After Marge is heartbroken by a crummy birthday gift from Bart and Lisa, they go out of their way to make it up to her. Meanwhile, Homer becomes a fearmonger on a neighborhood hazard reporting app.
Thankfully, a distraction arrives as the Wiseguy's crashed pick-up truck explodes out its payload, floating lanterns. Everyone is in awe, but Homer feels a burning sensation at his feet, and spots a downed power line. He stops Kirk Van Houten from stepping onto the power line, and thankful, Kirk tells Homer "You da man!" Homer is proud of being "da man", and Lenny and Carl tell Homer about Alarmist, a neighborhood watch app where he can report local safety hazards so he can be "da man" for everybody. Homer downloads the app, and by reporting the wire and exaggerating the odds of electrocution at "1000%", he clears out the entire street of gawkers, except for Comic Book Guy, who welcomes Homer to the "Alarmy Army". Seeing the leaderboard and how the higher ranking users have their usernames in bigger fonts, Homer aspires to be number one.
Lisa meets with Bart to discuss presents for Marge's upcoming birthday. Macaroni art isn't gonna cut it anymore, they need to buy a real present, but Bart points out they have no source of income. Lisa has the idea to get some money from Flanders, and they show up at his front yard, willing to do some yard work, but Flanders' lawn is already perfect. With some guilt tripping, Flanders offers a payment of 44 dollars in exchange for the removal of a pair of leaves on the sidewalk. With their money, Bart and Lisa head to "Bullseye", and spot a luxury robe within their budget, but while in transit, they knock over a spy gadgetry kit that's the same price. Thinking about what they could do with the recorder pen and eavesdropping microphone, Bart and Lisa decide to get the kit for themselves, justifying to themselves that Marge shouldn't mind not getting a material gift. Bart is already at the checkout while Lisa hesitates, and Shauna asks them if they want to apply for a Bullseye credit card, and brings up an ironing board cover comes free with the application regardless of whether or not it's accepted. They both apply, getting two ironing board covers.
Marge's birthday arrives. Homer gives Marge another charm for her charm bracelet, which she graciously accepts. But the two ironing board covers she accepts with fake enthusiasm, and after everyone leaves, she puts the ironing board covers in the closet, her ironing board visible inside, already adorned with a Bullseye-branded cover.
Marge irons one of Homer's shirts, the paint from the ironing board cover imprinting onto it, much to her annoyance. Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa are having fun with their spy kit, convinced Marge loves the ironing board covers because of how much she mutters about them.
Homer is reporting everything even mildly questionable he sees in public to Alarmist, clearing out Noiseland Arcade of all children and their parents because of a billboard for calamine lotion that read "Itch, Please!" After reporting a jogging Reverend Lovejoy as a religious fanatic who is possibly on the run from a murder scene, Homer enters the top five highest-scoring Alarmist users.
Bart and Lisa are in the treehouse, using the eavesdropping microphone to spy in on faraway conversations. They listen in on Ned and Marge talking about the party, and Marge begins to cry. As embarrassing as it is to admit, her feelings were hurt by the gifts she got, feeling like she was treated like an afterthought and not a real person. Bart and Lisa feel immediate regret over their actions.
Homer is now number one on Alarmist, and he spots a broken sprinkler in the park. He begins to report it, but "Silver Bullet" has already reported it and taken Homer's number one spot. Silver Bullet reveals herself to be Agnes Skinner, and Homer begins to feud with her.
Bart and Lisa know they have to give Marge a new present, with actual thought put into it. They attempt to make a list of everything they know about Marge, but they come up with very little information. Lisa decides to use the spy kit to break into Marge's trunk of memories, and much to her surprise, the kit of spy-themed toys came with a very real lockpicking kit. Looking at the pictures within, they see that Marge had a pet parrot when she was very young, Petey. Seeing how close they were, they eventually saw a photo of Petey being given away. Lisa points out that parrots live for a long time, so they can go out and find Petey and return him to Marge. But to do that, they have to head to North Townsburg, a sketchy place that's three hours away.
Three hours pass, and the duo are in Townsburg, a depressing place that's full of liquor and weed stores. They spot the mechanic who owned the truck used to take Petey away. The mechanic recognizes Petey as Krista's parrot, and points them to a crafts, liquor and weed store that Krista owns.
Homer is buzzing about the park, looking for something that poses any sort of hazard so he can be number one again. He spots a fallen branch, and he reports it and reclaims his number one position, but Agnes is also gunning to be number one. They're off to the races, fearmongering everything in sight regardless of how mild. But right as they were reporting a dragon-shaped kite, right beside the broken sprinkler, the ground opens up underneath them. With a final exchange of insults, the two decide to team up to escape. Having thrown away their phones in the surprise, their first resort is shouting for help, but because of the mass-reporting, the park is empty.
