When Bart goes missing (he is trapped in a secret underground bunker), Sideshow Bob attempts to get Milhouse to reveal his location.
Tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: When Bob is stretching to use both of the ignition keys:Sideshow Bob: For this, you can thank my time at Cirque du Soleil!Bart: More like Cirque du So Lame.Sideshow Bob: ...Yes, they are pretty much all the same.
- Antagonist in Mourning: Sideshow Bob becomes outraged at the idea that Bart could have been killed by random chance in the woods rather than by his own hands. When the search was called off he refused to admit defeat.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Before Bob can go through with launching the missile, Bart stops him in his tracks by asking him why he's doing this. Bob doesn't really have an answer anymore.
- Bad News in a Good Way: After Bart disappears.Marge: Where the heck were you? Where's Bart?Homer's Brain: Okay, this is the hardest news in the world for a mother to hear. Just ease her into it.
- Blatant Lies: Sideshow Bob's claim that he never heard of Bart before is disproven by his "Die Bart, Die" tattoo.
- Comic-Book Time: Bob acknowledges that this is now his twelfth skirmish with Bart. Bart remains ten years old.
- Continuity Nod:
- Sideshow Bob still has the "Die Bart, Die" tattoo from "Cape Feare".
- Bart's lucky red cap is seen and referred to as such by Milhouse when he finds it in the woods.
- The idea of repurposing Bart's bedroom as the sewing room Marge wants first came up in "Barting Over" ("I wanted a sewing room, but not like this!")
- Deadly Hug: Alluded to when Bart and Sideshow Bob hug it out and Bart nervously asks Milhouse to check if Bob's put a knife in his back, followed by Bob, with the same trepidation, asking him to check if Bart has placed a "kick me" sign.
- Easily Forgiven: After Sideshow Bob releases Bart and Milhouse from the rocket, he embraces Bart in a hug. After confirming that Bob did not stab him in the back, the magnanimous young boy embraces the man who had just tried to kill him.
- Epic Fail: When Milhouse finds Bart in the bunker, he drops his phone to him. It breaks. Then Milhouse says he will go get help. His glasses fall down and break.
- Handy Feet: Bob manages to initiate the two person lock by stretching his whole body and larger feet to close the gap, being dexterous enough with his toes to switch keys when he sees it's the wrong one.
- Heh Heh, You Said "X": When Bob gloats that he's managed to find Bart's "hidey-hole," Milhouse and Bart crack up over the resemblance of the phrase to "heiny hole."
- Kent Brockman News: Brockman covers Bart's apparent death as if it was an election.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Milhouse learns that Bart is still alive and keeps the fact a secret to try and get close to Lisa while she's sad. He is coerced and captured by Sideshow Bob soon after.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Bart's appreciation for "Calvin and the Hipmunks."Bart: Hmm. Angry dad, wiseass kid. Now there's a formula that never fails.
- Longer-Than-Life Sentence: Bob plans to open a flower shop when he's released after serving "three consecutive life sentences."
- My Country Tis of Thee That I Sting: Burning fuel while sitting down is something Homer considers the American Way.
- Nature Tinkling: Bart discovers the underground bunker after peeing in the woods.
- Noodle Incident: Bob's career has included Cirque du Soleil and ZOOM.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Sideshow Bob can't stand the notion that Bart is dead without him being responsible for it.
- Rake Take: Sideshow Bob tries to kill himself by stepping on a rake several times.
- Rental Car Abuse: Homer is all too eager to have his family ruin the car he's rented. When Bart tells him he has to go, Homer even tries to encourage his son to pee in the car.
- Skewed Priorities:
- When Bart finds an old, but working, phone in the bunker the first thing he does is prank call Moe. The phone proved to be so old the wiring frays just from that first call. With some ingenuity Bart repairs the phone for another call, this time to Marge, but could barely explain anything besides the fact he was still alive before the phone dies for good.
- Milhouse is impressed that the missile he and Bart are tied to can still work at all, to Bart's irritation.
- Take That!: While stretching to fit both launch keys, Sideshow Bob says they can thank his time with Cirque du Soleil. Bart proceeds to call it Cirque du So Lame, which he agrees with.
- Time Skip: After the climax, there's a skip to a time when an elderly Sideshow Bob is living in a lighthouse.
- Too Dumb to Live: Sideshow Bob's therapist. After Sideshow Bob stabs him with a scissor, he wonders why he keeps giving those to his patients.
- Two-Keyed Lock: The system that activate the missile requires two keys to be turned at the same time. Sideshow Bob manages to stretch himself so he can turn one key with his hands while he turns the other with a foot.
- Would Hurt a Child: Sideshow Bob is perfectly willing to kill two ten-year-old boys by tying them to a rocket that he set to launch.
