Original air date: 11/11/2001
Production code: CABF-22
Jane Kaczmarek guest stars as the voice of a new, harsher judge who punishes Bart (for joyriding in a police car) and Homer (for abandoning Bart, therefore allowing it to happen) by tethering them together.
Last episode production-wise under Mike Scully's tenure.
Tropes:
- Acquainted with Emergency Services: Judge Roy Snyder is shown to know Bart already pretty well when he is brought to court. Bart knows him pretty well too, since he knows that he will let him of the hook, since "boys will be boys".Marge: I love our court days. It's about the only thing we do as a family anymore.
(the Simpsons walk past a bailiff)
Lisa: (to the bailiff) Hey, Karie.
Karie: Hey, Lisa. - All Animals Are Dogs: The judge's watch-seal.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- Homer and Marge tried to nail a sign at Judge Harm's house, we see it starts with the letters "BI". Then we get to see it actually reads "Big Meanie".
- Fed up with Homer and Bart's fighting, Marge returns with a kitchen knife. They scream as she brings it down...onto the tether.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment:
- When Judge Harm publicly announces her policy about parenting, Marge says it's obvious she has no children... because her breasts are too firm.
- When Bart requests to speak in court, Judge Harm responds "Well, it is highly unorthodox... so no!"
- Big Damn Heroes: Judge Snyder gets back from vacation exactly one second before Judge Harm is able to make Bart's sentence official.
- Burning with Anger: After being incensed by Homer's attempt to explain away violating his punishment, the frayed cord of the tether ignites with Judge Harm's fuming.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: The Simpsons attitude to appearing in court. Marge says it is the only thing they do as a family anymore.
- Chained Heat: Bart and Homer, for the first half of the episode.
- Comedic Spanking:
- Bart and Homer are tethered together and one evening, they fight. Homer starts to strangle Bart by putting the tether around his neck. Bart grabs the tether and starts whipping Homer on his buttocks.
- Judge Harm sentences Marge and Homer to have their heads and hands locked up in wooden stocks. Later it is made harsher — they have to stand at the road, bend over and be spanked by drivers. Nelson even whips them with an extension cord.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: Bart and Homer are tethered to each other, then Homer and Marge are pilloried. And then, they are forced to stand by the curb so people driving by can spank them (as long as they don't use extension cords) According to Lisa, creative punishments like this are getting more common and brings up Bill Clinton being their mailman as an example.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: When Judge Harm starts communicating with the Simpsons through the tether after it's cut, Homer tries explaining that the whole thing only happened because he was trying to make love with Marge in front of Bart. Naturally, this just makes her more furious.
- Harmful to Minors: After being tethered, Homer at one point begs Marge to have sex, even though Bart is right there on the floor next to the bed.
- Hanging Judge: Although for personal gains since she does obey the law, Constance Harm is quick to let people know how she got that name.
- Hollywood Law: This episode shows that Judge Snyder and Judge Harm are both incompetent, for opposite reasons. Snyder is way too lenient, willing to let Bart off with a scolding for an admitted felony (it is suggested he's the reason Bart tends to get away with everything). Harm, on the other hand, is way too strict, handing down sentences that would likely be considered torture for indefinite periods of time (and later, commits a very serious legal taboo, presiding over a case dealing with a crime where she was the victim). The episode also shows Judge Harm presiding at the same time over juvenile and regular criminal courts (which doesn't happen in real life for the same reason you don't see an Omnidisciplinary Lawyer), as well as Snyder replacing Harm in the middle of the hearing (which wouldn't happen without the first judge's agreement, and Harm very much did not agree).
- Jerkass Has a Point: Judge Harm's punishments are overly harsh, bordering on illegal. However, she does make good on pointing out that Bart's bad behavior is a product of Homer being a bad parent. In a lesser sense, so does for Marge. The second half of the chapter is driven partially by Marge's pride and refusal to say she is a bad parent.
- Karma Houdini: Lisa calls Bart out for not taking responsibility for his actions and letting his parents be punished. It isn't until Homer and Marge are sentenced to jail when Bart finally admits he deserves the punishment instead of them. He still gets away with it, though, thanks to the more lenient Judge Snyder taking over at the last minute.
- Logo Joke: This was one of the episodes that repeated characters' lines for the Gracie Films logo.Homer: Cobras! Aaah...
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Judge Harm really lives up to her name.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Judge Harm is a parody of Judge Judy.
- Oh God, with the Verbing!: Professor Frink's brief appearance on his rocket scooter.Frink: Look out because of the zooming!
- Out-of-Character Moment: Though Moe has been shady, trigger-happy and short-tempered in the past,
Word of God says that Hank Azaria was so befuddled by Moe robbing Homer of his $600 Italian pants by gunpoint that he ad-libbed the line:Moe: Yeah, I rob now. - Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The title references The Parent Trap.
- Punished for Sympathy: Bart would've gotten this for standing up for his parents had Judge Roy Snyder not arrived just in time. He even agrees with Lisa considering Bart, Homer, and Marge have been through enough.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Snyder is a far more forgiving and lenient judge than Harm.
- Scales of Justice: Held by a statue of Lady Justice as a child in front of the Juvenile Courthouse.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: When it comes to Harm's punishment, this tropes makes sense even if she obeys the law.
- Self-Deprecation: During the chalkboard gag, Bart writes "Nobody reads these anymore."
- Shout-Out: As Bart and Milhouse head toward a large tanker of soup in Wiggum's police car, Officer Sniffy covers his eyes and exclaims, "Ruh-oh!"
- Skewed Priorities:
- After Homer and Marge accidentally sink her houseboat, Harm is more upset that the quilt made by her grandmother was ruined.
- Homer ditches Bart and Milhouse to chase the KBBL "Party Penguin Prize patrol" for 40 dollars and a Blue Öyster Cult medallion. He is rightfully called out on this by Harm.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Judge Snyder thinks Milhouse looks like a good student because of his glasses
- Special Guest:
- Jane Kaczmarek brings out her Lois as Judge Constance Harm.
- Jess Harnell does the Charlton Heston soundbite at the beginning of the episode.
- Surveillance as the Plot Demands: Marge finally has enough with the tether binding Homer and Bart and severs it with a kitchen knife. Harm is aware of this and video calls them, through the frayed cord, via the "magic of fiber optics" to order the three of them back to court for the sentencing of violating the terms of their punishment.
- Take That!: Harm says she'll read Hemingway if she wants "a cock and bull story". The Brazilian dub has her saying she'll read a tabloid.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Homer apparently suffers from night terrors that specifically involved getting swarmed by dangerous cobras. May be somewhat justified due to the events of a certain episode where he was actually attacked by cobras (both real ones and robotic ones filled with venom).Homer: AAAAH!!! COBRAS!!
- Witch with a Capital "B": Homer and Marge pin a sign on Harm's boathouse that initially appears to read "BI" but it turns out to read "Big Meanie". Homer even calls Harm a "super witch" while they are doing it.
- You Remind Me of X: During Bart's trial, Harm tells him "You remind me of me when I was a little boy."
