Recap / The Simpsons S5 E2 "Cape Feare"

Homer: "OH, MY GOD! SOMEONE'S TRYING TO KILL ME! Oh, wait. It's for Bart."

Original air date: 10/7/1993

Production code: 9F22

Bart is plagued with threatening letters written in blood (except for one written in black by Homer that reads, "I'LL KILL YOU SCUM") and by the recently-paroled Sideshow Bob. To keep Bart from getting killed, The Simpsons go into witness protection and move away to Terror Lake.

This was the last episode written by the original writing team (Sam Simon, David Stern, Jeff Martin, Jon Vitti^note (Though he would later return for Seasons 13-16, and also did some work on The Simpsons Movie), Jay Kogen, and Wallace Wolodarsky) before David Mirkin's new hires were brought aboard, so they wanted to go all out and leave a good last impression. To many fans, they succeeded.

---

Tropes:

• AcCENT upon the Wrong SylLABle: When Bart tells his family about how he tricked Sideshow Bob, Homer comments, "Ooh, a plan fiendishly clever in its in-tric-acies."
• Achievements in Ignorance: Homer manages to put Sideshow Bob in grisly pain by driving the family car (with Bob hanging onto the bottom) over a cactus patch when Lisa and Bart cheer for it.
• Actually Pretty Funny:
  • Chief Wiggum resents Bob for calling him "Chief Piggum", but when the others laugh at it, he rolls along with them.
  • Bart putting the "Wide Load" tattoo on Homer's butt earned the laughs of everyone in the room (except Homer).
• Actually Quite Catchy: Weaponized by Bart in the climax. He asks as his last request for Bob to sing all of H.M.S. Pinafore. Then he joins in at various points and enjoys the show, with Bob even going Friendly Enemy at times.
• Adaptation Expansion: Mr Burns: A Post-Electric Play is inspired by this episode.
• Artistic License – Biology: The electric eels that prevent Bart from jumping off the houseboat to escape from Bob have flicking forked tongues as if they are snakes. And, you know, are in North America rather than South America.
• Attractive Bent-Gender: Without his pills, Grampa underwent a Gender Bender. Jasper immediately goes a courting, and Grampa is won over by the promise of Steve and Eydie tickets.
• Audience Murmurs: Can be heard at the courtroom when Selma reveals that Sideshow Bob tried to kill her on their honeymoon.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Sideshow Bob writing threatening notes in blood. Sure it sends a terrifying message but as he’s been using it for every letter eventually he faints from blood loss. Also though it’s never once thought of because the the collective intelligence of the Springfield PD is that of a box of hat pins, the fact that the notes are written in blood would make it astonishingly easy to ID who the threat is especially since Sideshow Bob is a convicted criminal and as part of that procedure they take DNA samples and input it into the criminal database.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • Several people seemingly threaten Bart, but the results actually benefit him:
    • Marge is brandishing a pair of scissors when she tells Bart she's going to "get you"... some ice cream at the grocery store, since she saved so much money on diet cola.
    • Ned Flanders is wearing a Freddy Krueger-like bladed glove when he tells Bart to "say your prayers, Simpson"...because the schools can't force him to. He then goes back to using his finger razors to trim his hedges, which makes it almost as much fun as sitting through church.
    • Mrs. Krabappel tells Bart "you're going to be my murder victim"...because she's casting him as Andrew Borden in the class play of Lizzie Borden, starring Martin Prince as Lizzie. Forty whacks with a wet noodle, Bart!
    • Later, Homer runs into Bart's room with a large knife (to cut Bart a brownie) and then a chainsaw and hockey mask (which he was proud of and wanted to show Bart).
  • Homer looks into the services of a P.I. to try and force Bob out of town. The man says he can be very persuasive and cocks a gun. What he actually ends up doing is asking Bob to leave town like a whining seven year old, then offering to be Bob's best friend if he does leave town. It works precisely as well as you think it would.
• Bait-and-Switch Accusation: When Lisa calls Moe and tells him she knows what he's up to, Moe thinks she knows about his panda bear smuggling ring.
