Recap / The Simpsons S6E24 "Lemon of Troy"

Original air date: 5/14/1995

Production code: 2F22

The children of Springfield wage war on Shelbyville after their beloved lemon tree is stolen from them by Shelbyville children. The parents of the Springfield children take Ned's RV to search for their boys, and when they find them, the children convince them to help recover the stolen tree from an impound lot.

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Tropes:

• Adults Are Useless: A rare aversion for an episode focused on the kids, as Homer and the rest of the dads catch up to their sons in Ned's RV and ultimately prove integral to the plot to steal the lemon tree back.
• The All-American Boy: Played with. In the scene leading up to the introduction of the lemon tree, Bart and the other boys of Springfield are portrayed as loving baseball, fishing, running a lemonade stand, frolicking in the woods outside of town, and being eager to listen to Grandpa's stories. There are some subversions (Nelson hucks the fish he catches at traffic, and the lemonade stand hardly has any business), but overall the contrast between this idyllic imagery and how Springfield is usually portrayed is left to speak for itself.
• All There in the Manual: Bart's counterpart has No Name Given in the episode, but the official episode guide identifies him as Shelby.
• Angry Fist-Shake: When Homer steals Flanders's RV away from the impound lot, the lot's owner (an Expy of Homer) and his son Shelby (an Expy of Bart) shake their fists at the fleeing Springfieldianites.
  Shelbyville Homer: Ooh, you lousy Springfielders, you - shake harder, boy!
• Apologetic Attacker: When a Shelbyville boy captures Martin, he calls for Nelson to save him. After a few seconds, Nelson appears and explains to the boy that he usually doesn't hang around Martin before beating him up.
• Bait-and-Switch: When Bart is being chased by a guard dog, Homer attempts to distract it by throwing a steak its way, but instead, the dog swallows it whole while still chasing after Bart, leading Homer to exclaim, "Faster, son! He has a taste for meat now!"
• Bait-and-Switch Silhouette: Bart admitting finding the lemon tree is hopeless, until he sees a yellow, lemon-shaped rock, then realizes there's a lemon behind the rock.
• Big Brother Instinct: Martin nearly finds himself on the receiving end of this when he seizes and interrogates a little kid on the lemonade he's selling, only for the kid's bigger brother to show up and seize him. Only Nelson's timely intervention saves Martin from getting beaten up.
• Big Stupid Doo Doo Head: The Springfield/Shelbyville insults degrade into this after the No, You exchange.
  Shelby: Look at the weak little baby! You're stupid, you stupid weak baby.
• Bluff the Impostor:
  Shelbyville Kid: If you're from Shelbyville, how come we've never seen you at school?
  Bart: Uh, I don't go to school.
  Kid: OK... what's 2 + 2?
  Bart: Five.
  Kid: Eh, his story checks out.
• Blatant Lies: The episode ends with an elderly Shelbyville resident claiming that Shelbyville deliberately tricked Springfield into stealing back the tree... because it was haunted.
• Borrowed Catchphrase:
  • In-universe: Milhouse is infuriated when he hears Shelbyville Milhouse using his catch phrase "Radical!" Which we've never heard him say before... or since.
  • Homer joins Bart in a yell of "Eat my shorts!" as they leave Shelbyville. Ned happily botches it with "Yes, eat all of our shirts!"
• Brick Joke: Shelbyville's split with Springfield over marrying cousins saves Bart, when he's surrounded by the Shelbyville kids and distracts them by shouting, "Look, someone's attractive cousin!"
• Buffy Speak: Shelby's father: "Get out here, son. There's a doin's a-transpiring!"
• Bully and Wimp Pairing: When Bart's group splits up, Nelson is paired with Martin. "Team Discovery Channel!"
• Bully Turned Buddy: Nelson—according to Martin, that is. Nelson does go out of his way to save him, so there's something to it.
• …But He Sounds Handsome: While infiltrating Shelby's gang, Bart hears them talking about the Springfield kids trying to get the tree back, and responds with "Curse those handsome devils!"
