History Recap / TheSimpsonsS5E13HomerAndApu

* AmbulanceCut: The two times Homer gets sick from eating bad Kwik-E-Mart food (the expired ham and the two buckets of "frozen" shrimp that aren't frozen and smell funny).

[[caption-width-right:350:''♫ [[DarkReprise Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart?]] I [[IncrediblyLongNote doooooo]]! ♫]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart? I do!!]]

--->'''James Woods:''' But as for me, I'm off to battle aliens on a faraway planet.\\

* IndestructibleEdible: An enraged customer crushes a pack of Twinkies ("This is what I think of your store!") before storming out. Apu screams that he can't "hurt a Twinkie". The Twinkies then pops back into shape and Apu puts them back on the shelves.

* IndestructibleEdible: An enraged customer crushes a pack of Twinkies ("This is what I think of your store!") and walks out. Apu screams that he can't "hurt a Twinkie". The Twinkies then pops back into shape and Apu puts them back on the shelves.

* IndestructibleEdible: A disgruntled customer crushes a pack of Twinkies ("This is what I think of your store!") and walks out. Apu screams that he can't "hurt a Twinkie". The Twinkies then pops back into shape and Apu puts them back on the shelves.

* IndestructibleEdible: A disgruntled customer crushes a pack of Twinkies ("This is what I think of your store!") and walks out. Apu screams that he can't "hurt a Twinkie". The Twinkies then inflate back to their original shape and Apu puts them back on the shelves.

'''Homer:''' The Kwik-E-Mart is real-- [[LampshadeHanging D'oh]]!

* ClusterBleepBomb: James Woods' cursing a blue streak as he's scraping melted cheese off the microwave walls.

'''Homer:''' ''(laughs)'' It's true! It's true! We're so lame!

It's business as usual at the Kwik-E-Mart, with Apu grossly overcharging items to disgruntled customers, one of whom tries to crush a pack of Twinkies. Upon retrieving it, the shopkeeper finds a pack of ham that expired in ''February 1989'' and proceeds to '''mark the expiration date out and put it on a bargain bin'''. Before long, Homer buys and eats the ham and gets sick. When he complains about the store's bad food, Apu '''''offers him expired shrimp, which Homer eats, getting sick again'''''.

* AcceptableReligiousTargets: Christians here, shown in the lobby of the airport in India (much to the annoyance of others) which is a reference to how the Hare Krishna's would perform in airports in the U.S.
* ADayInTheLimelight: For Apu. This is the first episode to have him as a main character instead of a side-character.

* BigNo: Apu does this in slow-motion when taking a bullet for James Woods near the end.

--> '''Comedian:''' Black guys, we drive a car like this... ''(leaning back and humming)'' yeah but white guys, they drive a car like this... ''(leans forward and hums in a dorky tone of voice)''\\

* TheFoodPoisioningIncident: This is what causes Apu to lose his job: he food-poisons Homer ''twice''.

* ShoutOut: The scene with the Indian train being so crowded that passengers are hanging on the outside spoofs a similar scene in ''Film/{{Gandhi}}''.

* AcceptableReligiousTargets: Christians here, shown in the lobby of the airport in India(much to the annoyance of others) which is a reference to how the Hare Krishna's would perform in airports in the U.S.

* JerkToNiceGuyPlot: Before this episode, Apu was pretty much an impossibly cheap grocer who didn't care for his customers (Homer's food poisoning wasn't the first incident between the Simpsons and the Kwik-E-Mart). After being fired however, he atoned for his old behavior and his character became a hard-working, patriotic BollywoodNerd from this point.

'''Homer:''' The Kwik-E-Mart is really-- [[LampshadeHanging D'oh]]!
* {{Retirony}}: Kent tells Homer that the hidden cam hat he smashed was a day away from retirement. But it still manage to catch Apu in the act.

* RiddleForTheAges: When James Woods is talking on the phone to his manager, he asks how his upcoming movie was the same if his character was rewritten from a store clerk to a "jittery eskimo firefighter". We never learn the answer but whatever it was, Woods accepted it.

* SpyCam: The hidden camera that Homer is asked to carry to tape Apu's mishandling of food. Although it's "hidden" [[IncrediblyObviousBug only in the sense that it's inside of a gigantic novelty cowboy hat]], it weights so much that it can damage a man's spine if worn too long and makes a very loud buzzing sound when it's adjusting its lens that Apu (and [[IdiotHero Homer]]) confuse for that of a bee.

