(originally aired May 4, 1997)
Oh man, is there a lot to say about this one. “Homer’s Enemy” has always been, and still remains one of my favorite episodes the show has ever done, but it’s incredibly unique, and an interesting prelude for a lot of the content and tone of the later episodes. Homer’s stupidity, dimwitted nature and bravado are ramped up to a ridiculous degree in this show, but within a specific context where it makes sense, but much of said behavior would bleed into his regular personality later on. But let’s set the stage first. The power plant has a new hire: self-made man Frank Grimes, a sort of normal, no-nonsense kind of guy. He’s instantly put off by Homer’s laziness, oafish demeanor, and disregard for reading labels on lunch bags. It isn’t long before he openly says to his face that he hates him and that they’re enemies. This deeply affects Homer, who does his best to try to get Grimey in his good graces, but all he does seems to aggravate him further. Grimes attempts to humiliate Homer by tricking him into entering a children’s modeling contest, but it completely backfires when he wins and is applauded for it. Past his breaking point, Grimes snaps and runs about the plant mimicking Homer’s careless behavior, ending with him grasping electrical cords without safety gloves, resulting in his demise.
The alleged idea of the episode is that Frank Grimes represents someone from the “real” world who finds himself in the bizarre town of Springfield. It totally makes sense, Grimes feels and sounds unlike any other character we’ve seen. Hank Azaria gives an absolutely stunning performance, the voice and design have shades of Michael Dougles from the great movie Falling Down, of just this regular guy who is moments from being pushed over the edge. He’s right up there with Hank Scorpio for best one-off character ever. So Homer is a man of unbelievable incompetence and stupidity, yet he’s the safety inspector at a nuclear power plant, a position where he could ultimately doom the entire town. That’s one of the overall running jokes of the series, but here it’s shone upon more, as it would with any one of us seeing this in action in real life. The point is for all his great qualities, at the workplace, we would be put off by a guy like Homer. A man who should have been killed dozens of times by now by his own ignorance should not be in that position.
So along with his slacking off at work, Homer is much more absent-mindedly annoying in this episode, stealing all of Grimes’ pencils, loitering at his workstation, and so forth. He’s almost like a caricature of himself, but in this episode it makes sense because that’s what he’s called on to be. It’s all the negative aspects of Homer all at the forefront from Grimes’ perspective to drive him absolutely bananas. The issue here, of course, is that I guess the writers loved this episode just as much as we did, but figured they could continue some of these traits into later episodes. And so, from here on out, slowly but surely we get more jokes of Homer being unabashedly dumb, thoughtless, careless, being pompous, and just being an overall cartoon of his previous self. Him talking to his photo of Lenny as if he were the genuine article really felt like a latter-day joke, amongst other similar bits. The good folks at Dead Homers also pointed out a particularly striking line: during his freakout, Grimes madly remarks, “I’m better than okay. I’m Homer Simpson!” To which Homer coyly responds, “You wish!” Homer may be a man comfortable with his lot in life, but he’s well aware that he’s just an average schmoe. His great achievements and accolades over the series’ run are contrasted with this, and that’s why they’re funny; Homer never acknowledges how amazing all these things are. But in later seasons, he seems almost aware of how great his life has been, thinking that he deserves things, and worst of all, thinking that he’s somebody. And worse off, when times call for it, he becomes a celebrated town hero (a la winning the model contest), instead of a barely-tolerated working schmuck. Former Homer was more thrilled over a tray of brownies than meeting George Harrison. Two seasons from now, he cozies up to Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger in a matter of seconds. I don’t know to what degree this episode was a specific catalyst, but it does feel like it.