• Butt-Monkey: Flanders suffers the most. First, Homer forces him to use his RV to drive Springfield's fathers around Shelbyville to find the boys, it suffers damage for the whole ordeal, and he's the one who gets saddled with the impound fee at the end (though he is easily able to afford it).
• Call-Back: Ned Flanders' RV from all the way back in Season 1's "The Call of the Simpsons" becomes the vehicle for the dads to search for their sons in Shelbyville and later becomes key to Bart's Trojan Horse strategy to get the tree back.
• Chameleon Camouflage: Milhouse has an Imagine Spot that while wearing camouflage he blends into the bushes completely.
• Chekhov's Classroom:
  • Subverted. Early in the episode, Mrs. Krabappel is teaching Roman numerals, which would come in handy for Bart later when he is trapped in the Shelbyville zoo and finds himself in front of several doors marked with Roman numerals, only one of which — the one marked seven — is the exit and all the others have tigers on the other side — except that he didn't pay any attention and figures out what seven is in Roman numerals in a completely unrelated way (by using the Rocky films as reference).
  • Played straight with Grandpa's impromptu history lesson on the Springfield/Shelbyville rivalry. He explains that the feud started because Shelbyville Manhattan wanted to be able to marry his cousins, which Jebediah Springfield found repulsive. Later in the episode when Bart is cornered by the Shelbyville kids, he distracts them by shouting "Hey look! Someone's attractive cousin!", buying himself enough time to flee on skateboard.
• Chekhov's Gun: Defied.
  Bart: I could sure use that flying motorcycle now.
  [Frink flies by on it]
  Frink: You had your chance!
  • Possibly: Luann mentions that she used to live in Shelbyville, so it's perhaps unsurprising that Milhouse's Oddball Doppelgänger is himself named Milhouse, a fact that Milhouse finds out just in time to distract him from helping Bart out of a tight corner.
• Comically Missing the Point: When Bart rushes out of the house, declaring he's going to "teach some kids a lesson". Marge declares she's going to take it literally, and later believes Bart actually has a tutoring job.
• Couch Gag: The living room is black and white, and the Simpsons are dancing Rubber-Hose Limbs cartoon characters.
• Delayed Reaction: It takes Homer a few seconds to realize that the lemon tree had been stolen after Bart tells him this.
  Homer: You kids are in big trouble, running away from home like this.
  Bart: But they stole our lemon tree.
  Homer: I don't care what excuse you've got. Nothing's gonna stop me in the middle of this speech. You're gonna... Lemon tree?!
• Continuity Nod: Shelbyville residents drink Fudd Beer, the brand mentioned in "Colonel Homer".
• Determinator: Shelby's dad maintains his glare on the Springfieldians even as his eyes water and keeps shaking his fist ineffectually as they retreat.
• Embarrassing First Name: When it turns out the Shelbyville equivalent of Milhouse is also named Milhouse, all town rivalry is suspended in a moment of profound mutual understanding.
  Milhouse: But I thought I was the only one!
  Shelbyville!Milhouse: A pain I know all too well!
• Empathic Environment: In Abe's tale, dark clouds roll in to signal the split between Jebediah Springfield and Shelbyville Manhattan.
• Enemy Eats Your Lunch: Parodied, as Shelby's father caps off a little evil gloating by taking a triumphant bite out of a Springfield lemon. The bitter flavour makes his face crumple and his eyes water, while he valiantly tries to maintain his smug expression.
• Evil Counterpart: Shelby to Bart, and his father to Homer. Shelbyville Manhattan to Jebediah Springfield.
• Evil Gloating: Homer's Shelbyville counterpart mocks him, refusing to return the lemon tree, and decides to eat one in front of them, puckering his face up.
• Failed a Spot Check: The Shelbyville kids fail to notice the Springfield kids climbing over the wall despite being only a few steps behind them.
• Failed Attempt at Drama: Bart dramatically reveals himself to the Shelbyville kids after infiltrating their group in disguise and sabotages their attempt at painting an anti-Springfield graffiti... and they have no idea who he is, having already forgotten about him. They don't even become hostile until he reveals he's from Springfield.
