Recap / The Simpsons S 11 E 7 Eight Misbehavin

"Welcome to my nightmare."

Original air date: 11/21/1999

Production code: BABF-03

Apu and Manjula become the parents of octuplets thanks to Manjula ingesting fertility pills (some of which were given to her by Dr. Hibbert and the Simpsons), and when the initial media frenzy blows over, their only hope for financial aid is allowing the kids to become a zoo attraction.

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Tropes:

• Ambiguously Human: Allen Wrench claims that he was found in a meteor and needs tungsten to live. He could just be a human SHØP employee in a bizarre mascot costume who decided to mess with Bart though.
• Adam Westing: Butch Patrick, who still dresses like Eddie Munster as an adult.
• All for Nothing: When their first attempt at pregnancy fails, Manjula moans that they had all that sex for nothing. Apu is a bit put off.
  Apu: Well, that is a pretty grim assessment.
• And the Rest: Mr. Kidkill is only able to come up with creative costumes and entrances for four of the eight babies; he announces the remaining four as "the rest".
• Anti-Role Model: "Kids are a blast, Apu. You can teach 'em to hate the same things you hate. And they practically raise themselves, what with the internet and all."
• Artistic License – Biology: Koalas can only ingest eucalyptus leaves and would not be able eat meat without ill effects like the ones in the zoo.
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: The faux-Swedish SHØP, with a cafeteria named "FUD" that serves "plopenlugen" and "doodlemunch".
• Babies Make Everything Better: Apu and Manjula thought babies would improve their life. They were wrong. Very, very wrong.
• Baby Fever Trigger: Manjula playing with Maggie is what finally pushes her and Apu to start trying for children.
• Bag of Holding: Dr. Hibbert's lab coat can hold seven newborns: Closed◊; Open◊.
  Dr. Hibbert: Now say hello to your other seven children.
• Big "NO!": Homer does one, when Apu tries to offer Marge and him one of the Octuplets, before stopping Marge from taking it.
• Big "WHAT?!": A variant. When Dr. Hibbert reveals Apu actually has eight children (holding six in his jacket and one in his breast pocket), Apu goes "WHAAA?!" in shock.
• Call-Back: Just like in "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons", Apu tells someone twice to shut up, and on the third time, he exclaims, "I can't believe you don't shut up!"
• Captain Obvious: When Homer comes across the hardware store mascot, Allen Wrench, he observes: "He's named after what he is."
• Coincidental Broadcast: Apu turns on the couple's new TV just as a report breaks about the Shelbyville Nonuplets, signaling an end to the corporate gifts.
• Comic-Book Time: Within the episode itself, as Manjula goes through nine months of pregnancy and the Simpsons remain "the family with one baby."
• Couch Gag: The Simpsons sit on the couch and the wall spins around to reveal a Vincent Price-esque mad scientist and a shackled and scared Ned Flanders on the other side of the wall.
• Credits Gag: Homer continues screaming in pain from being attacked by cobras well into the credits, begging for the next show to come on.
• A Day in the Limelight: This episode focuses more on Apu and Manjula than it does The Simpsons. Lampshaded with the car ride where we see all the adventures The Simpsons have been on in the nine months that Manjula was pregnant (Marge got a job as Sideshow Marge, Bart learned the true meaning of Columbus Day and winter, and Lisa became popular in school, but blew it all by becoming conceited).
• Death Seeker: Apu becomes this as a result of having to look after so many kids, to the point that he describes a dream where he died as "beautiful".
• Didn't Think This Through: Manjula was subjected to fertility drugs when she was having trouble conceiving, not just from herself, but also from Apu, Homer, Marge and Bart. Come the birth, and now Apu and Manjula have to raise eight babies simultaneously.
• Distinction Without a Difference: When the rest of the family are watching Homer on the stage with the snakes:
  Lisa: Are those real cobras?
  Bart: Some of them are. Some of them are just robots filled with venom.
• Even Nerds Have Standards: Lisa regarding the Pöpli.
  Lisa: Everyone at school picks on the Pöpli kids, even I do. (under her breath) I just hate them so much.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Allen Wrench is a big Allen wrench.
  Homer: Hee-hee-hee! He's named after what he is.
• From Bad to Worse: Trapped on their act's stage and surrounded by angry cobras, Homer shouts for the animal handlers offstage to "release the mongoose!". Said mongoose takes one look at the amount of snakes it's being faced with and promptly latches onto Homer's head and starts biting.
  Homer: Stupid mongoose! Get the snakes! The snakes! Do I look like a snake?! Ow! Ow! Why isn't he listening to me?!
• Gone Horribly Right: The fertility pills Manjula took did work, she just took too many and ended up giving birth to octuplets, when she and Apu only wanted one child.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Larry Kidkill is an obvious one for his voice actor, Garry Marshall.
• Jaw Drop: Apu has a take◊ when he sees he have seven other children.
• Jerkass: The workers of the local companies who decide to revoke Apu and Manjula's gifts upon hearing of the feat of a Shelbyvillian woman. One of them even attempts to steal a cushion that the Nahasapeemapetilons already owned before being called out.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Not only Apu and Manjula's octuplets but also the nine babies born to a Shelbyvillian couple.