• Bilingual Bonus: Sideshow Bob tries to pass off the tattoo on his chest (DIE BART, DIE) as German for "The Bart, The". You'd assume ALL of it is part of Bob's lies in order to deceive his parole board, but "Die" does, indeed, mean "the" in German (although it's pronounced "dee" and is more a female term than a male term). Of course, since this sentence makes no sense in either language, it's still pretty obvious he's lying.
• Biting-the-Hand Humor: Lisa's line, "The FOX network has sunk to a new low" after watching Up Late with McBain.
• Bland-Name Product: The Simpson family transport their possessions in a trailer rented from U-Tow. Absolutely no relation with U-Haul, of course.
• Blatant Lies: Sideshow Bob's tattoo (which reads DIE BART DIE) is just German for "The Bart, the".
• Blunt "No": Homer and Marge go to a P.I. to help them with Bob:
  P.I.: Now don't you fret. When I'm through... he won't set foot in this town again. I can be very, very persuasive. [cocks gun]
  [The P.I. and Bob sitting in a seedy bar]
  P.I.: Come on! Leave town!
  Bob: No.
  P.I.: I'll be your friend.
  Bob: No.
  P.I.: Oh, you're mean.
• Boring, but Practical: When Bob faints from blood loss after writing with his own blood for too long, Snake suggests that he use a pen instead.
• Bowdlerise: The episode was banned in Germany due to the large amount of violence (mostly aimed at Bart, who is a child), plus the opening joke where Bart and Lisa watch a talk show called Up Late with McBain, featuring a show announcer known as Obergruppenführer (the SS equivalent rank of lieutenant-general) Wolfcastle, dressed in full SS uniform, complete with swastika armband. In Germany invoked(for obvious reasons), depicting Nazism and swastikas outside of historical context is considered highly illegal (which is why the video games Castle Wolfenstein and Doom II are banned in Germany).
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Inverted. The only bad thing on Bob's to-do list ("Threaten Bart") is at the top, above "Do laundry" and "Buy corn holders."
• Brick Joke:
  • Abe is left behind without his pills while the Simpsons leave town. When they return home, he has apparently turned into a woman without his pills.
  • Somehow, Bart gets a Playbill with Sideshow Bob on the cover during his performance of HMS Pinafore. On a related note, the throwaway line regarding the Gilbert and Sullivan recordings.
  • The Overly Long Gag of Sideshow Bob stepping on rakes gets a callback when he steps on one more after climbing onto the boat.
• Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: When the family tries to figure out who's threatening Bart, Abe suggests that they hire Matlock.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Sideshow Bob has become this, complaining that Bart foiled his "evil schemes" in his two prior appearances.
• Chekhov's Gun: Bart's strategy for distracting Bob is foreshadowed by the family listening to the entire works of Gilbert and Sullivan on the way to Terror Lake.
• The Chew Toy: Bob takes a hell of a lot of slapstick abuse in this episode from losing blood, hitting speedbumps, driving through cacti, stepping on rakes, getting crushed by an entire parade including elephants...and it is hilarious.
• Comeback Tomorrow:
  Bart: You wrote me those letters.
  Marge: You awful man! Stay away from my son!
  Sideshow Bob: Oh, I'll stay away from your son, all right. Stay away... forever.
  Homer: Oh no!
  Sideshow Bob: Wait a minute, that's no good. [tries to think of a different line but can't] Oh!
  [Bob gets up and leaves, but after a few seconds, rushes back.]
  Sideshow Bob: Wait, I've got a good one now. Marge, say "Stay away from my son" again.
  Marge: NO!
  [Bob grumbles angrily and leaves]
• Comically Missing the Point:
  • In his fantasy of being John Elway, Homer is causing Denver to lose painfully to San Francisco, but he's still happy with this.
  • After almost five hours of being stomped on the foot, being referred to as Homer Thompson, the new name the witness protection agents have chosen for the Simpsons as they elude Sideshow Bob to no avail, all Homer can say to one of the agents is, "I think he's talking to you."
• Continuity Nod: To "Black Widower". During Bob's parole hearing, Selma recalls how he attempted to murder her during their honeymoon. In the same scene after Snake is paroled, Bob gives a heartfelt goodbye to him, similar to what he did when he was released in that episode.
• Contrived Coincidence: Wiggum and his squad are right in place to arrest Sideshow Bob as soon as the boat runs aground in Springfield.
