Be Careful What You Wish For, Homer...
Original air date: 10/3/1991
Production code: 7F23
Ned Flanders announces during one of his barbecues that he's quitting his job as a pharmacist and going into business for himself by running a specialty store catering to the left-handed, but Homer secretly wishes for him to fail. Meanwhile, Marge encourages Bart to do other things with his time rather than watch TV, so Bart takes karate lessons — and skips them for time at the arcade.
This episode provides examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Homer shouts "No tag-backs!" at a girl who attempts one on Bart, but has a good laugh about the girl's comeback when Bart accuses her of cheating on that basis ("You lie like a fly with a booger in its eye").Homer: The fly was funny, and the booger was the icing on the cake!
- All for Nothing: Subverted. Ned saving the Leftorium eventually seems like it was pointless when competition reduces it to a kiosk, and Ned permanently closes due to poor business. On the other hand, the Leftorium proved to be a big success while it was viable, allowing Ned to support his family for dozens of seasons. The problem was that as a mom-and-pop operation, the Leftorium was outdone by big box stores in a way no wish could've stopped.
- An Aesop:
- For Homer: Wishing suffering on another person is wrong and you'll regret it later on.
- For Bart: Don't lie about having fighting skills, because you may not be able to back up those claims when it matters.
- And Show It to You: Bart claims he learned how to do this in karate class.
- Back for the Finale: Sort of. This was intended to be the finale for Season Two in production order, and features a mass amount of cameos of nearly every character from the first couple of seasons.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Homer wishes that Flanders' store goes bankrupt, but once it actually happens and he witnesses the family begin to suffer as a result, he feels guilty about it.
- Big Brother Instinct: Despite messing with Lisa using the entire "karate" charade, Bart had the decency to ask his sister if she was okay when she was crying about having her saxophone taken by the bullies. Unfortunately, this leads to the end of said charade.
- Chekhov's Gun: The left-handed citizens that Homer meets throughout the episode prove imperative for saving the Leftorium during the climax.
- Couch Gag: The Simpsons do an Egyptian dance before jumping on the couch in a "Ta-da" pose.
- A Day in the Limelight: This was the first episode to focus on Ned Flanders.
- Entitled Bastard: Downplayed, but Homer still displays some traits of this.Homer: Hello, Jerry. Homer Simpson. Remember last month when I paid back that loan? Well, now I need you to do a favor for me.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Homer thinks that outright wishing for Ned to die would be going too far, but not wishing he'd go broke and lose his store… Until it actually happens. When he is faced with the reality, he realizes he really doesn't want it to happen after all.
- During the montage of Homer calling around Springfield, we see an unnamed married couple. The wife, holding the phone, tells her husband, sleeping on the couch, that Homer Simpson is on the phone to which he tiredly says he doesn't want to talk to Homer. As soon as the wife mentions Homer is calling to get help for Ned Flanders the husband leaps to his feet while yelling "Ned Flanders is in trouble!?".
- Evil Laugh: Homer at the end of the barbecue scene. Unfortunately for him, he had a mouthful of burger at the time, causing him to choke partway through the laugh and for Ned to have to perform the Heimlich maneuver on him.
- Fictional Video Game: After playing Touch of Death at the arcade, Bart claims to know the "Touch of Death" technique, trying it on his sister and some bullies. There is also a ''Nurse and Michael Jackson arcade game.
- Gratuitous German: Lisa tells Homer about Schadenfreude, the German term for taking pleasure in the suffering of others. This leads Homer to ask what's the opposite of that; when she replies that would be "sour grapes," he believes that it's another German word, saying "Boy, those Germans have a word for everything.".
- Green-Eyed Monster: Homer. He breaks out of it when he sees Ned's life being wrecked all around him.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Bart skipping his karate lessons and threatening Lisa with the "Touch of Death" comes back to bite him when Lisa threatens the bullies with Bart.
- Hope Spot: A bill collector comes to Homer's house, accidentally thinking it's the Flanders household. When Homer sets him straight, the man says, "You're Homer Simpson? See you Thursday.".
- Hypocrite: Despite Lisa lambasting Homer for his "Schadenfreude" towards Ned, she takes only smug amusement in Bart getting beaten up by some bullies (after she shanghaied him into defending her no less).
- I Know Mortal Kombat: Hilariously deconstructed and lampooned. When on the grill by Homer and Marge at dinner for what he learned at his first karate class, Bart pulls out of his hat that he learned the "Touch of Death", something which he took directly from a video game he played when he ditched class. When karma comes to bite him in the ass for harassing Lisa with the "Touch of Death" by pitting him up against Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney, all of that non training really pays off when he doesn't know the first thing about how to defend himself and just wimply tries to look menacing by posing his hand.
- Irony: The bill collector who accidentally knocks on the wrong house (he meant to go to Ned's house) says an ironic statement:Homer: Flanders is in debt? Are you sure?
Chuck Ellis: We don't make mistakes. - It's All My Fault: Homer says exactly this when Flanders loses his house. The reality of the situation is, while Homer certainly didn't help Flanders with his store, he's actually far from the reason it's failing.
