History Recap / TheSimpsonsS9E14DasBus

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The episode shows that trapping a bunch of kids alone on a deserted island is more likely to lead to slow, agonizing madness than quirky misadventures. In particular, much of their negative behavior from their society carries over here, such as blaming others for their situation, picking on certain individuals they don't like and generally bickering amongst themselves.

* NoEnding: {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d when narrator Creator/JamesEarlJones says that the kids were eventually rescued by "Oh... let's say Moe". Justified, in that ''Lord of the Flies'' has a similar anticlimatic ending.

** Lisa is the only one who doesn't laugh at Skinner's boneing joke, prompting Bart to tell her to lighten up. When she laughs at Skinner telling Milhouse to do some serious boneing, Bart tells her to grow up.

** Bart tries to convince the children to built a group of treehouses while they are on the island, just like in ''Film/SwissFamilyRobinson''. Naturally reality is not as fun as in this movie.

-->'''God''': The secret of life is—

* YourTelevisionHatesYou: A CreditsPushback happened just before "the secret of life" was revealed.

--> '''God''': The secret of life is--\\

* DeusExMachina: At the end of the episode, Creator/JamesEarlJones, in a voiceover narration role, says that they were eventually saved by "...oh, let's say, Moe"

* LuckyTranslation: The episode ends with the kids stranded on a desert island. The narrator says that they were saved by "Oh...Let's say Moe", clearly making it up on the moment. In the Italian translation, Moe is called "Boe", which is homophone with the expression boh (meaning roughly "I dunno"). This adds an extra layer of wordplay to the narrator's clear lack of interest.

* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: Marge responds to Homer telling her about his internet business the same way Homer responded to Flanders telling him about his *("Internet,* eh?")

* WrongGenreSavvy: When the entire class gets stranded on an island, Bart is convinced that this is a castaway story like ''Literature/TheSwissFamilyRobinson''. Sadly for him, they're actually in ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' which isn't like that.[[note]]It really, ''really'', isn't. In fact, this is probably a direct reference to the equally WrongGenreSavvy characters in that book, who compared their situation to books such as ''Literature/TreasureIsland,'' ''Literature/SwallowsAndAmazons'' and ''The Coral Island'', anticipating a fun time like Bart.[[/note]]

** Ralph's facepaint resembles Music/{{KISS}} drummer Peter Criss's makeup.

* WrongGenreSavvy: When the entire class gets stranded on an island, Bart is convinced that this is a castaway story like ''Literature/TheSwissFamilyRobinson''. Sadly for him, they're actually in ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' which isn't like that.[[note]]It really, ''really'', isn't.[[/note]]

* JerkassBall: Milhouse is at the height of his cowardice and selfishness here. While he didn't eat all the food in the cooler, he still ate more than his fair share, proceeded to accuse his defense attorney (Lisa) of the crime he was accused of, and is a DirtyCoward who forces Bart and Lisa to help him and then leaves them behind to the angry mob.

* JerkassBall: Milhouse is at the height of his cowardice and selfishness here.

* AbsenteeActor: Moe makes no appearance in the episode, even though the narrator claims he's the one who eventually rescued the children.

* ExactWords: When Nelson says [[BaitAndSwitchComment Milhouse's glasses will help to make a fire]], it seems he'll use them to focus sun rays. He instead uses them and a rock to make friction.

Springfield Elementary's Model U.N. participants (including Bart and Lisa) wind up stranded on an island when their bus goes off a bridge. Meanwhile, Homer tries to start an Internet company — despite that he has no business plan, no computer, and no knowledge of the Internet.

** Nelson takes Milhouse's glasses to start a fire with it, as if to use them to focus the sun's rays. But then he proceeds to grab a rock and strike it against the glasses lens to create sparks.

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Part of Bart's fantasy about the island paradise he envisions are monkey butlers who will serve the children drinks and regale them with jungle stories at night.

* NotHelpingYourCase: Milhouse doesn't even admit he picked part of the food and when Lisa asks him if she could see someone else who could he points to Lisa, who has to explain she is his ''defense attorney'' and he might want to not shun her away for no reason.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Bart of all people shows a surprising amount of clemency as the de facto leader of the children, giving Milhouse a fair trial and finding him not guilty due to lack of incriminating evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. It's deconstructed of course, as his rational authority alone can't quell an angry mob.