But despite any and all visions of doom, “Homer’s Enemy” on its own is absolutely brilliant. The idea of a real man’s frustration over Homer’s relatively easy road through life is pretty sharp, and executed splendidly. The best scene is when Homer invites Grimes to the Simpson home to hope to smooth things over, which ultimately makes things worse when it only illuminates more wonderful things about his life. Again, Azaria is frigging amazing as Grimes, absolutely shocked and bewildered at what’s before him, which then transitions into anger. There’s plenty of other great gags about, like Lenny and Carl’s cavalier attitude toward Homer (“That’s the man who’s in charge of our safety? It boggles the mind!” “It’s best not to think about it,”) the new executive vice president… who’s a dog, and the other kids at the model contest. There’s also a side story involving Bart mistakenly getting an abandoned warehouse, and he and Milhouse using it as their extremely dangerous playhouse. It’s amusing if not disposable, but it actually does play into the main story in a good way. Everything about Homer’s life is seemingly perfect, but Bart is a bit of a gray area. So now, irrepressible hellion becomes young entrepreneurial factory owner in Grimes’ eyes. So, in summation, “Homer’s Enemy” is fucking amazing and an inventive, solid episode. It’s just what followed in its footsteps that I got issues with.
Tidbits and Quotes
– Grimes’ life could not have been worse. Abandoned by his parents as a child (who I suppose were shooting footage from the back of their car), he spent his youth delivering toys to more fortunate kids. Then as a young man, he was greatly injured in a silo explosion (as we see, he was just running by said silo, and just when he got into its general vicinity… BOOM). He studied science by mail in his spare minutes of each day, and eventually got his correspondent’s in nuclear physics, “with a minor in determination.”
– Great character bit of Frank wiping his hand on his pants before going to shake hands. A small thing like that tells a lot about a character instantly.
– Love how even Burns is swayed by television fluff pieces: one day he’s swayed by Grimes’ story, the next of a particularly heroic dog (“He pulled a toddler from the path of a speeding car, then pushed a criminal in front of it!”) The dog in fact becomes his “executive vice president,” getting a sash to that effect, is heard chewing out (or barking, rather) Grimes in Burns’ office, and also attends his funeral.
– Homer aggravates Grimes instantly, admiring one of his personally mongrammed pencils, knocking the coffee cup full of them over. I love how freaked out Grimes is over this.
– Always loved Homer claimed he had no idea what a “nuclear panner plant” was, then Grimes gives an unsure forced laugh, unable to determine if it was a joke or not.
– More great Hank Azaria as the fast-talking auctioneer.
– Grimes notices alarms at Homer’s workstation, informing him it’s a 513. Homer checks his watch. Grimes explains it’s a 513 procedural. Homer checks his watch again. When he finally registers there’s an issue, Homer returns to his workstation, pours a bucket of water on the console, frying it, “solving” the problem. Grimes watches from the window mouth agape.
– Grimes is bewildered at how cavalier Homer can act after almost just drinking a beaker of sulfuric acid. The blank, grinning look on his face is so hysterical, and that one shot so summarizing of the episode, that there was no question what the header picture for this review would be.
– Homer goes to Moe for advice on having an enemy and reveals his own enemies list, but Barney points out it’s just the same one as Richard Nixon’s. Moe suggests that Homer invite Grimes to dinner to sway his anger, and then, bam! Fork in the eye. Homer asks if it would work without that last part, to which Moe supposes it could.
– Everything about the almost dinner scene is fantastic: the dishelved Grimes at the door, his slow registration of Homer’s lavish living space, revealing he lives above a bowling alley and below another bowling alley, and the piling on of Homer’s accolades to further infuriate him (“I’ve had to work hard every day of my life, and what do I have to show for it? This briefcase and this haircut!”) Homer is nervous, but still clueless (“I’m saying you’re what’s wrong with America, Simpson. You coast through life, you do as little as possible, and you leech off of decent, hardworking people like me. If you lived in any other country in the world, you’d have starved to death long ago.”)
– I love Homer’s attempt to look professional, with his Mr. Good Employee poster and eating donuts with a fork and knife, and insistence that he continue his conversation with Grimes during the designated work period (“Sincerely, Homer Simpson.”) Grimes is not swayed.
– Excellent foreshadowing when Grimes claims he could die a happy man if he could prove to everyone that Homer is a moron. Guess that didn’t work out so well.
