When Flanders Failed

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Plot

Ned Flanders invites the Simpsons to a barbecue party. During the barbecue, Ned announces his plans to open a store for left-handed people; the Leftorium. Homer sarcastically replies that it is a ridiculous idea. During the pulling of the wishbone, Homer, who has been constantly jealous of the material success of the Flanders family, wishes for the Leftorium to be a failure and go out of business (after deciding that wishing Ned to die was a step too far). Homer frequently checks on Ned to ensure that business is going poorly and is happy to see precisely that happening. It isn't helped that Ned's kind nature not only sees him refusing to allow a woman to pay for merchandise she broke, but he also validates parking at the mall without purchase. However, Homer sees left-handed citizens struggling with items made for right-handed people. Homer thinks about informing these people about the Leftorium, but decides against it. Eventually the store does indeed close due to lack of business, plunging the Flanders into debt and misery. Ned is forced to sell his possessions, and Homer gleefully buys many of Ned's things for severely low prices. Later, Homer checks in on Flanders at the mall and sees the Leftorium has gone out of business and rather than be happy, Homer is filled with guilt. Homer goes by the Flanders house that night to return Ned's possessions, however he finds Ned’s house repossessed and the family living in their car. A depressed Ned is actually grateful to Homer, as he believes Homer was trying to warn him against engaging in a high risk venture. Homer now feels awful and decides he must help his neighbour, and tells Ned to open the store for one final day. He tells all the left-handed population of Springfield about the Leftorium, and also calls in a few favours from his friends to get them to visit the Leftorium too. They all travel to the store and buy many things, and their business helps Ned keep the store and get his house back.

ubplot

In a subplot, Bart offers to learn karate. On his first lesson, he finds that it is quite boring, so he decides to skip out of each lesson in order to play in the mall arcade. Whenever he is questioned about the techniques he has learned, he refers to the "Touch of Death", an ability seen in one of the arcade games he plays. He proceeds to terrorize Lisa into doing his will by threatening her with it. His actions catch up to him when Lisa prods him to defend her from Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney and reclaim her saxophone. He manages to get it back, but ends up being pantsed and hung up on a basketball court.

Cultural references

*Akira gives Bart's karate class the ancient Chinese military treatise "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu.
*Homer watches the CFL Draft, which mentioned the Saskatchewan Roughriders, on television, but the CFL draft is not broadcast on TV, not even in Canada.
*The episode ending -- in which Homer gathers the townfolk to rush to the aid of a beleaguered friend, culminating in a happy song -- is a reference to the movie "It's a Wonderful Life". Homer's line at the end, referring to Flanders as "the richest left-handed man in Springfield" is a reference to Harry Bailey's toast line.
*Mr. Burns says "My Kingdom for a left handed tin-opener". This is based on the line in Richard III "My kingdom for a horse"

References

External links

* [http://www.snpp.com/episodes/7F23.html Episode Capsule on "Simpsons Archive"]