Category: Season 08

157. Burns, Baby Burns

~ Mike! ~ 13 Comments

(originally aired November 17, 1996)
There’s been plenty of guest stars come in to play different characters. There’s also plenty of guests stars who have played themselves. Then there’s the rare occasion where it’s one and the same. Here we have Rodney Dangerfield voicing Mr. Burns’s long lost bastard child Larry, who essentially is the same character that we know from the many movies he’s been in. It seems so odd and out of place, but it’s mollified by two points: one, I love Rodney Dangerfield, and two, the character actually works for the purposes of the story. Who could be more opposite and act as a greater foil to the joyless, no-nonsense Burns than Dangerfield? Given this opportunity, the writers managed to cram this show with a ton of Rodney-style one-liners, which may not entirely fit with the comedic rhythm of the series, but dammit do I still love that guy that I didn’t mind (one in particular I use quite often, “If it gets any livelier, a funeral’s gonna break out.”) I also love his character design, a sore of bizarre mish-mash of the actual comedian with Burns-like features. He even exhibits the same extended preying arms walk at one point.

I really enjoyed basically everything in the first two acts. Having previously picked him up as a hitchhiker, Homer builds a kinship with Larry due to their mutual laziness, which makes sense. Meanwhile, Burns desperately attempts to integrate his son into high society at a fancy gala, which is a scene that basically feels ripped from one of Rodney’s movies. I can actually picture it; he’s at the finger sandwich station, but he scoops the bread out of each piece and makes this elaborate super sandwich, much to the crowd’s shock. If anyone can remember the movie, feel free to post. Again, I don’t mind this content shift because I was still amused and it worked within the story. Burns can’t even pawn his son off to Yale without a rather sizable donation (“Yale could use an international airport, Mr. Burns.”) Burns’s annoyance continually builds until he outright disowns his son, leaving Larry with no one to rely on but tag along Homer, who comes up with a brilliant scheme: a phony kidnapping.

Now the last act is a bit strange. The fake kidnapping didn’t seem too inspired, but I did find myself going along with for the most part, as it wasn’t that out of left field and there were plenty of great gags thrown in. It’s the very ending that doesn’t entirely sit with me. Larry admits that they faked the kidnapping, leading Homer to come to his defense, giving some rigamarole schmaltzy speech about how much he values the love of his children or something. Nothing really built to this epiphany on Homer’s end, so it didn’t really make much sense coming from him with no set-up. This leads to Burns and Larry’s not-so-reconciliation, which is at least better than them making up when we know we’ll never see Larry again (and I do like the dumb revelation that he has a wife and kids, “Oh, that reminds me. They’re probably wondering where I went! I told ’em I’m going for coffee, that was a week ago!”) And then we have the dancing party ending, aping 80s movie conventions, many from movies Rodney’s been in like Caddyshack. While I at least appreciate that they pointed out how dumb it was, it just didn’t sit right. After all the Rodney-isms and silly third act twist, I feel like it needed something of a grounded ending that sort of made sense, but instead they just went for broke in all out craziness. But on the whole, I enjoyed it. I feel if you don’t like Rodney Dangerfield, you’d hate this one, but luckily for me, that’s not the case. If that is the case for you, then I don’t want to know you.