• Faith–Heel Turn: Lampshaded when Bart is handing out roles to the members of his team. He designates Todd Flanders "the quiet religious guy who ends up going crazy".
• Five-Man Band: Invoked by Bart, who assigns his friends these roles as they prepare to enter Shelbyville.
  Bart: Okay, here's how it goes. I'm The Leader, Milhouse is my loyal sidekick, Nelson's the tough guy, Martin's The Smart Guy, and Todd's the quiet religious guy who ends up going crazy.
  • Database is inexplicably ignored during the above speech, despite standing among the others at the time.
• Flashback... Back... Back...: Marge repeats the last line of a lecture on civic pride she gives to Bart: "Sorry to repeat myself, but it'll help you remember." Sure enough, Bart later has a flashback to what she said, and remarks, "Hey, that does work!"
• Filching Food for Fun: Boys from Springfield and Shelbyville pettily argue over a lemon tree and its lemons. Both groups think the tree belongs to their town. One day Bart and co. find the tree is entirely without the fruit, and later the whole tree gets stolen.
• Funny Background Event: While the boys make a big deal about crossing the city limits into Shelbyville, Lisa and some other girls are in the background flying a kite and running back and forth across the line without a care in the world.
• Gone Horribly Right: If Marge hadn't given her speech about Springfield's civic pride to Bart and the rest of the family, he and the rest of the boys might not have snuck into Shelbyville to get the lemon tree back.
  Marge: This is my fault. I tried to teach Bart about town pride, but the power of my words filled him with a sort of madness.
• Grumpy Old Man: Grandpa finally has a willing audience, but when the children murmur enthusiastically about his story, he tells them to shut up.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: When the Shelbyvillians steal some lemons, Milhouse remarks, "We can't spare a single one!" and then the Springfield kids begin throwing lemons at them.
• Kilroy Was Here: Bart writes his name in wet concrete, with an Imagine Spot of the future, where archaeologists speculate on what he might be like.
• Kissing Cousins: The cause for the town rivalry between Springfield and Shelbyville is due to Jebediah Springfield falling out with Shelbyville Manhattan, when the latter expressed a desire to marry his cousins in the town they would found together:
  Jebediah Springfield: Why would we wanna marry our cousins?
  Shelbyville Manhattan: Cause they're so attractive. [confused] I— I thought that was the whole point of this journey!
  Jebediah Springfield: Absolutely not!
• A Lesson Learned Too Well: Marge's attempt to instill civic pride in Bart gets through to him so effectively that when Springfield's lemon tree is stolen he rounds up a gang of kids to venture into Shelbyville and knock some heads together.
• Literal-Minded: Marge and Homer think that Bart, who's gone out to "teach some kids a lesson," is tutoring. In Marge's case this belief is expressly by choice.
• Lost Common Knowledge: Bart has an Imagine Spot where people from the future bring him back to life (by shooting a ray gun at a piece of graffiti he's made). He wows them by taking out a yo-yo.
  Man 1: What's normal to him amazes us.
  Man 2: He will be our new god.
• Malaproper:
  Homer and Bart: Eat my shorts, Shelbyville! Eat! My! Shorts!
  Ned: Yes, eat all of our shirts!
• Meet Your Early-Installment Weirdness: Shelby's dad sounds like Walter Matthau, a la early Homer.
• Mirror Universe: Shelbyville is a full-on copy of Springfield, with counterparts to many of its major citizens and points of interest. Bart and his friends all had Shelbyville counterparts who are antagonistic to our heroes. However, Milhouse and his counterpart managed to become friends.
  Milhouse 2: But Milhouse is my name!
  Milhouse: But I thought I was the only one!
• My Car Hates Me: When the Springfielders need to escape from the Shelbyville impound lot, Flanders is unable to start the RV. Turns out Homer was draining the battery by cooking roast chicken.
• Mythology Gag: Shelby's dad is voiced by Hank Azaria doing a Walter Matthau impression, just as early Homer was voiced by Dan Castellaneta doing a Matthau impression.
