History Recap / TheSimpsonsS24E21TheSagaOfCarl

* AnAesop: Friendship can mean different things to different people, there can be a vast difference in definitions of what friendship is even to people who have known each other for years.

* BlackBestFriend: {{Lampshaded}} and PlayedForLaughs when Homer, Moe and Lenny audition replacements for Carl. While they don't actually ''say'' there's a type they're looking for, their first choice just so happens to be Lou.

** Carl being adopted and not viewing the guys as friends goes against Season 22's "The Blue and The Grey" when we see he has a sister who looks just like him who dates Lenny while he dates Lenny's sister, they talk about how great it is to [[AmbiguouslyGay date someone with their best friends face]].

* TwoDecadesBehind: The two [[ShowWithinAShow Cartoon Shows]] mentioned ("Planet Jackson and the Earth Brigade" and "Ki-Ya Karate Monsters") are spoofs of WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers and WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles, which premiered decades before this episode.

* TwoDecadesBehind: The two [[ShowWithinAShow Cartoon Shows]] mentioned ("Planet Jackson and the Earth Brigade" and "Ki-Ya Karate Monsters")are spoofs of WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers and WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles, which premiered decades before this episode.

* TwoDecadesBehind: The two [[ShowWithinAShow Cartoon Shows]] mentioned are spoofs of CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers and TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles, which premiered decades before this episode.

* WeAllLiveInAmerica: Played for laughs. The Icelanders refer to Carl Carlson's family as "the Carlsons" going back a thousand years, but family names are not the same in Iceland – having the surname Carlson just means your father's first name was Carl, and you are his son. Also, the three men wonder how they're going to learn "Ancient Icelandic" to read a saga written down a thousand years ago, which would be a moot point, because modern Icelandic is practically identical to what they spoke in year 1000. Subverted in that they apparently have to teach themselves runes, but it ''still'' wouldn't sound very different.

* CerebusRetcon: A throwaway joke in Season 14 about Carl's "Icelandic boyhood" gets spun out into a story about the DarkAndTroubledPast of his adoptive family in Iceland. The episode practically serves as a {{Deconstruction}} of the WeirdAside, as Carl doesn't see his "friends" as real friends due to their lack of inquiry into the details of his life.

* FromBadToWorse: The saga originally depicts the Carlsons as cowards who merely abandoned their post when the Vikings invaded. Homer, Lenny and Moe find out from the missing page that they were still cowards and who joined in the invasion with the Vikings to pillage Iceland. Even taking part in the ritual massacre of the elderly.

* EasilyForgiven: Despite how his ancestors [[LesCollaborateurs joined in the invasion with the Vikings against their own country]], the Icelanders forgive Carl and his family after Homer, Lenny and Moe gather them together and tell them about nice things that Carl has done for them, such as helping Lenny move house, helping Moe paint his windows, and leaving beers in Homer's fridge. Granted they have been giving the Carlsons the cold shoulder for centuries after every Carlsons responsible for it are dead.

* ClearTheirName: Carl uses the money to clear the dishonour of his family name by buying the missing page of the saga that depicts them as cowards who abandoned their post only to find that his ancestors were actually worse than what the saga depicts; they were cowards who [[LesCollaborateurs worked]] ''[[LesCollaborateurs with]]'' [[LesCollaborateurs the Vikings who pillaged Iceland]].

* ContinuityNod: The Simpson kids once again want a pool. This time, with the benefit of the lottery winnings, they're planning for an in-ground one.

* RealMenHateAffection: Discussed, the gang doesn't know much about themselves since as guys they don't talk about their problem or stories, which is why Carl betrayed them: he never considered them friends but just people he has barside conversations with. This hurts Lenny deeply to the point he tries to kill Carl.

The ending implies that no one wound up

* NeverWinTheLottery: The episode revolves around Carl absconding with a winning lottery ticket jointly purchased between himself, Homer, Lenny and Moe and using the money to buy a missing page from an Icelandic text. Since he wants the page purely so that he can translate what's written on it--which his friends end up doing for him--he and his friends could sell the page afterward to recoup the cost, but [[PerpetualPoverty no one seems to think of this]].