This episode, titled "Lisa's Belly", first aired on October 24, 2021. Episode Code Number QABF20.
Homer is very eager to go to Riot Rivers, a water park he frequented as a teenager. But when the family get there he, Bart, and Lisa are disappointed to find that the water park has been overhauled so that it's safe and no longer a magnet for lawsuits, changing its name to Quiet Rivers to boot.
However, the Devil's Deluge ride hasn't been torn down. Homer, Bart and Lisa get past the fence enjoying the ride, it's very exciting. But when they get back to the boring side of the park, Bart and Lisa are feeling queasy.
At the hospital, Dr. Hibbert (Kevin Michael Richardson) tells Marge that Bart and Lisa will have to take a drug that has weight gain as a side effect.
Four weeks later, both Bart and Lisa have clearly gained weight. Marge affectionately says Lisa has gotten "chunky" after seeing her belly. That throws Lisa into a depression. Bart starts working out with the bullies in their secret gym at school.
Milhouse's mother, Luann Van Houten (Maggie Roswell), gives Marge a card for Wendy Sage (Renee Ridgeley), a hypnotherapist. Marge makes an appointment to go with Lisa.
Tropes:
- An Aesop: Be careful with your words, especially to your children.
- Amusement Park of Doom: Riot Rivers used to be one, with rides that were dangerously unsafe; attractions include a waterslide that's prone to tossing riders out onto hard rocks, a tiny pool with four diving boards on it from which kids would collide in midair when diving, and a lazy river called "The Void", where tubers would enter, but never exit. The only dangerous ride to survive the remodelling is the Devil's Deluge abandoned in a corner of the park, and Homer takes Bart and Lisa on one last ride on it. They make it to the bottom relatively unhurt, but then get seriously ill from the ride's untreated water.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The credits show what words have been embedded into other character's brains. Agnes Skinner has "needy", Comic Book Guy has "annoying", Chief Wiggum has "big baby", and Moe has the relatively tame "bad penmanship".
- Background Music: Lampshaded. Lisa shows Homer a video of the exact same things he saw at the water park he used to work at. Homer responds that it was set to different music, in his case "I Wanna Rock" by Twisted Sister.
- Brick Joke: During their session with Wendy, Lisa calls her a quack. In the ending sequence showing the hurtful words in other people's brains, Wendy's is "quack".
- Buffy Speak: What does Wendy use to hypnotize Marge and Lisa? Dr. Mysterio's mesmerific hypnowheel. When they stare into it, they drone "spinny thing" before going under.
- Call-Back:
- Lisa having trouble with one of her parents that can only be solved by a Journey to the Center of the Mind? Gee, that sounds familiar.
- Also Lisa having body image problems involving her being overweight? Haven't heard that one before.
- Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: Lisa starts hearing the word "chunky" everywhere at school.
- Comic-Book Time: The episode features the start of a new school year, yet Lisa is still in Ms. Hoover's second grade class.
- Dramatic Shattering: Homer drops his World's Greatest Dad mug when Lisa tells him how Marge called her "chunky".
- Everyone Has Standards: Homer, not the most sensitive person out there and one of the worst dads in the history of fiction, is shocked by what Marge told Lisa; he considers commenting on your children's appearance the one thing a parent shouldn't do.
- Fan Disservice: Patty and Selma in bikinis, with close-ups of all their flaws as they sing about them.
- Freudian Excuse: Marge's casual comment about Lisa's appearance is because her mother would say similar things about her, particularly "plain".
- I Am What I Am: The credits showing off the minds of other characters and the words embedded in them ends with Homer, who is surrounded by "lazy", "dumb", "stupid", "fat", and "greedy", and instead of being stressed out about it, Homer is comfortably resting in a hammock in both the mental and physical worlds, at peace with his flaws.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction:
- Marge says that the family doesn't slam the door... before slamming the door herself.
- Later, when Marge apologizes to Lisa and curses herself for not keeping her mouth shut, she unwittingly puts more hurtful words in her daughter's head.
- Innocently Insensitive: When the kids gain weight after being put on steroids, Marge affectionately calls Lisa "chunky." She was oblivious to how insulting that was to Lisa for half the episode, and even after realizing the mistake she apologizes and tries to console her saying once off the steroids she will return to normal as her "perfect little girl." That was almost equally traumatizing to Lisa, making her feel like something was fundamentally wrong with her. The episode ends with a montage about how people absorb the words others say to them and how it has an impact on their psyche.
- Journey to the Center of the Mind: Wendy uses hypnosis to show Marge the inside of Lisa's mind, where the word "chunky" has embedded itself in the landscape. Lisa is then shown Marge's mind, which has the word "plain" in it.
- Metaphorically True: Bart counters bullying over his weight by claiming he's been bulking up from steroids. While technically true as part of his recovery, it's not the type of steroids the bullies are thinking of, which leads them to invite him in their weightlifting routine.
- No OSHA Compliance: The water park Homer was excited for was infamous for how dangerous it was, with people flipping out of the water slides and on to the rocks. The water park as they arrive had been converted into more of a splash park barely interesting for anyone above the age of six.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Homer tells Marge offscreen how she hurt Lisa's feelings, which makes her feel bad enough about it to apologize to her daughter the first chance she gets.
- Papa Wolf: Homer calls out Marge when he finds out she hurt Lisa's feelings.
- Shout-Out:
- Riot Waters is a spoof of the infamous Action Park, perhaps most noticable in how the Devil's Deluge is a looping water slide like Action Park's Cannonball Loop. The documentary Lawsuit Park that Lisa shows on her tablet references the real documentary about Action Park, Class Action Park.
- The name change to Quiet Waters is itself a reference to Quiet Riot, as Homer himself points out.
- To Hair: Patty and Selma's song is set to "The Age of Aquarius" ("The Age of Not Giving a Crap"), with their dance across the park referencing the 1979 movie version.
- The close-ups of words painted on Patty and Selma spoof the dance interludes in Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.
- To The Powerpuff Girls, crushed under the weight of the word "chunky."
- Riot Waters is a spoof of the infamous Action Park, perhaps most noticable in how the Devil's Deluge is a looping water slide like Action Park's Cannonball Loop. The documentary Lawsuit Park that Lisa shows on her tablet references the real documentary about Action Park, Class Action Park.
- Stopped Caring: Patty and Selma teach Lisa not to care about what people think of her.
- Temporary Bulk Change: Bart and Lisa are given steroids for their infection, which make them heavier.
- Tempting Fate: After Bart and Lisa get sick, Marge notes to Hibbert that Homer never got sick despite sliding down with them. Cue several hazmat workers rushing into the Power Plant as Homer falls ill.
- This Is My Side: Skinner's office is full of praying mantises hatched from the eggs Bart left there before summer break. He has taped a line across his desk and tells the mantises that as long as they stay in their side, things will be fine. They swarm him immediately.
- Unexplained Recovery: Unlike Bart and Lisa, we never do find out how Homer got healthy again after the slide incident.
- Weight Woe: Lisa becomes self conscious after Marge calls her chunky due to the weight she gained from steroids. Not helped by a shopping trip to the mall where she needs bigger sizes while trying on clothes and Marge is oblivious to why she’s upset.
