"Left Behind" is the nineteenth episode of the twenty-ninth season of The Simpsons that first aired on May 6, 2018. Episode Code Number XABF12. Directed by Lance Kramer. Teleplay by Joel H. Cohen and John Frink, based on a story by Al Jean.
In this episode, Ned Flanders closes his store and Homer gets him a job at the power plant.
Plot
Marge scolds Homer for being too indolent after he prefers to keep eating pork chops instead of watching a solar eclipse. To make amends, he takes her to date night at a fancy restaurant. The night out is a success until, when they were about to have sex, Ned knocks the door.Turns out that Flanders has insomnia after having to close the Leftorium store, as no one shops at the mall anymore. A reluctant Homer then gets Ned a job as a human resources supervisor at the power plant, but his methods soon annoy the entire place, including Homer, who prays for his dismissal. This happens the following day, after Flanders asks Mr. Burns to donate to charities instead of the other way around.
Ned's following attempts end in failure — He gets too chaperone-ish with senior dancers as an instructor and is thrown out from a cruise. He then changes the look of a metal band as a photographer and is thrown out from the Springfield Rolling Stone building. And his roadside Bible business has no clients (unlike the roadside Koran stand just before him).
Marge recommends Ned to become a teacher like Jesus, so he takes the job of substitute teacher at Springfield Elementary. Trouble is, he has to deal with the unruly fourth grade class. Bart attempts to bring order as things descend into chaos, but finally submits to peer pressure and spitballs Flanders' mustache, leaving him downcast.
Homer and Bart soon feel guilty for ruining Ned's life and try to get him to continue teaching. While hesitant at first, he remembers his late wife (and Bart's longtime teacher) Edna Krabappel and decides to honor her dream of improving her students. With some help from Bart's pranks (claiming to be acts of God), Flanders finally gets the kids in line.
"Left Behind" features examples of:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Homer prays that Ned loses his new job at the Nuclear Power Plant. He feels bad when Ned is fired.
- Bizarre Taste in Food: Homer loves pork-chops to the point he asks his wife for the burnt gristle of her plate, and pours the frying pan grease back out the empty milk carton into his coffee.
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: God does this after Bart says God is feared instead of loved.
- Comic-Book Time: Ned courted, married, lost, and stepped up to replace Bart's beloved fourth-grade teacher…and Bart is still in the fourth grade, along with all his contemporaries.
- Conforming OOC Moment: Justified; when Bart's entire class sings a prepared song mocking Ned, Ned asks Martin Prince why he'd join in and discovers that the others paid him off.
- Continuity Nod: Ned Flanders offers to make his famous hot chocolate, which he's shown preparing almost the exact same way as the cup of hot chocolate he made for Bart in The Simpsons Movie (although he replaces the vanilla wafer with biscotti)... except it turns out he's preparing it straight into Homer's mouth instead of in a cup. Ned also mentions the fishing trip he and Bart took in that movie while trying to talk Bart out of spitballing him in the stache.
- Denied Food as Punishment: After Homer pushes Marge too far by prioritizing food over listening to her, she finally gets him to look at her by taking his plate away while it still had food on it.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Even Martin Prince misbehaves at class.
- Fun with Acronyms: Bart notes that he sometimes comes to Moe's for a G and T: that is, a Gumball and Talk.
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Ned repeatedly expresses his gratitude for Homer's friendship, unaware that Homer prayed for him to be fired.
- Peer Pressure Makes You Evil: During Ned's first day as a teacher, Nelson makes Bart spit a paperball as a proof of loyalty to peer pressure.
- Personality Blood Types: According to Ned, "My blood's like my attitude: B positive."
- Pet the Dog: Moe keeps a jar of gumballs under the bar for when Bart drops by.
- Prayer of Malice: Homer doesn't enjoy working with Ned and desperately prays that he'll be fired, but feels guilty when that very thing occurs.
- Scare 'Em Straight: As a substitute teacher, Ned makes his students behave by tricking them into fearing divine punishment for misbehavior.
- Series Continuity Error: Burns notes that as his employee Ned may be required to give him blood, to which Ned notes that his blood type is (naturally) B positive and gets an "Excellent" from Burns in response. Season 2's "Blood Feud" had a Blood Transfusion Plot in which Burns has the rare (and fictional) blood type double O negative. On the other hand, in this case it's never stated what Burns is using the blood for.
- Skewed Priorities: Homer would rather sit at the table and eat pork-chops than watch a solar eclipse for a few minutes.
- Stock Audio Clip: Edna's quote, "If you can teach one kid one thing, then today will be a success", is recylced from the season 21 episode "Bart Gets a Z"
- Worth It: This episode's couch gag features the couch as part of a ferris wheel. The house is practically destroyed but the Simpsons say the ride's worth it.