Tidbits and Quotes
– I love Flanders’s spiel at the cider mill, proudly flashing his annual pass (of which he’s the first, and possibly only, member). He instills Homer with great wisdom regarding the difference between juice and cider (“If it’s clear and yella’, you’ve got juice there, fella! If it’s tangy and brown, you’re in cider town!”) Homer’s brain can’t take much more, literally abandoning the rest of his body, leaving his mortal self to nod a few times, then collapse in a heap. The animation of him falling is hysterical, he just sort of crumples to the floor. Compare this with that shitty pulled frames cycle of people falling down that Family Guy does all the time. What garbage. But I don’t want to open this Pandora’s Box…
– I like Marge’s apple souvenir hat atop her hair, and the little running gag of her mispronouncing words and Lisa correcting her, much to her chagrin (“It doesn’t take a nucular scientist to pronounce foilage.”)
– Great animation when the train screeches to a halt, thrusting Burns and Smithers forward and all the pool balls spill into one pocket.
– I like all of Larry’s horrible tchotchkes, like the googly eyed walnut and rocks, and the stretched out Pepsi bottle (“If this stuff is too nice for ya, I’ve got some crap!”)
– Homer’s initial reaction to Larry on the side of the road with a “Springfield” sign is hilarious (“Can’t they get a pole for that sign?”) Also great is his bickering with Marge whether they should pick him up, culminating in Homer declaring they are picking him up. At that point they’d already pulled into the driveway at home, so he backs out and drives the other way.
– I like the rhythm of the bit of Grampa sitting on the pie. It’s a wholly contained joke with Marge almost narrating it, “Don’t sit on the pie,” “Are you sitting on the pie?” And Grampa’s “I suuuuure hope so…” is hilarious.
– Nice winking nod to Rodney’s constant riffing, as he rattles off a few one-liners walking up Burns’s estate (“Hey, who am I talking to?”)
– The history of Larry’s conception is truly a great one: at his 25th Yale reunion, Burns ran across his unrequited love, and managed to see past her slight wrinkles and gray hair… to her 21-year-old daughter. Their arousal was heightened by seeing Gone With the Wind and Clark Gable’s reckless use of the word “damn,” then they snuck into the Peabody museum, and expressed their love physically, “as was the style at the time.” Larry is impressed (“Well, how do ya like that? I have been in a museum!”)
– Cheap joke with Burns’s “play room” actually hosting a play, but I love the one actor’s intensity in an unknown production (“You can’t just eat the orange and throw the peel away! A man’s not a piece of fruit!”)
– I like all of the Rodney-isms, but my favorite is probably his reaction to the rather homely, recently outed debutante (“Woah! Put her back in! She’s not done yet!”)
– We get a joke where Moe talks about what happened to the last guy foolish enough to charge a beer to Mr. Burns… who of course is Barney. Pan over to show him covered in garbage, saying it was worth it. I’d comment how silly it was that he still would be covered in filth from what we assume is a past event… but it’s Barney, so it still works.
– I think it’s sweet when the Simpson kids make their own Rodney-style jabs at their mom, but it’s all in good fun. Marge’s slight annoyance is overtaken by a shyness as she thanks their applause.
– I like Burns on the phone with Homer using a disguised voice, who is trying to get Burns to admit he misses Larry, but to no avail (“Do you miss your son?” “Yes, I am missing one son! Return it immediately!”)
– Homer and Larry are on the run from the cops. They first try and hide out at the old abandoned warehouse, only to find it’s up and running (“D’oh! Stupid economic recovery!”) Then they go to a costume shop, and we later see two men dressed as an organ grinder and monkey leaving the store. The shopkeep then goes to the bathroom and tells Homer and Larry they need to beat it. The two then find the perfect empty hiding place: a movie theater playing “Too Many Grandmas,” starring Olympia Dukakis and Bo Dereck. Based on the brief bit we hear, I want to see that movie (“Drive faster, Grandma! Grandma’s gaining on us!”) The two are basically safe until they make the mistake of heckling Hans Moleman. I love the timing of him slowly walking up the aisle with Homer and Larry laughing, cut to the cops surrounding the building.
– God, I love the simulation of Homer getting shot to death. Why would they waste money on doing that? And producing it so quickly? Jokes like these don’t make much sense, but that’s why I love them (“A bloody end for Homer Simpson… is just one of several possible outcomes according to our computer simulation.”)
– I like the end where Larry asks if his father can accept him for who he is and pops a cocky smirk, followed by Burns’s uneasy noises under building music. It’s not an easy decision, and he eventually goes against it (“Oh, I can’t do it, it’s just not me!”)