• Namesake Gag: You'd think Shelbyville got named after somebody called "Shelby". Well, you'd be wrong.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Hank Azaria based Shelby's dad on Walter Matthau.
• Non-Indicative Name: The Shelbyville newspaper, the Shelbyville Daily, is printed once a week.
• Noodle Incident:
  Bart: You know, Milhouse, I've been thinking. This town ain't so bad. Good friends, lots of lemons, numerous angel sightings.
• No Time to Explain: Parodied. Nelson bursts into the classroom and shouts "Everybody, come quick! Something's happened. No time to explain." Along the way, he stops to take a drink at a fountain, and is asked if it wouldn't be simpler to explain the matter. His response is, "No! I said there's no time to explain and I stick by that!"
• Not So Great Escape: Bart tries to escape the Shelbyville kids by using spray cans as a Jet Pack. It fails miserably, so Bart just makes a run for it.
• No, You:
  Bart: Hey! Stop talking bad about my town, man.
  Shelby: Why don't you make me?
  Bart: I don't make trash, I burn it.
  Shelby: Then I guess you're a garbage man.
  Bart: Well, I know you are, but what am I?
  Shelby: A garbage man.
  Bart: I know you are, but what am I?
  Shelby: A garbage man.
  Bart: I know you are, but what am I?
  Shelby: A garbage man.
  Bart: Takes one to know one!
  Shelby: [gapes in surprise]
  Database: Checkmate!
• Oddball Doppelgänger: Shelbyville is full of them, including the owner of the impound lot (Homer), Shelby (Bart), the owner of Joe's Tavern (Moe), the Asian owner of the Speed-E-Mart (Apu), and a female Groundskeeper Willie.
• Our Founder: Shelbyville has its own equivalent of the statue of Jebediah Springfield, depicting founder Shelbyville Manhattan with an attractive cousin on each arm.
• Parental Obliviousness: How Marge and Homer get the idea that Bart uncharacteristically took a tutoring gig.
  Bart: And now I am going to teach some kids a lesson. (ominously slams door)
  Marge: I choose to take that literally!
  Bart: (from outside) DEATH TO SHELBYVILLE!
  Homer: Yes, Bart's a tutor now. Toot on, son! Toot on!
• Pet the Dog: Martin calls on his "bosom chum" Nelson to save him from a Shelbyville kid who threatens him, and there's the expected dead silence before a shamefaced Nelson unexpectedly appears to do just that.
  Nelson: Aww, geez! I never hang out with him. Normally. (Grabs antagonist and throws him.)
• Reading Lips:
  Milhouse: What are they saying?
  Bart: I'm not sure.
  Milhouse: I thought you said you could read lips.
  Bart: I assumed that I could.
• Ridiculous Future Sequelisation: Rocky VII: Adrian's Revenge (though a seventh Rocky movie would come true, it was a spin-off focusing on Apollo Creed's son, aptly titled Creed).
  Bart: Rocky V plus Rocky II equals... Rocky VII: Adrian's Revenge!
• The Rival: Bart has Shelby (a doppelganger from a rival town, Shelbyville) as a rival. In fact, Milhouse also has a rivalry with his own counterpart (also named Milhouse) from the same town.
• Sadistic Choice: Faced with the undesirable options of joining Jebediah Springfield in a town "devoted to chastity, abstinence, and a flavorless mush I call root-marm" or joining Shelbyville Manhattan in a town where it's legal to marry your cousin, the members of their group just sort of throw up their hands and randomly pick a side.
• Serious Business: Once the adults learn the Shelbyville kids took the Springfield lemon tree, they treat the conflict just as seriously as the kids.
• Silly Reason for War: Previous episodes have shown that the rivalry between the two towns has been violent at times (as Lisa explained in "Homer Loves Flanders," Springfield built a mini-mall that was purposely larger than a mini-mall Shelbyville built. Then, after Shelbyville made the world's largest pizza, Springfield burned down their city hall. Then Shelbyville spiked Springfield's water supply to get even. And on, and on, and on). Supposedly, this all started because of an argument over the right for men to marry their cousins.
