History Recap / TheSimpsonsS10E10VivaNedFlanders

* FamousLastWords: A variation, for Flanders, whose life and Vegas changes after he says:

-->(''Agnes Skinner glares at Seymour'')
-->'''Bart:''' (''halfway outside, holding a crowbar'') You've never snuck out of church to break into cars?

* MuggedForDisguise: Hilariously subverted. While being chased, Homer and Ned grab a pair of janitors and fight them offscreen in a closet. The janitors walk away unscathed, whereas Homer and Ned collapse badly bruised.

* CallBack: The Monty Burns Casino, introduced back in Season 5's [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E10Springfield "$pringfield"]], is demolished in this episode (and Lisa brings up the events of [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E22TrashOfTheTitans "Trash of the Titans"]] when she asks why the casino -- which hasn't seen any action since "$pringfield" -- would be brought back if nobody wants it anymore). Its absence prompts Homer to take Flanders to Vegas for fun.

* TwinThreesomeFantasy: Played. Homer start to imagine the advantage of live with two wife. So, Homer's imagination conjures up himself lying in a hammock while Marge and the cocktail waitress chop wood and dig a hole, respectively.
-->'''Marge''': You know, Homey, there's so much more two wives could do for you..

* RhymesOnADime: Music/TheMoodyBlues begin a rhyming piece concerning Homer and Ned's predicament and seeming cruelty of fleeing their Vegas wives until they decide to "can the poems" when it's "ass-whooping time".

* RuleOfThree: This conversation

* SeriesContinuityError: Ned is said to be 60 years old, however previous episodes, most notably "Hurricane Neddy", had shown he was a child in TheFifties with {{Beatnik}} parents, which would make him a baby boomer (born between 1946-64) and put him in his early 50s at most.
** Though since the show is still on the air in the 2010s, Ned would indeed be in his 60s by this point.

--->'''Marge''': You know, Homey, there's so much more two wives could do for you..
--->'''Homer''': I hear digging, but I don't hear chopping!

* TwinThreesomeFantasy: Played. Homer start to imagine the advantage of live with two wife. So, Homer's imagination conjures up himself lying in a hammock while Marge and the cocktail waitress chop wood and dig a hole, respectively.
--->'''Marge''': You know, Homey, there's so much more two wives could do for you..
--->'''Homer''': I hear digging, but I don't hear chopping!

* TheCameo: Ralph Steadman's caricatures of Creator/HunterSThompson and Oscar Acosta from ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'' drive past Homer and Ned, coming from Vegas with the Raoul Duke caricature complaining there are too many kids there.

* WhatDidIDoLastNight: Homer and Ned's drunken stupor, culminating in accidentally marrying Amber and Ginger.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: In the original version, when thinking of a number to bet on, Homer has the line "Marge's birthday is April 20th, same as Hitler's..." The second FOX airing of this episode actually aired on April 20, which was also the date of the Columbine High School massacre; as a result of this, the line was changed for the third FOX airing to "Marge's birthday is July 15th, same as Lassie's..." Unfortunately, even though the replacement line only aired that one time (in syndication it's the original line), it is the version found on both FXX and the DVD.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The producers wanted to use a Music/BruceSpringsteen cover of "Viva Las Vegas" instead of the original Music/ElvisPresley rendition that's often used in television and film depictions of Las Vegas, but were unable to clear the rights for the Bruce Springsteen cover in time.

* {{Bowlderise}}: In the original version, when thinking of a number to bet on, Homer has the line "Marge's birthday is April 20th, same as Hitler's..." The second FOX airing of this episode actually aired on April 20, which was also the date of the Columbine High School massacre; as a result of this, the line was changed for the third FOX airing to "Marge's birthday is July 15th, same as Lassie's..." Unfortunately, even though the replacement line only aired that one time (in syndication it's the original line), it is the version found on both FXX and the DVD.