156. The Homer They Fall

~ Mike! ~ 15 Comments

(originally aired November 10, 1996)
In unusually close proximity to “Homerpalooza,” we have another episode hinged around Homer’s incredible tolerance for pain. After witnessing him stand his ground in a bar fight (literally just stand there dumbly), Moe cooks up a scheme to make the dumb oaf champion of the underground boxing circuit. The strategy? Have Homer take as much abuse as his opponent can dish, then lightly tip them over when he exhausts himself. It’s an absurd, but amusing concept, with Dr. Hibbert revealing that Homer is literally too thick in the head to register any pain he suffers. As Homer’s popularity builds, Moe has a run-in with Lucius Sweet, his former boxing rep and blatant rip-off character (“He’s exactly as rich and as famous as Don King, and he looks just like him, too!”) Sweet now represents heavyweight Drederick Tatum, and he needs someone he can fight that can sustain three rounds (“The fans are weary of fights that are over before they have an opportunity to even get drunk.”) Moe now must choose between being a somebody in the world of boxing again, and seriously endangering the life of one of his best customers, and possibly his friend.

One of the biggest issues regarding the show’s tumbling lapse in quality is characterization, most particularly Homer. I was surprised to find in this particular episode how much he had been warped. Dragging Marge into the gadget store with her saying he’s hurting her arm, and him replying, “No I’m not!” is such a small gag at the beginning of the show, but is incredibly telling about a dark direction the writers would take with his character. Later, upon seeing Bart return home brutally beaten, what is his advice? To squeal on the bullies to everyone he can find. What? Whatever happened to the Code of the Schoolyard? The show is peppered with odd moments like this of Homer being far too stupid or careless, but for some reason it doesn’t feel too egregious because of the plot. Lucius tempts Moe with a future glory in exchange for writing a death sentence for his talent, leading to the next scene where Moe tells a blissfully ignorant Homer he’s fighting Tatum. Now, a blue collar slob like Homer has got to know who Tatum is, but he’s none the wiser. However, it sort of works in the context of this episode that this big dumb loyal idiot is playing at Moe’s lack of a conscience.

This episode is really focused on Moe, a thorny area of his past and his potential chance to relive it. I love all of that stuff, including Lucius Sweet, a great performance by Paul Winfield (understandable, given he played Don King in a TV movie a year prior.) I would have loved to have seen this episode focus almost exclusively on Moe, though. As I mentioned previous regarding “Twenty-Two Short Films,” this could have been the perfect opportunity to expand on that concept. If Moe was our star, Homer’s exaggerated stupidity could have totally worked, as he would exist to make Moe feel guilty about himself and his actions. But instead, it’s sort of split between the two of them, and we get much less interesting moments of Marge concerned about her husband and beckoning Moe stop the fight. Then Moe rescues Homer from the ring as the Fan Man. Sure, why not? Not quite sure how he was able to lift up and carry a grossly overweight Homer, but whatever. Despite my grumblings, I thought this one was alright. The plot was mostly sound, it had its fair share of good gags, and I love any chance we get to see more Moe. I want mo’ Moe.

