Homer gets a new assistant that soon replaces him while Bart and Martin create a robot seal that becomes a hit with the elderly crowd at the Springfield Retirement Center.
Tropes:
- Alliterative Name: Bart projects a machine known as "Homer Humiliator".
- Brick Joke: When the seals are reprogrammed to kill, the mentioned causality is Alice Glick. During the Dance Party Ending, she is shown in heaven, dancing with Jesus.
- Call-Back: Howard Jr. from "Wedding For Disaster" is part of the funeral home managers.
- Comically Missing the Point: Homer doesn't understand why the Homer Humiliator does mean things to him.
- Dance Party Ending: One breaks out after the seniors are reunited with the robot seals, with even the funeral people who corrupted the robots joining in.
- Does Not Like Men: Homer's assistant Roz has a crippling dislike of men that she becomes irate if one ever touches her.
- Fun with Acronyms: The North American Man Bot Love Association. Understandably, not all members agree with the name.
- Groin Attack: One of the ways the Homer Humiliator works.
- Mechanical Animals: Martin Prince and Bart design a form of robotic seal named a Robopet in a bid to win the Science Fair. They end up becoming pets for the lonely residents of the Springfield Care Home but are reprogrammed by funeral directors to kill. However, they are eventually reprogrammed and go back to being the elderly residents' pets.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The title is this for the George and Ira Gershwin standard "Embraceable You."
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: The seals use this towards Wiggum after they've been reprogrammed out of custody. Snake also uses this tactic to get out of jail.
- Shout-Out: Bender was at the front page of a robotics magazine and Santa's Little Helper had a Darth Vader mask. Homer leaves work sooner to watch Paul Flart: Water Park Cop.
- Speak of the Devil:Martin Prince: Bully, Bart! Bully!
Bart: Bully? Where? Is it Nelson?
Martin: No, Bart. It's just an expression.
Bart: Oh.
Nelson Muntz: [From Behind the Black] Who hast summoned me? - Strange Minds Think Alike: When Roz, the woman who replaced Homer, asks how he learned she hates being hugged, Homer gives no clue other than the initials "S" and "F" and she quickly understands he means "Stupid Flanders".
