Interesting. The premise had a lot of potential - Homer's awful life is something the show started with but gradually lost, and seeing it return was certainly something. (Even his implied suicide threat reminds me of his actual suicide attempt in 7G03.) OK, we've seen bits of this mopiness recently (JABF20 comes to mind), but here it is presented as his normal state. All the stuff with the Mypad was fun, no doubt, but it left less time for the miracle tree to have any oomph - and as a result (not to mention it wasn't that amazing), I hardly cared about it or felt bad when it was debunked. Same for the sleepwalking revelation (though I suppose given how the episode started that was perhaps to be significant). Why the last few minutes(!) of the show couldn't have been used to flesh this out instead of doing a silly extra short I do not know, but I bet it would have helped. Still, nice if not profound, and funny when it was trying to be (the old-timey translator app was a highlight).
DYN: ...Kelsey Grammer got a credit just for a quick scream in the opening? ...the Hewlett-Packard line seems to have been something else originally? ...Kent's original name (as revealed in 3F06) is retained? ...Marge's hair makes an audible squeak when she goes into the house at the end?
Previous episode stuff JABF01: Santa in Homer's dream has a tattoo of the fake Grinch 4F22: Homer's car booted (just after a visit from Duffman, who premiered there) 3G01: Wiggum's pretend motorcycle reminiscent of his invisible typewriter DABF06: Silent auction joke LABF06: Pat the Bunny/Rub the Rabbit 9F01: Apu's religion is now "other" (see also a reply on a.t.s to my post for PABF19 last week when there was a joke in a similar spirit) - also God seen quite a bit 5F05 (CABF15 somewhat): Theme of debunking a miracle 2F06: Kent's invasive news chopper footage with heat vision reminiscent of this ep 9F16, PABF04: Long bonus thing at the end to fill time
A handful of things I spied in the short at the end: CABF21: Burly man BABF07: Funzo CABF09: Blocko company 4F18: Mr. Sparkle 9F07: Mr. Plow EABF07: George Plimpton's hot plate LABF11: Mickrosoft AABF22: Focusyn 3F04: The general feel of that short reminded me of the ad icons doing battle
Meta When Homer gets the Mypad, Moe asks if we remember when his getting a cell phone was a big deal - that was a gag plot line suggested at the end of DABF12 (the "They'll Never Stop the Simpsons" song). That was also over 10 years ago, which allows for quite a bit of tech turnover, in a timespan one series doesn't usually cover.
Goofs -Lisa can't see the back of Willie's "chaps"; they'd look like regular pants to her. -Springfield geography changes a lot, but not usually within an episode - here Moe's is near the church in act 1 but then next to King Toot's as usual for the rest of the time.