Original air date: 2/14/1999
Production code: AABF-11
After being caught in a lie regarding American labor hours, Apu showers Manjula with extremely lavish gifts in the days leading up to Valentine's Day, which earns him the ire of the Springfield husbands.
Tropes featured:
- As Himself: Elton John.
- Awesome, but Impractical: The chandelier in Elton John's private plane; it forces him to land in Springfield, and this, apparently, is not the first time it's been a problem.
- Bait-and-Switch: In being ejected from the car, Flanders managed to rip out a hunk of Moe's hair. Cut to Moe complaining about the hair that was ripped off of his chest.
- Black Comedy: Among various romantic complaints by the men of Springfield, Moe chimes in that a woman he's stalking has modified her restraining order to keep him further away, which the other men treat as equal to their problems.
- Call-Back: Fantastic Dan, who lived in the Whack-A-Mole game on season nine's "Bart Carny", returns as the skywriter Apu hires.
- Contrived Coincidence: Homer thinks Apu brought Elton John to Springfield to serenade Manjula, when in fact, he had to stop his flight due to a broken chandelier.
- Couch Gag: The family sits, and salon hair dryers descend onto their heads and lift up, revealing the family have switched hairdos.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Flanders points out that instead of wasting their time trying to sabotage Apu's romantic gestures for Manjula, he and the other men could instead have been doing nice things for their wives/partners to improve their relationships. This insight gets him thrown out of a moving car for his trouble.
- Credits Gag: The end credits text is presented in red color rather than the usual yellow.
- Didn't Think This Through: Apu encases himself in chocolate as part of his series of Grand Romantic Gestures for Manjula. As soon as she opens the package to see the "statue", the first thing Apu says is to scream that he can't breathe.Apu: [breathless] Air... need air...
Manjula: Oh, Apu...
Apu: My ears are filled with nougat... There's a nut in my eye! - Distinction Without a Difference: Homer and Fantastic Dan's exchange as Homer tries to destroy the skywriter's gas canister:Fantastic Dan: You crazy fool, you'll kill us all!
Homer: Correction: kill us both! - Eye Scream: When Apu emerges from a lifesized chocolate statue of himself, he mentions that he got a nut in his eye.
- Eyebrow Waggle: When Apu tells Manjula they don't have to answer the door while making out, he manages to pull one despite not having eyebrows.
- Failed a Spot Check: After Homer arrives with dozens of roses, Marge somehow doesn't notice that he's badly battered (having been dragged through a field of rose bushes by Fantastic Dan) and mumbling incoherently.
- Got Me Doing It: One scene reveals that Bernice Hibbert laughs just like her husband.
- Grand Romantic Gesture:
- Apu engages in an escalating series of these to make up for neglecting Manjula. Among other things, he trains a parrot to sing "I Love the Nightlife", encases himself in chocolate (bad idea), and hires a skywriter to plaster a message of love for Manjula across the skies.
- Homer's interference with the skywriter leads to several accidental romantic gestures; Maude Flanders, Sarah Wiggum, and Edna Krabappel all assume the botched message is from their paramours for them (the exploded canister leaves a shape that is mistaken by Maude for an angel, Sarah for Poppin' Fresh, and Edna for her name "a little run together"), while Homer ends up at Marge's feet with dozens of roses after Fantastic Dan nearly kills him by dragging him through a field of roses.
- Hurricane of Puns: Apu makes puns on Elton's songs while he and Elton watch Homer fight the skywriter.Elton: That maniac nearly killed us!
Apu: Shall I... "take you to the pilot"? Hah! You see, because that is "your song"...
Elton: I heard you.
Apu: Yes, because... "someone saved your life tonight". (laughs)
Elton: (annoyed) Cut it out!
Apu: Well, well, "the bitch is back". (laughs again)
Elton: (irritated) Ugh! - Hypocritical Humor: Marge tells Homer off for being distracted by the Kama Sutra while driving. As soon as she takes over, Marge is so distracted by an image in the book (that, according to Homer, was also an idea of theirs) that she nearly crashes the car.
