History YMMV / TheSimpsonsS3E3WhenFlandersFailed

* HarsherInHindsight: When Homer starts thinking about things that he wants to happen to Flanders, he expresses that to wish him dead [[EveryoneHasStandards would be too far.]] Subsequent episodes would have him feeling no qualms about actually doing or saying so.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Depending on who you ask, this episode was the originator of Jerkass Homer. The motivational core of the plot is seeing how far Homer's spite and vindictiveness would take him before he regretted his decision, which would be used as the baseline for a lot of Homer's crueler tendencies in later episodes. This is also the episode which fundamentally shifted Homer's envy of Ned to sympathetic to unreasonable and established his willingless to essentially (eventually literally) steal from his neighbor. The big catcher here however is that Homer still has clear limits in his pettiness and doesn't actually play an active role in ruining Ned, he just doesn't help. When he realises that had genuine repurcussions, he is sincerely remorseful, a contrast to later episodes, where Homer is often a huge instigator who will feel half hearted regret at best.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Depending on who you ask, this episode was the originator of Jerkass Homer. The motivational core of the plot is seeing how far Homer's spite and vindictiveness would take him before he regretted his decision, which would be used as the baseline for a lot of Homer's crueler tendencies in later episodes. This is also the episode which fundamentally shifted Homer's envy of Ned to sympathetic to unreasonable and established his willingless to essentially (eventually literally) steal from his neighbor.

** Also if you start a business, success doesn't just come to you; you have to market and promote it. Homer helps rescue Flanders business by simply telling people about it, but if Flanders had known what he was doing, he would do those things himself.

** The state of the Leftorium falls under this after many seasons later when Ned is facing increased competition competing against left-handed mega-stores forcing him to be reduced to a kiosk. Finally, his store closes down for good due to being unable to compete against online shopping and eventually gets a new job as the new fourth grade teacher.

* HarsherInHindsight:
** When Homer starts thinking about things that he wants to happen to Flanders, he expresses that to wish him dead [[EveryoneHasStandards would be too far.]] Subsequent episodes would have him feeling no qualms about actually doing or saying so.
** Ned saving the Leftorium in the end becomes this, when more recent seasons have him reduced to a kiosk, which eventually is forced to close due to poor business.

** When Homer having a wish of things that were to happen to Flanders, he expresses that to wish him dead [[EveryoneHasStandards would be too far.]] Subsequent episodes would have him feeling no qualms about actually doing or saying so.

** While the main lesson of the story is "don't wish suffering onto others", the other lesson of the episode seems to be "don't sink your family's financial future on a gamble." While Homer does behave like a spiteful {{Jerkass}} to Ned, Ned's problems aren't at all Homer's fault: Ned gave up a perfectly lucrative career in pharmaceuticals and suffered because he a very bad investment. Ned even admits he was foolish to do that.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: While it’s easy to root for Ned, he doesn't really deserve the happy ending he got in this episode. Even though there is a demand for the Leftorium's products, he does nothing to promote the store himself and instead it’s Homer who gets all of the customers there. The fact of the matter is that Flanders is shown to be a horrible businessman, yet the episode tries to shift the blame off of him and on to Homer (though Ned does at least acknowledge during his DespairEventHorizon that he was foolish to gamble his family's future on the store) even though Homer ran into only three potential customers before Flanders had to close.

** Bart brushes off reading ''Literature/TheArtOfWarSunTzu'' as a lame way to learn how to fight. In ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS29E15NoGoodReadGoesUnpunished No Good Read Goes Unpunished]],'' he reads ''The Art of War'' to get back at Homer and make him do his bidding.

** Bart brushes off reading ''The Art of War'' as a lame way to learn how to fight. In ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS29E15NoGoodReadGoesUnpunished No Good Read Goes Unpunished]],'' he reads ''The Art of War'' to get back at Homer and make him do his bidding.

** Flanders accounts having his house and assets repossessed by some "nice man at the bank who was only doing their job". This seems like a standard ExtremeDoormat disposition from the character, until "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E12IMarriedMarge I Married Marge]]" features the Simpsons couple having a visit from a repo man who genuinely ''is'' cheerful, affable and apologetic about collecting their possessions ("Repossessing is the hardest part of my job").

* HarsherInHindsight: When Homer having a wish of things that were to happen to Flanders, he expresses that to wish him dead [[EveryoneHasStandards would be too far.]] Subsequent episodes would have him feeling no qualms about actually doing or saying so.

** Flanders accounts having his house and assets repossessed by "nice" people who were only doing their job. This seems like a standard ExtremeDoormat disposition from the character, until "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E12IMarriedMarge I Married Marge]]" features the Simpsons couple having a visit from a repo man who genuinely ''is'' cheerful, affable and apologetic about collecting their possessions ("Repossessing is the hardest part of my job").

** Bart brushes off reading ''The Art of War'' as a lame way to learn how to fight. In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS29E15NoGoodReadGoesUnpunished No Good Read Goes Unpunished]],'' he reads ''The Art of War'' to get back at Homer and make him do his bidding.

* HilariousInHindsight: Flanders accounts having his house and assets repossessed by "nice" people who were only doing their job. This seems like a standard ExtremeDoormat disposition from the character, until "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E12IMarriedMarge I Married Marge]]" features the Simpsons couple having a visit from a repo man who genuinely ''is'' cheerful, affable and apologetic about collecting their possessions ("Repossessing is the hardest part of my job").

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: While it’s easy to root for Ned, he doesn't really deserve the happy ending he got in this episode. He sinks his whole life’s savings into a store that only caters to 1/9th of the population. Even though there is a demand he does nothing to promote the store himself and instead it’s Homer who gets all of the customers there. The fact of the matter is that Flanders is shown to be a horrible businessman, yet the episode tries to shift the blame off of him and on to Homer.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: While it’s easy to root for Ned he doesn't really deserve the happy ending he got in this episode. He sinks his whole life’s saving into a store that only caters to 1/9th of the population. Even though there is a demand he does nothing to promote the store himself and instead it’s Homer who gets all of the customers there. The fact of the matter is that Flander’s is shown to be a horrible business man yet the episode tries to shift the blame off of him and on to Homer.