Tidbits and Quotes
– I don’t really care for the opening scene with the limited Bonanza reunion, but I do love the one Indian’s horrible attempt to curry the audience’s favor (“You know, on the series, we were always trying to kill the Cartwrights. But it looks like Father Time took care of that for us, right? Am I right, folks?”)
– Fantastic scene where Comic Book Guy meets his match with the Charles Bronson-voiced clerk (“A fat, sarcastic Star Trek fan. You must be a devil with the ladies.”) CBG is instantly deflated, and ends up selling his intended return to Bart for four bucks (“I must hurry back to my comic book store, where I dispense the insults rather than absorb them.”)
– The Ultimate Belt stuff has nothing really to do with the main story, but I do love its usage in Bart’s escapade with the bullies, fooling them with a dishonest turn signal, the incredibly loud alert button, and the Emergency Use Only button, which launches a parachuted message for a concerned patron to call the police.
– Hibbert gets a good scene, explaining Homer’s unique medical condition in his ability to take a beating (“Why, I could wallop you all day with this surgical two-by-four without ever knocking you down. But I have other appointments.”)
– There’s a lot of good Moe lines here and there, like calling Boxcar Bob as a hungry young fighter, literally fighting for a sandwich, and his signature boxing gloves with barbed wire wrapped around them, which he calls “the stinger.”
– I like Lenny’s line during the match, “Man, that tramp’s got the energy of a hobo,” as we see the fighter periodically looking back to check that his bindle is okay.
– I like the black and white montage, where Homer’s racking up the big bucks, which translates to him being able to afford slightly nicer car washes.
– Lucius Sweet is probably the best thing about this episode, an unabashed and unashamed parody, using words like “verticality” and “strategizing,” which I use too from time to time. He brings the laughs, but also works just as well in his foreboding warning to Moe about how he can either take this shot or stay a nobody forever.
– Drederick Tatum returns, with Hank Azaria doing a great Mike Tyson riff, with a fair share of great lines too (“Believe me, my God, if I could turn back the clock on my mother’s stair-pushing, I would certainly… reconsider it.”)
– Great ad for the fight, playing up the “rivalry” between Drederick and Homer. Even the title of the show is “Tatum vs. Simpson: Payback,” despite them never having met before. Also great are the T-shirts for sale, with Tatum’s fist coming right out at Homer’s dumb clueless face.
– Michael Buffer appears as ring announcer, giving his (literally) trademarked line, “Let’s get ready to rumble!” He also introduces the crowd of Springfield’s elite, including Kent Brockman, who is greatly chastised and booed (“This just in, go to hell!”)
– There really is a general flatness about a lot of the final act. It’s not too much fun watching Homer getting the shit beat out of him, and we know something’s going to happen to stop the fight. All we can do is wait. I do like Dr. Nick as the fight doctor though (“Kill him! Kill him!”)
– Sweet bit at the end where a beaten up Homer sadly comments that he forgot where they parked, and Marge consoles him (“That’s all right. We’ll just wait till everyone else leaves.”)
– I don’t know what to make of the end with Moe as an aerial worldwide humanitarian. If someone wants to make heads or tails of that, be my guest.

155. You Only Move Twice

~ Mike! ~ 22 Comments

(originally aired November 3, 1996)
Let’s start off by saying this episode is definitely in my top 5, and is on many fans top lists as well. A quick run through first: Homer gets a new job at Globex Corporation, meaning the family must move up state to the luxurious estate of Cypress Creek. The first act break of all our favorite Springfieldians saying goodbye to the leaving family is a great sequence. It’s almost as if this is starting a brand new spin-off, and they’re bidding farewell to the audience. As a senior member of the power plant, Homer is assigned as supervisor for a team working on God knows what, and he seems to be doing pretty well for himself. The rest of the family, not so much: with a house that literally tends to itself, Marge is left with nothing to do but drink wine, Bart is bumped down to the remedial class to learn about the letter ‘A,’ and Lisa finds she’s allergic to just about everything in the town. As in many flashback shows, this episode is ultimately about Homer having to sacrifice his happiness for the greater good. He’s quite pleased with his new respectable position, but deep down he knows his family must come first.