- I Resemble That Remark!: Moe complains that Apu is making the other men "look like a buncha cheapskates". He then notices that the rope he's using as a belt has come loose.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Homer assumes that Apu and Manjula's argument will blow over quickly and end in sex. Cue a copy of the Kama Sutra being chucked out their window.
- Irony: Moe assumes that Apu hired Elton to sing for Manjula, but it turns out Apu was only going to the airport to hire Fantastic Dan for a skywritten message, while Elton's plane happened to have made an emergency landing in Springfield. Then, while Homer fights with Fantastic Dan, Apu and Elton encounter each other and Apu ends up doing what Moe thought he'd do.
- It's All About Me: Both the wives and the husbands that aren't Apu and Manjula. On the wives side of things, they are envious of the romantic gestures Apu gives his wives and proceed to be bitter towards their husbands as a result. Whilst on the husband's side, rather than simply trying to improve their own romantic lives (something Ned Flanders calls attention to), they feel they should take down Apu in order to stop the comparison.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Marge may be unfairly envious of Apu showering Manjula with fabulous gifts, but given that Homer apparently spends more on temporary tattoos (that he stupidly expects to still be on his body) than on gifts for her, it's not hard to sympathize with Marge.
- Kick the Dog: Almost literally; Homer forces Santa's Little Helper to fetch the massive Sunday newspaper (which the dog can't even lift, and that, according to Lisa, the vet told them not to do), then blames the dog when the paper mentions that a tax hike was approved.
- Laborious Laziness: Apu is showering Manjula with elaborate gifts everyday leading up to Valentine's Day. Homer and a few of the other guys start to get annoyed because their wives wish to be treated that way as well, so they end up spending the day trying to follow him around and see what he's up to, and try to put a stop to it. Flanders eventually lampshades this, noting that instead of spending a whole day trying to stalk and sabotage Apu's plans, they could be trying to put that effort into actually doing something nice for their wives. He gets thrown out of the car for that.
- Lame Pun Reaction: The Valentine's card Homer buys for Marge features monkeys, a banana, and the words "You're a-peeling, let's never split". Marge isn't impressed when she finds the card in the car.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Homer's antics to stop Apu from doing special things for Manjula results in Homer getting dragged through a field of thorny roses. While it ends with Marge thinking this was a romantic gesture as Homer emerges from the sky with dozens of roses, Homer's clearly traumatized, covered in wounds, and has a collapsed lung.
- Laziness Callout: Flanders at one point states that he and the other guys could have spent their time improving their own relationships rather than sabotage Apu. He gets kicked out of the car for his trouble.
- Lazy Bum: All the men in town would rather stop Apu from doing romantic things for his wife, so theirs won't expect the same treatment, than do anything special for them themselves. Ironically, the efforts they go through to sabotage Apu's romancing, which includes Homer getting in a fistfight with a skywriting pilot while the plane is in flight, are much more difficult and dangerous than just doing sweet things for their wives would have been.
- Never My Fault: When Homer asks who's to blame for their wives wanting the same kinds of romantic gestures as Apu gives Manjula, the bar patrons admit that they themselves are to blame. Homer butts in:Homer: Will you stop it? It's easy to blame ourselves but it's even easier to blame Apu!
- Only Sane Man: Flanders is the only one who continues to suggest that maybe they should drop trying to stop Apu, and instead just try to do something special for their wives for Valentines' Day. The others respond by kicking him out of Homer's car.
- Out-of-Character Moment: The Flanders, who are usually portrayed as having a very loving, stable marriage (at least compared to Homer and Marge's). However, Maude is among the women who is envious of all of the special gifts and attention Manjula is getting from Apu and Ned admits he tends to take her for granted. That said, Ned is the only one of the assembled husbands to point out that, with all the energy they're pouring into sabotaging Apu, they could just do something special for their own wives (a suggestion that gets him promptly booted out of the car).
