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Context Recap / TheSimpsonsS18E9KillGilVolumesIAndII

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1'''Original air date:''' 12/17/2006
2
3'''Production code:''' JABF-01
4
5In the 2006 Christmas episode, when Gil loses his job on Christmas Eve after giving away the present for his boss's daughter, the Simpsons take him in. However, he soon takes advantage of their generosity and moves in, with Marge unable to throw him out. Meanwhile, Homer is stalked and harassed by a Grinch-like character he fought at an ice show.
6
7!!Examples:
8* AlienBlood: After Homer knocks out the Grumple with a bottle to the eye, a yellowish green substance leaks out of the wound.
9-->'''Homer:''' What the hell is this thing?
10* BaitAndSwitch:
11** When the Simpsons arrive at Gil's real estate agency, Homer realizes he left Santa's Little Helper in the car, gasping. He immediately dashes back... and tells the dog that there's water underneath the seat.
12** When Gil (as a mall Santa) asks Lisa what her Christmas wish is, she says that what she wants can't be bought at any store. Gil took this to mean Lisa wanted world peace, but she was really referring to a Malibu Stacy doll set that was sold out everywhere (though Lisa does clarify that wishing for world peace is a given).
13* BookEnds: Both of Gil's bosses get the same facial close-up which showcases the extreme bulldog-like flabbiness of their cheeks when they holler out "you're fired!".
14* CardboardBoxOfUnemployment: When Gil is fired from the real estate agency, someone brings him a box [[KickTheDog that turns out to be empty and tells him to put his stuff there]]. He's dismayed that he can't live in it.
15* ChristmasEpisode: The episode takes place during almost an entire year, with the Christmas season bookending.
16* ComicBookTime: The episode covers ''two'' Simpson Christmases and a whole year during which Gil [[TheThingThatWouldNotLeave lives with the family]] between said holidays.
17* CompressedVice: Marge Simpson, the worry-wart nag that continuously tells her family "no" to everything they wish to do (no matter how innocuous it seems at first glance), occasionally finds pleasure in forcing the town into shutting down stuff because she (and she alone) hates it, and has developed an InUniverse reputation as the biggest nay-sayer in town, suddenly needs a whole (InUniverse) year to find the determination (and rage) to tell someone "no" (complete with sudden FreudianExcuse).
18* ADayInTheLimelight: Gil is an important character in this episode instead of a one-off joke like usual.
19* {{Determinator}}: Marge is so determined to have the final word regarding the situation with Gil (by telling him "no") that when she finds out that the man had already left, she drives several states over to scream the word to his face.
20* DisproportionateRetribution:
21** In a FlashbackCut, when Marge refuses to hide Patty and Selma's cigarettes in her dollhouse, they jam her into it.
22** Much to Marge's [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone eventual shame]], her desire to tell Gil "no" to something, ''anything'', becomes this. She fully expected to just go "no, you can't stay at my home anymore" when she made the decision, but then she decides that it's a good idea to drive several states over to Gil's new hometown and barge into his workplace and scream the word to his face... which gets him humiliated and ''fired'' in short order.
23* EskimosArentReal: Moe doesn't believe Elvis Stojko has a girlfriend in Vancouver and doesn't believe in Vancouver either.
24* GirlfriendInCanada: Elvis Stojko responds to Moe's belief that all male figure skaters are gay by claiming to have a girlfriend in Vancouver. Moe thinks Stojko made up the girlfriend ''and'' the city.
25* HereWeGoAgain: Marge [[MadeOutToBeAJerkass feels so guilty over getting Gil fired again]] that she and the family buy a summer home from him.
26* HypocriticalHumor: Homer is exasperated by Marge's inability to get rid of Gil, but the thought of attempting to do so himself never seems to cross his mind.
27* InformedPoverty: [[{{Exaggerated}} Homer claims to only make $6000 a year, but the family has enough to buy a summer home in Arizona]].
28* InnerThoughtsOutsiderPuzzlement: "Marge, I have ''no'' idea what you were just [[{{Flashback}} thinking]] about. [[LampshadeHanging Why would you think I did?]]"
29* {{Irony}}: After all those months trying to find the strength to say 'no' to Gil and tell him to leave her house, Marge finds out he already left on his own. And after so many months of one act of pity (and gratefulness) driving her up the wall, she is the one that puts him in the poor house again.
30* KickTheDog:
31** One of the co-workers of Gil's second job brings him a cardboard box... and then drops the box at his feet, telling him to put his stuff there.
32** Marge ''just'' had decided she wouldn't feel satisfied about Gil leaving unless she had the last word (that being yelling the word "no" to his face), even if that meant driving several states over and march right into his workplace to raise a ruckus. At least she felt regret about getting him fired again.
33* ALessonLearnedTooWell: After going through the entire episode unable to say 'No', Marge finally finds the strength to do it. Unfortunately, she goes overboard by going all the way to Gil's new workplace (in ''Arizona'') to tell him off (by performing an angry rant about how he fed her up and ''screaming it to his face''), getting him fired again.
34* ShoutOut: The title is a reference to ''Film/KillBill''.
35* StrawLoser: Gil, even more extremely than usual. He loses jobs so often that he keeps all of his worldly possessions in a locker over on the bus station, takes a single act of kindness ("you can spend the night") as an invitation to spend ''months'', and the two times he gets fired on-screen are incredibly humiliating acts courtesy of the PointyHairedBoss-du-jour and his co-workers (who won't even give him a cardboard box for his stuff).
36* TakeThat: To former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen's repeated and hopeless runs for President.
37--> '''Gil''': Who wants some eggs a la Harold Stassen?\
38''(Bart and Lisa look blankly)''
39--> '''Gil''': They're always running!
40* TakingAdvantageOfGenerosity: Gil doesn't do it intentionally, but he doesn't show respect for the Simpsons' space when they offer for him to stay at their house and he spends most of a year doing nothing but making the family angry with his mooching before he goes out to find a new job.
41* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: Gil Gunderson spends (almost) a whole year with the Simpsons partially because Marge can't bring herself to say "no" to that (and the rest of the family won't say it... loudly) and because Gil is such a loser that he can't compute the multiple subtle hints that he's overstayed his welcome.
42* TimePassesMontage: We're treated to the ExplodingCalendar variant which intercuts between various moments in the year to show how Gil is grating on the Simpsons' nerves.
43* TwoDecadesBehind: Gil's joke about Harold Stassen. Stassen died in 2001, five years before this episode first aired, and his last even token run for President of the USA was in 1992.
44* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Lisa asks a MallSanta--Gil--for a sold-out Malibu Stacy set. He tips her off to the location of one, which gets him fired on Christmas Eve and causes Marge to feel an obligation to him.
45* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: It's far enough from Arizona that driving all the way there is a serious sign of Marge's determination, and the fact that it's dry actually surprises them.
46* YankTheDogsChain: Gil ''does'' manages to find a lucrative job and even becomes respected by his co-workers with a reputation for always getting his clients to buy... and then in comes Marge, marching in all the way from Springfield (wherever it is) just for the opportunity to tell him "no", and in the space of thirty seconds humiliates him so badly that he gets fired.

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