In many cases, it’s difficult to really pin down exactly why an episode is your favorite, but here, a key element is very clear. Two words: Albert Brooks. He’s played many classic characters on the series before this, but this episode showcases his greatest role of all: affable super villain Hank Scorpio. He’s one of the best characters the show’s ever seen, with every one of his lines memorable, hilarious and all building of who he is and his relationship with Homer and his employees. At the start, he shows up at the Simpsons new doorstep with a cordial, giving nature, at first just giving a stark contrast to Homer’s former greedy miserly employer. On his first day, we see him really pump Homer up, get him to trust him and motivate him. He’s like this awesome showman, and a great boss, what’s not to like? Then we find out he’s a super villain bent on world domination. But y’know what, I’d still work for him. Although at times it appears that he’s just pandering to his employees needs disingenuously, it really does seem he’s sincere. To get people to go along with his schemes, he needs to be kindly and accommodating. My favorite scene is the very end where in the midst of a militaristic attack on his operations, Hank takes the time to hear out Homer’s problems, and insists he do what’s best for his family. I don’t think it’s false modesty, Hank is really a swell guy, who just happens to be a criminal mastermind. His character also had so much potential. Despite the outlandish ending of him allegedly “conquering” the east coast, they could have found some way to bring him back somehow. But if they did it on the show now, I’m sure they’d just fuck it up, so I hope they don’t.

As Hank puts it, it’s the little things that make up life, and there are loads of little details in this show that just make it so perfect. Upon returning home, Homer rips the ‘Abandoned’ sign off the door and opens the door, watching his family walk in and smiling. It could have just been a simple stage direction for them to just walk back in their house, but it just further emphasizes how much Homer loves his family and knows he made the right decision. They encounter Otto sitting on a blanket drinking a beer squatting in their house, who, upon seeing the Simpsons, must wake up his girlfriend and leave. Very funny, but even better that it was set up earlier when he was a prospective buyer (“Windows? I don’t know if I can afford this place.”) From this, we can put together that Otto came by later and saw it was labeled ‘Abandoned,’ and figured he could just live there. This is all pulled from a mere ten seconds, and the full twenty two minutes is filled with more great material, I catch new things every time I watch this one. There were a few animated nuances on Hank that I caught, and for some reason I never quite registered Bart’s sighting of a baseball made out of Secretariat. No joke falls flat, every scene is memorable, Hank Scorpio’s one of the greatest characters ever… this one’s basically flawless.

