Original air date: 5/6/2001
Production code: CABF-15
Ned discovers that Maude had an unfulfilled dream — building and opening a Christian theme park — and decides to make it a reality to honor her memory.
Tropes featured:
- All Women Love Shoes: While the Simpsons are cleaning out Ned's bedroom of any remnants of Maude, Marge comes across three pairs of shoes in the closet and comments, "Wow, [...] Someone had a fetish."
- Balloon Belly: Bart and Milhouse after eating all of the ice cream toppings.
- Big "NO!": Homer and Ned yell out one simultaneously when they both see the orphan siblings lighting up a candle near the gas leak and throw themselves at them to protect them.
- Bittersweet Ending: Praiseland is ultimately closed down due to poor reception, the gas leak and the Springfield citizens mistaking Homer and Ned saving Patches and Poor Violet from the gas leak as them attacking the poor kids. However, at the end, Ned is ultimately more determined to let go of the tragedy that shook his life.
- The Bus Came Back: Ned's girlfriend Rachel Jordan from "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" reappears.
- Crappy Carnival: Praiseland isn't crappy due to a lack of effort on Ned's part, but rather due to his severely overestimating how entertaining most people would find his ideas of religious entertainment. King David's Wild Ride just locks the kids in the car while a giant animatronic of King David reads psalms, Whack-a-Satan lacks a mallet to use, and the confections are unflavored, among other flaws.
- Crush Blush: Ned does this a lot when Rachel Jordan shows up.
- Empty Bedroom Grieving: Downplayed with Ned Flanders. After Maude's untimely death, he kept the imprint of her silhouette in their bed, even obsessively spraying it with starch to remain fresh. By the end of the episode, he lets it go as a symbol to move on with his life.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Homer is willing to keep the truth about the gas leak a secret until he sees the orphans lighting candles near it.
- Not realizing that Homer and Flanders were pushing the orphans away from the gas leak to keep them from igniting it with candles, the people of Springfield assume the duo were assaulting the orphans and are disgusted with them.
- The Rich Texan learns the park had been tricking people into sniffing a gas leak offscreen and, while he is an amoral businessman, even he doesn't approve.
- Exact Words: Homer asks Helen Lovejoy for a Towel of Babel ice cream and to build it to Heaven. She puts four scoops of ice cream in a cone and offers it to Homer, but Homer insists, "To Heaven!" Helen thus puts 18 more scoops on the cone and Homer accepts it. Cut to his Towel of Babel in contact of a power line and exploding into a brown mess.
- Fluffy Cloud Heaven: Averted as this is not how heaven appears to anyone. Principal Skinner mentions that his vision "wasn't clouds and angels playing harps, like at the end of so many Three Stooges shorts".
- Heartwarming Orphan: Marge suggests that Ned donate the extra money to the orphanage, which she hears needs another wall. When Ned is about to expose the truth that the gas leakage is causing the hallucinations, the sight of Patches and Poor Violet make him reconsider.
- Incredibly Lame Fun: Praiseland is a very Crappy Carnival even by the show's standards — at least most of the other carnivals may be entertaining in a "may lose life and limb" or "as long as you don't mind being swindled out of all of your money" fashion, but Praiseland literally forces religion down your throat and is outrageously bland otherwise (even the food is flavorless).
- Least Rhymable Word: At the end of Rachel's performance, Lisa comments, "I can't believe she found a rhyme for Hezekiah." Of course, the episode was focusing on Ned's shyness and Homer using a paper fortune teller on him during most of the performance.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: In the epilogue, Rachel wears a wig to cover up her Maude haircut and asks Ned never to mention it again.
- Logo Joke: This was one of the episodes that repeated characters' lines for the Gracie Films logo—in this case, Violet's violent coughing fit.
- Manchild: Homer taunts Flanders that he has cooties and giggles like a schoolboy.
- Mushroom Samba: People see their idea of heaven, while onlookers witness them writhing on the ground speaking in tongues. Everyone thinks it's something truly spiritual, until Ned discovers a gas leak near the statue and that people were just "getting goofy off the gas fumes."
- Newhart Phone Call: After discovering the leak, Ned call the gas company to ask about its toxicity."Hello, gas company? How poisonous is your gas? Wow. But I'm talking outdoors with plenty of ventilation...how can that be worse? Okay, permanent brain damage or just temporary? I see."
- Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony: When Ned opens Praiseland, Mayor Quimby drives up in his limo, simply pokes his head out of the window and says, "It is with, uh, great pride that I dedicate this new school, sports arena or attraction." The mayor cuts the ribbon and just drives off.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Flanders initially doesn't want to charge people money for what he thinks is a miracle from God until Marge points out he could use the money for a good cause. When he learns the visions are caused by a gas leak, he does not like the idea since he is aware sniffing gas fumes is dangerous, and abandons the idea when the orphans try to light candles near the gas leak.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Ned tries to deny he had a crush on Rachel Jordan, but his Luminescent Blush gives his feelings away.
- Something Else Also Rises: Comic Book Guy squeezes his burrito so hard it squirts out of his hand when Uhura mentions she wants to make out with him, as do Catwoman and Agent 99.
- Who Dares?: On King David's Wild Ride the animatronic statue asks riders who dares to disturb him. No one answers, but he calls for silence before reading his psalms.
- Wrong-Name Outburst: Ned is not quite over the loss of his wife, even when he is with Rachel.Ned: Well, good night Maude. I mean, Maude. I mean, Rachel. I mean, Maude.
