The Strong Arms of the Ma/References
Wikisimpsons - The Simpsons Wiki
Contents
Cultural references
- The episode title is a pun on the expression "the long arm of the law".
- The scene where Homer struggles to fit the family members and their purchases into the station wagon is a sight gag on the video game Tetris, complete with the game's music (plus the game over snippet when Rainier points out that there's no room for Homer in the car).
- When there's no room left in the car for Homer, Rainier Wolfcastle gives him a ride home, carrying him in a giant Snugli.
- The Twilight Zone: When Marge runs over the mailman and tells him that it will take a while for help to arrive, he says it's no problem as he's got plenty to read. Then, to his horror, he discovers that his glasses are broken, referencing the 1959 episode "Time Enough at Last".
- When the family eat dinner in the basement:
- They sit at an air hockey table and pass the food around as though they were playing the game.
- Lisa is bothered by the sight of people's feet as they walk by the window, and Homer reassures her by telling her it's just like Cheers, referring to the bar's being located in a basement.
- When Marge beats up the criminal who robbed her, the sequence is lifted from The Godfather: Part I when Santino (Sonny) beats up his brother-in-law, Carlo
- When Marge first takes steroids, the theme music from Popeye plays briefly.
- A pastiche of "Gonna Fly Now" (the theme music from the Rocky movie series) is played at a couple of places in the episode:
- During the sequence where Marge is working out and meets up with a group of local bodybuilders (including Ruth Powers).
- At the beginning of the closing credits.
Continuity
- The beginning of the episode features the opening sequence of the news show Eye on Springfield, first seen in "Flaming Moe's".
- When Marge comes out of the restroom at the Kwik-E-Mart, Bart's "El Barto" graffiti tag is visible on the wall.
- Ruth Powers makes a return appearance, voiced by Pamela Reed. She was last seen in "Marge on the Lam".
- Ruth mentions having been in prison, apparently for offenses unrelated to the events of "Marge on the Lam". (In that episode, the voiceover narration at the end said that the auto theft charges against her were dropped.)
- The Simpsons now have a lemon tree in their backyard, similar to the one seen in "Lemon of Troy".
- Maggie's soiled diapers also produce strong odors (and play a role in the storyline) in "Marge Be Not Proud" and in the comic story Maggie's Crib 5.
Trivia
- This episode is the fourth time in the series where the theme music from Popeye is played. The previous three were:
- "Brother's Little Helper", when Bart sings his song about Ritalin at the end.
- "Jaws Wired Shut", when Homer rescues Marge at the demolition derby.
- "The Old Man and the Key", when Grampa's Viagra kicks in and he starts making out with his date Zelda.
Goofs
- Before Marge picks up the jukebox to slam it into other people in Moe's Tavern it isn't playing anything, but when she goes over to it, it starts playing music.
- Marge is helpless against the mugger in their first confrontation, but cleans his clock the second time she encounters him.
- The mugger was armed with a gun in their first confrontation. The second time, he only had a knife so Marge would have been less scared and therefore more capable of fighting back.
- Also, the second time they met, Marge had been lifting weights for some time and was already feeling stronger, more confident and less afraid.
- When the family is eating dinner at the Air Hockey table, there are no goals on the ends of the table (where Lisa and Homer are sitting), except when there's a close up on Lisa. There is no goal when there's a close-up of Homer talking about "Cheers".
- When the lady smashes the piano saying "support the arts" her lips don't move.
- Homer packs lots of boxes in the car, but when Marge drives the car, the boxes disappear.
- Otto thinks that a muscular Marge lifting the bus is just a hallucination caused by the pot he's smoking. Being a regular drug user, Otto should know that pot doesn't cause hallucinations. (Being a frequent drug user, Otto may have figured that his current joint was laced with something else that was hallucinogenic.)
- In some scenes in the car after the bankcruptcy sale, the items the Simpsons bought aren't there.