Tidbits and Quotes
– Before they go after Homer, Globex tries to sway Smithers into their web, with temptations of an impressive salary and health benefit for him and his life partner. Little do they know Smithers is already working for his life partner. The line, “What’s wrong with this country? Can’t a man walk down the street without being offered a job?” is even funnier/more devastating considering the job climate today.
– If ever there was a line that completely exemplified a character, it’s this one from Marge: “I’ve dug myself into a happy little rut here and I’m not about to hoist myself out of it.” And we’re only two minutes in.
– The Cypress Creek promotional video is as great as you’d think, especially of course the bum fading into a mailbox. And even a stupid joke like that gets a callback later, when Marge comments to Hank Scorpio that the town is so nice, she expects to get the bum’s rush. Hank replies, “We don’t have bums in our town, Marge, but if we did, they wouldn’t rush, they’d be allowed to go at their own pace.”
– I love the cavalier attitude Marge has about the house falling apart; first we see the chimney collapse outside the window behind her, then later Bart breaks through the ceiling from upstairs, and Marge casually pokes him back up with a broom while still talking to Homer.
– We get a one scene wonder for Apu showing up at the Simpson open house (“Hello. I am not interested in buying your house, but I would like to use your rest room, flip through your magazines, rearrange your carefully shelved items and handle your food products in an unsanitary manner. Ha! Now you know how it feels!”)
– I’ve always remembered, and loved, the Simpsons new address: 15201 Maple Systems Road. It’s such a perfect name, fusing nature with corporate efficiency.
– Brooks is on fire off the bat as Scorpio, with his Popeye-papayian run and throwing his moccasins away and screaming at them (“Ever see a guy say goodbye to a shoe?” “Heh heh. Once.”) There’s just something about his voice that’s so engaging, Brooks is a dynamite performer.
– I love the bit where Hank illustrates there are no walls in his building after asking Homer to hang up his coat. And he didn’t even give it to him at all! Homer is shocked and notices Hank with a big grin on his face and his coat on backwards. This is why I think he’s an earnest character, he’s doing his best to win over a new employee. Yeah, because he wants him to work for him to help with his evil schemes… but in a good way.
– The great Hank lines come hard and fast (“These gentlemen here will be your eyes and your ears, and should the need arise, they’ll fill in for any other part of your body.”) I also love when he picks up the phone and botches Homer’s trust fall, his quick, “Oh my God, the guy’s on the floor!”
– The details, the details! Homer’s new workstation has a poster reading, “There’s No ‘Me’ In ‘Team.'” …yeah, there is.
– Cypress Creek Elementary is so advanced, it has its own website. Which at the time made sense.
– I love the dramatic music cue when Marge takes a sip of wine, and her later musing of it (“I’ve been so bored since we moved here, I found myself drinking a glass of wine every day. I know doctors say you should drink a glass and a half but I just can’t drink that much.”)
– Classic, much quoted line from a kid in the remedial class (“I moved here from Canada, and they think I’m slow, eh?”) I also love the end of the scene where a kid pats Bart on the back, which gets increasingly harder into a slap. It’s just so bizarre.
– Hank’s hammock discussion is absolutely brilliant, as is the concept that a ‘hammock district’ would ever exist. The scene is also a great example of how Hank is almost working overtime to bowl Homer over, but Homer’s just so thick he does not register anything he’s saying (“There’s a little place called Mary Ann’s Hammocks. The nice thing about that place is Mary Ann gets in the hammock with you. Ha ha, I’m just kiddin’!” “Oh.”) He also of course does not notice any wrongdoing, even when Hank gives a threatening proclaimation to the UN and blows up the 59th Street Bridge in Manhattan while Homer’s in the room with him.
– Why did Hank have sugar in his pockets? And where was he keeping the cream? Probably best not to think about it…
– Another great callback where we see Lisa happy in the forest befriending a li’l chipmunk, who later betrays her by blowing a dandelion in her face to aggravate her allergies more.
– The James Bond scene is perfect. Firstly it’s James Bont to avoid legal concerns; he’s clearly a completely different character now. Then Hank’s line, “I don’t expect anything from you except to die and be a very cheap funeral.” See, even his mortal enemy he respects enough to give a funeral for, he is an awesome guy. Then Homer blindly tackles Bont, and Hank is quite pleased (“When you get home tonight, there’s going to be another story on your house!”) Then guards proceed to shoot Bont to death. In the next scene, Homer comments to his family at the dinner table about how he tackled a loafer at work. So goddamn funny…
– I mentioned the last Hank scene, but his final moment is just great (“Homer, on your way out, if you wanna kill somebody, it would help a lot.”) He then leaps out into the field, using a flamethrower on some foot soldiers. Then later we see he’s conquered the east coast and has given Homer the Denver Broncos. What a guy. There’s also the Bond-esque “Scorpio!” song at the end, which is such a perfect parody, and well performed (“And on Fridays the lunchroom serves hot dogs and burgers and beer! He loves German beeeeeeeeeeeer!”) I fucking love Hank Scorpio. Watching this show, I remembered that he was originally supposed to be the antagonist for the movie, which could have been amazing, but they scrapped that idea, and created a new character for Brooks to play. But I’ve got ten more seasons to get through before we can touch on that.

