The Simpsons (animation)/Recap/S21/E20 To Surveil With Love

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    • E17 American History X-Cellent
    • E20 To Surveil With Love
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When Springfield radiation scare thanks to Burns having Smithers put a plutonium rod in Homer’s bag, who then leaves it at the train station, closed-circuit TV surveillance is put in place and Flanders becomes Big Brother. At the same time, Lisa is prejudiced against all because she’s blonde, which forces her to expose the truth.

Tropes used in To Surveil With Love include:

• Actually Pretty Funny: Bart’s reactions to Krusty’s blonde jokes.

Bart: He sure nailed you, Lis. Lisa: You’re Blond too… Bart: Blond guys aren’t dumb. They’re evil like in The Karate Kid and World War II.

• Adults Are Useless: Unless you count Ned Flanders and Marge Simpson, how is Lisa’s going to get a fair say without the prejudices towards blondes.
• A God Am I: Ned is left upset when Homer points out what he's been doing while working with the CCTV system.
• Disproportionate Retribution: The florists are being targeted by the British police for being an annoyance, causing the CCTV system in London.
• Dumb Blonde: Lisa is determined to debunk this; she’s an aversion of this.
  • The lady at the town hall meeting fits this trope.
• Expy: The leader of the bomb squad is clearly based on Clint Eastwood.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: He has the plutonium destroyed anyways rather than wait for a full countdown.
• Genius Ditz: Bart was able to find a blind spot… the Simpsons’ backyard

Homer: Hey boy, what’s you’re doing? Bart: Experimenting with my butt Homer: My Little Einstein

• Police Are Useless: Wiggum fails to report on a litterbug and a double-homicide. What he’s concern with is Edna sunbathing topless.

Lou: Uh, Chief, I Think we got a misuse of police equipment on ZZ-99. (Wiggum looks, before switching the cameras back to normal after looking at Edna sunbathing topless.) Chief Wiggum: Killjoy

• Shout-Out: Orwell Surveillance EST. 1984… that sounds familiar.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Van Houtens, Helen Lovejoy, Julius Hibbert, and Elizabeth Hoover were among the citizens chosen to monitor the CCTV system. However, they later disappeared, leaving Ned Flanders and Marge Simpson.