– The only great bit of note from the B-story is Milhouse’s interpretation of night watchman when Bart returns to find the warehouse collapsed (“I saw the whole thing. First it started falling over, then it fell over.”) Then all the rats flurry into Moe’s (“Okay, everybody tuck your pants into your sock!”)
– The modelling contest is a great scene. First up is Ralph with a Malibu Stacy dream house, which Smithers is of course impressed by, but Burns not so much (“Hot tub? Media room? It’s supposed to be a power plant, not Aunt Beaulah’s bordello!”) Martin provides an extremely impressive design, which happens to actually generate power, but Burns isn’t so receptive (“Too cold and sterile. Where’s the heart!”) Then we have Homer, with an extremely crude model. Grimes cries out about the ridiculousness of the scenario, but is shushed. Homer points out how he copied the existing plant, added fins to the cooling towers for “wind resistence,” and added a sharp racing stripe. Burns is sold: first prize. “But it was a contest for children!” “Yeah, and Homer beat their brains out!” Mass applause. It’s the perfect absurd catalyst for Grimes to go mad.
– Grimes’ freakout is astounding, and oh so quotable (“I’m peeing on the seat! Give me a raise!”) The animation, Azaria’s performance, everyone else just following Grimes silently, the uncomfortableness of it really plays, that this is a man who’s truly lost it (“Hello, Mr. Burns! I’m the worst worker in the world! Time to go home to my mansion and eat my lobster!”)
– I love not even in death can Grimes catch a break, that in the eulogy Lovejoy remarks that “Grimey” was a preferrable nickname.
Me Blog Write Good 
“I don’t** know to what degree this episode was a specific catalyst, but it does feel like it.”
I personally think that it’s this specific episode that provides the catalyst for Current Homer. As Grimes said “I’m Homer Simpson!” and Homer replied “You wish!”, THAT’S when Homer finally becomes self-aware of his situation. He DOES have a great life, he DOES have all these wacky adventures, he CAN do anything stupid and everyone would still love him, he CAN put himself into danger and survive. Why? Because he’s no longer “Homer Simpson: American,” But “Homer Simpson: I Can Do Anything.”
Even though later episodes never address this, you can tell that whatever idiocy he decides to pull, this little thought is right in the back of his mind.
Compare this to, say, “Homie The Clown.” Once Homer realizes that he can get and do anything he wants solely on the fact that everyone in town thinks he’s Krusty, his behavior becomes more callous and he demanding of special treatment of any kind because of this…until Fat Tony and bunch come around, of course.
Which of course foreshadows what would come with Jerkass Homer, doing anything he wanted no matter how jerkish and stupid until he realized that someone was out to get him (and not even that tended to stop him). And then this resets by the next episode.
I absolutely despise this episode; for me this is the one that broke The Simpsons beyond repair. Other episodes ramped up the wacky but retained the soul of the show, but this one ramped up the sadism, and it never recovered. I’ve only managed to watch it all the way through once, and it made me feel so angry, especially the ending where Homer falls asleep in the middle of the funeral to everyone’s amusement, that I’ve never been able to bring myself to watch it again.
Although this episode is the beginning of Homer’s descent, I don’t think he’s gone full Jerkass yet.
Here, the show’s conventions are what’s tormenting Frank Grimes. Homer himself is exaggeratedly inept, but he’s still well-intentioned at this point—he’s only interested in being Grimey’s friend. This is where the show becomes self-aware, but I don’t think Homer does until a little ways down the road. “Trash of the Titans,” for sure, but it’s a bit too nebulous to pinpoint.
Also, I take “Homer’s Enemy” as an admission by the writers that there’s nowhere left to go with The Simpsons. After eight hilarious seasons, the family has become extraordinary instead of average, even if the show has never acknowledged it until now… I think it’s telling that they end with an order to “change the channel.”