* EditedForSyndication: Homer's reference to Barney Gumble sharing a birthday with Adolf Hitler (April 20th) is changed on a lot of reruns (both domestic and international) to Barney sharing a birthday with Lassie the dog (July 15th). The version that airs on FXX has the July 15th line instead of the April 20th line. The original line can be found on the season 10 DVD set (though the alternate line is in the closed captions/English subtitles).

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The producers wanted to use a Music/BruceSpringsteen cover of "Viva Las Vegas" instead of the original Music/ElvisPresley rendition that's often used in television and film depictions of Las Vegas, but were unable to clear the rights for the Bruce Springsteen cover in time.

* EditedForSyndication: Homer's reference to Barney Gumble sharing a birthday with Adolf Hitler (April 20th) is changed on a lot of reruns (both domestic and international) to Barney sharing a birthday with Lassie the dog (July 15th). The version that aired on FXX during the "Every Simpsons Ever" episode had the July 15th line instead of the April 20th line. The original line can be found on the season 10 DVD set.

After Ned Flanders reveals that he's sixty years old and looks young because of his cautiousness and clean living, everyone begins pitying Ned for being a boring old man. To combat this, Ned joins Homer on a trip to Vegas, where the two gamble away their money, drink themselves stupid, and end up married to two skanky barmaids who call upon Vegas' most popular entertainers to capture them when Homer and Ned plot to divorce them.

* SoLongSuckers: Homer and Ned try to escape in a Vegas contest car with Homer even shouting this. [[SubvertedTrope They promptly get beaten up by the masses.]]

* TheCameo: Ralph Steadman's caricatures of HunterSThompson and Oscar Acosta from ''FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'' drive past Homer and Ned, coming from Vegas with the Raoul Duke caricature complaining there are too many kids there.

* EditedForSyndication: Homer's reference to Barney Gumble sharing a birthday with Adolf Hitler (April 20th) is changed on a lot of reruns (both domestic and international) to Barney sharing a birthday with Lassie the dog (July 15th).

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The producers wanted to use a Music/BruceSpringsteen cover of "Viva Las Vegas" instead of the original Music/ElvisPresley rendition, but were unable to clear the rights in time.

** It also might have something to do with the Columbine shooting which occurred on April 20th the same year this episode originally aired, only a couple months afterwards.

** It also might have something to do with the Columbine shooting which occurred on April 20th the same year this episode aired, only a couple months after this episode first aired.

While at a car wash, Homer is perplexed at how Flanders could have gotten a senior citizens discount. The following day at church, he seeks to expose Ned but discovers that Ned is really sixty years old and yet hasn't "lived a day in his life". Depressed by this revelation, Ned decides to enlist Homer's help in living life on the edge as a part of the "Homer Simpson Program".

They end up in Las Vegas where Homer encourages Ned to act on impulse, and after a bender caused by a white-wine spritzer, Ned finds himself married to a flimsy cocktail waitress named Ginger. Homer finds himself in the same predicament with Ginger's associate Amber. Homer and Ned then try to find a way to escape them, and wind up kicked out of town due to the resultant chaos they unleash.

This episode ends with the plot thread of Homer and Ned's new wives going unresolved; "Brawl in the Family" picks it up -- confirming that they never actually ''divorced'' them [[note]](though "Wedding For Disaster" reveals that Reverend Lovejoy's license to wed expired around the time that Homer divorced Marge and planned the second wedding to show how much he cared for her, meaning that Homer is actually divorced from Marge and that his wedding to Amber wasn't bigamous)[[/note]], trouble ensues when the wives arrive in Springfield to make their claims to the men.

* VivaLasVegas: The setting, naturally.

* BeingGoodSucks: Springfielders are amazed at Ned's longevity and youthfulness until he reveals how much he's deprived himself in order to attain it.
-->'''Homer:''' Jeez, Flanders, you're sixty, and you've never lived a day in you life!
-->'''Carl:''' Yeah, even the boy in the bubble had a deck of cards.

* BeingGoodSucks: Although initially proud of it, Ned immediately starts to regret his extremely straight-edge lifestyle.