  Wiggum: It's a good thing you drifted by this brothel!
• Corner of Woe: Bart huddling this way on the playground.
• Couch Gag: The family forms a chorus line joined by Vegas dancers and animals. (Reused from "Lisa's First Word", because the episode was too short.)
• Couldn't Find a Pen: Sideshow Bob writes everything in blood (threatening letters to Bart, to-do lists, letters to Reader's Digest) while he's in prison. Lampshaded by Snake when Bob gets woozy from his anemia:
  Snake: Use a pen, Sideshow Bob!
• Crosscast Role: Martin Prince as Lizzie Borden for a school play. Bonus points in that Martin is voiced by a woman.
  Martin: Forty whacks with a wet noodle, Bart!
• Crush Parade: "No, not the elephants!"
• Curse of The Ancients: When the police show up right as he is about to kill Bart, Bob shouts in frustration, "By Lucifer's beard!" The officers are taken aback for a second, but then move on.
• Cut the Juice: Scratchy stops the Death Trap by unplugging the lasergun with his tongue, but it doesn't save him for long.
• Darker and Edgier: For Sideshow Bob episodes up to that point. The first two Sideshow Bob episodes were mysteries, one for armed robbery and one for attempted murder. This one is just Bob tormenting then attempting to murder Bart.
• Dramatic Thunder: Rolls when the scene cuts over to Bob in prison.
• Dude, Not Funny!: Bart doesn't find McBain's very politically incorrect talk show funny, with Lisa saying "The Fox Network has sunk to a new low".
• Even Evil Has Standards: Per the 1991 Cape Fear, Sideshow Bob goes to harass his targets at a movie theater by smoking and laughing loudly during the film...only for Homer to drive him crazy by smoking a bigger cigar and laughing even louder. It irritates him enough to make him blow his cover.
  Sideshow Bob: Oh really now, that's too much!
• Everyone Is a Suspect: While Bart is undoubtedly paranoid, even fleetingly suspecting Marge, there's little doubt that plenty of people in his life have the motivation to send him death threats. Heck, Homer wrote one of them himself.
• The Faceless: We only see the hands of the originator of the threatening letters until the reveal.
• Facepalm: One of the witness relocation agents does this after numerous failed attempts to get Homer to respond to his new name.
• Failed a Spot Check: All of the Simpsons are completely oblivious to Sideshow Bob riding under their car, failing to register, not only his loud howls of pain when they hit obstacles, but his actual response to something Homer says (Homer seems to assume it was Maggie who talked; nobody else reacts).
  Homer: Hey kids! Wanna drive through that cactus patch?
  Bart: Yeah!
  Lisa: Yeah!
  Sideshow Bob: (from under the car) No!
  Homer: Well, two against one!
• Falsely Reformed Villain: Sideshow Bob pretends to go straight so he can get paroled out of prison and kill Bart.
• Flag Drop: A Union Jack somehow unfurls behind Bob as he reaches the climax of his HMS Pinafore performance.
• Flaw Exploitation: Bart saves himself from Sideshow Bob by playing to his ego; he segues into manipulating him by first complimenting his singing voice.
• Friendship Moment: After Snake is granted parole, Bob tells him to take care and hopes they meet again under better circumstances. Snake is clearly touched, though quite baffled by Bob's word choice.
• Gender Bender: At the end of the episode, it's shown that Grampa apparently needs to take a type of medication to prevent this from happening to him.
• Gilligan Cut: The Simpsons try to hire a PI to drive Bob away from town. The guy sounds like he'd be tough enough for the job. Cut to him whining to Bob while pathetically asking him to leave town.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: Bart joins Bob in singing "I Am the Captain of the Pinafore."
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!:
  Sideshow Bob: Bart Simpson? Ha! The spirited little scamp who twice foiled my evil schemes and sent me to this dank, urine-soaked hellhole?
  Parole officer: Uh, we object to the term "urine-soaked hellhole" when you could have said "pee-pee-soaked heckhole".
  Sideshow Bob: Cheerfully withdrawn.
• Great Offscreen War: Lisa's pen pal Anya's country is apparently undergoing a civil war which results in the president overthrown by a General Krull.
