Originally aired: December 13, 2009
Jealous of the sisterly bond between Lisa and Maggie, Bart sets out to get a little brother — first by making Homer and Marge have sex, then by adopting an orphan.
Tropes:
- As Himself: Bart's daydream has appearances by Eli, Peyton and Cooper Manning, as well as the Smothers Brothers.
- Brick Joke:
- Homer's scene with the dynamite ends in the next scene with Bart and the social worker.
- When Homer says that daughters are easier because he doesn't have to tell them how their bodies work, Bart points out that Homer has never told him how his body works, to which Homer simply says "Aim and shoot." Bart calls this back when he's trapped in a snowbank with Charlie and Lisa and realizes that unlike Lisa, he and Charlie can "aim and shoot" their way out.
- Call-Back: Nelson and the Tac-Tics.
- Conflict Ball: The catalyst for this episode is that Bart is jealous of Lisa and Maggie's sisterly bond and wants a brother, as he feels lonely when the two play games together. While their genders have often provided some conflict, Bart and Lisa far more frequently spend time together than Lisa and Maggie do due to being closer in age and more prominent in the series overall, and thus have a stronger (albeit strained) bond. This makes Lisa teasing Bart that she'll grow up to bond more closely with Maggie harder to believe.
- Continuity Nod:
- This isn't the first time Bart replaced a woman's birth control pills with Tic-Tacs (only they're called "Tac-Tics" here).
- Barney Gumble still has his job as The Plow King.Barney: THE PLOW KING LIVES!
- Credits Gag: The Smothers Brothers do their "Take it, Tom" routine over the credits, joined by Homer, who asks if they know "Funkytown".
- Didn't Think This Through:
- As Marge points out to Bart, he didn't consider the possibility that the fourth Simpson he wants could be another girl.
- Bart goes around telling everyone that Charlie is his new brother, allowing Lisa to quickly learn about what's going on.
- Bart did not consider that Charlie might be too young for a movie like Sever V, and afterwards admits that being an older brother is more responsibility than he expected. Because he expected none.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: When the bullies explain the concept of birth control to Bart.
- Dramatic Irony: Bart's illegal brother Charlie ends up suffering a much worse fate as the brother to his eventual adoptive six sisters with No Sense of Personal Space, after Bart previously feared having a third sister.
- Imagine Spot: Bart has one about how his future will be if his parents have a third daughter.
- Ping Pong Naïveté: This time, Bart pretty much understands how sex works despite Homer never having told him about it (he got the talk from Homer five seasons ago, was flabbergasted and upset, and reverted to cluelessness in the interim) but is unaware of birth control (once he's told about it he tries to replace Marge's with candy...something he's in fact done before, as a prank on Mrs. Krabappel, though in that case he very well might not have understood what kind of medication he was tampering with). Even he's not totally confident in his knowledge:Charlie: I'm your new brother!Bart: Are you from the orphanage...or do I really not understand how babies are born?
- Poking Dead Things with a Stick: When Bart adopts a brother named Charlie, one scene has him teach Charlie how to poke a dead raccoon with a stick.Bart: When poking a dead animal, don't go straight for the eye. Build up to it.
- Resentful Outnumbered Sibling: Bart starts feeling left out between his two sisters, but when he tries convincing his parents to have another kid and explains to Marge why he wants a brother so badly, his mom (though she can understand why Bart feels that way) explains that she and Homer are fine with just three kids. Marge also points out that even if she and Homer do ever end up having another baby, it might not be a boy—in fact, a potential fourth child very well could end up being another girl, resulting in Bart having three sisters. At the end, Charlie (the orphan acting as Bart's "brother") is adopted by a couple with six daughters.
- Shout-Out:
- The scene of Bart telling his friends about his baby brother dilemma looks and is "animated" like South Park.
- Bart and Charlie see a movie called "Sever V", obviously Saw V.
- Bart's Imagine Spot is based on Sex and the City.