• Similar Squad: Shelbyville having its own equivalents of familiar Simpsons characters is a Running Gag throughout the episode, with Shelby and his dad serving as counterpoints to Bart and Homer respectively. Funnily enough, this might actually be justified in the case of the Milhouse-like kid, who turns out to also be named Milhouse; Luann had mentioned earlier in the episode that she's from Shelbyville, possibly implying that he's an estranged relative.
• Skewed Priorities:
  • Homer gets the boneheaded idea to start a barbecue in the middle of making their escape from the impound lot, which diverts the car battery's power to the oven rather than the transmission.
  • In the beginning of the episode, Bart ignores an open safe full of diamonds and Prof. Frink's flying motorcycle so he could write his name on wet cement.
• Small Town Rivalry: The episode further expands why Shelbyville isn't a friendly neighboring town.
• Sore Loser: As Shelbyville loses their hold on Springfield's lemon tree, the elders of their town embellish the story to claim that they didn't take Springfield's lemon tree because it's haunted. On their hill next to Springfield's, they desperately and futilely try to outdo Springfield's lemonade culture... with their own turnip juice culture.
• Stock Object Colors: When Bart's expedition reaches into Shelbyville, they marvel at how much like Springfield it is, except for small details. Milhouse in particular is spooked by the fact that the fire hydrants are yellow instead of red.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Bart thinks he can use a pair of spray cans as jetpacks to escape the Shelbyville kids. Instead of propelling him to the sky, all they do is cover his shoes in paint.
• Sustained Misunderstanding: When Bart announces that he's heading out to "teach some kids a lesson," Marge and Homer believe (in Marge's case, at least, by choice) that he's taken a tutoring job.
  Marge: It's almost lunchtime. Do you know where your brother is tutoring?
  Lisa: Tutoring? The only thing Bart's teaching is guerrilla combat in Shelbyville.
  Marge: Well, do you have a number where we can reach him?
  Lisa: No, Mom, Bart and some kids ran off to wage war on Shelbyville!
  Marge: (Gasp!) Homer, come quick! Bart's quit his tutoring job and joined a violence gang!
• Trojan Horse: Homer and the others park Ned Flanders' RV in front of a hospital and wait for it to be hauled away so they can get inside the impound lot where their stolen lemon tree is held. After the plan works, Homer comments that no one in history has ever had such a brilliant idea.
• Unconventional Learning Experience: invoked Even though there was a scene earlier where Mrs. Krabappel was teaching Roman numerals, Bart (as expected) wasn't paying attention. So, when Bart's stuck in the tiger pen in the Shelbyville Zoo^note With all the doors marked in Roman numerals, and the only door leading out being the seventh door, he finds himself at a loss as to what door to pick... until he remembers the Rocky films:
  Bart: Okay, think, Bart... Where have you seen Roman numerals before... I know! Rocky Vee! That was the fifth one! So... (points to the "V" door) Rocky V plus (points to the "II" door) Rocky II equals... (points to the "VII" door) Rocky VII: Adrian's Revenge!
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Nelson and Martin, sort of. Nelson makes it clear he can't stand Martin, but still sheepishly saves him from one of the Shelbyville kids (though not before explaining that he wouldn't normally).
• Waxing Lyrical: Milhouse's quote as he hugs Shelbyville Milhouse after realizing he shares the same name as him.
  Milhouse: So this is what it feels like when doves cry.
• We Used to Be Friends: Jebediah Springfield wanted a town devoted to chastity, abstinence, and a flavorless mush called "root-marm", whereas Manhattan thought they'd establish a town where people could marry their own cousins (the thought of which sickened Springfield). They swiftly became foes, extending their rivalry to the towns they each started.
• Written by the Winners: Averted; it turns out that Shelbyville has its own storytellers, and they try unsuccessfully to spin the episode in a way more favorable to them (by claiming they got rid of the lemon tree because it was haunted).

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