Uh, OK. I mean, whoopee, the Olympics. Serviceable plot, but didn't really seem too special. Seemed a little formulaic instead and with plenty more obvious Canada jokes. A few points were a little sweet, though, and I did sort of like Lisa's subplot with the pins (particularly the solution with the made-up mascot). Anyway.
DYN: ...they didn't seem to shy away from the name "Olympics" after all? ...short opening, but Lisa plays one of her intro sax solos for the first time in an episode? (If I heard it correctly, it was #7 on SNPP's list, as used in episodes such as 8F05/8F15.) ...Sarah Wiggum puts in a rare but silent appearance?
Previous episode stuff AABF16: Olympics DABF06: Olympics and the big Canada show Movie: Boob lady makes a fairly big appearance and Homer refers to her as his therapist DABF08: Ghostbusters theme (not the original recording this time) HABF01: Nutcracker music over credits (then "Marche", now "Trepak", the Russian dance, to fit the theme)
Meta-reference corner -Homer says (something,) "eh?" and we don't cut to anything while he sits immobile. Marge says he's usually out like this for 30 seconds. -Lisa on pearls: "without them, I'm just a big Maggie!" -Marge is left-handed. Like much of the family and Matt Groening. (A while ago, in American Dad's "Office Spaceman", Francine discovered the same thing about herself.)
Other I'm not sure if the US flag at the end was hung correctly. When hung vertically on a wall the blue part should be on the left (so not just rotated 90 degrees as it was here), and when hung across a street or something it's supposed to point north/east, but this wasn't really either. I have the feeling it should still be on the "left" from where it's supposed to be seen, since there is a sort of orientation to its setting. Can anyone verify that?
Also On tonight's new The Cleveland Show, there was a conspicuous bottle of Sunny Delight (as joked about here); and on the new Family Guy, there was a psychic in a setting much like that of the tarot reader in the couch gag. Interesting.