• Have a Gay Old Time: When Homer barges into Bart's bedroom, Bart describes himself as edgy... as in "on edge". Nowadays, "edgy" is more frequently used to describe someone or something trying way too hard to be darkly cool.
• Hellhole Prison: Or "dank, urine-soaked hellhole" (later amended to “pee-pee-soaked heck-hole” at the parole board’s behest) as Sideshow Bob puts it.
• Hockey Mask and Chainsaw: Homer bursts into Bart's room wearing a hockey mask and brandishing a chainsaw, asking if Bart wants to see either. Currently provides the page image.
  "BARTDOYOUWANNASEEMYNEWCHAINSAWANDHOCKEYMASK?!"
• Horrible Judge of Character: Sideshow Bob's parole board, who buy his explanation that his "DIE BART, DIE" tattoo is merely German for "The Bart, The".
  Parole Board Member: No one who speaks German could be an evil man!
• Hypocritical Humor: Homer criticizes the guy (Sideshow Bob) smoking a cigar in front of his family at the movies while he was smoking an even larger cigar from the Knoxville World's Fair.
• I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: The only options the Witness Relocation Program offers for the Simpsons to move to are Cape Fear, Terror Lake, New Horrorfield, and Screamville.
  Homer: Oooh, Ice Creamville!
  Agent: No, Screamville.
  Homer: AAAHH!!
• I'll Be Your Best Friend: The P.I tries to get Bob to leave town by offering to be his friend. It does not work.
• Incredibly Lame Fun:
  Ned: "Maude, these new finger razors make hedge trimming as much fun as sitting through church!"
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: This is the episode that took Sideshow Bob from being an intimidating, imposing threat to a Wil E. Coyote level Butt-Monkey.
• Innocently Insensitive: Homer lunging into Bart's room at night wielding a knife and yelling at the top of his lungs, trying to offer him a brownie. Then (after apologizing) coming back in to show him his new chainsaw and hockey mask.
• Iris Out: The episode ends with one shaped like a heart.
• Iron Butt Monkey: Bob while hanging to the bottom of the Simpson's car gets driven through a cactus patch. Then he runs into a lot of rakes, and an elephant parade tramples him. He survives all of this.
• Jerkass: Homer showed absolutely no concern that his son's life is in danger.
  • When Homer gets Sideshow Bob's threatening bloody letter, he screams in terror that someone's trying to kill him. He then calms down and laughs when he realizes it was addressed to Bart.
  • When Bart returns in a panic, telling Marge and Homer that Sideshow Bob has followed them there, Homer tells him "don't interrupt", even though he was doing nothing but sitting back drinking a beer. When Marge scolds him that this is a serious matter, he whines that it isn't.
• Knight of Cerebus: Bob forgoes complex evil plans and just tries to slice Bart to pieces with a machete. Perhaps to balance this out, he drives through a cactus patch, walks through a pile of rakes and gets trampled by circus elephants.
• Knuckle Tattoos: Sideshow Bob has them, but since he has Four-Fingered Hands, they say "LUV" and "HĀT" instead of "LOVE" and "HATE".
• Late to the Punchline: Chief Wiggum objects to Sideshow Bob calling him "Chief Piggum" during Bob's parole hearing, however after everyone in the courtroom laughs at the name Chief Wiggum then chuckles and claims he "Just got it".
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  Bart: But who'd want to hurt me? I'm this century's Dennis the Menace!
• Leitmotif: Sideshow Bob gains one in this episode: Bernard Herrmann's Cape Fear title theme.
• Limited Animation: Grampa and Bart's conversation about Matlock is noticeably limited, as not only do neither character blink, the only animation other than their mouths is the Line Boil around Bart's head as he speaks. This leads to an odd moment where Grampa cheerfully exclaims, "Now that's good eatin'!" while looking disappointed. This was because the scene was originally animated for a Deleted Scene where Grampa tells Bart to respect his elders, only for Bart to say that it's in Japan where old people are revered. The dialogue was re-written and the animation was retrofitted as best as possible.
• Little "No": During the first Underside Ride, Bob's reaction to Homer asking if anyone wants to drive through the cactus patch.
• Malicious Misnaming: Sideshow Bob has no decency. He called Chief Wiggum "Chief Piggum".
