Moe: Homer, you moron.
Original air date: 3/1/1998 (produced in 1997)
Production code: 5F12
Moe falls for a flower vendor named Renee, and commits insurance fraud (with help from Homer) so he can keep the money and the romance coming.
Tropes:
- The Alleged Car: Moe's car doesn't appear to have any mechanical problems but it is old and looks disheveled with dents and mismatched body panels. According to Moe, it's not worth selling and would be better off wrecking it for the $5,000 insurance.
- Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?: Homer is in jail for stealing Moe's car. Hans Moleman comes by with a book cart, offering him some reading material. Homer picks up "How to Tunnel Out of Prison", thinks that it might be useful - then knocks Moleman out with it and escapes.
- Art Imitates Art: Homer's drive-in movie visit
◊ is a Shout-Out to iconic 1950s O. Winston Link photograph "Hotshot Eastbound" - hence the anachronistic steam locomotive pulling the train.note - Bait-and-Switch:
- While Homer is in jail, Hans Moleman shows up with some books Homer can choose from. He picks up a book called "How To Tunnel Out of Prison", says it could come in useful, and bashes Moleman over the head with it, knocking him out and allowing Homer to make his escape.
- When Barney finds the bar in flames, the bar door is kicked open and Barney is seen in silhouette carrying two bulky shapes under his arms, implied to be Moe and Homer. Then it turns out he's actually carrying two kegs under his arms, which he promptly sets down before going back to save Moe and Homer (as well as a couple crates of beer).
- Battle Among The Flames: Subverted and Deconstructed. Homer barges into Moe's burning bar to get revenge and Moe stops trying to control the blaze to fight him. Neither is able to actually hit each other before the smoke gets to them.
- Big Damn Heroes: After Homer and Moe passed out, Barney (who was in the washroom the entire time) saved themnote from the burning bar.
- Continuity Nod: When Moe first meets Renee, he explains away his awkwardness with "I used to box...", which he'd previously brought up in "The Homer They Fall".
- Couch Gag: The family sits, and an auto-crusher compresses them into a block.
- Department of Redundancy Department: "Ya ungrateful ingrates!"
- Didn't Think This Through: The episode's second and third acts occur as a result of Homer and Moe doing this.
- Moe is incredibly insecure and knows Renee is out of his league, so he feels he needs to spend a lot of money on her in order to keep her around. Because he's spending more money than he's earning, he ends up maxing out his credit card.
- Moe entrusting Homer with anything.
- Homer realises too late that he should have let Snake steal Moe's car, rather than attacking him so he can steal it himself.
- Homer decides to go to a drive-in movie before leaving Moe's car on the train tracks. Predictably, he misses the train. He therefore decides to drive Moe's car into the sea, forgetting that the police (who are attending a charity cruise in that stretch of sea) will likely see him. They do, and he ends up getting arrested.
- Moe agrees to bail Homer out of prison with the money he got from the insurance company, but when Renee expresses a desire to go to Hawaii, Moe decides to use the money to book them on a trip there instead, even singing about it in earshot of Homer (the travel agent is across the street from the prison). He fails to take into account the fact that Homer might find out, might not be happy about it, and come after him for revenge. He also fails to take into account that his own conscience won't let him off the hook that easily, and, after a Heel Realization, he confesses the whole scheme to Renee.
- Finally, Moe decides to come up with a second Zany Scheme to get Homer out of prison that involves him (Moe) and Renee faking their deaths and torching the bar so they can still go to Hawaii. He doesn't take into account how Renee will take this, and she walks out on him in disgust. He then burns himself on the match he lit, and drops it, setting the bar on fire.
- Easily Forgiven: Even though Moe broke the law by committing insurance fraud and landed Homer in jail as a result, Renee is forgiving because he is at least trying to set things right. Until he changes his mind and comes up with a Zany Scheme to fake their deaths so they can elope to Hawaii. Then she promptly walks out on him.
- Endearingly Dorky: Renee is completely won over by Moe's awkwardness—and his bow tie only adds to the charm.Renee: Your bow tie is just darling!