- Perfectly Cromulent Word: Kent Brockman reports that Apu's marathon of gifts is delighting Manjula and "entroubulating" everyone else.
- Rhetorical Question Blunder: As Homer explains Apu's romantic M.O.:Ned: Gee, the man's just trying to show his wife he cares for her! How could we sabotage his labor of love?
Homer: I don't know. Gasoline, axes, I got some stuff in the trunk. - Serious Business: Fantastic Dan takes his work very seriously. He nearly kills Homer (and, judging from his dialogue, is trying to) for ruining the message Apu hired him to write.Homer: Hey! You with the scarf! Stop skywriting!
Dan: I have to deliver a message. It's the skywriters' code!
Homer: I am so sick of that damn code! - Shout-Out:
- The chocolate factory which sends Manjula the chocolate Apu, which is in fact, Apu himself, is called "Baron Von's Munch House", a play on Baron Munchausen.
- Apu buys a croissant instead of jewelry at a Tiffany's, prompting Chief Wiggum to remember that "they serve breakfast at Tiffany's now".
- Believing that Apu is buying a boat for Manjula, Chief Wiggum prepares to sink it with his gun, quipping "this is one Love Boat that won't delight and amuse".
- Silly Simian: Homer thinks getting Marge a card will be a good enough gift for her on Valentine's Day purely because it has monkeys and banana-themed puns. Subverted though in that when she finds it ahead of time, she's not impressed.
- Skewed Priorities:
- Homer and company, while rushing to sabotage Apu, apparently took the time to go for long-term parking when they arrive at the airport.
- After Homer's inadvertent delivery of roses, Marge intends to "snuggle [his] brains out", not noticing his battered state. Despite being dazed and thinking he has a collapsed lung, Homer is game for it.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: Apu and Manjula, to the point where they make all the other couples in Springfield look loveless by comparison.
- Situational Sexuality: Apu provides porn magazines to the Sea Captain and his crew to prevent them from "resorting to homosexuality". By the Sea Captain's own admission, he only expects it to work for "about ten minutes".
- Stage Names: Lampshaded.Apu: Elton John??
Elton: That's my name. (sheepishly) Well, not really.note - Stating the Simple Solution: Ned is part of the group of fellows (led by Homer) that chase after Apu with the intent of sabotaging his extravagant showcase of romance so their wives won't demand them to do the same crazy thing. After a while, Ned tells them that maybe they should just go buy some roses and act nicer to their wives. All of the other men toss him from the car while it's still running.
- Stuff Blowing Up: The skywriting canister, among being knocked off Fantastic Dan's plane, falls through the air for a few seconds before exploding in typical Simpsons fashion.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Apu coats himself as a life-size chocolate figure to surprise Manjula, only to nearly suffocate from being coated by all of the chocolate.
- Take That!:
- Homer and Marge both hate the song "I Love the Nightlife".
- Elton gives Homer one of his Grammys. In keeping up with the show's oft-repeated disdain for the award, Homer immediately tosses it into a nearby trashcan.
- Toxic Friend Influence: If not for Homer insisting that everyone blame Apu, most of the men at Moe's would likely have realised their own shortcomings and made it up to their partners.
- Valentine's Day Episode: The episode takes place over the course of the week leading up to the day, with Apu doing increasingly more romantic things for Manjula with the holiday marking the biggest.
- Valentine's Day Violence: Apu is dismayed to see Homer fighting Fantastic Dan, saying "My humble love note is turning into a Valentine's Day massacre."
- Who Is Driving?: As Homer explains Apu's romantic plan to the men in the car, he turns backwards in the driver seat. Moe reminds him he's driving, and he tries to dodge the remark as the car rolls out into the street.
- Why Won't You Die?: Fantastic Dan's reaction when Homer gets hit in the head with a variety of things while hanging upside down on the plane.