• Mama Bear: Upon seeing Bob at the theatre and learning he's behind the threatening letters to Bart, Marge angrily demands he stays away from her son.
• Metaphorgotten: When Bart points out that Matlock is not real, Grandpa counters with the analogy of his teeth not being real but still allowing him to eat corn on the cob ... if someone cuts it off and smushes it into a fine paste.
• Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: Sideshow Bob sends Bart threatening letters AND makes parole while he's still incarcerated! Somebody should really up the security.
• Misplaced Wildlife: Bart gets menaced by electric eels when he attempts to jump off the houseboat. Electric eels are indigenous to South America (which Springfield is probably not in).
• Mocking Sing-Song: During recess, the girls in Bart's class call him "fatty fat fat fat" in a singsong chant.
• Mood Whiplash: Courtesy of realistic consequences.
  • The Reveal that Bob is the one behind the letters written in blood is legitimately creepy, including an Evil Laugh and lightning. Then Bob proceeds to write a mundane letter, only to pass out from blood loss and hit his head on the desk.
  • Bob's first Underside Ride plays up the suspense of how entering witness protection isn't going to keep Bart safe. Then Bob endures assorted and repeated injuries, tops of all being the cacti that Homer drives through.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Among the places the FBI suggests relocating the Simpsons are New Horrorfield, Screamville, and Terror Lake. They eventually get sent to Terror Lake, which actually turns out to be pleasant.
• Noodle Incident:
  • While trying to figure out who's sending Bart threatening notes, it turns out Bart's been making crank calls to Moe and actress Linda Lavin for years. In the latter's case, she did something so bad even Lisa felt she deserved Bart's pranks.
  • Homer getting a "Wide Load" tattoo on his butt. The only things we know is that Bart put it there and it led to Homer writing "I Kill You Scum", which was included in the collection of threatening letters from Sideshow Bob (and stands out as the only one not written in blood).
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Bart and Lisa when seeing Sideshow Bob at the theatre.
  • Right when Bob hears the band marching towards him, his eyes widen and they start trampling him.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Lisa immediately notices that something's wrong with Bart when he's disturbed by Scratchy's graphic death in the latest episode of Itchy and Scratchy. Usually, he'd be laughing right along with her, but now, the show's gruesome humor only reminds him of the threatening letters he's been receiving in the mail.
• Opening Shoutout: Midway through the episode, when the Simpsons get new identities, the opening plays again, this time introducing "The Thompsons" and gradually zooming in on their houseboat.
• Orwellian Retcon: Lisa receives a letter from her pen pal Anya, lamenting that her country has been… LIBERATED BY THE BENEVOLENT GENERAL KRULL! ALL HAIL KRULL AND HIS GLORIOUS NEW REGIME! SINCERELY, LITTLE GIRL!
• Overly Long Gag:
  • Bob vs. rakes, Round 1! It had to be shortened in syndication (excluding FXX, DVD, and Disney Plus) because of how long it was (it was approximately 30 seconds; the episode was running short and they needed padding).
  • Homer not responding to his witness protection name (Homer Thompson) also qualifies.
• Pajama-Clad Hero: Bart. When his family is kidnapped by Bob, and alligators and eels surround their houseboat, what does he do in the face of certain death? He asks Bob to sing the entire score of H.M.S. Pinafore in an effort to stall for time long enough to get to Springfield and have the police arrest Bob and save the day. Pajama-Clad Hero indeed!
• Pants-Pulling Prank: Right after Milhouse tells Bart that Nelson is planning to pull down Bart's pants, Nelson does just that.
• Paranoia Fuel: In-universe, the entire episode revolves around this. Bart receives at least a dozen threatening letters and is soon misreading people's innocuous words and cues. Justified, however, in that he has a good reason to be on edge.
• Partially-Concealed-Label Gag:
  • In the "Itchy and Scratchy" sketch, Itchy purposely covers up the letter "s" on an advertisement board reading "We spay your pet - $75" so it would read "We pay your pet - $75". Scratchy falls for the offer and ends up Strapped to an Operating Table. Watch the scene here.
  • The Bait-and-Switch gag with Marge has her clipping a coupon from the paper but the way she holds the paper while cutting it covers it except for the letters "DIE" in "Diet cola".