154. Treehouse of Horror VII

~ Mike! ~ 10 Comments

(originally aired October 27, 1996)
This season had a bit of a late start, so we’re opening with the Halloween episode,, a custom that would be all too recurring in later seasons. But at least this one aired before Halloween. Anyway, on with the review: first up, “The Thing and I.” The Simpson children hear strange noises in the attic at night, but their parents remain elusive as to what’s going on. There’s a great eerie aura set early on, with Bart in his bed at night hearing creaks and grunts, and a dark shadow dashing from view in the vent, which is actually quite spooky. Also great is later on when they inspect the attic, and Bart whips the flashlight over to a wall only to see chains rattling; clearly a creature has gone loose. Said creature is revealed to be Bart’s identical brother Hugo. Separated at birth, Hugo was deemed to be the “evil” twin, and has been locked away in the attic on a diet exclusively of fish heads. The family and Dr. Hibbert go off to search for him, but Hugo never left the house, leaving Bart for him to fulfill his fantasy of conjoining them once more. Nancy Cartwright is really great as Hugo, a deeper register Bart with a twinge of madness to it. The end reveal that Bart was the evil twin all along is mildly clever, but made funny at the slow, laborious way it was revealed (capped off by Bart’s “Oh, don’t look so shocked”) and the horrible outcome for Bart having to switch places with his brother. It’s a wonderfully twisted end for a really odd segment.

“The Genesis Tub” suffers from being the middle segment as much as Lisa suffers for being the middle sibling. Lisa is all set with her science project involving a tooth slowly dissolving in soda, but a spark of static electricity ends up breeding new life, one that grows at a fantastic speed, passing even ours within a mere night. She is most impressed with her creation, but through brotherly horseplay, Bart nearly destroys their entire world. In a fantastic piece of animation, tiny war planes retaliate by attacking Bart in his bed. The sequence of the planes zooming up to his head from the foot of the bed is just fantastic. Following this, Lisa is beamed down into the petri dish, learning that the people believe that she is God and that Bart is the Devil. They are shocked to hear that they are actually related, and have a number of questions to ask of their Almighty Creator. It’s really this last part that’s the most interesting, thinking about the world from their perspective and dogging Lisa with questions she doesn’t hold the answers to. But this also begs the question, why did they shrink her down in the first place, especially considering they couldn’t change her back? I guess they did emerge from soda water and are like two days old, so they can’t be too bright. It’s a neat little story, only suffering from being sandwiched between two dynamite ones.

“Citizen Kang” is one of my favorite Halloween shorts. It’s creepy, it’s funny, and touches on the most terrifying subject of all: politics. Homer is abducted by our favorite Rigilians Kang and Kodos, but their “take me to your leader” plan is complicated when Homer informs them of the upcoming election. The aliens proceed to abduct President Bill Clinton and Republican nominee Bob Dole and take their places on Earth, morphing into exact duplicates. As the two imposter candidates do their rallies, Homer is left looking like a madman in his efforts to expose the extraterrestrials. Every single line from Kang/Dole and Kodos/Clinton is absolutely hysterical for oh so many reasons: the vocal disconnects, their complete lack of knowledge of human history or behavior, and other characters responses to them, all of which remain oblivious to any foul play (“I am Clin-Ton. As overlord, all will kneel trembling before me and obey my brutal commands. End communication.” Watching at home, Marge scoffs, “That’s Slick Willie for you, always with the smooth talk.”) Also, being about the 1996 election doesn’t date this story in the least. There are some allusions specific to Clinton and Dole, but the focus on the campaign trail and the rigamarole and talking points with it remain timeless. At the eve of the election, Homer finally unmasks the imposters, but Kang and Kodos present that the American people have to vote for one of them under the two party system. And indeed they do. The best line of the show, one of the best lines of the series, is in response to an outraged man in the crowd yells, “I believe I’ll vote for a third party candidate!” And Kang responds, “Go ahead, throw your vote away!” Brilliant. America would rather be enslaved by aliens than vote for a third party. Bad news for Ross Perot. I can’t be bothered ranking these, but this segment has got to be in the top five. All in all, another great Halloween trilogy. I should enjoy these while they last.

