Original air date: 2/14/2016
Production code: VABF-07
Professor Frink turns into a handsome man in order to woo ladies.
Tropes:
- A Day in the Limelight: One of the few Abe/Mona plots that Homer has nothing to do with. This is partly why Grampa Prefers the Illusion, his version of Mona is devoted to him and there's no son to take her attention away.
- All Just a Dream: The couch gag. The couch leaves and the Simpsons go on a journey to find it. Homer is dreaming the whole thing while asleep on the couch.
- Angrish: Frink's got an upcoming date with the Crazy Cat Lady, and instead of something flirtatious, she wrote down her incoherent ramblings on a picture.
- As You Know: Homer talks about how Frink is going to pick which woman he'll date at the Springfield Planetarium, while he and Marge are nearly done driving there. This is lampshaded by Homer asking why he and Marge are explaining it if they both know, and Marge justifies it by saying "I like talking to you."
- Chick Magnet: Frink's contact lenses and new fashion (and, up to a point, his voice chip) made him very attractive to women. It was fun at first, but eventually, it's too much for him to handle.
- Cupid's Arrow: When Valentine's Day begin, a cherub is seen shooting arrows, before it's shot down by Cletus.Cletus: Hey, Brandine! You know how to shake and bake cherub?
- Driven to Suicide:
- After Frink tries to woo a woman, she locks herself in a nuclear reactor with a supply of radioactive material.Frink: There’s no mistaking that message.
- As the music is changed to something more energetic at the Retirement Castle, one senior begs his friend to pull the plug. When she does so with the radio, he clarifies he was referring to his life support.
- After Frink tries to woo a woman, she locks herself in a nuclear reactor with a supply of radioactive material.
- Expospeak: The episode title contains the chemical symbols of the main components of air (nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide, neon, helium and methane). Hence, "Love is in the air".
- Fake Boobs: Bart runs a casino for the drugged-out seniors and has Maggie pretend-perform as Dolly Parton, and she has bouncy balls stuffed in her onesie, which gets her up again when she trips.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Mr. Burns is made to fall into his own pit.
- Idea Bulb: Professor Frink has one but he complains that it's not eco-friendly so it disappears and a modern version shows up.
- Imagine Spot: When Smithers suggests a sweetheart ball, Mr. Burns imagines a party where people give him literal hearts.
- Loving a Shadow: When Grampa starts hallucinating Mona is alive and young again, he pictures her as an ideal 50's style doting wife. He notes that she's nothing like how Mona really was, and she states that she is how he wants to remember Mona rather than how his wife really was.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Professor Frink not only built a robot girlfriend but also built a mother for her.
- Out-of-Character Moment: A minor one is when Homer, who is normally very gluttonous and greedy when it comes to food, cheerfully hands out his surplus Valentine's candy to his co-workers.
- Retcon: Professor Frink is shown to be single and lonely, yet in earlier episodes showed that he has/had a wife and son. This could mean that he either had a divorce and his wife took their son or it was just a retcon.
- Shout-Out:
- Frink's robot girlfriend is based on Ava from EX_MACHINA.
- Frink mentions seeing the Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything, and despairing that even he has as girlfriend.
- While hallucinating about being in the 1940s, Abe imagines Mona transformed to resemble Betty Boop.
- Skewed Priorities: When Mr. Burns is dropped on his own trap door, he's upset that the pit isn't bottomless as the maker said it was.
- Third-Person Person: Duffman says he'd love to speak in the first person.
- Twin Threesome Fantasy: Well, not twins, but identical cousins. In his series of dates, Frink has a date with Cookie Kwan, who brings along an identical cousin. Frink isn't into it, it's too much of a good thing.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Cookie Kwan shows off her cousin, Nookie Kwan. They are identical in appearance, and she's a realtor too, number one on the east side.
- Valentine's Day Episode: This is a romance-centric episode that aired on Valentines Day and partially takes place on Valentines Day.
- Weather Dissonance: Despite taking place around Valentine's Day in February, there are no signs of winter anywhere (no snow, no bare trees, no winter clothes, etc.) and appears to already be spring. As Lisa once explained, unseasonably warm Valentine's Days are common in Springfield.