History Recap / TheSimpsonsS10E3BartTheMother

* EndOfAnAge: This was the last ''Simpsons'' episode to use the production code "#F##", the last ''Simpsons'' episode to feature Creator/PhilHartman (playing Troy [=McClure=]), and also the last full-length ''Simpsons'' episode written by David S. Cohen,[[note]]His last ''Simpsons'' work was the "Treehouse of Horror IX" story "Starship Poopers."[[/note]] who became executive producer and head writer for ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', adopting the name "David X. Cohen" there.

Bart's troublemaking claims the life of a bird, and in repentance, he decides to take care of the eggs in its nest -- until he learns that the abandoned baby birds are actually reptilian pests who feed off birds.

* YourTomcatIsPregnant: Bart operates under the assumption that his lizards are male and names them Chirpy Boy and Bart Junior. The fact that they could breed implies one of them was female.[[note]]It's also possible they could have ''both'' been female and reproduced via parthenogenesis, as some populations of whiptail lizards can.[[/note]]

* SpringtimeForHitler: Bart never wanted to kill the bird, and tries to intentionally miss the bird when he goes to shoot it after being coerced by Nelson, only to accidentally land a direct hit on it because of the crooked sight (even though the ''[[EpicFail entire gun]]'' was clearly pointing elsewhere).

* BreadEggsMilkSquick: When the eggs finally hatch.
-->'''Marge:''' I see a foot!\\
'''Lisa:''' I see an eye!\\
'''Bart:''' I see a neck!\\
'''Homer:''' [[WhamLine I see a horn!]]\\
'''Lisa:''' ''(Confused)'' A horn?\\
''(The eggs hatch, revealing lizards)''

* ChewOutFakeOut: After Bart reveals that he began taking care of the dead bird's eggs, Marge looks a bit disapproving at first and prepares to scold him ... but then she couldn't bear herself to do it [[SoProudOfYou and forgives Bart by giving him a hug]].

-->'''Skinner''': It has nasty plans for the booby, the titmouse, the woodcock, and the titpecker.
* EasilyForgiven: Once the lizards Bart released turned out to eat only pigeons, Skinner has no trouble admitting he was wrong and practically congratulates Bart.

* IDidntMeanToKillHim: Bart tried to explain to Marge that killing the bird was an accident. She doesn't buy it.
* IHaveNoSon: [[DownplayedTrope While she didn't really disown Bart nor kick him out of the house]], Marge's deciding that her constant punishments of Bart never sink in and concluding that he can do whatever he wants has this sort of effect. She forgives Bart only when she discovers him taking care of the eggs as a way of repentance.

* SayMyName: Marge shouts for Bart to come downstairs to help folding his father's underpants. Homer then says he'll get him down, and yells "'''''BAAAAAAAAART!!!'''''" so loudly it reverberates through the house.

** Because of the KillerGorilla belief at the time, Skinner believes that gorillas eat snakes. Naturally, gorillas are herbivores and only eat termites to aid in digestion.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Skinner says the Bolivian tree lizards were the ones behind the extinction of the dodo, but we all know perfectly well mankind itself was the one species behind the tragic fate of the dodo.[[note]]Although invasive species ''did'' play a major part as well, one could argue that this was still the fault of humanity, as the invasive species would not have been involved at all if the humans hadn't introduced them.[[/note]]

* AccidentalAimingSkills: How Bart kills the bird.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The life cycle of the Bolivian tree lizard as described by Skinner, in which one species lays eggs in the nest of another which then unwittingly cares for the eggs, is a form of brood parasitism resembling the kind that certain species of birds, such as cuckoos, practice on other birds. However, no reptile practices brood parasitism for the critical reason that reptiles don't ''need'' anyone to raise their eggs; reptile eggs don't require sitting, and most newly-hatched reptiles are already independent without the need for parents to take care of them.

* WhamLine: When the eggs are hatching, Homer says...
-->'''Homer:''' I see a horn!

* WingPull: Just when Chirpy Boy and Bart Jr. look like they're going to be sent hurdling off a building, it turns out they have gliding membranes like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draco_volans flying dragon lizards]], which allow them to parachute down unharmed.
-->'''Lisa:''' Wow, did you know they had those webbed flaps for gliding?\\
'''Skinner:''' Yes. [[AcrophobicBird But I was hoping they didn't know that.]]

* SayMeName: Marge shouts for Bart to come downstairs to help folding his father's underpants. Homer then says he'll get him down, and yells "'''''BAAAAAAAAART!!!'''''" so loudly it reverberates through the house.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Bart is a troublemaker, but he's horrified with himself for killing a bird and accepts Marge has every right to punish him. In fact, the poor kid had no intention of killing the bird at all, despite Nelson's taunting, and was aiming to miss.

* ShaggyDogStory: Of a sort. The mother bird Bart shot was apparently doomed anyway, as the lizards parasitizing her nest would have killed her when they hatched, and from there they would have presumably done exactly what they wound up doing anyway--starting a booming lizard population in Springfield. Although Bart is honored at the end for saving the lizards, he only needed to save them because he and Marge asked the Springfield Birdwatching Society for help identifying them.