• Pass the Popcorn: Bart pulls a bag of popcorn out of nowhere during Sideshow Bob's singing.
• Police Are Useless: Sideshow Bob openly writes death threats (in his own blood no less) and drives through the neighborhood listing people he does not intend to kill. At no point do the police conduct any forensic analysis, or arrest Bob for threats and harassment, with Chief Wiggum being unaware that sending threatening letters is actually illegal (as is putting squirrels down your pants for gambling).
• Profanity Police: The parole officer who objects to Bob's use of the term "urine-soaked hellhole" (after all, he could have said "pee-pee soaked heckhole").
• Psycho Electric Eel: Electric eels menace Bart when he tried to jump off a houseboat to escape Sideshow Bob (this, despite the fact that electric eels are native to South America, not North America).
• Rake Take: The first of many for Sideshow Bob.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Apparently, Bob likes to work out to calisthenics alongside lifting weights.
• Riddle for the Ages:
  • Just how and when did Bart put the "Wide Load" tattoo on Homer's butt? And how did Homer not notice?
  • Why would Sideshow Bob, who is a patron of the fine arts like Shakespeare and Gilbert and Sullivan, choose "Wipe Out" by the Surfaris to dedicate to Bart on the radio?
  • And what did Linda Lavin do to deserve getting prank-called by Bart?
  • And why is Selma leaving the toilet seat up?
  • Speaking of Selma, why does everyone viewing the parole hearing (which includes a child) have thoughts about killing her?
• Rule of Funny: The episode invokes this trope to a significant extent. It was the last hurrah for several of the show's original writers who were leaving. They threw every wacky or random gag into the episode with the mentality of "What are they going to do? Fire us?" This resulted in one of the best-regarded episodes of the show ever. Among other things, the episode features an elephant stepping on Bob's face and Bob putting on a full Gilbert and Sullivan opera (complete with costumes and a playbill) after being asked to do so on the spot.
• Running Gag: When Sideshow Bob finally climbs aboard the Simpsons' houseboat, the first thing he does is step on another rake. Makes you wonder what it's even doing there.invoked
• Savage Wolves: After the rest of the family packs up and leaves, Abe Simpson gets left behind at the Simpson house, knocking at the door and saying "Hello-o! Hello-o! You have my pills! Hello-o? I'm cold and there are wolves after me" (cue howling).
• Scheherezade Gambit: When Bob has Bart cornered on the adrift houseboat and asks if he has any Last Requests, Bart plays on his ego, telling him he has such a lovely singing voice ("Guilty as charged!" exclaims Bob) and asks him to sing the entire score of H.M.S. Pinafore, Bob complies (mostly to prove he can do it, probably) oblivious to the fact that the boat is drifting towards Springfield as he does, and as he finishes, he's noticed by Chief Wiggum and a squad of armed police, who tell him to raise 'em.
• Self-Defense Ruse: Invoked Chief Wiggum helps the Simpsons being threatened by Sideshow Bob by setting up an alarm and claiming that once a man is inside their home, anything they do is "nice and legal" ^note  This is a simplification of the Castle Doctrine . Homer immediately calls Ned Flanders over, eager to pummel him and claim self-defense, until Wiggum points out that it doesn't work if they invite the person over.
  Flanders: "Heyddly-hey!"
  Homer: *disappointedly* "Go home."
  Flanders: "Toodly-doo!"
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Bob has one moment of this, wishing for "more felicitous circumstances" next time he and Snake meet. Snake doesn't understand what that means, so Bob simply says, "Take care," again.
• Shout-Out:
  • Obviously, to the movie Cape Fear.
  • Bob stays at the Bates Motel.
  • In addition to Bob's take on H.M.S. Pinafore, the Simpsons also listen to The Mikado on their way to Terror Lake.
  • In the car ride to Terror Lake, Homer and Bart wear fedoras similar to the ones Ricky and Fred wore at the beginning of the Hollywood arc of I Love Lucy.
  • "BARTYOUWANNASEEMYNEWCHAINSAWANDHOCKEYMASK?!"
  • The Itchy and Scratchy short parodies Goldfinger (specifically, Scratchy Strapped to an Operating Table with the laser slowly ascending to crotch level).