I have a love-hate relationship with this episode. As a stand-alone episode, it’s fine ‘n dandy, and if Season 8 had been the final season, or if this had been the series finale, then it would have been a great deconstruction of the series on its last legs. But the fact that the show has kept going and this one set up all the subsequent episodes where Homer is given free reign to be an insufferable asshole does diminish its legacy a whole lot.
even the writers admitted that it was sadistic, and i agree it was well-crafted, but i don’t admire it any more than i admire a well-crafted torture chamber. if the show had consistently been this dark, or if Grimes had managed to survive, it wouldn’t have felt so out-of-place.
some episodes betray a desire to insult the audience, but Homer’s Enemy was The Simpsons stabbing itself in the face. it felt like being forced to watch someone commit suicide over the space of a half-hour– not a good time.
Always kinda hated this episode. I know many people who place it amongst the best-ever. It is daring and challenging and completely different than most Simpsons episode — too different, to me, as the jokes just weren’t there. I kinda liked the “off” pacing, sure, and I liked that the entire episode focused on one new character (who was actually interesting), a new character who never makes up with Homer (today, if there was any tension between a character and Homer, they are best friends by the end of the episode).
Still, from first airdate to now, something rubs me the wrong way about this episode. I am not sure what but it just didn’t feel very funny to me… something that seems a lot funnier on paper and at the voice read than what actually comes across on the television I guess.
I really don’t think Homer is a jerkass in this episode at all. There is a new employee, he is just trying to make friends with the guy, nothing more, nothing less. Homer does not realize that Frank is a workaholic and takes life too seriously because of how he grew up. Homer is just trying to be a good man, curious, which comes off as annoying to Frank no matter what Homer tries to do. I actually think the episode is showing Homer through Frank’s eyes, not as how the audience knows Homer. Also, Homer’s attitude is just a defense mechanism triggering because of how much Frank is insulting him. Instead of getting enraged by Frank’s comments, he is just blowing them off as if they were nothing. I absolutely love this episode, it is one of the best, and one of the darkest, which is what makes it so good. Like “Bart Gets an F,” it shows that not every episode is going to have a happy ending.
^ I agree. He’s lazy, incompetent at his job, and oblivious (such as when he eats Grimes’s lunch, or about to drink the acid), but he’s never mean to Grimes, nor an obnoxious nut. Which is why you feel for him when Grimes declares he hates him and his numerous attempts to win him over fail. I’ve said this before, but the scene where Homer is reluctant to go to work because of Grimes is so -real-.
There are a lot of good–no, great–things in this episode, and most of the time I really liked it. Then we got to the end, and all of a sudden it was like we were in this bizarro world where everyone loves him for some reason. In the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant that I remember, people are generally apathetic, if not contemptuous, to Homer. They’re only slightly less annoyed than Grimes by his stupidity/antics. And yet for some reason when he submits this crude model in a child’s competition they all just laugh and go “That’s our Homer!” EVEN MR. BURNS!!! And then, in the funeral and on his tombstone, we see everyone referring to him as “Grimey.” And it’s like, why does Homer get to decide something like that?
So while I had enjoyed most of the episode, that ending just left a bad taste in my mouth.
I’ve always found it ironic that my favourite episode of The Simpsons would also mark the turning point where The Simpsons goes downhill. Alot of Homer’s traits that are unique for this premise would be overused in later episodes to keep the show going and as a result the show eventually transforms into “Zombie Simpsons”. It’s kind of sad because the writers of this episode called it a one time “Experimental” episode back then.
This is a pretty funny episode for the most part, and Grimes is a great character. But what I hate about it is that it’s supposed to make you dislike Homer a little more… this show just shouldn’t be held to those standards. Homer should always just be portrayed as a dumb but well-meaning man, not a walking disaster waiting to happen as shown in this episode.
Just like this season’s “Hurricane Neddy”, this “Homer’s enemy” is a funny, interesting episode, but only if you take it out of the context of the series; if you watch it as a part of The Simpsons show, it really ruins a beloved character.
