History Recap / TheSimpsonsS6E19LisasWedding

Episode - 2F15\\
First Aired - 3/19/1995

** The fortune teller's explanation for the Death card in a Tarot deck is spot-on: it's ''not'' automatically evil, and instead demonstrates oncoming change. While The Happy Squirrel isn't a real Tarot card the one in the episode is numbered 23, which would place it after the 22nd and final Major Arcana (The World).

** The fortune teller's explanation for the Death card in a Tarot deck is spot-on: it's ''not'' automatically evil, and instead demonstrates oncoming change.

* FortuneTeller: The one who tells Lisa about her first love Hugh. She has a tent set a little bit far from the Renaissance Fair. She is quite young, attractive, and uses tarots and a crystal bowl. She says she likes predicting embarrassing futures, though.

-->'''Homer:''' Little Lisa, Lisa Simpson. You know, I always felt you were the best thing my name ever got attached to. Since the time you learned to pin your own diapers, you've been smarter than me.\\

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Intentional or not, this episode establishes Lisa to have become a vegetarian, which would happen next season in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E5LisaTheVegetarian Lisa the Vegetarian]]".

* INeverToldYouMyName / SherlockCanRead: Occurs where Lisa is talking to the fortune teller:
-->'''Fortune Teller:''' I've been waiting for you, Lisa.\\
'''Lisa:''' [''{{Gasp}}''] How did you know my name?\\
'''Fortune Teller:''' [[SubvertedTrope Your nametag.]]

* {{Irony}}: Ahead of tearing down a building, Bart is quite amused over finally being paid to do this.

* ShownTheirWork: Doris's first lines are written and delivered in perfect rhyming iambic pentameter, but subtly (unlike Homer's more deliberate attempts at poetry).

* TookALevelInKindness: Both Bart and Homer are far nicer in the future than they are at present. Both even approach Lisa when she's putting on her wedding dress with heartfelt words (although Bart is cut off when he mentions an exotic dancer).

* CharacterDevelopment: As noted under OlderAndWiser, while he's still quite dim, Homer has grown into a more easy going man in his old age. He makes many sincere efforts to bond with Hugh, and when his future son in law rejects Homer's historically significant family cufflinks, Homer makes realistically decent excuses to Lisa. The implication seems to be that Homer is aware that Hugh actively refused his gift, but he cares too much about his daughter to reveal that her fiancé hurt him. Noticeably, while Homer does play a role in the wedding's failure, it's made clear that it's really Hugh's fault, as he was intentionally spurning the Simpsons for selfish reasons, while Homer was only [[InnocentlyInsensitive accidentally offending]] Hugh with good intentions in mind.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: When initially premiered, Milhouse harboring feelings for Lisa was just one of the strange new revelations about the 15 year timeskip. In later episodes, the present version of Milhouse would have a crush on Lisa as well, making Lisa and Milhouse dating seem less surprising to viewers today.

* CryoSickness: Between "[[FloatingTimeline Now"]] and when the episode is predicted to happen, Mr. Burns was cryonically preserved and cured of "37 stab wounds to the back." He's very fragile (even moreso than the old man who was once nearly drowned by a wet sponge placed on his head weighing him down like a millstone), breaking both legs just trying to sit down.

** When Hugh introduces Homer to his parents, he's clearly dreading the worst. To his surprise, Homer winds up talking about ''Film/{{Octopussy}}''. Sure it's an awkward moment, but it’s a thousand times better than Hugh could've ever imagined, and his relieved reaction makes the audience believe that the two very different families can get along with each other. Unfortunately, it later becomes clear that Hugh has no intention of letting such a thing happen, as he plans keep his family and Lisa completely separate from the Simpsons. With this is mind, his reaction starts to feel less like he's reassured about his future family history, and more that he's reassured that Homer didn’t embarrass him in front of his folks.

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: At first Hugh seems to be a mild JerkWithAHeartOfGold. Sure, he makes his fair share of [[DeadpanSnarker snarky comments]], but they're never really mean spirited, and he acts perfectly willing to deal with the Simpsons' shenanigans due to his love for Lisa, so the audiences believes he's really a NiceGuy at heart. Then Lisa discovers that he's not wearing the generational cuff links that Homer gave him to wear for the wedding, even though Hugh promised he would. Sure, they were embarrassingly childlike and Hugh didn't realize that part before agreeing, but it's clear that he's hurt Homer's feelings in doing so, and unlike Homer's previous actions towards High, which InnocentlyInsensitive, Hugh is very well aware of what he's doing and just doesn't seem to care. Then this seems to be {{Subverted}}, as Lisa convinces him to put them on, once again making us believe he's a good guy whose willing to look a little silly if it makes Lisa and her father happy. Then this is DoubleSubverted when he then notes that once he and Lisa go off to England, he has no intention of letting her see her family again, making it clear that he cares more about his own happiness than that of Lisa's and especially her family's.

