Fridge / The Simpsons S8 E8 "Hurricane Neddy"

• Fridge Brilliance:
  • Homer dismissing Flanders telling him off as the worst human being he's ever met with an "I got off pretty easy" might seem like Comically Missing the Point, but considering everything Homer has done to Flanders over the years, he actually did get off easy. Likewise as pointed out in Alternative Character Interpretation, Homer has been called so many other horrible things from people including his own father, that Ned calling him the worst human being he has ever met probably really doesn't come off as so bad.
    • Not to mention, Flanders yelled in everybody else's faces, while for Homer he just said it concisely and quietly.
  • Lenny being insulted as part of Flanders' "The Reason You Suck" Speech comes across as a Guilt by Association Gag until you realize that if he'd only just arrived, then he was one of the few people in Springfield who didn't help rebuild Ned's house. He really is a jerk.^note Lenny, however, claims he doesn't know what's going on, implying he wasn't aware of the house being built.
    • It could also be a subtle form of Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking (and then back to arson and murder for the remaining targets). During his tirade, Ned was giving mostly specific and scathing insults to the random characters he accosted. However, Lenny was just a random guy that happened to be there and, as such, Ned gives him the more random and generic insult of just being a "jerk".
  • When Ned returns to his neighborhood, his house is somehow rebuilt. Considering how it was the shoddy state of his new house that drove him to madness, his friends felt bad and hired someone to rebuild his house (professionally this time).
• Fridge Horror:
  • If Flanders' Verbal Tic of adding "diddly" and "doodly" at the end of every word really is one of the side effects of suppressing anger, then he must be suppressing his anger all the time (even in writing, as seen when Homer reads one of his notes on "Summer of 4'2""). It's already shown he's suppressing his anger ever since he was still a kid.
  • Also, in "Lisa the Vegetarian", every Flanders family member is shown saying "diddly" and "doodly", so this episode suggests that anger runs deep throughout the Flanders family.
    • In direct contrast, that same scene implies this is just a common tic without the tie to anger as the British Flanders didn't use it until Ned prodded him. It's likely more of a classic family tic and Ned just also uses it casually and in controlling any outbursts or swearing.
  • Does Ned thinking insurance is a form of gambling mean that he doesn't have any type of insurance at all? That's flat-out illegal as far as car insurance goes, and as for the other types? Suppose he had died and left his wife and children with no financial support because he didn't have life insurance? Even now, he or one of his sons could become ill and have no means of paying medical bills because he doesn't believe in getting health insurance either.
  • As bleakly hilarious as Ned's house collapsing is, imagine if the Flanders family had moved in? Not only would Flanders' wife and kids get injured or killed, but all of Springfield would also be liable for it.
  • Considering how fit and muscular Ned really is, it's very lucky that during his blowup, all he did was throw insults. Homer was lucky to only be called the worst human being ever, since Ned looks strong enough to wreck him.
• Fridge Logic: When the townspeople start panic buying before the hurricane, they just go to the Kwik-E-Mart. Why didn't they shop at the other stores in Springfield like the supermarket or even that Monstromart from "Bart Gets Famous"?
  • Ned calls Moe "ugly and hate-filled" but a prior episode revealed that Ned's only exposure to Moe was that he was "the guy who reads to sick children at the hospital" and never visited his bar (where he's usually at his worse) until Homer brought him over. So it seems odd that Ned would know how hateful Moe is, unless they had some sort of confrontation between those two episodes.
• Someone as religious as Ned, especially enough to assume that God would spare him because he's so good and devout, should really have remembered this particular Bible quote: "Do not put the Lord your God to a foolish test." Like. . .not getting home (and presumably other types) insurance?!

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