Moe: Yeah, it kinda draws the eye away from the old mug.
Renee: I like a face with character. - Epic Fail:
- Homer takes Moe out to a nightclub to meet women. Moe strikes out badly each time he approaches someone.
- Homer tries jumping out of Moe's car, but immediately rolls into the car again.
- Falling-in-Love Montage: Renee and Moe's becoming closer and falling in love is shown in a montage. They go to the park, Moe buys her balloons (all of them, which makes some random kids cry); they go skating together (Moe gets run over by a horse-drawn carriage), and they ride on whales at the sea park while Holding Hands (and Moe's whale escapes with Moe still on its back). Set to "I'm a Believer" by The Monkees.
- Flat Character: Renee. The writers admitted on the audio commentary that she has no real personality.
- Foreshadowing: In a weird way, the Couch Gag, which features the family crushed by hydraulic presses, like a car crusher. In order to get more money, Moe concocts an insurance fraud scheme that involves Homer stealing his car and wrecking it.
- From Bad to Worse: After Moe decides to torch the bar so he and Renee can still go to Hawaii, Renee is disgusted and walks out. Moe then burns himself on the match he planned to use, causing the liquor he poured around to catch fire.
- God Help Us All: Parodied by Chief Wiggum, after spotting Moe's car fall into the sea:Wiggum: Well, that car thief can't hold his breath forever.Lou: And if he can, chief?Wiggum: Then God help us all!
- Heel Realization: Moe has one when he is seized with guilt about the insurance fraud scheme that got Homer sent to jail, because instead of bailing Homer out as he was supposed to, he instead planned to go to Hawaii with Renee. This inspires him to confess the whole thing to her.
- Heroic Fire Rescue: When Homer and Moe collapse from smoke inhilation while Moe's bar burns, Barney leaves the bathroom and jumps into action to save...a couple of kegs of beer. Before running back in for Moe and Homer. And two cases of beer.
- Hope Spot:Wiggum: We're sendin' you to the chair!
[Homer gasps]
Wiggum: The interrogation chair.
[Homer exhales]
Wiggum: Plug it in, boys! - Ignored Epiphany: Moe realizes he has to tell the police the truth to get Homer out of jail and that that's the right thing to do. Then he gets the idea to try a Zany Scheme that involves digging up two corpses and setting fire to the bar, which causes Renee to ditch him for good.
- Innocent Flower Girl: Renee makes her entrance by offering a depressed Moe a flower from her cart. She's a bit older and snarkier than most examples, but still very sweet and kind.
- Insurance Fraud: Moe gets Homer to destroy his car and make it look like an accident so he can use the insurance money to fund his extravagant treatment of his new girlfriend. However, Homer is caught and jailed, so Moe decides to burn down the bar to fake his death after confessing to the fraud. He doesn't go ahead with this plan but ends up burning down his uninsured bar by accident.
- Mistaken for Gay: When Moe was trying to get enough courage to tell Renee the truth, she asked if he was gay. When he said he wasn't she asked if he was married and he asked why she said "gay" first.
- Mood Whiplash: When Homer escapes from jail, he steals the book cart and rides it to the bar."Must kill Moe. Whee! Must kill Moe. Whee!"
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Homer would have saved both himself and Moe a lot of trouble if he just let Snake steal the latter's car. He realizes this as he's driving away. Homer makes this worse when he takes time out to go to the drive-in theater instead of parking the car on the train tracks.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Homer at the drive-in movie when he sees the train going past.
- Homer when he tries to bail out of Moe's car, and ends up rolling back into it, when it's about to drop into the sea.
- Moe at the end after accidentally setting the bar on fire.
- Overly Generous Fool: Moe falls in love with Renee who actually likes him back. Unable to believe his luck and terrified that she'll leave him if he doesn't keep making grand gestures, Moe ends up badly in debt and enlists Homer's help for an insurance-fraud scheme that naturally goes wrong, resulting in Homer going to jail.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The title comes from Double Indemnity.
- Puff of Logic: Homer's "ghost" appears to Moe to make him guilty. The trope is subverted during this exchange.Ghost: You killed me.
Moe: You're not dead; you're just in jail.
Ghost: Oh. [disappears, immediately comes back] Wait a second! I'm in jail because of you! - Satellite Love Interest: Renee has very little personality beyond being Moe's love interest.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In need of money, Moe announces that he's officially collecting all owed tabs. The barflies immediately run for the exit.
- Moe comes up with a second Zany Scheme that involves him and Renee faking their deaths so they can still go to Hawaii. Renee decides she has had enough of Moe and leaves him.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Moe is completely convinced that Renee will dump him on the spot if he can't buy her love with lavish gifts. Renee for all intents and purposes just loved Moe for who he was, though ultimately walks out on him after realising how deep set he is on unscrupulous money-making schemes.
- Silly Simian: "Hail to the Chimp" (the movie Homer stops to watch at the drive-in theatre), whose premise is that the president of USA is a chimp.
- Skewed Priorities: Barney's reaction to finding the bar in flames and Moe and Homer passed out from smoke inhalation:Barney: [shocked] Moe! Homer! [looks at the bar] AAAGH! THE BOOZE!
- Specific Situation Books: Subverted when Homer is in prison, he finds a book on the library trolley called How to Tunnel Out of Prison. He uses it to bash the librarian over the head and runs off.
- Stop Saying That!: Homer overhears Moe speaking about Hawai'i.Moe: Hawai'i here we come! Ananakooli, Makawani, Ana-ona, Nanawula Wa, Hawai'i... ha.
Homer: (overhearing) Hawai'i? What about Hawai'i? Moe? Who's going to Hawai'i?! Am I going to Hawai'i?
(Chief Wiggum knocks on Homer's cell bars with a nightstick.)
Chief Wiggum: Stop saying Hawai'i in there! - Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The drift between Moe and Homer reaches its climax when Homer vengefully barges into a burning Moe's Tavern with the intention of revenge. In most media, this sets up a climactic, one-on-one battle of epic proportions, with the last man standing victoriously in the end. Here? Both Moe and Homer are quickly rendered unconscious from smoke inhalation and would have died if Barney wasn't there to save them.
- Too Dumb to Live: Homer starts fighting with Moe in the burning bar when Moe is trying to put the fire out, and Moe starts fighting back. They succumb to smoke inhalation and would have died had Barney not been in the bathroom.
- Trapped in a Sinking Car: Homer ends up trapped in Moe's car while trying to wreck it. He escapes, but is arrested.
- Tuckerization: Writer Ron Hauge named Renee after his wife.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Renee is just Moe's girlfriend, but it applies. The trope is deconstructed because Moe is fully aware that Renee is out of his league, which prompts him to spend money frivolously on her in order to preserve the relationship. This leads him to committing insurance fraud once it becomes clear he can no longer keep the cash flow going.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Moe's reaction to the barflies not wanting to pay their tabs."Ya ungrateful ingrates!"
- Verbal Backspace: Moe, when Chief Wiggum points out Moe’s car driving down the hill towards the sea.“Hey! Hey! What’s it doin’ there?! It was supposed to be on the railroad tracks! No! I mean the parking lot!" [sotto voce] "Homer, you moron."
- What Does She See in Him?: Marge asks Renee this question about Moe at a fancy dinner. She answers that it was pity at first, but his "insecure, sweaty charm" and thoughtfulness won her over.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Whatever happened with that water heater explosion at the beginning of the episode?
- We also never get any conclusion to what punishment (if any) Homer got for busting out of jail or if Moe ever came clean about the insurance fraud scheme.
- "You!" Exclamation: An angry Homer to Moe when Homer bursts through the door of Moe's as the bar catches fire.
- Zany Scheme:
- Moe wants Homer to wreck his car by parking it on train tracks. This fails due to reasons mentioned above.
- Moe tries to get out of trouble for this mess by wanting to fake his and Renee's deaths and torching the bar. She walks out on him upon hearing this.