- Jerkass Ball: For years, the writers used this episode as the limit for how much of a jerk Homer could be. Of course one hell of a Jerkass Realization still set some sort of limit here.
- Karma Houdini: The bullies received no comeuppance for trying to steal Lisa's saxophone.
- Kick the Dog: When Ned has a garage sale out of desperation, Homer takes advantage of it and buys a lot of his stuff for next to nothing. He feels bad later on and decides to give his stuff back.
- Laser-Guided Broadcast: Combined with a bit of Your Television Hates You for Marge, who bemoans Bart wasting his life in front of the TV, only for a commerical for karate lessons to instantly play and take Bart's interest.Homer: See Marge, you knocked TV and then it helped you out. I think you owe somebody a little apology. *points to TV*Marge: *grumbles*
- Laser-Guided Karma: Bart's skipping karate class because he didn't want to study comes back to bite him. While he believes Akira's methods are old-fashioned and not worth it, proper training (such as studying instead of playing arcade games) is completely necessary as to prevent injury to the user and instill in them responsibility and discipline with the power and self-motivation that the martial arts grant in due time. When Bart tries to fight the bullies without training, he gets his ass handed to him while trying to get Lisa's sax back.Lisa: It's funny how two wrongs sometimes make a right.
- To a lesser extent, Bart taunts Homer about not going to the barbeque by gorging on food. The B-plot is about Marge signing him up for a martial arts class to make him lose weight, though it was partially his idea.
- Le Parkour: Bart demonstrates incredible skill at Parkour by running from an electronics store where he had been watching cartoons to get back to the dojo on the other side of a crowded mall in time to fool Homer that Bart isn't ditching.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Despite the subtle inklings of Homer "cursing" Flanders, it is made clear the latter is not doing a brilliant job promoting his Leftorium, and going in relying on his optimism and good natured (and occasionally doormat-ish) sale making. Sure enough Flanders is not making ends meet, with the store risking shut down and his family risking losing their home due to the large investment they made on it. It takes Homer widespread advertising the store to get his business back on foot.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Homer, after seeing Flanders' store going bankrupt. Although he's far from the reason the store is failing, he still does everything in his power to set things right.
- National Stereotypes: The karate teacher is of course a Japanese man. However, as a bit of a Continuity Nod, it's Akira, the Happy Sumo waiter from "One Fish Two Fish Blowfish Blue Fish".
- Necessarily Evil: After Ned's home is foreclosed, Ned tells Homer that the agent who evicted his family was only doing his job.
- NOT!: When Flanders invites Homer to his BBQ ("Nummy-nummy-num!") Homer eagerly accepts, then shuts the door and mutters "Notty-notty-not".
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: As Flanders mopes in his failure to Homer, who is already undergoing a Heel Realization for basking in his struggles, the former laments it's almost like since the barbecue he has been cursed. This causes Homer to break down in Tears of Remorse.
- Oblivious to Hatred: Flanders interprets Homer's mocking of the Leftorium at the barbecue as a sincere attempt to warn him about gambling his family's financial stability on a risky idea.
- Parental Obliviousness: Yes Marge, Bart would obviously be taught something so dangerous and killer as "The Touch of Death" by a publicly accessible martial arts school out at the mall.
- Pacifist Dojo: One of the many reasons why Akira's dojo is able to be successful enough to have a commercial in the first place. The first thing students learn when they start? Reading up on Sun Tzu's Art Of War. Bart immediately walks out in response to this.
- Pursue the Dream Job: Ned Flanders quits his job as a pharmacist and opens a specialty store catering to the left-handed. Deconstructed when his business nearly goes under and the Flanders are forced to move away; reconstructed when Homer gathers everyone in town who's left-handed to come to his store.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Upon finding out that the karate lessons weren't as much fun as he expected, Bart quits within seconds of the first class.Bart: Pay money to read books. The hell with this.
- Shout-Out:
- Homer rallying the townspeople to save Ned's store echoes the ending of It's a Wonderful Life. Maude is also wearing the dress that Donna Reed's character wore. She even makes the same expression in one close-up.
- Kearney calls Bart "Karate Kid".
- A Sinister Clue: One of the left-handed Springfield residents who turn up to buy things at the Leftorium at the end of this episode is Mr. Burns, the show's main antagonist.
- Stepford Smiler: Ned tries to put on a brave face for his family after their forced to live in their car, but while talking with Homer he can't maintain the charade and cries over letting his family down.
- Superficial Suggestion Box: The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant has a suggestion box, but it's pretty clear that Mr. Burns ignores all the suggestions, using them as an excuse to mock his employees.
- Triumphant Reprise: When the Leftorium is about to close down, Ned's family sings "Put on a Happy Face" to cheer themselves up. After Homer saves the store, they sing the song again, this time in celebration of the store's success.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Marge doesn't show any gratitude to the Simpsons' TV despite the ad for the karate school answering her concerns about Bart sitting idle all day. Homer even Lampshades this.
