Recap / The Simpsons S 12 E 13 Day Of The Jackanapes

"What happened? Was anyone hurt?"^note Sideshow Mel: Just some network executives.

Original air date: 2/18/2001 (produced in 2000)

Production code: CABF-10

Once again, Krusty cancels his show (this time, because of Executive Meddling and the growing popularity of big-money game shows) and hosts a farewell special. And once again, Sideshow Bob returns to kill Bart and Krusty by brainwashing Bart into being an Action Bomb.

Tropes:

• Ambiguously Human: Lindsay Naegle and a unnamed TV executive turn out to be T-1000 like liquid metal robots... and this isn't a Treehouse of Horror episode!
• And This Is for...: At the night of Krusty's final episode, the hypnotized Bart says, "This is for Sideshow Bob" before barbecuing Krusty with a flamethrower. Thankfully it was All Just a Dream.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Sideshow Bob envisions Bart killing Krusty with a sniper rifle combined with a flamethrower, which wouldn't be very stealthy. Justified since it was just a dream Bob was having.
• Bait-and-Switch: As Krusty looks back on his TV career, he shows his audience his TV debut where he played "Kaputnick, the Russian satellite" on "The Milk of Magnesia Summer Cavalcade". The harness he wore for the performance gave him some discomfort, leading him to belt out "The bolshoi's doing the nutcracker in my pants!" in front of a shocked audience. The Krusty of today then explains, "Back then, you couldn't say 'pants' on TV."
• Big Damn Heroes: Mr. Teeny saves Krusty by disposing the bomb strapped to Bart.
• Blatant Lies: Bob has the brainwashed Bart cover for where he was while getting brainwashed by telling Marge he was "at the flower shop." Unfortunately Marge is more suspicious over Homer using the exact same excuse to cover a trip to Moe's. In Homer's case, it'd be easier to convince Marge he was at the flower shop if he didn't say he got drunk there.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Bart is hypnotized to kill Krusty, who, in his right mind, he calls "the one man I would never kill."
• Call-Back:
  • "Rakes, my old archenemy."
    Bart: I thought I was your archenemy.
    Bob: I have a life outside of you, Bart.
  • Lindsay Naegle shows up again in the first of the many jobs we saw her in: Krusty's female network executive from "Girly Edition".
  • After Bob is paroled, Chief Wiggum begins following after him to warn Bob that he's going to keep his eye on him, only to fall behind due to having "tiny piggy feet," mirroring a similar scene between his son and Bart in "This Little Wiggy".
  • This was the first Sideshow Bob episode to dispense with the As You Know recaps of previous episodes involving him. Instead, Bart simply says he's "6-0" over Bob so far.
• Captain Ersatz: The episode opens with Moe as a contestant on Me Wantee!, an obvious ripoff of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
  Host: Is that your ultimate response?
• Character Catchphrase: The male network executive has "I was just thinking that" in response to whatever Lindsay Naegle's just said.
• Chirping Crickets: See Self-Deprecation.
• Comically Missing the Point: In response to Krusty announcing that the next show is going to be his last because he's fed up with the executives, the male one responds that he "like(s) the area, but where does it go?"
• Creepy Monotone: Bart speaks like this after he's brainwashed. And manages to sass Bob through it too.
  Sideshow Bob: You will run up and hug him, blowing each of you to smithereens.
  Bart: What-ever.
• A Day in the Limelight: This episode focuses mostly on Sideshow Bob.
• Dream Sequence: Sideshow Bob dreams of Bart killing Krusty with a flamethrower.
• Easily Forgiven: Krusty, by Bob, for all the abuse that stoked this murderous hatred in him when he delivers a sincere apology during his last show, and Bob, by Krusty, for trying to kill him. Too bad Bob now has a death sentence.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Bob stops the plan to kill Krusty when he learns that he is truly sorry.
• Everyone Has Standards: Bart refers to Krusty as "the one man I would never kill."
• Executive Meddling: invokedKrusty tries to continue his show with integrity, even as the executives keep harassing him behind the scenes of a live taping. He finally breaks down when Lindsay Naegle sneaks herself into an Italian restaurant sketch disguised as a waitress.
• Fish Eyes: Bart looks pretty spacey after being hypnotized.
• Floating Advice Reminder: "If anyone asks, you were at the flower shop."
• Foreshadowing: One of the executives is dragged by Krusty's golf cart, just like the T-1000, foreshadowing The Reveal that both executives are made of liquid metal, also like the T-1000.
• Friendly Enemy: Bob is nonplussed when Bart cheerfully greets him, having lost his fear of him due to defeating him repeatedly.
• Genre Savvy: Bart is no longer afraid of Bob, having learned that "every time we tangle, you wind up in jail." This episode is only an exception in that Bob gets the death penalty this time (but lives to stalk Bart another day, of course).
• Given Name Reveal: The Sarcastic Clerk has here been given the name Raphael.
• Glad I Thought of It: Inverted example: In response to Krusty's on-air rant about not needing the network executives "telling (him) which way to pee," the male executive asks Krusty if he could substitute "pee" for "whiz". He responds with "I was just thinking that" when Lindsay Naegle points out that that might upset the Cheese Whiz people.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: Almost immediately after his plan to use Bart to kill Krusty is foiled, Bob gets dinner with the Simpsons and the cast of Krusty's show.
