Production code: GABF-14
Homer fears the Biblical end of days is coming after watching a movie and seeing what he thinks are signs of the Apocalypse.
Tropes:
- Author Tract: The movie Left Below:Mr. Thompson: It's the Rapture, Shauna, the Rapture! The virtuous have gone to Heaven, and the rest of us have been... Left Below! We were fools! And because we rejected God, tacitly accepting Satan, we must suffer through the Apocalypse.
Buddhist Monk: I thought all religions were a path to God; I was wrong!
Scientist: Why did I put my faith in science and technology?!
Homosexual: Oh, why did I choose to be gay?! - Call-Back: The Baha Men once again make a special appearance to perform a parody of their hit song "Who Let the Dogs Out".
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: Homer was right about the timing of the Apocalypse.
- Death Glare: Ned gives one to Homer when the latter attempts to leave him out of his pre-Rapture party.Ned: Well, well, well, looks like someone's having a pre-Rapture party.
Homer: No, Flanders. It's, uh... a meeting of gay witches for abortion. You wouldn't be interested. - Halfway Plot Switch: Homer takes Bart and Lisa to get haircuts at the mall. Due to their fighting, their haircuts end early, and they hide in a movie theater to avoid being seen. The movie showing is Left Below, which instills Homer's fear of the Apocalypse.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: After being humiliated when his predicted rapture date and time pass without incident, Homer realizes his calculations were wrong and he only has half an hour to make the new time, but naturally nobody wants to listen to him anymore and he ends up on the mesa by himself. He ascends to Heaven and sees his family suffering through the apocalypse on Earth, but manages to convince God to put off the end times and set everything right again. When he wakes up on the mesa, there's nothing to indicate that this wasn't All Just a Dream save for the odd fact that Moe's Tavern is back where it was and operating normally after Moe had previously sold it to sushi chefs who converted it into a restaurant—this restoration being an additional favor Homer had asked God for.
- Misaimed Fandom: In-Universe, the unfaithful father in the Left Behind parody is meant to be in the wrong for wanting to play golf on Sunday rather than going to church, but Homer likes him.Homer : Finally a character I can relate to. I bet good things happen to him.
- Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer: While on the way to the Springfield Mesa, the entire bus of Springfieldians, including Homer and his family, sing a version of the tune that goes like this:99 minutes until we're all saved,
99 minutes to go—
Unless it turns out
That we're not devout,
Then you're gonna be left down below. - Posthuman Nudism: After Homer laments that his prophecy of the end of the end of the world didn't come true a second time, he notices that he's naked and ascending to heaven. When he gets there, an angel introduces himself as his tour guide, and offers him a robe, but Homer says he's comfortable walking naked, only for the angel to respond that the robe is for the sake of everyone else.
- Shout-Out: For his haircut, Ralph Wiggum produces a photograph of Charlie Brown to show what he wants his hair to look like.
- The head exploding scene is a nod to an Overly Long Gag in Johnny the Homicidal Maniac.
- Show Within a Show: Left Below, a parody of Left Behind.
- So Much for Stealth: When Bart and Lisa, who just inadvertently got their shameful haircuts, see their class in their mall as photographers ready to take pictures, the two try to back away quietly from them so they won't be humiliated at school, but they bump against a wind chime stand, thus drawing attention towards themselves.
- Status Quo Is God: God restores the Status Quo by chanting "Deus ex Machina".
- Take That!: The Left Behind analogue is (accurately) depicted as an extended author tract with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.Homer: This movie will haunt me for the rest of my life, just like Cannonball Run 2!
- Title Drop: One of the characters in the movie "Left Below" comments that he and others were left below. Cue Homer wondering where he's heard that before.
- Trauma Swing: Jesus is shown sitting on one.God: I don't know what you people did to him, but he hasn't been the same since.
Homer: Oh, he'll be fine. - Traumatic Haircut: Happens to Bart and Lisa in the beginning. Bart wants his haircut to go snappy, to which his barber does so, resulting in a lot cut off. Lisa laughs at Bart’s atrocious hairstyle, causing him to furiously retaliate by grabbing a razor and shaving off a good portion of Lisa’s hair. When they see themselves in a mirror, they bemoan over this, with Bart dismayed at losing his “bad boy” spikes, and Lisa over losing her “good girl” points.
- Ungrateful Bastard: After Homer's first calculations prove incorrect, everyone treats him like a pariah and a "Nostra-dumbass". This wouldn't be so bad, except Homer's initial prediction brought out the best in people like Moe. However, they don't look at the upside, nor do they consider Homer had their best interests at heart. It's made worse when Marge throws Homer's corrected calculation back in his face. As Homer drives to the Mesa again, he actually considers this trope.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite being far more devout than Homer, and aware of the Rapture party, there's no sign of Ned, or any of the Flanders family, in Heaven after the apocalypse (unlike the earlier Biblical stories episode). It could be that they too were left behind since they did not follow Homer to the Mesa. Not that it matters anyway due to God undoing the Rapture in the end. Likewise with the rest of Springfield's citizens, as God only focuses on the family when Homer's in Heaven for that time.
