"Can I snitch on my heart and say I love you?"
Original air date: 4/3/2005
Production code: GABF-08
After Shelbyville accuses Springfield of being hicks, Marge convinces the townspeople to fund a Frank Gehry-designed concert hall, which is then converted to a prison when the concert hall goes bankrupt on opening night. Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa investigate Snowball II's recent weight gain.
Tropes:
- Classical Music Is Boring: In order to try and make the city look more "cultured", Mayor Quimby allows the construction of an opera house. The opening night is Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, full house...and every single Springfieldian leaves after the first four notes are played, with them saying that it was the most "interesting" part of the symphony. Then, everyone stampedes their way out, including the orchestra, when Marge tells them the next piece is an atonal medley by Philip Glass. Quimby gets mad enough at the amount of resources that the house's construction required, and everybody else letting it go to waste, that he mournfully calls them "dumb rednecks", after which Mr. Burns buys the property and converts it into a prison.
- Fiction Isn't Fair: Homer gets unfairly screwed out of a prison guard job he would have been perfect for while the person responsible for screwing him over gets away with it. Frustrated by this, Homer kicks a can down the street and gets subsequently imprisoned in the same prison he applied to work at because the police decided to start enforcing the most ridiculous laws they could to fill said prison up. While in prison, Homer is offered the position of prison snitch, which he takes because it's clear he'll be whacked if he refuses. Marge then blurts out that Homer is the prison snitch in front of the prisoners, resulting in them trying to kill Homer. Despite all this (and the fact that the prison only came to be because she couldn't ignore a bit of "obnoxious hooting and hollering" from a few people in a town everyone in Springfield hates anyway), Marge chides Homer for ruining the prisoners' lives with his snitching. Homer got a raw deal in this episode.
- Foreshadowing: When Fat Tony recognizes Marge as the woman who occasionally drives her son to school, she figures out he must be Michael's dad. Michael will play a large role in a later episode.
- Karma Houdini: To get a job as a prison guard, Otto switches his urine sample with Homer's. Otto does get the job and is never seen suffering any consequences for it.
- Kick the Dog: Shelbyvillians mock Springfield, treat them like they're unintelligent hillbillies and hoot at them.
- Line-of-Sight Name: Parodied. When Bart talks to the mother of the family Snowball keeps visiting, he claims a baby turtle of his got into their house. When Mother Dexter asks Bart for the turtle's name, Bart looks her over and says, "Apron Boobs-face". Mother Dexter then asks Bart for his name as he's following her into the house, and Bart responds, "Shoes... Butt-back?"
- Loony Laws: Homer is arrested for kicking five times into an old can that he found on the floor... because he wasn't accepted for a prison guard job at the Mr. Burns-owned private prison he is to serve his sentence on. Another law that makes it unlawful to be in public without hats is also mentioned, and they are all printed in a compendium of silly laws. It must be mentioned that they were only enforcing these laws to fill up Mr. Burns's prison.
- Magic Skirt: When Lisa falls over attempting to carry a fat Snowball II.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Marge blabs out loud that Homer is the prison snitch in front of other prisoners.
- Noodle Incident: While looking for silly laws to use as excuses to arrest people, Chief Wiggum finds one that makes it unlawful to be in public without hats. Mayor Quimby and Mr. Burns quickly put on hats but Smithers can't find one. Wiggum comments that, if he didn't arrest Smithers at the park during that night, he won't arrest him now. The viewers are never given any clues to what happened back then (however, with Smithers being gay and the fact that public parks are popular places for gay men to hook up, it may be he was having sex in public with a man). The viewer is also never given an exact sentence length for Homer's crime.
- Not Helping Your Case:
- To prove that Springfield is not a hick town, Marge has Frank Gehry build a concert hall... only for everyone to walk out on opening night and it to go bankrupt, resulting in Mr. Burns converting it into a prison, which only justifies Shelbyville's belief.
- Homer tries to convince Mr. Burns that his body is "a temple" while smoking a butter bar.
- Now You Tell Me: Mayor Quimby calls the citizens "dumb hicks" for not mentioning they didn't like classical music before the opera house was built.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: When Homer is offered the position of prison snitch, it's clear he'll be whacked if he refuses.
- Pariah Prisoner: Homer, after it's discovered he's the prison snitch. They actually cause a "Prison Riot" just to kill him (although, fortunately, he's saved by his wife Marge, who had the keys to the prison from while it was still the opera house, and later Governor Bailey and Mr. Burns showing up).
- Private Profit Prison: After the concert hall goes bankrupt and Springfield can't use it for anything else, Mr. Burns buys it and turns it into a prison and raises profits by having the town enforce silly laws so it can have more inmates.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Everyone gets up to leave after the first notes of "Beethoven's 5th." The audience and even the orchestra runs out when Marge says the next piece is an atonal medley by Philip Glass.
- Secret Other Family: As it turns out, Snowball has been visiting another family who calls her Smokey and likes to spoil her with food.
- Shout-Out:
- To Peanuts. Marge's letter to Frank Gehry has a Snoopy theme.
- When Chief Wiggum arrests Homer for kicking a can, he orders Eddie and Lou to give the can "the whole CSI treatment".Wiggum: You know, lab tests, weird lights, shots from the can's point of view.
(the screen tints blue as the camera zooms into the can and looks out into the night sky from within)
Wiggum: (looking into the can, chuckling) Yeah, that's it. Lots of flash and no meaning.
- Swiss-Cheese Security: The climactic rescue of Homer depends on the fact that nobody ever thought of changing the building's locks when they restructured it to function as a prison.
- Take That!: Upon hearing the next musical piece is an atonal medley by Philip Glass, everyone, even the orchestra, runs out of the opera hall.
- Also one for CSI when Homer gets arrested for kicking a can and there's a bunch of CSI-esque shots of the can, which Wiggum refers to as "all flash and no meaning".
- Temporary Bulk Change: Snowball II undergoes one in this episode, it turns out that she has a Secret Other Family that feeds her excessively.
- Walking Out on the Show: Even the orchestra stampedes out of the opera house rather than stick around to hear Philip Glass.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Shelbyville's mocking of Springfield drives them to build the opera house, which is later turned into a prison (where Homer is sent for violating a law that was only enforced to fill up the prison in the first place).
