Marge and Lisa start up a charity foundation, but Marge gets all caught-up in the fundraising side of things, caring more about tax deductions than about actually doing charity work.
After hosing Homer down enough to the point he can handle the rest on his own, Marge tends to his clothes using a pillowcase stuffed with bay leaves, baking soda, and salt. Put in the clothes, give it a couple shakes, and the clothes are clean and stink-free. Lisa marvels at this, saying it could do a lot of good for people without access to washing machines, like the "unhoused".
They head for the Squidport slums, the bags cleaning up Gil's suit, and impressed by this, Rich Texan tries a bag out to clean his hat to its natural black coloration. Grateful, Rich Texan contributes a "Texas penny" of 100 dollars to Marge and Lisa's cause, thinking they were running a charity foundation. Marge admits they aren't actually a charity, and Rich Texan admits he wants to deduct that money on his taxes so he can only give it to a 501(c-haw) nonprofit organization. Lisa gets the idea to turn this clothes-cleaning operation into an actual charity, and the Rich Texan just so happened to have brought his accountant in order to handle the paperwork involved in starting this charity, which Marge names the Lisa M. Simpson Foundation.
The Lisa M. Simpson Foundation has turned around the lives of many of Springfield's unhoused, and they're running low on bags. Marge wants Lisa to get some more baking soda, but Lisa objects to the brand they're using because they support child labor, even at the executive level. Lisa insists their organization must be doing good every step of the way, even if it costs more. So Lisa and Homer begin a search for completely ethical baking soda manufacturers, finding some in a Buddhist temple at the top of a nearby mountain. However, their baking soda is so expensive those who purchase it won't have to worry about material possessions after buying it.
Upon hearing of this, Marge ups her game on the fundraising, but a Salvation Army bell-ringer muscles her out of her territory and funds. She runs, but is stopped by Bernice Hibbert. As a doctor's wife, she knows all about running a charity, and sings to Marge about it. Dress like an heiress, raise awareness, make a ribbon the charity's icon and put it everywhere until everyone's aware.
Before Lisa is back from getting all of the ingredients from ethical sources, the Foundation that bears her name has hit it big, with an office building, a full workforce, a copyright on the shade of blue used on the ribbons and Marge's hair, and an array of products that support their "Feeling Blue" awareness campaign. Their blue ribbons are so popular they've completely run out of ribbons used in the bags and are falling behind with the bag production, but that's okay, they're raising awareness of their bag-making. Lisa is impressed but concerned, do they really need a headquarters that size? Marge would agree, because she has plans for an even bigger headquarters, paid for with a deduction— er, donation, from Mr. Burns. Lisa is outraged, they can't accept money from someone as evil as Mr. Burns. Marge and Lisa get into an argument, and agree to take a breather, an ice cream break at PQB's. Which didn't work, so they agreed to a couple more breathers spread out over a couple days at the same place. Over those days, the board has promoted Lisa to "Founder Emeritus". Lisa knows enough business buzzwords to know what that really means; she's been fired.
Homer guides Lisa through the "Five Stages of Getting Fired", ending with reluctant acceptance and Lisa apologizing for criticizing Marge after she put in so much hard work making their charity a success. Lisa promises she will attend the opening of the foundation headquarters that night.
Meanwhile, at the Lisa M. Simpson Foundation, they've achieved maximum awareness and Marge wants to focus on helping people on the street, but the board members (mostly doctors' wives) disagree with the notion of doing actual charity work. On the limousine ride to the opening, Marge sees how far-spread her foundation's blue has gotten, seeing it on billboards for cigarette companies and missile manufacturers. She realizes Lisa was right, and she asks the driver to go around the back because she doesn't feel like she deserves to walk on the blue carpet.
At the back, she sees a bunch of unhoused people, including Gil, who is back to skid row because the low-income housing he was in was demolished in order to build the Lisa M. Simpson Foundation Headquarters. Marge angrily enters the opening, and calls out the audience for pretending to care. The foundation started as a means to help the homeless, but only created more homelessness. Bernice justifies it by claiming more homeless means more awareness, but Marge is done with awareness and fundraising. She turns leadership over to Lisa, who declares the headquarters shall be converted into a unhoused shelter. As the unhoused walk into the headquarters and get some of the fancy food much to the uppercrust's shock, Mr. Burns raises his voice. They aren't here to help the less fortunate, they're here to bask in their own fortune, and if they really cared, they would pay taxes and let the government handle these issues. As the rich leave, the Rich Texan's accountant gets the declaration of the building's conversion notarized. The episode closes on Lisa and Marge letting out a joyful "Yeehaw!" while cleaning clothes in the bags.