* MeetCute: Lisa and Hugh bump their heads together at a drinking fountain, he then grabs the last soy pop at the vending machine which Lisa also craved, he steals her an elevator and doesn't share it with her so she has to climb the stairs, and then even snatches the last copy of a book Lisa needs to read. Last part includes them reading the book together with a sort of reading race. Then Hugh is impressed and turned on by Lisa's knowing the definition of "stochastic", and they start making out in the library.

** While he ultimately shows himself to be a {{Jerkass}} [[ItsAllAboutMe who cares more about what he wants than what Lisa does]], Hugh at least has the decency to face the crowd and tell them that the wedding is off rather than wallowing in his own self pity. Although, it's telling that he'd choose to do this rather than go after and fight for Lisa, showing that even when he knows that his refusal to see Lisa's family has ruined their relationship, he's not willing to change his mind to save it.

* TinMan: A librarian catches Lisa with her fiancé-to-be, and questions aloud how two so opposite personalities could ever fall in love. A bystander comments, "How would you know, you're a robot?", prompting the robot librarian to shed a SingleTear ... which then turns into OcularGushers and [[NoWaterproofingInTheFuture causes her head to catch fire]]. Then it happens again when said fiancé proposes; the two robots hiding in the bushes to implement plan B also start crying, causing their faces to melt.

** At the beginning of the episode, Lisa is clearly appalled by Homer's boorish behavior at the Renaissance fair and has nothing but sarcastic quips for him. Once she's seen the fortune teller's vision and realizes how much he loves her, though, she treats him far more kindly and happily listens to him go on about his day the fair.

* {{Zeerust}}: For the most part this is played for comic effect, with the technology of 2010 being depicted via a mixture of "futuristic" versions of devices that were already considered outdated when the episode was made (i.e. a video call phone that uses rotary dialling) and things that the creators knew full well wouldn't yet be invented by the time 2010 actually rolled around. However, a couple of things -- including watches that allow you to make phone calls, and bars with VirtualReality games -- only stand out as being this in that they're depicted as being present a little too early in the decade.

-->'''Lunchlady Doris:''' Yon meat, 'tis sweet as summer's wafting breeze.\\

'''Homer:''' Sweet maiden of the spit, grant now my boon, that I might sup on some suckling pig this noon.\\

* SeparatedByACommonLanguage: When Marge talks to Lisa, who is spending her summer with her boyfriend in England, she tells her she should remember that an elevator is a "lift", a mile is called a "kilometer"[[note]]Actually, the UK primarily uses miles, not kilometers - though to be fair, this may have changed in the future within this episode's timeline.[[/note]] and botulism is "steak-and-kidney pie".

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: The first full FlashForward episode.

* {{Videophone}}: Showcased a conversation between Lisa and Marge using a "picture phone". Marge kept forgetting that Lisa could see her over the phone, and her body language made it more obvious to tell when she was lying.

** When Lisa goes to the library, she finds out that the book she needed has already been checked out. The librarian points out the person who got it, which seems to be Hugh, who'd been getting on Lisa's nerves all day (and prompts a "No, not ''him!''") reaction. Then the man turns around, revealing that it's someone entirely different who just happens to be wearing the same clothing, and Lisa breathes a sigh of relief. And then Hugh enters the shot, taking the book and thanking the man for holding onto it while he tied his shoes.

* SeparatedByACommonLanguage: When Marge talks to Lisa, who is spending her summer with her boyfriend in England, she tells her she should remember that an elevator is a "lift", a mile is called a "kilometer"[[note]]Actually, the UK uses miles, not kilometers.[[/note]] and botulism is "steak-and-kidney pie".

** Bart, fairly popular in elementary school and proud of his position in the school food chain, is a wrecking ball operator and a double divorcee in his mid-twenties who hits strip clubs to meet girls. (He's pretty happy with his job, though.) He plans to get to law school, though it sounds hilariously delusional. In a previous episode, he does end up [[ContinuityNod becoming a Supreme Court justice]].

** When Homer hasn't exactly made a good impression on Hugh, but it seems like he’s starting to get somewhere when he tells him about his father's and his wedding cufflinks, asking that Hugh were them for the wedding. Hugh appears to be genuinely touched by this and agrees. [[BaitAndSwitch He then sees that the cufflinks are a childish pig design.]] This winds up being more important than it initially appears to be, as mentioned below.