Tidbits and Quotes
– The opening bit is kept short and sweet: Homer is lighting a candle, ends up lighting himself on fire, he runs around screaming. Good enough.
– I love how cavalier Homer is bringing the bucket of fish heads to the attic, and his little diddy he sings along with it. The direction is so great too, where we see from the entrance of the attic the kids peeking upward and hear the ravenous sounds of the heads being devoured.
– The kids forming a human ladder to open the attic door is a cute moment within a creepy show. The attic is full of references to past episodes, as it usually is, along with stacks and stacks of Homer’s unsold autobiography, “Homer, I Hardly Knew Me.”
– I absolutely love how Dr. Hibbert appears in the house so startlingly, and how when Marge screams in shock, Hibbert mimics in kind. So bizarre. Hibbert’s got a lot of great lines and moments here, responding to Lisa’s claims of “Siamese twins” not being PC (“And hillbillies prefer to be called ‘sons of the soil.’ But it ain’t gonna happen,”) calling Hugo “too crazy for boy’s town, too much of a boy for crazy town,” and how he subdues the boy by swaying him with a fake mirror… then socking him in the face. The timing on that bit is great, where we see it’s a false mirror with Hibbert’s face staring through… then him punching directly to camera, knocking Hugo out cold.
– Great moment flashing back to Bart and Hugo’s birth. One boy starts gnawing repeatedly on the other, and Marge instinctively holds her arms over her bosom and comments, “I think I’ll bottle feed that one.” I also love the stupid mislead of Hibbert slicing down a paper cutter after narrating he’d have to separate the boys, then of course revealing he’s cutting up waivers for Homer and Marge to sign.
– I love Lisa’s cheerful commentary regarding her science project (“Science has already proven the dangers of smoking, alcohol and Chinese food, but I can still ruin soft drinks for everyone!”)
– Easy, but great joke that following Lisa’s shock that she’s created life, she’s quickly distracted when Marge calls that there’s waffles for breakfast. They end up being just square pancakes due to the waffle iron being in “the shop” (Lisa grumbles, “The waffle iron’s been in the shop forever…”)
– For no discernible reason, the tiny world seems to have duplicate versions of Frink and the three college nerds. (“Unshrink you? Well, that would require some sort of a re-bigulator, which is a concept so ridiculous is makes me want to laugh out loud and chortle, and… uh… but not at you, O holiest of gods, with the wrathfulness and the vengeance and the blood rain and the hey-hey-hey-it-hurts-me…”)
– The ending of Bart passing off the project as his own is great, as is Willie throwing the other science fair projects in the trash, and the final reveal that all this hassle was over a paltry gift certificate.
– Upon being abducted, Homer seems all too willing to accept an anal probe. Kang and Kodos are disgusted (“Stop! We have reached the limits of what rectal probing can teach us.”)
– To ensure that no one will believe Homer, the aliens spray him with booze (I love the dramatic angle of Kang/Dole saying, “Rum!”) Sure enough, when Homer tells the family the next morning, Bart is very unconvinced by his father’s absurd story (“Sure you were, rummy.”) I also love that even in retelling his fantastic tale, Homer feels the need to lie in commenting he had caught a large fish before the abduction.
– Classic classic scene with Kang/Dole: “Abortions for all.” Crowd boos. “Very well, no abortions for anyone.” Crowd boos again. “Hmm… Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others.” Crowd cheers.
– I love Kang/Dole and Kodos/Clinton walking hand and hand, and the awkward read of the aide telling them how odd it looks. Kang/Dole responds, “We are merely exchanging long protein strings. If you can think of a simpler way, I’d like to hear it.” And the two continue walking with big grins. So hilarious.
– Phil Hartman does a fine Clinton, as he did on Saturday Night Live, and Harry Shearer is equally great as Bob Dole. I like their back-and-forth on the alien ship of how they’ll put aside the partisan politics for the greater good of the country, just in time for Homer to accidentally shoot them out into space. The animation of them flailing about briefly before dying and floating off is fantastic.
– I love the staging of the ship crashing into the Capitol, then panning down hearing Homer run down the steps and outside to finally expose Kang and Kodos.
– We end with a classic line, that has become somewhat of a meme during election time, from Homer following the enslavement of Earth: “Don’t blame me, I voted for Kodos.” Like it would have been any different. Brilliant.