Oddly enough while lots of people see this as the immurgence of Jerkass homer, i always felt Homer wasn’t too bad here, or at least was more obnoxiously stupid than stupidly obnoxious. Thoughtless yes, careless yes, but still essentially good hearted, indeed while i definitely see his reasons Grimes actually comes off as a bit of a git as this one proceeds just because he seems bent on latching onto Homer as the source of the world’s ills.
That’s why I actually bought the backfire of Grimes plan with the contest, Homer wins and at that stage making fun of him would’ve been like kicking a puppy since he’s such an oaf. The only thing I didn’t buy was Homer sleeping at the funeral, that’s really the only major forrunner of jerkassery here.
This one in general is a really great story, albeit a rather sad one of a rage filled average guy who goes over board and a wellmeaning moron who can’tt understand what the problem is. I actually feel sorry for both of them in a way.
The only thing I did think was a little off was the hole bart business plot, but then again it does dove tale into Homer’s nicely.
I’ve always seen Homer as a damaged child. With a mother presumed dead and a father who was overtly hostile towards him, Homer never grew up. He’s more of an adult version of Ralph Wiggum than a “Springfield Normal” adult. An adult might have passed out when told they nearly killed themselves by drinking caustic acid. Homer laughs nervously, as a small child would. Could this be explained to a guy like Frank Grimes? I doubt it. In his view, no one deserved a job where he worked unless they worked as hard as he did. If Homer hadn’t been his enemy, someone else at the plant would.
As for the information of Grimes at his funeral, I imagine it was requested of his employer. Burns would have no interest in taking the time; Smithers, almost as overworked as Grimes, would ask a question or two as to who at the plant he talked to most, or whom he might have visited after work. That would have been Homer. And children do fall asleep during moments of stress at times, as a way of hiding from stress and/or coping.
I’m sorry, but no, just no. There is nothing in this episode that makes Homer a jerkass. First off, no one would have ever said that about him here had the show ended not too long after. Secondly, he’s not intentionally going out of his way to be mean spirited to Frank. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of what Homer does is actually throgh Frank’s own imagination. That he is seeing Homer doing some of the things he does not out of pure jealousy.
As for the “You Wish!” comment, seriously guys? Are you saying that you have never sarcastically said that when someone made a comment about being you? Some people are looking into that comment way too much and finding what they want to find.
This episode is witty, it’s sharp, and it is just a great episode all around. I won’t say it is one of my top favorites, but that is because there are so many episodes that exceed it by this point. I do love Bart’s subplot, especially when Bart comes back one morning after leaving Milhouse in charge and Milhouse’s story about what happened.
This episode is a piece of dark, twisted genius, I’ve quoted bits from Frank’s freakout several times. I appreciate the writers trying this once, it’s a shame that we couldn’t say this was the strange dark episode in a sea of quality, at least not for much longer. I can see how people would think that this episode inspried a lot of Jerkass Homer, but I just think that’s one of the symptoms of the changing writing staff, which was extensive around the double digit series if memory serves.
The balls the show had to dare and bring in a guest character who proceeds to attack the very aspects that make us love Homer and the show in general was genius.
I don’t see any signs of Jerkass Homer here. Instead, I see a very frustrated Frank Grimes coming into contact with the Simpsons universe and bewildered by how Homer has manged to get where he is in life as many of us could very well question as well. Homer was just his normal self for the most part in this episode but it was always distorted negatively through Grimes perception of him. His eventual freak out and death was a huge risk for the show to take and I’m glad it went so dark and sadistic towards the end.
The subplot with Bart and is factory was pretty solid as well but clearly filler for the much more important main plot.
Until the very last scene (which feels more like a winking parody of cheesy sitcom endings), Homer does nothing in this episode except try hard to impress his new coworker who plainly dislikes him. Everything else stems from this central desire to not have a new enemy–the lobster dinners (far from usual Simpson family fare), the listing off his accomplishments, the workplace shenanigans, the “you wish” comment, all of it.
