Homer promises Marge her dream vacation to Paris, and then to defray the cost, he makes a deal with the travel agent to act as a courier and transport a briefcase with top-secret info on the trip.
Tropes:
- Balloonacy: In a Funny Background Event while the Simpsons are in Paris, a man can be seen floating through the air on dozens of balloons. Then he collides with a house also tied to balloons, which causes the man's balloons to pop and he falls to the ground.
- Call-Back: Marge mentions places the family went for past episodes' family vacations.
- Ironically, the other times the Simpsons have been to France (even living there for some time after escaping the United States) were not mentioned. And especially strange is that the Frenchmen chasing the family are Cesar and Ugolin, the same men who forced Bart to work in their winery WAY back in Season 1. Their past nor their involvement with Bart was never mentioned, despite their clearly seeing Bart with the family.
- Fate Worse than Death: While running away from the French bad guys, Homer and Lisa enter a street Lisa recognizes as the home to the town's three biggest jazz clubs. Homer tries to kill himself to avoid jazz music.
- My Country Tis of Thee That I Sting: The bad guy who comes with the idea of shouting "Marco" to make Homer give away his position says every American falls for this.
- Negative Continuity: Marge has her dream fulfilled of visiting Paris... and yet the whole family actually lived in France as ex-pats for an unknown amount of time after escaping Alcatraz several seasons before.
- Skewed Priorities: A news crew would rather film Homer on his tiny car than film a total eclipse. Later, the two French bad guys miss Homer because they stopped for a seven-course meal. When one of them brings this up, the other says he wouldn't eat a six-course one like a peasant would.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Jay Leno. He shows up to buy Homer's tiny car, prompting the latter to offer to take the family for a vacation trip. Then he returns to get the money back because the car wasn't legally Homer's to sell, prompting Homer to become a courier to pay for the trip.
- Too Dumb to Live: While hiding from the French bad guys, Homer keeps giving away his position by shouting "Polo" whenever a bad guy screams "Marco". It's so compulsive that he's forced to wear a gag (which he still pulls out).