Lisa and Bart are investigating Krista, but Lisa notices she's referring to Petey in the past tense. Krista left the cage open and Petey flew away to join some wild parrots. Thinking they've lost, they head to the bus stop to go home, only to hear an imitation of The Price is Right's losing horns, followed by some squawks. It's Petey! With a recording from the spy kit's pen, Petey is lured into the kids' grasp.
Homer and Agnes are stuck in the pit, knowing nobody is around to help. They both know they were too caught up in moving up the leaderboard, and are stuck. Agnes helps herself to a Werther's, but begins to choke. Homer gives her the Heimlich, and saved Agnes' life, Homer feels that sense of pride he got from saving Kirk again. He's no fearmonger, he's a lifemonger! He lifts Agnes out of the pit and she takes to Alarmist to report Homer's situation, guaranteeing her place on top of the leaderboard. With a smile, Homer quips "She's horrible."
The kids present Petey to Marge, and she's in disbelief, and not happy disbelief, but horrified disbelief. Petey flies to Marge, barfs on her shoulder, and tears out chunks of hair. Petey shows love in a destructive manner, and Marge never wanted him in the first place. The kids prepare to recapture Petey and send him back to Townsburg, and Marge is touched they would go so far to make her happy. She's not an afterthought, but a thought! They embrace, but this heartwarming moment is cut short when Petey bites Marge's finger. She stuffs him into a pillowcase, and she asks "Who wants to help mommy abandon Petey in Townsburg?" The kids enthusiastically volunteer.
Later, the sound of another car crash awakens the neighborhood. Marge uses this opportunity to show off her new robe, made from French terry cloth. The other moms are impressed, but also questioning where the sound came from. Nobody's seeing a crash. With one last flourish of the robe, Marge goes back inside, where it's revealed the crashing sound was made from the spy kit's distraction generator, and Marge is joining in with Bart and Lisa's fun.
Tropes:
- A Day in the Limelight: Downplayed, but Agnes' role in the B-plot is one of the few times she's received individual focus in the series, rather than serving as a Satellite Character for her son.
- Ageless Birthday Episode: This is at least the fourth time Marge's birthday has been celebrated in the series (following "Life On the Fast Line" in Season 1, "Exit Through the Kwik-E-Mart" in Season 23 and "One Angry Lisa" in Season 34), and naturally, thanks to Comic-Book Time, the kids aren't any older.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Lisa and Bart overhear Marge talking to Ned, Lisa is quick to understand why Marge was depressed by their presents. Bart is slower to get it until Lisa asks him how he would feel if Marge "half-tushied" his birthday.Bart: What? I'd be fine if she only...(groans in pain)
- Black Comedy Suicide: The kids' spy kit comes with gummy Cyanide Pills. When the toy lockpick that comes with the kit turns out to work effectively on a real lock, Lisa comments that she's now worried about the pills.
- Chekhov's Gun: One of the things Homer says could happen because of a leaking sprinkler in the park is a sinkhole opening up. Later on, Homer and Agnes fall right into one.
- Continuity Nod: Bart calls Marge's mom a "jerkass."
- Convenience Store Gift Shopping: While fully intending to get Marge a thoughtful present, Bart and Lisa are tempted by a toy worth the same price as the money they're about to put toward the gift and find an easy solution when they get a deal for a free store-brand ironing board cover each. Homer's gift isn't much better, as he gets her a new charm for her charm bracelet, admitting that the bracelet itself was an investment he made some years ago which allows him to avoid serious thinking about what to buy her on special occasions.
- Crappy Homemade Gift: Bart likes to give Marge really crappy macaroni art as birthday gifts (and he doesn't bother to make them on new paper). Meanwhile, somehow, the other kids avert this by giving costly clothing to their mothers (even Ralph can pull it off with Tooth Fairy money).
- Curse Cut Short: Kirk puts his hand over Milhouse's mouth before he can finish saying "bitch", after realizing what an "Itch, Please!" billboard is punning off of.
- Did You Think I Can't Feel?: Marge graciously thanks Lisa and Bart for their birthday presents, so they conclude that she's perfectly happy and they've gotten away with cheaping out. It's not until they overhear her confiding in Ned that they realize she's capable of feeling overlooked, just like everybody else.Marge: It's just...on my one day, I'm barely an afterthought. It's like they don't think of me as a person.
- Everyone Has Standards: Bart really does prefer using the money to buy the spy kit instead of a robe for Marge, but he acknowledges how that would be a serious choice and how he alone can't make it.
- Feathered Fiend: Petey, Marge's former parrot, turns out to be very aggressive and is possessive of Marge, pecking and biting everything. Bart even mentioned that Petey made racist remarks while they and Lisa were on the bus.