• Groin Attack: Bob tests his brainwashing by commanding Bart to attack a Krusty statue at the Krusty Burger with a bat. Bart proceeds to bash where Krusty's groin would be.
  Sideshow Bob: Hahaha, yes! YES! WORK THE GROIN!
• Hookers and Blow: Heavily implied by Krusty before the final scene of his farewell show where he apologizes and pays tribute to Bob:
  "Over the years, I [inhales] a lot of [in a deep, bellowing voice] 'Whoa!' and I [while gyrating his pelvis] 'guh-guh!' a lot of [while forming a shape of a woman with his hands] 'A-WOO-GA!'"
• Hypnotize the Captive: Bob ties Bart up and hypnotizes him with a target.
• Immune to Jump Scares: Sideshow Bob comes up from behind Bart and menacingly gives his "Hello, Bart" catchphrase, but Bart simply gives a simple "How are you doing?" in reply instead of his and Lisa's usual "AHHH! SIDESHOW BOB!" Phrase Catcher, citing his numerous victories over Bob at this point as his reason for doing so.
• Ironic Nursery Tune: As Bart walks out to the sports equipment shed where Bob is waiting for him, a child's voice sings "Ring Around the Rosie" while the playground equipment moves eerily in the wind.
• Kangaroo Court: Sideshow Bob will be lucky if he has at least that considering Chief Wiggum was up to executing him without holding the "customary" trial before.
• Lame Pun Reaction: When Sideshow Bob's plan goes into motion, he attempts a witty remark alluding to The Napoleonic Wars:
  Bob: Well, Krusty, this is your Waterloo. Soon, you'll be Napoleon Blown-aparte.
  Stage Hand: Ugh, terrible!
  Bob: Oh, hush up, Leo.
• Logo Joke: This was one of the episodes that repeated characters' lines for the Gracie Films logo.
  Krusty: Mukluk.
• Manchurian Agent: Bob brainwashes Bart into killing Krusty during his farewell special.
• Missing Steps Plan: When Bob reviews his master plan for Bart.
  Bob: Let's see: "Get job as school janitor", "Lure Bart to shed", "Secure same to chair with rope"... Ah, here we are: "Have Bart kill Krusty".
• Non-Protagonist Resolver: Although Bob regrets the plan he's put in motion and tries to stop it, Krusty and Bart's lives are saved by Mr. Teeny, who detects and disposes of the bomb.
• Noodle Incident: Smithers runs in to tell the family that "Maggie shot Mr. Burns again."
• Not Afraid of You Anymore: Bart no longer fears Bob, casually greeting him instead when encountered by the latter.
• Pet the Dog: Krusty expressing sincere regret for his poor treatment of Bob.
• Police Are Useless: Chief Wiggum sees Bart destroying the Krusty statue with Sideshow Bob cheering him on, but doesn't give it a second thought. "It's so great seeing a kid use a wooden bat. These days, it's all aluminum this, and George W. that."^Trivia This is the first reference to George W. Bush in the show since he was sworn in.
• Self-Deprecation: In response to Krusty going off the air, Marge says, "I think it's a good thing for a show to go off the air before it becomes stale and repetitive." Just then, Smithers runs in yelling that Maggie shot Mr. Burns again. Cue Chirping Crickets.
• Sentenced Without Trial: At the end of the episode, Chief Wiggum is preparing to execute Sideshow Bob by guillotine for brainwashing Bart to kill Krusty, leading to this exchange:
  Wiggum: Okay, where do you want to do this thing?
  Bob: Isn't it customary to have a trial?
  Wiggum: Oh, a wise guy, eh?
• Series Fauxnale: In-Universe, Krusty the Clown's show has apparently had quite a few of these, with the latest claiming that he's "retiring for the fifth and final time."
• Shout-Out:
  • The title is based off The Day of the Jackal, but the bulk of the plot - brainwashing someone into an assassin - is from The Manchurian Candidate.
  • The beginning of the episode has Moe appearing on the gameshow Me Wantee!, a parody of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
  • The studio executives are based on the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day, from one hanging off the back of a golf cart to both being made of a silver metal and congealing into one when blown up.
• The Stinger: Krusty saying, "Mukluk." ^note From Kent Brockman's interview with Krusty earlier in the episode, when Krusty demonstrates that comedy is words that sound dirty.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Homer's Imagine Spot of "a world without Krusty" is him and the kids watching the "Nutsy the Clown" show instead.
• Take That!:
  • Sideshow Bob says being clubbed with Tom Clancy's books is less painful than reading them.
  • Mr. Teeny shows no compunction in blowing up a room full of network executives. No one else is fazed by this either.
• Taped-Over Turmoil: It is revealed in an interview with Kent Brockman preceding Krusty's farewell show that Krusty taped episodes of Judge Judy over all of the episodes of The Krusty the Clown Show featuring Sideshow Bob to save money on blank VHS tapes. Unfortunately for him, Bob was watching the interview as Krusty made his confession, which lead him to scheming to hypnotize Bart to blow up Krusty live on the air.
  Bob: You've erased my past, now I'll erase your future!
• Throw the Dog a Bone: The opening has Moe actually coming up on top in the game show and keeping the money.
• Trigger Phrase: Bob programs Bart to approach Krusty and activate the bomb at the phrase "I've never had such a great audience."
• Uncertain Doom: The episode ends with Bob being given the death penalty and Wiggum and the squad attempting to guillotine him in the restaurant where he just had dinner with Krusty and the cast, with Wiggum merely calling him a "wise guy" when he invokes his right to a fair trial.
• Villain Decay: Bart is not intimidated by Bob, citing his previous victories over him.
  Bob: (with malice) Hello, Bart.
  Bart: Oh, it's you, Bob. How you doin'?
  Bob: No screams? Not even an "eep"?

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