--->'''James Woods:''' But as for me, I'm off to battle aliens on a far away planet.\\

'''Official:''' NO, APU! IT'S NOT WORTH IT!!!\\
* DumbassHasAPoint

After watching the "Bite Back" investigation segment on the news, Lisa tells Homer he should expose the Kwik-E-Mart. Kent Brockman gives Homer an oversized hat with a camera inside, but Homer destroys it after Apu thinks the buzzing camera is a bee. Anyway, the camera manages to capture Apu placing a dirty frankfurter back in the cooker. After an embarrassing TV interview, Apu is fired by the Kwik-E-Mart's management, but not because of his misdemeanors, but because they needed a scapegoat after the P.R. snafu. After a series of unsatisfactory prospects, they pick James Woods, who is doing research for an upcoming movie role, as a replacement.

The one way Apu can get his job back is by consulting the head office of the Kwik-E-Mart Corp., established... atop a high mountain in India. There, the leader gives them three questions, which ''Homer blows by asking him if he was the head of the Kwik-E-Mart''. After Apu strangles Homer (who thinks he was trying to apologize again), he decides to "face his demons" and go to the Kwik-E-Mart, where Woods is none too happy with the fact his character has been changed to a nervous Eskimo (meaning he will have to move to an igloo). While they talk about Apu once working 96 straight hours (although by the end, he thought he was a hummingbird), a robber shoots Woods, but Apu takes the bullet. At the hospital, Dr. Hibbert informs that Apu survived because the bullet dislodged another from a previous robbery. A grateful Woods gives Apu his job back and leaves to "battle aliens in the sky". Seeing that there are a few seconds left to the episode, the family hugs Apu.

* AnAesop: Marge delivers the moral, "I guess happiness is wherever you find it," when the Simpsons assume the episode is ending on the second act.
* AllForNothing: Apu and Homer travel all the way to India, and from there several hundred miles, through mountain ranges, to find the first Kwik-E-Mart... and Homer blows Apu's chance of getting his job back.

'''Homer:''' [[LiteralMinded You can't sell that]]! Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos! ''(slams door)''\\

* JustFollowingOrders: Apu's defence when confronted by a senior Kwik-E-Mart official. The man turns it around him by doing the exact same thing seconds later.

* MethodActing: In-Universe, James Woods takes Apu's job at the Kwik-E-Mart to prepare for his upcoming role as a store clerk. He says he previously worked in a law firm for two months to prepare for ''Film/TrueBeliever'' and apparently traveled through time to prepare for a role in ''Film/{{Chaplin}}''.

-->'''Lisa:''' ''(strained voice)'' I can see through time!

** Barney has apparently killed someone (possibly a woman) by accident before, or at least thinks he has and it was similar to knocking over the oversized Mrs. Butterworth bottle. This ''might'' be a {{callback}} to when Barney accidentally shot a woman after Homer slammed the door in his face in "Rosebud" but, considering how this series doesn't really usually care about continuity, it might have been an unseen incident.

'''Apu:''' ''(sweating profusely)'' No. I mean yes. I mean... oh, dear.\\

'''Apu:''' ''(turns the TV off)'' I think I come off rather well.\\

* PainfulRhyme: Referenced when Apu gets the rest of the Simpsons to rhyme "Kwik-E-Mart" with him, saying its a "tricky part". They offer the following:

'''Homer:''' The Kwik-E-Mart is real... [[LampshadeHanging D'oh]]!
* {{Retirony}}: Kent tells Homer that the hidden cam hat he smashed was a day away from retirement. But it still manage to catch Abu on the act.

* TooDumbToLive: Homer ''still'' buys bad food from the Kwik-E-Mart even after he got sick from it twice. He even goes in and orders a hot dog immediately after he saw the disgusting close-up of a hot dog that fell on the floor being put back on the rack. Him wasting all three allowed questions he and Apu got ''on the same one'' when talking to the owner of the Kwik-E-Mart chain also counts.

"Homer and Apu" is the thirteenth episode from the fifth season of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. It features shopkeeper
Apu bonding with Homer and his family after being fired from the Kwik-E-Mart (after Homer exposes Apu after getting sick with expired food), while Creator/JamesWoods is hired as his replacement.

* SmartBall: Homer corrects Apu on the nature of karma, using somewhat more complex words than usual.
-->'''Homer:''' You're selling what now?
-->'''Apu:''' I'm selling only the concept of karmic realignment.
-->'''Homer:''' You can't sell that! Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos! (slams the door in Apu's face)
-->'''Apu:''' ...he's got me there.

'''James Woods:''' Yes...yes, a movie.

'''Official:''' GIVE ME THAT WIENER!
'''Apu:''' NO, I DON'T WANT TO LIVE, SIR!