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Recap / The Simpsons S 20 E 7 Mypods And Boomsticks

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Bart befriends a Muslim boy named Bashir, but Homer suspects Bashir and his family to be terrorists. Meanwhile, Lisa buys a Mapple MyPod and runs up a $1200 bill from downloading songs.

This episode contains examples of: (YMMV Examples here)

  • Bland-Name Product: The "Mapple" Bar with its MyPods and MyPhones, and Mapple's slogan "Think Differently".
  • Casting Gag: In Homer's fearful nightmare following his suspicions of Bashir's family, Genie appears and transforms Springfield into a stereotypical Muslim caricature. Homer's voice actor Dan Castellaneta was the replacement voice for Robin Williams' Genie in The Return of Jafar, the Aladdin animated TV show, and the Kingdom Hearts video game series.
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  • Didn't Think This Through: Lisa went crazy downloading songs on to her MyPod without keeping track of how many she was downloading or how much they cost, giving her an Oh, Crap! when she gets a MyBill for $1,200.
  • Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Homer sees it in a 24 parody.
  • Jury Duty: Moe made up a religion to get out of this duty.
  • Lampshade Hanging: When Homer screams during his nightmare and doesn't wake up right after that, he comments that's usually during the scream moment that people wake up from dreams.
  • Mistaken for Terrorist: The source of conflict when Homer assumes that Bashir's father is a terrorist
  • My God, What Have I Done?: The episode's Itchy and Scratchy segment "diePod Slaylist" features Scratchy feeling guilty over having tested the atomic bomb. He goes in a time machine to stop himself but gets killed by Itchy planting a bomb in his past self's body
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  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: Homer tries to move the bombs under the belief that Bashir's father is plotting to suicide bomb the Springfield Mall but instead ends up blowing up the bridge leading to the Duff Brewery.
  • Obnoxious In-Laws: Under the belief that Bashir's father intends to blow up Springfield Mall, Homer goes there to tell everyone to leave. Upon seeing his sisters-in-law, he doesn't tell them anything.
  • Oh, Crap!: Lisa gets one when she gets a MyBill for $1,200. She is confused... until she sees she downloaded 1,212 songs at 99 cents each, and realises that obviously she doesn't have the money for pay for those songs.
  • Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: When trying to find out if Bashir's parents are terrorists, Homer spies on one of their conversation where the husband is talking about his job demolishing the old Springfeild mall, but he parts he hears make it sound like he is a suicide bomber.
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  • Refuse to Rescue the Disliked: Homer doesn't try to save his sisters-in-law from what he believes is about to happen to Springfield Mall.
  • Scam Religion: Apparently Moe started one to get out of jury duty much to Kearney's disdain.
  • Shockingly Expensive Bill: Lisa's MyBill, which is for $1,200. Caused by Lisa's negligence in not keeping track of how much she was downloading and whether she could pay for her music. Oops. Steve Mobbs decides Lisa can work off the bill by handing out leaflets while dressed as a MyPod, much to Lisa's chagrin.
  • Shout-Out: The title is a reference to Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
    • When Bart makes it seem Steve Mobs is insulting his clients, Comic Book Guy charges and swings a sledgehammer at the screen akin to the "1984" Apple commercial.
    • During the dream where Genie transforms Springfield, a music store is changed to only have aisles of CDs by Cat Stevens (though ever since his conversion to Islam, he now goes by Yusuf).
  • Skewed Priorities: When the Duff truck falls into the sea, Homer dives towards it to rescue as much of its cargo but doesn't care about the trapped driver (admittedly said driver is Hans Moleman).
  • Unfortunate Names: Bashir's last name is Bin Laden.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: To a point, as Homer was perfectly tolerant of Bashir and his family until Moe and his friends basically told him to be intolerant and jingoistic for no reason at all (other than the fact that what they believe about Muslims is a reflection of what most people believe about Muslims in Real Life, especially in a post-9/11 world). Homer's actions also merit this.
  • Work Off the Debt: Lisa working to pay for her "MyBill"

Example of: