Recap / The Simpsons S19 E13 "The Debarted"

Bart suspects a rat in his circle of friends when all of his pranks backfire. Meanwhile, Homer grows attached to his rental car, which he gets to drive for a week while his old car gets repaired.

Tropes:

• Actually Pretty Funny: Donny points out Mrs. Krabappel's Punny Name, asking her if she went "sour waiting for someone to pick" her, to which she deadpans, "Pretty much."
• Bait-and-Switch Comment: When Bart reunited Nelson, Milhouse and Donny to talk about the rat, his comments suggested he figured out Donny was the one, but he suspected Milhouse.
  Bart: Gentlemen, someone I thought I could trust...is a rat! Now let's see: [points to Milhouse] Is it my best friend? [points to Nelson] My other best friend? [points to Donny] Or a kid I just met? Donny...grab Milhouse's legs! He's the rat!
• Becoming the Mask: Donny was hired by Skinner to befriend Bart and his group, so he can inform him about Bart's pranks and thus foil them, but Donny eventually feels guilty for betraying Bart and saves him from Skinner and Chalmers by setting himself Bart's latest prank he intended to ruin.
• Chekhov's Gun: Bart's Blue Vines.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Homer comments that when he and Bart "first met, [they] didn't really hit it off," recalling their fateful first encounter in "I Married Marge," in which the newborn Bart lit Homer's tie on fire.
  • Bart apparently regards Nelson as his "other best friend" since the events of "The Haw-Hawed Couple" a season prior.
• Couldn't Find a Pen: Or paper. Willie’s journal is carved into his arm with a needle.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Apparently Invoked by Donny to get in with Bart. He initially positions himself as The Rival to Bart, causing Bart to pull a particularly epic prank on Skinner to get his status back, at which point he earns Bart's trust by seemingly Taking the Heat for the offense out of respect for Bart's skills.
• Delayed Safety Feature: Well after Marge rear-ends Hans Moleman's car, the airbag deploys and smothers him.
• Inconvenient Darkroom Illumination: When Bart is chasing Donny, he turns on the light in a darkroom and thus ruins all of Martin's pictures, including photos of a Flying Saucer, Nessie and Martin posing with Elvis.
• The Joy of X: Lisa is seen reading a book titled The Joy of Sax.
• Irony: Marge likes to save on ketchup and mustard bottles by simply emptying out every single ketchup and mustard packet they get from fast food joints into respective bottles, but she feels embarrassed to do the same for the relish.
• "Kick Me" Prank: Bart spray-paints "Kick Me" on Skinner's suit. Skinner fixes this by changing it to say "Kick Mediocre Study Habits". Kearney sees this, sits down, and starts reading a book.
• The Mole: Donny was sent to infiltrate Bart's prankster circle.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Nelson mentions several previous times they've egged things close to Skinner.
    Bart: We're gonna egg Skinner's house!
    Nelson: We've already egged his car, his office and his father's grave.
  • This isn't Skinner and Chalmers' first attempt to take down "the Bart Simpson operation" by putting a man on the inside, with their previous failed agents including Ralph, Uter, and a hip school guidance counselor who was Driven to Madness by Bart and is now homeless.
• Pet the Dog: When Bart is in a funk about Donny stealing his popularity, it's Homer who snaps him out of it with a You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech.
• Rule of Symbolism: The episode takes a memorable shot at the use of this in The Departed.
  Ralph Wiggum (pointing out the crawling rat in the final scene): The rat symbolizes obviousness!
• The Scapegoat: Mulhouse is an unintentional example, with Bart suspecting him of being the mole over Donnie, thinking the latter was jealous of being Always Second Best.
• Serious Business: Skinner and Chalmers pulled a kid from the Shelbyville Orphanage and enrolled him in the school so that he could become The Mole in Bart Simpson's friend group. Although by the end they're hoping to put Bart in juvvy, all of this is initially done merely in the hope of netting him the longest suspension they can legally give him...ten days. ("Well, that's long to a kid!")
• Soda-Candy 'Splosion: After learning their new friend Donny is an accomplice of Skinner, Bart and Nelson intend to punish him by giving him crates of Diet Coke and Mentos. Skinner stops them before they can do so, however Donny ultimately pushes the crates together and creates a foamy explosion to help the boys escape.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: As Skinner points out, the most they can get Bart removed from school without expelling him is 10 days.
• Taking the Heat: Donny wins Bart's friendship by appearing to do this to get Bart out of trouble with Skinner. Of course, since it's all part of Skinner's plan to use Donny as The Mole, he doesn't get in trouble and is congratulated on the success of his mission behind closed doors.
• They Really Do Love Each Other: Invoked in this exchange after the Mentos explosions:
  Chalmers: SKINNER! [concerned] Skinner?
  Skinner: I'm alright, sir!
  Chalmers: Don't ever scare me like that again!
• Weather Manipulation: Homer triggers a thunderstorm inside the rental car by having the vents on the driver's side put out heat, and the vents on the passenger's side put out air. At Bart's request, Homer turns on the rear window defogger, which triggers a small tornado!
• What Happened to the Mouse?: When Bart suspects Milhouse is the rat, he traps him in a locker in the middle of a field, promising Donny he'll let him go "in a couple of hours." This is at the end of Act 2; Milhouse doesn't appear again for the rest of the episode.
• Whole-Plot Reference: To The Departed, with a bit of the Recess episode "The Spy Who Came In From the Playground" thrown in as well.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: When Bart is dejected about a new kid stealing his popularity, Homer restores his confidence by urging him not to give up, assuring him that he believes in him, "and not just because I have to."
  Homer: Son, I know when we first met, we didn't really hit it off, but since then I've really come to respect you. And unlike love, respect can't be bought.

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