- Frankenstein's Monster: Professor Frink has evidently made one, as Bart and Lisa heard an argument between it and Frink using the eavesdropping microphone, with the professor trying to tell his creation that its name isn't "Frink" but "Frink's Monster".
- Gift-Giving Gaffe: The A-plot is centered around Bart and Lisa giving Marge a pair of low-quality ironing board covers that she already owns (and are poor quality).
- Good Feels Good: The B-plot is started by Homer feeling a sense of pride after saving Kirk from a downed power line, but despite all of his fearmongering, he only felt this pride again after saving Agnes from choking.
- "Hell, Yes!" Moment: After Marge finally manages to trap Petey in a pillowcase:Marge: Who wants to help Mommy abandon Petey in Townsburg?
Bart and Lisa: We do! - Ignored Aesop: Agnes Skinner after Homer helped her out of the hole and she calls for help by reporting him on Alarmist, having realized her need to be the best fearmonger contributed their predicament.
- Imagine Spot: Lisa fantasizes about using the spy kit to secretly learn of an upcoming trend in advance and appear cool to Janey, Sherri, and Terri for beating them to the punch.
- Irony: Homer and Agnes scaring people away from the park means there's no one around to save them when they fall down a sinkhole. Homer says, "Isn't it ironic?"... and is actually asking if it is because he can't tell.
- Jerkass: Bart surmises that Marge's mother was a jerkass for giving Petey away. Actually, the real jerkass is Petey himself.
- Jerkass Realization: Bart and Lisa feel awful over hearing Marge's disappointment with getting lousy gifts. While trying to hash out a meaningful gift to get her, they struggle to list personal details about her and subsequently feel even worse.
- Karma Houdini: Homer gets off scott-free for giving Marge what he freely admits is also a thoughtless gift before ditching her birthday party early to pursue his fad of the moment; when Lisa and Bart overhear Marge confiding in Ned, she doesn't name names and it's easy to conclude that she felt the whole family overlooked her, not just the kids. By contrast, Lisa and Bart were following an initial impulse to buy her a meaningful gift before they stumbled on something they wanted to buy for themselves, and upon discovering Marge's true feelings they spend the rest of the episode atoning for doing exactly what you'd expect two children under 11 to do. Granted, Homer's gift does cost at least some amount of money compare to a plastic bag and a guidebook, something Marge clearly noticed and is probably more upset about, with Marge clearly being happy at Homer's gift compared to her reaction to Bart and Lisa's.
- Kid Detective: Bart and Lisa wind up putting their spy kit to a lot of use as they painstakingly track down Marge's childhood pet.
- Lazy Bum: Bart and Lisa offer to help Flanders with his lawn to make some quick money. Ned, who already has a perfectly-kept lawn, takes pity on them when he realizes they want to buy a present for their mother and offers them 44 dollars to move two leaves off the sidewalk. Bart begins to retort "Both leaves?!" before Lisa elbows him for silence.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After eavesdropping on Ned and Marge talk about the party, Bart and Lisa feel terrible for giving their mom such a thoughtless gift.
- Negative Continuity:
- Lisa believes that Marge's name is short for "Margaret" and is shocked to discover it's "Marjorie." She knew when she was indulging in a rare Bart-style Calling Parents by Their Name moment in "How Lisa Got Her Marge Back".
- In a prior episode dealing with Marge's birthday ("Exit Through the Kwik-E-Mart"), Bart gifted her a rabbit, having searched pet stores until he found one resembling one she had owned as a child. Despite its similarity to this episode's plotline, this never comes up (and we have yet to see the rabbit again).
- Not So Above It All:
- Lisa goes along with buying the spy kit, feeling she could somehow use it to become popular at school. During the bus ride to Townsburg, she also joins Bart in kicking the front seat until a loose screw comes out, insisting that she knows the best way to do so.
- In the final scene, Marge happily shows off her new robe to the other moms. She knew full well that Bart and Lisa used the spy kit to fake the sound of a car accident just so that everyone would see it.
- Red Herring: Needless to say, Marge's photos of Petey are very misleading as it turns out the bird is very aggressive and possessive of Marge. While their possessive attitude may have been alluded to, the aggressive part was completely hidden and not implied in any of the photos.
- Rewatch Bonus: One of the Petey photos shows Marge crying, as the bird is being taken away. This makes the kids and the audience think Marge was deeply affected by losing Petey and would want him back. After the reveal that Petey is possessive and aggressive, Marge's crying in the photo is because she's still traumatized by all she experienced.
- Safety Freak: Homer, Agnes, and all other users of Alarmist are this, sensationalizing even the most minor of safety threats and non-threats in the name of keeping people safe... and also for clout.
- Tears of Joy: After hearing how and why they brought Petey back into her life, Marge sheds these over Bart and Lisa going to so much trouble on her behalf.
