Lisa starts reading To Kill a Mockingbird and when she starts spending time with Homer she sees sees parallels with Atticus Finch and their bond becomes really strong. This causes Bart to feel neglected as Marge tries to help Homer balance with his attention towards his kids.
Tropes
- Bowdlerise: Channel 4's broadcast of the episode removes the scene where Grampa punches Bart in the face after the latter insults the former. In typical Channel 4 fashion, however, the set-up is retained, immediately cutting to commercials after Grampa tells Bart to "take down your dukes".
- The Cameo:
- Llewellyn Sinclair appears as the director of Springfield Elementary's disastrous School Play.
- When Homer and Lisa are at the science museum, Professor Farnsworth passes by them in the background.
- Continuity Nod: The flash-forward sequence at the end briefly uses Bart's 12-year-old design from "Barthood" and later shows Bart's two kids from "Holidays of Future Past" and "Days of Future Future."
- Daddy's Girl: When they are on the same page Lisa is very much proud of her dad, and projecting Atticus Finch on him has her getting into fights with anyone who mocks him (namely Bart).
- Epic Fail: Ralph Wiggum fails to recognise the colour green despite being dressed as a stalk of broccoli! By the time he does, it's too late, the School Play has already bombed.
- Everyone Has Standards: Homer is often oblivious to such things, but he takes particular offense to the skimpy clothing being offered to his eight year old daughter. This helps Lisa to see Homer as a good father figure.
- Extremely Protective Child: Lisa becomes this to Homer to the point of giving Bart a black eye for insulting him.
- Extreme Omnivore: Homer takes a bite out of Lisa's pork chop costume.
- Green-Eyed Epiphany: A platonic variation when Bart doesn't realize he wants Homer's attention until Lisa gets it.
- Informed Judaism: We learn that the Chalmers are Jewish as the Superintendent's daughter Shauna has her Bat Mitzvah.
- Medium Blending: When Homer and Lisa watch To Kill a Mockingbird, clips of the actual film are shown instead of animated recreations. It wasn't the first time the show done it this way.
- Prefers Going Barefoot: For most of this episode, Lisa goes barefoot, and generally dresses in a similar style to Scout Finch.
- School Play: The episode opens with one at Springfield Elementary though it bombs almost immediately when Ralph fails to recognise the colour of the vegetable he's dressed as!
- Shaming the Mob: Taking a page from a scene from the movie, when a mob comes to the Simpson house chasing after Bart, Homer grabs a bible and sits out front, using old country wisdom to get them to calm down.
- Shout-Out: Lisa, to her chagrin, is dressed as a pork chop just as Scout Finch was dressed as a ham.
- Subverted Catchphrase:Bart: I didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, they know I did it!
- They Killed Kenny Again: Kent Brockman's car accidentally hits Hans Moleman. Unlike most cases, this actually shocks everyone out of their fight into looking for the person responsible for instigating it.