• Menagerie of Misery: Apu and Manjula seek financial aid for their Too Many Babies by becoming a zoo attraction. In that zoo, the kangaroos are miserable and the koalas are fed meat instead of eucalyptus leaves.
  Apu: The zoo?
  Mr. Kidkill: What? Everybody loves my zoo. You don't love my zoo? I dare ya to look at a kangaroo and not laugh. I dare ya.
  [he walks past kangaroos looking out of their cage, slumped and miserable]
  Mr. Kidkill: Well... they're usually funnier...
• Metal Muncher: Allen Wrench, SHØP's mascot, is really an alien who was enslaved by the store and lives off of tungsten, which he confides to the family.
  Robotic voice: I need tungsten to live! Tungsten!
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Larry Kidkill.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Simpsons try to help Apu and Manjula conceive a child by giving her fertility pills. They end up giving her too many, and she gives birth to octuplets, which causes things for her and her husband to start spiraling downward in both this episode and future episodes.
• Noodle Incident:
  • It is never explained exactly why Lisa and the rest of the school hate the Pöpli kids. ^Well...  the Pöpli is a rather plain almost mug-like holder, compared to the more attractive designs like the see-saw-like Krönk. People who like the Pöpli, like Marge, might be seen as boring and characterless, hence no-one wants to make friends with them.
  • When Homer is proposing his own show to replace the one with the octopulets, Kidkill asks "It's not just you prancing around in a monkey suit, is it?" Homer says "Not anymore.". One wonders what sort of show that would have been.
  • Manjula was being slipped fertility drugs not only by her husband but by Homer, Marge and Bart. The details of this are never explained.
• Not Helping Your Case: Butch Patrick insists that being in the spotlight as a kid didn't warp him one bit... while dressed as Eddie Munster.
• Not So Above It All: Lisa, who often struggles to be accepted by her peers and generally dislikes bullies, has no qualms about hating and picking on the Pöpli kids.
• Oh, Crap!: Apu has a hysterical look of frozen panic on his face after Hibbert reveals he and Manjula are parents of octuplets. Adding insult to injury is Homer laughing at the expression on Apu's face.
• Pet the Dog: Homer is a good friend to Apu in this episode, as he helps him conceive and get his children back from Mr Kidkill. At the very end, he is willing to put himself at the mercy of cobras just so Apu can have his kids back and does so without complaint.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: An overdose of fertility pills results in Manjula giving birth to octuplets.
• Ripped from the Headlines: Manjula's giving birth to octuplets as the result of her taking an excess amount of fertility drugs was partly inspired by the case of Mandy Allwood, a British woman who became pregnant with octuplets after using some experimental fertility drugs (albeit unlike the episode, none of Allwood's octuplets survived until birth).
• Series Continuity Error: At the restaurant in the mall, Homer builds a Lego four-forks-in-one item and eats what appears to be meat from his family's plate, which makes little sense given that Lisa is a vegetarian.
• Serious Business: A kid's social status at Springfield Elementary can be affected by what pencil holder they own. Everyone supposedly picks on the kids who own the Pöpli, even Lisa.
• Snake Versus Mongoose: Subverted. When the cobras start attacking Homer during his performance at the zoo, a mongoose is released to combat them, but decides to attack Homer instead.
  Homer: Stupid mongoose! Get the snakes! The snakes!
• Special Guest: Garry Marshall as Larry Kidkill and Butch Patrick As Himself.
• Surprise Multiple Birth: Exaggerated and Played for Laughs when Apu arrives at the hospital, believing Manjula has only had one child...
  Manjula: Oh, my sweet husband, say hello to your firstborn child.
  Apu: You shall be the jewel of our lives.
  Dr Hibbert: Aww. Now say hello to your other seven children! [opens doctor's coat to reveal more babies]
  Apu: My... whaaa?!
• Token Good Teammate: Excluding Maggie, Lisa was the only Simpson who wasn't secretly slipping Manjula fertility drugs. She gives the others a very What the Hell, Hero? look when they reveal their involvement.
• Too Many Cooks Spoil the Soup: Due to Manjula taking fertility drugs, along with Apu, Homer, Marge, and Bart secretly giving her more, results in her having octuplets.
• Too Much Information: Apu does this twice to Homer while he is sitting in the ice cream freezer. He tells Homer that by doing so he improves the chances of impregnating Manjula. Homer reacts by stating the trope name in a sarcastic voice. He does it again when Apu receives word that Manjula has begun to ovulate.
  Homer: [sarcastically] Eww! Thanks for sharing! [Apu starts to drive off] More than I wanted to know!
• Two Rights Make a Wrong: While trying to get pregnant, Manjula started using fertility drugs. However, Apu also added fertility drugs to her diet, which would have caused quintuplets. Until, it's discovered Homer, Marge, and Bart also added fertility drugs.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Not only that but, why did the snake-like robots have to be full of poison? It even causes a lot of night terrors for Homer afterwards.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Despite having octuplets, the Nahasapeemapetilons initially were granted free products by companies to help them raise their kids in a better condition, but this is quickly undone by the news of a Shelbyvillian birthing nine kids, revoking their help in favor of the latter and leaving the struggling octuplet family behind.