Original air date: 1/25/2004 (produced in 2003)
Production code: FABF-05
Marge writes a romance novel with Homer and Ned as the men who fight for her love. Meanwhile, Homer gets a job as an ambulance driver.
This episode contains examples of (YMMV tropes can be found here):
- Anti-Climax: Homer and Ned's car chase ends hilariously abruptly:Homer: Flanders, pull over! I'm an ambulance.Flanders: Well, he's got me there. *instantly stops car*
- As Himself: Authors Thomas Pynchon and the late Tom Clancy, and Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen.
- Bait-and-Switch: A long one involving Homer furiously hunting Ned down for learning about the novel showing Ned as a model husband and Homer as a violent drunk as seen by Marge. Turns out Homer only wanted to beg Ned to give him pointers.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: When Homer sees a Help Wanted sign at a car dealership, he says it gives him an idea: he'll steal the sign so the dealership will pay him to make a new one. Upon catching Homer trying to steal the sign, the dealership owner says he'll show what he does with people like Homer: he hires Homer as a sales representative.
- Company Cross References: Bart only really freaks out about Marge's novel becoming popular because he's afraid Homer will see it be parodied on MADtv (1995), which was also airing on FOX during the time this episode aired.
- Critical Dissonance: In-Universe, while Marge’s book is popular with the town, the reviews for it are terrible.
- Cutting the Knot: What winds up being the means of which Homer finally learns about the plot of Marge's book? An audiobook by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen.
- Didn't Think This Through: When Lisa starts to worry about Homer finding out about his negative portrayal in Marge's book, Bart (initially) doesn't feel concerned:Lisa: If Dad ever reads that book, he's gonna be so humiliated.Bart: He'll never read it.Bart: He'll never see it.Bart: ...we're doomed!
- Distinction Without a Difference: How Homer defends himself when confronting MargeHomer: How can you say such horrible things about me?!
Marge: You told me you liked it! (realizes) You didn't read it at all! You lied to me!
Homer: I didn't lie! I was writing fiction with my mouth! - Eskimos Aren't Real: Implied: When grilling Marge over the contents of "The Harpooned Heart", Homer asks if any of it was true. All it takes is Marge confirming Nantucket exists for Homer to instantly assume the worst.
- Hidden Depths: Homer asking Ned for help reveals a number of things about himself:
- He trusts Marge implicitly.
- He knows Ned is too much of a goody-goody to seduce her.
- He is able to comprehend and address his inadequacy.
- He understands his drunken irascibility is harmful to his relationship with his wife.
- Whilst being disappointed that To Kill a Mockingbird did not live up to its title (see below) he was still able to learn its true meaning about racial discrimination (he just didn't think that applied to him).
- Hypocritical Humor: Homer complains about Marge writing a novel without letting him know, even though he just had changed jobs twice and bought an ambulance without telling her.
- Jerkass Has a Point: As callous as Mr Burns is, he was very justified in firing Homer this time, considering Homer crashed his car into the power plant and caused a lot of damage.
- Karma Houdini: A massive one. Homer straight up kills a power plant safety inspector as a result of his own reckless driving. He receives no other punishment for this other than Mr Burns firing him.
- Like Father, Like Son: When Homer fails to actually read Marge's book, he pretends he did once asked, only to keep moving one of his eyes side-to-side in a "No" motion. Later on, when it seems like Homer is chasing after Flanders to murder him, Lisa compares this to the end of the book, a connection that flies over Bart's head. Once asked if he bothered to read it, his only response is the eye gesture.
- Literal-Minded: Homer says he once read To Kill a Mockingbird and the book disappointed him for not teaching him any ways to kill mockingbirds (to be fair to Homer, he did understand its deeper message).
- He also speculates that Lee Harvey Oswald wanted to steal the Jack Ruby.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Everyone thinks Marge and Ned are having an affair.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Mordecai, Homer's character in The Harpooned Heart, ended up killing Cyrus, Ned's character, for being his rival for Temperance's affections. After Homer finishes the audiobook and goes after Ned, Lisa and Marge fear that he's going to kill Ned for the same reason.
- Pinocchio Nose: Before he lies, Homer shifts a single pupil from his eye back and forth, then he tells the lie. As a Brick Joke, Bart does the same thing.
- Self-Deprecation: Thomas Pynchon makes fun of his Reclusive Artist status in his cameo appearance.Thomas Pynchon: (waving at passing cars) Hey, over here! Have your picture taken with a reclusive author! Today only, we'll throw in a free autograph! But wait, there's more!
- Sequel Goes Foreign: We don't learn much about it beyond the opening line, but Marge had planned on a sequel to her book set in Australia: "The Harpooned Heart II: Thunder Down Under".Marge (while typing) "Temperance Barrows stared at the shrimp on the barbie-" (is cut off by Homer's appearance)
- Skewed Priorities: As Marge pointed out, Homer left two jobs (one of which he was fired from, the other one he quit) and bought an ambulance without any warning. Yet, he felt the need to text her when he stopped to feed a group of ducklings.
- Stating the Simple Solution: When Homer can't see through the car windshield after his burrito splatters all over it, he opts to steer by the reflection in his watch. A better thing to do would be to just pull over, something he himself admits, yet he doesn't take his own advice, causing him to crash into the power plant and get fired.
- Unexplained Recovery: After almost ten seasons of having the audience believe he was Killed Offscreen, Dr. Marvin Monroe shows up at Marge's book signing, stating that he'd just "been very sick" all these years.
- Write Who You Know: In-Universe. Marge's protagonist is herself, and her opposition is Homer and Ned.