If you feel that Homer’s behavior in this episode is jerkassy, then on some level you feel Homer as a character is a jerkass–at this point in the show, season 8.
I unashamedly love this episode. Homer’s ineptitude and laziness at work had been a running joke for so long, this episode forced us to see it and him from an alternative perspective.
Grimes is so relatable, we’ve all felt that sense of injustice when someone we perceive to be less deserving appears to have it easy in life. However, rather than simply accepting that this is a harsh reality of life, Grimes let the resentment consume him.
I don’t see this as the beginning of the end for likable Homer, it was the necessity for increasingly outlandish plots that did that.
I feel like this episode could’ve been great as a finale or near-finale. Over the course of 8 seasons, the series had become crazier. Season 8 in particular has a lot of insane moments. Naturally, the series felt like it was ending in a way. Having an episode that deconstructs the series works as one of its last episodes.
When this episode first aired, I remember being really confused by Homer’s extreme behavior. He wasn’t really a jerk, more so that his stupidity was exaggerated to near-inhuman levels. I never thought too much about it, but I did know that this episode was something special. It’s unfortunate that the later seasons exaggerated Homer even more and made him even worse than he was here, as now this episode has somewhat of a dark cloud over it because it influenced the series in a really bad way. That doesn’t mean this episode is ruined. I still like it.
I also do like Grimes’s character. I like his dynamic with Homer and how he just can’t catch a break from this idiot. It’s especially great when you consider that Grimes and Homer aren’t so different: both are envious of somebody in their lives, and both were abandoned by a parent (or both) when they were young. It’s just that Grimes perceives Homer in these ways because he only sees certain parts of his life. The scene in Homer’s house is a great example: in most circumstances, the Simpson family doesn’t wear fancy clothes or eat fancy food, and the family dynamic is not as healthy as presented. Homer is a deadbeat dad accompanied by a much more accomplished housewife who’s mostly content being reduced to her role in life, a troublemaking son who doesn’t respect him, a daughter who’s much smarter than he is, and another daughter that’s often in the background. The family loves each other, but what Grimes saw in that scene was a respectful family that had family values, when they really weren’t that as much as was presented. That scene is laced with such delicious irony that it became one of my favorite scenes in the series.
The jokes also help make this episode. I love how Grimes’s barn accident is just him running by it when it just explodes. I love how Burns elects a dog as his president, and he’s present for the rest of the episode. Homer’s 513 is a great moment. There’s Homer’s look upon realizing he could’ve swallowed harmful substances. There’s Moe’s enemy list and his advice to Homer about Grimes. The scene with Grimes has tons of good parts (“My daughter Lisa, IQ 156.” “Hi.” “See?” and “You’re a fraud. A total fraud.” … “It was nice meeting you.” get me every time). I love Lenny and Carl’s exchanges (“It’s best not to think about it.”) The power plant competition is great, too (“This was a contest for children!” “Yeah, and Homer beat their brains out!”)… There’s a lot to like about this episode. It’s one of my favorites of the season, as it’s funny and provides a fantastic deconstruction of the series up to that point.
This is a really special episode.
You can really see how much the writers started to experiment at this point of the series, in Season 8, knowing it would have ended within the next season. If the series had finished with this episode this could have been a marvelous, amazing, sublime way to do it, going almost totally meta, but never actually going there, in pure genius style. Even the incredibly dark resolution, contrasted by the sit-comy cheesy ending, would have been absolutely priceless.
I do feel the ZS legacy should NEVER change how great this episode is, but at the same time is impossible not to think about the Zombie Homer. I cannot see Homer as “jerkass” here, just like he’s no jerkass in Homer Goes To College, or Boy Scoutz ‘N The Hood: in the context of the episodes Homer’s behavior makes sense. BUT, I think what makes this episode different is the meta element, is the aura of awareness that the story has. It is not necessarily a bad thing, as I said, for a special episode; but that is the worst thing he gave to Zombie Homer: the “Hey, I’m Homer Simpson, and people love me whatever I do” attitude.