Original air date: 5/22/2002
Production code: DABF-17
Homer starts a new security company and gets in trouble with Fat Tony.
Tropes:
- 555: Springshield's phone number starts with 636-555.
- As Long as There Is One Man: Parodied with a speech from Homer that ends with him admitting that the mafia only has to kill him and two other people at which point they'll have control of the town.
- Bait-and-Switch Gunshot: Just as Fat Tony and his gang are about to shoot Homer, they are wounded by an unseen shooter. When Chief Wiggum appears to take back his job, everyone assumes it was him, but he confesses that they took away his gun when he was fired. Camera then tilts up to the upstairs window, where Maggie is holding a rifle.
- Big Damn Heroes: Maggie shoots Fat Tony and the other mobsters to protect Homer.
- Bittersweet Ending: Fat Tony's attempted hit on Homer is foiled by Maggie, but Homer, disgusted by how no one in Springfield was willing to help him after all he did for the town, disbands SpringShield and gives Wiggum his job back.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Homer's long list of jobs he had in up to this point includes the second to the last one he mentioned, "homophobe", a call back to "Homer's Phobia".
- Brick Joke: The butterfly that screams when it burns up in the opening was the screamapillar from the previous episode.
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Jimbo gets out of Juvie and proceeds to steal Lisa’s Malibu Stacey dolls. The fact he’s just been released is a bonus for Homer, who has no idea where the facility is.
- Cardboard Prison: SpringShield arrest Fat Tony and the rest of the mafia. In the next scene they make a threat to kill Homer over the radio, implying they were released right after they were arrested.
- Choosy Beggar: When Homer is begging the townsfolk to help him out fight against the mob no one is willing to stand up for him. Only Flanders offers to help him... Help Homer immediately refuses just for being Flanders.
- Continuity Cavalcade: Along with the long list below, the time Maggie shot Mr. Burns is brought up.
- Dirty Coward: Lenny and Carl lock themselves in a cell so they won't have to help Homer face the mobsters.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Wiggum points out that nobody made the citizens loot like crazy.
- End of an Age: Season 13 is the final full season to be entirely animated with cel animation. Season 14 would see the show transition to digital animation.
- Epic Fail:
- During the looting, Moe takes part by looting a cash register... from his own tavern.
- While being robbed by Snake, Apu press a "silent alarm" button that shouts:SILENT ALARM ACTIVATED !
- Hypocritical Humor:
- After helping cause the blackout and the various acts of looting, Homer insists he is done being irresponsible.Bart: Can I have a beer?
Homer: All right, but not the imported.
Marge: Homer!
Homer: You've got to set limits, Marge! - Marge decries Fat Tony for being an Italian stereotype, saying he could be much more. She then proceeds to list a few examples which are just more Italian stereotypes, such as pizza man, organ grinder, and leaning tower maker.
- After helping cause the blackout and the various acts of looting, Homer insists he is done being irresponsible.
- I'm Standing Right Here: Homer mockingly comments that Chief Wiggum "couldn't catch cooties at Milhouse's birthday party." The camera then pans out to show Milhouse sitting on the couch with the Simpsons.
- Insane Troll Logic: When Lisa tells Homer that they need to start conserving energy, Homer's counterargument is thus:"But Lisa, if we start conserving, then the environmentalists win!"
- Irony: Homer laments how the one time he actually did a good job is going to get him killed.
- Kill the Poor: To conserve power for all of Springfield in the middle of a major heatwave, Mr. Burns had power cut to the orphanage, pretty much killing all the children in it from heat stroke and dehydration.
- The Last Straw: With the power plant running at full capacity, all it took to cause a blackout was for Homer to plug in a dancing Santa.
- Little Miss Badass: Maggie not only knows how to shoot a sniper rifle and is incredibly accurate with it, she has said sniper rifle concealed under the cushions of her crib without her parents knowing it exists. Maggie is a baby who doesn't even knows how to talk yet.
- Long List: Homer lists all the jobs he's had on the show up to that point — including some like "Smithers" and "homophobe" which aren't exactly jobs — in enough time for Marge to change for bed.Homer: You know, I've had a lot of jobs. Boxer, mascot, astronaut, imitation Krusty, baby proofer, trucker, hippie, plow driver, food critic, conceptual artist, grease salesman, carnie, mayor, grifter, bodyguard for the mayor, country-western manager, garbage commissioner, mountain climber, farmer, inventor, Smithers, Poochie, celebrity assistant, power plant worker, fortune cookie writer, beer baron, Kwik-E-Mart clerk, homophobe and missionary. But protecting Springfield, that gives me the best feeling of all.
- Never My Fault: Cletus is one of the looters from the riot. When Chief Wiggum says the riot is the looters' fault, Cletus accuses Wiggum of trying to blame the victims.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: With the power grid severely strained, it was Homer plugging in his Dancing Santa that led to the blackout and the subsequent looting. Homer acknowledges this is his fault after Lisa's toys are stolen.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The only time Homer takes his work seriously, isn't corrupted or incompetent is the time he is about to get killed for it. He even lampshades this.
- Oddly Small Organization: SpringShield only consists of Homer, Lenny, and Carl, but they're very effective at stopping Springfield's crime wave.Homer: You can kill me, but someone will take my place. And if you kill him, someone will take his place. And... that's pretty much the end of it. The town will be yours.
- Papa Wolf: Homer apprehends Jimbo for stealing Lisa's Malibu Stacy toys.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The title is a play on the James Brown song "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag"
- Reckless Gun Usage: Wiggum gets stripped of his job when he uses a rifle to try and hit a piñata. On live television.
- Shout-Out: Among Springfield Elementary School students, we have Jughead Jones, Fat Albert and Fonzie.
- The final act parodies High Noon.
- Fat Tony's drive to the Simpsons house parodies the opening sequence of The Sopranos. His Jersey muscle also consists of Christopher, Silvio, and Paulie.
- Homer's first official act is to release Otis, the town drunk.
- Skewed Priorities: Ned is the only one willing to stand with Homer against Fat Tony. Homer immediately turns him away, due to his general dislike of him.
- Tempting Fate: Homer says he won't feel guilty about the blackout until he associates it to a human face. Lisa then reveals that she was robbed during the riot.
- At a press conference outside the Police Station, Mayor Quimby insists he still has faith in the Springfield Police Department and that they're the finest law enforcement officers around...only to walk in and find a blindfolded Chief Wiggum trying to blast a pinata with a shotgun. A furious Quimby promptly castigates Wiggum and hands the job of Chief of Police to Homer.
- Tim Taylor Technology: How does Springfield Elementary deal with the heat wave? Willie gives the HVAC system more power!
- Trauma Button: Marge tries to talk Fat Tony down by saying he could instead be a pizza man, an organ grinder, or a leaning-tower maker. A teary-eyed Fat Tony says she just listed all of his broken dreams.
- Turn in Your Badge: When Chief Wiggum lost his job, he had to turn in his badge and his gun, and only avoiding turning in his car because he hid it.
- Ungrateful Bastard: After all the good Homer did for the town, none of the townspeople (except Ned whose offer Homer rebukes) will try to help him out of fear. This leads him to quit his position in the end.
- Wham Shot: As Homer and Marge wonder who saved the day, we then see Maggie with a sniper rifle.
