'' magazine and the receptionist jokingly says "No this is ''Mademoiselle'', we're buying our sign off the installment plan". Both magazines have now gone out of print since the episode's airing with ''Mademoiselle'' ending in 2001 and ''Mad'' ending in 2019.
** As punishment for his car being left in New York City, [[DisproportionateRetribution Homer's car will be thrown into the East River]], which was known for its parasitic and hazardous conditions in 1997. Nowadays, the river has been cleaned up considerably and ironically enough, it would be far worse to throw it into the ''Hudson'' River, whose quality has severely declined in the years since this episode first aired.
* ValuesResonance: The Betty Ford Clinic musical about celebrities going to rehab for their erratic, criminal behavior is still relevant today, thanks to the likes of Music/BritneySpears, Creator/LindsayLohan (who actually did check into Betty Ford), Creator/CharlieSheen, Creator/AmandaBynes, Creator/TaraReid, Creator/ParisHilton, and others getting the same treatment.
* {{Woolseyism}}: In the German dub, Bart thinks the rabbis are the last three members of Music/TheBeatles, rather than Music/ZZTop. This also puts it into the "Unintentional Period Piece" section above following George Harrison's death in 2001.
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