YMMV / The Simpsons S8 E21: "The Old Man and the Lisa"

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • There's a good chance Skinner knocked into that tree on purpose to spite the hippie.
  • Did Mr. Burns not know that his recycling plant wasn't something Lisa would approve of, or did he play none the wiser for the desire to piss her off?
• Aluminum Christmas Trees: While Homer experiencing four simultaneous heart attacks (followed by a fifth while hospitalized when Lisa tells him what the check from her share of the recycling plant was worth much more than he thought) sounds improbable enough to be written off as a joke to illustrate his utter shock of seeing Lisa reject a $12 million check from Mr. Burns, it actually is possible to suffer multiple heart attacks in a short timespan, although such occurrences are rarely survivable. In one notable case, in December 2023, British actor Mark Sheppard (best known for his recurring role as Crowley in Supernatural) suffered six massive heart attacks resulting from a total blockage of his left anterior descending artery; Sheppard luckily survived the “widowmaker” incident, although he revealed in an Instagram post that he flatlined four times, each time successfully being resuscitated by medics.
• Genius Bonus: There wasn’t a company named Congreve’s Inflammable Powders; however, there was a British military man named William Congreve who made some advancements in gunpowder.
• Harsher in Hindsight: During the news report of Burns going broke, it's mentioned that he somehow stole Christmas from 1981 to 1985. A later episode reveals that, in the future, he managed to steal Christmas permanently, and the scholarship he was required to offer as reparations was supposed to be for Lisa (who helps him regain his fortune in this episode), only for her to get screwed out of it.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • While at the grocery store, Mr. Burns accidentally gets stuck in the refrigerated milk section, with a worker saying "Yeah, those dairy cases are death traps." In the following season's "Lisa the Simpson", Jasper gets stuck in the Kwik-E-Mart's freezer and is frozen inside.
  • When Lisa and Burns team up to earn money by recycling, Homer asks Bart why he isn't making any business deals, and Bart replies "I'll do it this afternoon!" in an annoyed tone. Just two episodes later, Bart would become the owner of a factory (and for only one dollar, no less).
• Nausea Fuel: The scene of dead sea animals getting turned to a bloody pulp (Lil' Lisa Slurry) is really disgusting, and the worst part is when Burns tries to give Lisa some of the Slurry, causing her to start going around the town to stop recycling.
• One-Scene Wonder: Bret Hart as the new owner of Burns' Manor.
• Unintentional Period Piece: The cameo by Bret Hart very specifically dates the episode to before the Montreal Screwjob, the incident of which would irrevocably damage Hart's career.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Lisa's given $12 million dollars from Burns as part of her share in the recycling project. Knowing where the money came from, she chooses to rip the check up. Not only does that mean Burns still has the $12 million, the fact that she'd rather make a symbolic gesture of having standards instead of doing literally anything with that much money to help the environment or repair the damage Burns caused on the ocean makes her come across as a shortsighted fool. She even tells Homer to his face, right after he had four simultaneous heart attacks seeing her throw away that money, that the amount was much bigger than he thought and thus causes another heart attack.

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