History YMMV / TheSimpsonsS22E17LoveIsAManyStrangledThing

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Dr Zander may have caused Homer to be traumatized by his son, but it's hard not to feel sorry for him when he's reduced to PerpetualPoverty and ends up getting sued for what little he had left when it was clear all he wanted to do was help.

* TakeThatScrappy:
** Dr. Zander does get in trouble for it, but it's pretty satisfying to see him strangle Bart for [[CallousnessTowardsEmergency his thoughtlessness towards Homer getting hanged]].
** For some, Homer getting harassed by Bart for the constant abuse he put him through for the past 22 seasons.

** The episode in general, as some consider it one of the worst episodes of the series (next to "My Sister, My Sitter", "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace", "The Boys of Bummer") due to Bart's JerkassBall towards Homer, especially when he leaves him to get ''hanged''. Others, however, find the episode funny regardless and think the concept of Homer not having to strangle Bart is rather innovative.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Homer Simpson. While Bart manages to take advantage of him when he's unable to hurt him, it seems that the producers were trying to make the audience feel sorry for him. The problem is that he has done years of abuse on Bart and it seemed that Bart's behavior on him is more of a KickTheSonOfABitch than being a sociopath.

* MoralEventHorizon: Bart arguably crosses it when he takes advantage of the fact Homer is more passive towards him now and even ''leaves him for dead'' at one point during a test orchestrated by a psychologist.

* BrokenAesop: The show seems to finally address long-time complaints regarding Homer's physical abuse of Bart by strangling him ... however, they handle this quite poorly since the moment Homer stops abusing his son, Bart becomes an absolute sociopathic terror, literally torturing his own father and many of the citizens of Springfield (including his teachers, the school principal, and even the police chief). It pretty much strongly insinuates some children deserve to be abused to curb their otherwise dangerous behavior. Could also be seen as a FamilyUnfriendlyAesop in the long-term since Homer does return to strangling Bart in future episodes.
* MoralEventHorizon: Bart arguably crosses it when he takes advantage of the fact Homer is more passive towards him now and even ''leaves him for dead'' at one point during a test orchestrated by a psychologist.

* BrokenAesop: The show seems to finally address long-time complaints regarding Homer's physical abuse of Bart by strangling him ... however, they handle this quite poorly since the moment Homer stops abusing his son, Bart becomes an absolute sociopathic terror, literally torturing his own father and many of the citizens of Springfield (including his teachers, the school principal, and even the police chief). It pretty much strongly insinuates some children deserve to be abused to curb their otherwise dangerous behavior, and the only thing keeping it from becoming a full-blown FamilyUnfriendlyAesop is that in the end Homer doesn't return to strangling Bart.

* MoralEventHorizon: Bart arguably crosses it when he takes advantage of the fact Homer is more passive towards him now and even ''leaves him for dead'' at one point during a test orchestrated by a psychologist.