  • The McBain late night show is a reference to Fox's desperate measures to have a late-night show (hello, The Chevy Chase Show!)
  • The last scene of Jasper being infatuated by Grampa and the ensuing dialog is from Some Like It Hot.
• Show Within a Show: "Up Late with McBain". It's unclear if it's meant to be a normal talk show hosted by the actor Rainier Wolfcastle, or an installment of the McBain film series where the hero gets a talk show.^note Both Wolfcastle and his music guy — McBain's partner Skoey, from the snippet we see in "Saturdays of Thunder" — call each other by the names of their characters rather than their real names, and, despite the title, the show is not in fact playing during an "Up Late" timeslot.
• Slipping a Mickey: When Bob hogties the rest of the family, Lisa sees Homer passed out and assumes this.
  Lisa: Oh, no! Dad's been drugged!
  Marge: (angry) No, he hasn't!
• Special Guest: Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob.
• Spoonerism: Near the end, when Bart says, "Take 'im away, boys!", Chief Wiggum responds with, "Hey, I'm the Chief here! Bake 'im away, toys!" The other officers are clueless and even Sideshow Bob is confused.
  Wiggum: Do what the kid says.
• Squirrels in My Pants: While reading a law book, Chief Wiggum learns that not only are there laws against mailing threatening letters to people, he also learns that it's illegal to put squirrels down one's pants for gambling purposes. Wiggum then tells his men — who are doing just that — to "knock it off".
• Stab the Picture: In the scene where Bob is exercising, there is a picture of Bart tacked to the wall. The photo has a cleaver, an awl, and a bloodied carving knife stuck in it.
• Stab the Salad:
  • Happens three times in the first act, before it's known that Sideshow Bob wrote Bart the death threats. Bart worries that three people around him are the culprit based on the first half of the sentence they say:
    Marge: (Menacingly, holding scissors) Bart, I'm going to get you ... some ice cream at the store, since I'm saving so much money on Diet Cola!
    (Later...)
    Ned: (Menacingly, with Freddy Krueger-style blade hand) Say your prayers, Simpson ... because the schools can't force you like they should! (uses blade hand to shape a topiary) Maude, these new finger-razors make hedge trimmin' as much fun as sittin' through church!
    (Later...)
    Edna: (Menacingly) You're going to be my murder victim, Bart!... in our school production of Lizzie Borden, starring Martin Prince as Lizzie.
    Martin: (In drag, brandishing axe) Forty whacks with a wet noodle, Bart!
  • Homer even pulls this twice when they're in Terror Lake.
    "BARTWOULDYOULIKEABROWNIEBEOREYOUGOTOBED?!"
    "BARTYOUWANNASEEMYNEWCHAINSAWANDHOCKEYMASK?!"
• Stalker without a Crush: Sideshow Bob starts by sending Bart threatening letters written in blood, phoning in radio song dedications with the message that he's going to kill Bart slowly and painfully, revealing himself to the Simpsons by attending the same movie as them, driving through the neighborhood to list all the people he wasn't going to kill, following the Simpsons to Terror Lake, hassling Bart on his way to school and finally coming onto the Simpsons' houseboat to kill him.
• Starting a New Life: Homer and Bart embrace the idea of starting afresh under a new identity.
• Take That!:
  • Linda Lavin gets mentioned as a regular prank-call victim of Bart, with Lisa agreeing that she deserved it.
  • The family first meets Bob while watching a movie called Ernest Goes Someplace Cheap, a clear Take That towards movies with Jim Varney's Idiot Hero character Ernest P. Worrell (of course, most consider those movies acceptable to mock).
    Ernest: Wow! "Pooblic lib'ary"! We'll stay here fer a while, Vern. [...] Hey, Vern, help me git ma head outta this toilet!
  • Homer dreaming of being John Elway scoring the touchdown after being blown out in the Super Bowl, a Take That to Elway, who back then had the reputation of being a great quarterback, but one who choked in the Super Bowl, being on the losing end of three. Also, when dressed as Elway, Homer wears the old-timey leather football uniform from the early days of collegiate football.
• Tempting Fate: The last thing Sideshow Bob says before being trampled by a parade (which includes elephants) is, "Surely there's no harm in lying in the middle of a public street?"