Tropes:
- Cross-Referenced Titles: The title recalls "Steal This Episode" from Season 25.
- A Day in the Limelight: Downplayed. While not a main character, this is Bernice Hibbert's biggest role in any episode so far.
- Disney Owns This Trope: The Lisa M. Simpson Foundation has copyrighted the specific shade of blue used on their ribbons and Marge's hair. They were able to use this copyright to muscle Pabst Blue Ribbon into changing their name and logo to Pabst Teal Fabric Bow.
- Establishing Shot: Marge and Lisa's attempts at a breather are accompanied by a shot of the exterior of PQB's (formerly Phineas Q. Butterfat's), from the same angle each time with subtle differences. The bicycle outside the restaurant loses its wheels in the second shot, and in the third, all the parking meters have been destroyed.
- Five Stages of Grief: Parodied when Homer shares with Lisa the "Five Stages of Getting Fired". Stage 1: Righteous anger. Stage 2: Pretending to still have a job. Stage 3: Misdirected anger. Stage 4: Glowering without showering. Stage 5: Reluctant acceptance. Stage 6: Buying podcasting equipment but never unboxing it.
- Fun with Homophones:
- When the Lisa M. Simpson Foundation first started, Rich Texan says a few things about taxes, but due to his accent, "taxes" and "Texas" sounds identical.Rich Texan: I hate taxes, but I loooove Texas! 'Cause folks in Texas love Texas and hate taxes. "No taxin'"'s what Texans stand for!
- When Marge declares she's done with raising awareness, she also says she's done with razing low-income housing.
- When the Lisa M. Simpson Foundation first started, Rich Texan says a few things about taxes, but due to his accent, "taxes" and "Texas" sounds identical.
- George Jetson Job Security: Homer is once again fired due to all the time off he spent looking for ingredients. Because of his frequent firings, Homer is able to sympathize with Lisa being fired from her own organization.
- Lame Pun Reaction: This scene:Marge: I put the "fun mom" in "fundraising thermometer"Bart: Ugh, mom puns?, I gotta wash that out of my ears (He puts a bag on his head and starts shaking the bag in an effort to wash Marge's pun out of his ears)
- Insistent Terminology: It's a Running Gag that the homeless should be referred to as the "unhoused".
- Noble Demon: Mr. Burns gives an impassioned speech about how the rich should pay their taxes if they truly cared about the unfortunate.
- Number of the Beast: One of the long shot gimmick bets on the sports gambling website Homer uses has the odds that "Armageddon happens" listed at 666 to 1.
- Pie in the Face: Different food, same execution. After being fired, Lisa swears she never wants to hear the name "Lisa M. Simpson" ever again. Enter Seymour Skinner, wanting to show off his favorite student to his mother, but makes the mistake of referring to her as "Lisa M. Simpson", causing Lisa M. Simpson to shove her bowl of ice cream in his face.
- Pun: The baking soda made at the mountaintop temple is named "I can't believe it's not Buddha!"
- Record Needle Scratch: When an angry Marge bursts into the foundation opening, a string quartet stops with a scratch.
- Rule of Three: The sports gambling ad announces three key rules:
- Only talk about wins, not losses.
- Stay under your limit unless you're feeling it.
- Mets, Jets and Nets = Debts.
- Shout-Out:
- One of the long shot gimmick bets on the sports gambling website Homer uses is "Thanos appears".
- One of the monks at the baking soda manufacturing temple understands the plot of Inception upon reaching enlightenment, and proceeds to ponder another Christopher Nolan film, Tenet.
- Smelly Skunk: Good news: Homer found the ring. Bad news: he found a pack of skunks who sprayed him to kingdom come.
- Take That!:
- This episode is a big one towards pinkwashing and certain charity foundations that priorizes awareness over actions, deductions over donations, and their brand and their wallets over their cause, as well as the companies that associate with them in order to look good. The focus on marketable ribbons and the name structure of the Lisa M. Simpson Foundation is a likely jab towards the Susan G. Komen Foundation specifically.
- The sports gambling ad at the beginning takes a pot-shot at three New York-based sports teams, with one of the key rules being "Mets, Jets, and Nets = Debts". The disclaimer that follows contains a pot-shot towards cryptocurrency, with one of the gambling losses consultation phone lines being "1-800-Still-Safer-Than-Crypto"
- Vocal Evolution: Starting from this episode, Mr Burns's voice starts sounding less nasal due to Harry Shearer getting up there in years.
