After the co-worker that had been pulling double duty to cover for Homer's incompetence finally retires, Homer is forced to drive himself into becoming a stressed out workaholic to do his job. Wanting to help him, his family insist on him going to the circus with them to relax.
There, Homer is hypnotized into acting like a ten-year-old, which is fun for Bart, but becomes a pain for Marge when the hypnotist gets arrested and Homer doesn't want to mentally grow up.note
Tropes:
- Amnesiac Lover: Homer mentally regresses to age ten, which means he has no idea who Marge or the kids are. When Bart, fed up after Marge forces him to share his room with Homer, suggests he sleep with Marge as usual, Homer's too shy to even think about it because he has a (not-so-)Precocious Crush on her.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- While Homer is mentally ten years old, Marge sends him to share Bart's room, but misses him in the middle of the night and pulls a long box out of her drawer. It contains her knitting needles.Marge: We're gonna have a lot of mittens this winter.
- While initially frustrated by having to deal with the mentally age-regressed Homer, Bart comments that in order to get through the day he'll have to "Irish up" his coffee—which he does, by tipping some "Celtic Charms" into it.
- While Homer is mentally ten years old, Marge sends him to share Bart's room, but misses him in the middle of the night and pulls a long box out of her drawer. It contains her knitting needles.
- Brick Joke: When Lenny and Carl see the regressed Homer, they note that it’s a good thing “the other guy” came out of retirement.
- Calling Parents by Their Name: Lisa joins Bart in this when dealing with the hypnotized Homer as, under the circumstances, calling him "Dad" would be really hard to explain.
- Cerebus Retcon: Homer's total ineptitude at work hasn't nuked the town by now, because all this time someone else has been doing all the actual work for him.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Homer says that Bart is the closest thing to a brother he's ever had. Bart simply tells Homer he feels the same way about him—given Homer's Manchild nature and the fact that Homer is Bart's closest male relative, it's technically as accurate a descriptor as you can use while still burying the lead.
- Epic Fail:
- For the last seven years, Don has been fixing Homer's mistakes at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and Homer never noticed his presence until his retirement. Without his help, Homer can't even adjust his tie.
- In the flashback for when Homer went to the circus with Abe, Abe blocks Homer's view from seeing a circus performer fall down from a broken tight rope act, only for Homer to look away and see a circus staff getting their head squished by an elephant, so Abe tells him to look away towards a cotton candy stand...that sells it for $10. Abe is horrified by the price and gives up.
- Hand Wave: The plot about Homer being hypnotized is a Halfway Plot Switch from the episode's initial story about the nuclear plant's other safety inspector retiring and Homer being alarmed to find the burden of the entire plant on his shoulders. After being mentally regressed to age 10, of course, he doesn't go to work for days. While he and Lisa are performing for her stuffed animals, Lenny and Carl watch from the yard and Carl comments that it's a good thing "they pulled that other safety inspector out of retirement."
- Intergenerational Friendship: Homer and Bart form (what Homer doesn't realize is) one when Homer is hypnotized into believing he's ten years old.
- Manchild: The suggestion Homer received under hypnosis proves to be so strong that only the original hypnotist can snap him out of it. It's implied that this is because Homer unconsciously Prefers the Illusion, with Bart coming to realize that his father never wanted the responsibilities of adulthood and longs to be a kid like Bart.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Marge and the kids figure out how serious the hypnosis is when Homer drinks beer and doesn't like it.
- Remember the New Guy?: Don is a safety inspector who has worked at the same sector as Homer for the last seven years but the viewers and Homer didn't know about him before this episode. Homer's co-workers treat Don like someone who's always been around.
- The Stinger: A brief drawing of Maggie standing in front of the French flag holding a flag saying "Je suis Charlie" (I am Charlie in French) similar to Cosette from Les Misérables is shown in reference to the terrorist attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hedbo.