• This Is Gonna Suck:
  • As the Mr. Thompson Overly Long Gag gets going, the two agents glance at each other and recognize this is going to take a while.
  • Bob upon realizing the Crush Parade includes elephants.
• Those Wacky Nazis: The announcer for "Up Late with McBain", for no apparent reason, is Obergruppenführer Wolfcastle, a man in an SS officer uniform. Since he looks elderly and has the same last name as McBain's actor Rainier Wolfcastle, this was possibly a reference to the then-recent controversies surrounding Arnold Schwarzenegger's father who was a member of the NSDAP during WWII. However, while Rainer seems fine with having a cast member of his show appear in an SS uniform; Arnold in Real Life does not condone his father's association with the Nazi party.
• Toilet Seat Divorce: Patty mentions that even she wants to kill her sister Selma because she always leaves the toilet seat up.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In his two previous appearances, Bob at least made the effort to appear like an honest, law-abiding citizen. This time around he's an outright Card-Carrying Villain, who makes no secret of his wishes to dispose of Bart.
• Underside Ride:
  • Sideshow Bob tries this in a parody of the 1991 Cape Fear scene. While he does get to his destination, it doesn't quite work out as the family drives through a lot of cacti and over a few speed bumps on the way there, not to mention Homer spilling his hot coffee under the car.
  • He does it again later in the episode to find Bart. After unbuckling himself from the car he spends too long lying in the road and gets trampled by a parade.
• Unexpectedly Dark Episode: Bart gets sent a death threat in the mail; the words "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU" written in blood. He spends the rest of the day paranoid about who could be trying to kill him, but eventually learns that it's Sideshow Bob. The Simpsons go under witness protection, change their name, and relocate to a houseboat, although Sideshow Bob continues to chase after him. That night, Bob ties up the family and traps them, with the exception of Bart, whom he chases after with a machete. Bart only makes it out alive at the end because of some Bond Villain Stupidity on Bob's part. That's not to say there are still plenty of jokes in this episode, including the infamous Rake Take mentioned above.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Subverted with Bob, as he doesn't really give out details about what he plans to do and even goes straight for trying to kill Bart. His plan only fails because he gets distracted by Bart playing up his talented voice. Had he simply done the deed and been done with it, he'd have been successful. Played straight with Nelson, who takes all of five seconds to successfully infiltrate the jungle gym and lower Bart's pants in front of the entire fourth grade after Milhouse informs Bart of Nelson's plan to do so.
• Voiceover Letter: Lisa receives one from her Pen Pal in a Banana Republic (or a war-torn African country), only for the voiceover to change halfway through:
  Anya: Dear Lisa, as I write this, I am very sad. Our President has been overthrown and...
  Male Voice: ...REPLACED BY THE BENEVOLENT GENERAL KRULL! ALL HAIL KRULL AND HIS GLORIOUS NEW REGIME! SINCERELY, LITTLE GIRL.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: If Wiggum is to be believed, it's in a state with castle doctrine (and the little wink he gives when he says "nice and legal" implies "justifiable homicide").
• Whole-Plot Reference: The episode is a loving homage to... uh, Cape Fear—both the original and the remake. It established the film's main theme as Sideshow Bob's leitmotif, and it's fair to say that the music is now remembered more as Bob's theme than it is the film's.invoked
• With Catlike Tread: Sideshow Bob reacts loudly to all the damage he takes while under the Simpsons' car and even yells out a "No!" when Homer asks the kids if they'd like to drive through a cactus patch. Nobody notices.
• Witless Protection Program: Because of Bob's threats to kill Bart, the Simpsons enter the Witness Protection Program and move to Terror Lake with new identities, but unfortunately for them Bob followed them by tying himself to the underside of their car and continues to terrorize them there.
• Would Hurt a Child: The plot of the episode, natch. Also implied with General Krull towards Anya, as she was unable to finish her letter to Lisa.
• You Are Fat: The girls at school combine this trope with Mocking Sing-Song to humiliate Bart.
• You Have to Believe Me!:
  Bart: Mom, Dad, I just saw Sideshow Bob and he tried to kill me!
  Homer: Bart, don't interrupt!
  Marge: Homer, this is serious!
  Homer: (Rolls his eyes) Oh, it is not.

---