Love, Springfieldian Style

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The Simpsons episode
"Love, Springfieldian Style"
Promotional artwork for all three segments of the episode.
Episode no. 412
Prod. code KABF05
Orig. airdate February 17, 2008
Show runner(s) Al Jean
Written by Don Payne
Directed by Raymond S. Persi
Chalkboard None
Couch gag Each family member rushes into the living room and attaches themselves to a giant-size baby mobile.
Season 19
September 23, 2007 – May 18, 2008
  1. "He Loves to Fly and He D'ohs"
  2. "Homer of Seville"
  3. "Midnight Towboy"
  4. "I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"
  5. "Treehouse of Horror XVIII"
  6. "Little Orphan Millie"
  7. "Husbands and Knives"
  8. "Funeral for a Fiend"
  9. "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind"
  10. "E Pluribus Wiggum"
  11. "That 90's Show"
  12. "Love, Springfieldian Style"
  13. "The Debarted"
  14. "Dial 'N' for Nerder"
  15. "Smoke on the Daughter"
  16. "Papa Don't Leech"
  17. "Apocalypse Cow"
  18. "Any Given Sundance"
  19. "Mona Leaves-a"
  20. "All About Lisa"
List of all The Simpsons episodes

"Love, Springfieldian Style" is the twelfth episode of The Simpsons' nineteenth season and was first broadcast on the Fox Network on February 17, 2008, three days after Valentine's Day. It is the show's tenth non-Halloween trilogy episode, and includes three self contained stories about romance. The three tales are parodies of Bonnie and Clyde, Lady and the Tramp and Sid and Nancy.[1]

Contents

[edit] Plot

The episode begins on a Valentine's Day afternoon. As a Valentine's day treat, Homer takes Marge to a carnival, where they lose the kids in order to spend the day with one another in the Tunnel of Love. Inside, the two enjoy each other's company; however, Bart attempts to spoil his parents' happiness by filling the water with Jell-O, causing Homer and Marge's boat to stop. Trapped, Homer decides to pass time by telling Marge a love story: Bonnie and Clyde.

[edit] Homer's story (Bonnie and Clyde)

In 1933, during the Great Depression, Bonnie Parker (Marge) rejects a man trying to get her attention (Cletus), saying she is looking for someone exciting. Clyde Barrow (Homer) then arrives, and after robbing a store (which he co-owned with his father, Barrow, ironically), the two run off. Clyde discovers Bonnie's passion is violence, and the two go on a crime spree by robbing banks. After tricking a citizen (Flanders) into helping them, the two garner intense popularity across the country. The citizen they tricked soon realizes what had happened, and snitches to the police. The Louisiana officers soon arrive, and the cops gun Bonnie and Clyde down. While being shot, Bonnie tells Clyde that she is looking for a man with more excitement, and that they would never have been together.

[edit] Marge's Story (Shady and the Vamp)

Bart and Lisa arrive at Marge and Homer's boat, demanding a love story for children, where Marge launches into a story of two dogs in love, Shady and the Vamp. Vamp (Marge) is a royal and luxurious female dog. Shady (Homer) is in love with Vamp and eyes her from a distance, vowing that he will win her. After he is trampled by a mob of children, Vamp comforts Shady, and he asks her out for dinner. The two go to Luigi's, where, after a romantic pasta dinner, the two run off onto a hill. In the morning, Vamp wakes up with nauseous feelings, and Shady leaves her, thinking that a fox hunter is near. In a musical number entitled "Any Minute Now," the two dogs await for one another's return, though the cats living with Vamp (Patty and Selma) convince her that Shady would never come back, whilst the dog who is friends with Shady (Moe) convinces him that Vamp would never come back. Her puppies (Bart and Lisa) decide to go look for their father, and after being kidnapped by the dog catcher (Willie), Shady arrives to save his children. Shady returns them home and reunites with Vamp, choosing to stay with her, though Vamp informs him that they have not two, but eleven puppies in the house (Five each resembling Bart and Lisa and one resembling Maggie).

[edit] Bart's story (Sid and Nancy)

Bart spins into a winding story in the age of Donny and Marie and The Brady Bunch: Sid and Nancy. Nancy Spungen (Lisa) , a young model student walks into a rock concert by the Sex Pistols with her friend Milhouse, where she is enamored by the eccentric bassist, Sid Vicious (Nelson). After viewing him throw his bass at a fan at his concert, she decides to go after him. A chocolate dealer (Otto, in a parody of a drug dealer) sells her a chocolate bar which she gives to Sid, who soon begins dating her. As shown in a montage, the two begin having their lives spiraled out of control while gaining a chocolate addiction. Sid soon begins ditching the Pistols, angering lead singer Johnny Rotten (Bart). Sid arrives in the middle of a performance after a major chocolate spree, and knocks into an amplifier which topples over and crushes their drummer (Dolph) (though he survives and visibly escapes with no injuries). Nancy arrives to defend Sid, and informs the Pistols that Sid doesn't need them, and the two go off trying to sing a soft type of music, performing at CBGB (Comic Book Guy's Bar). When they are kicked out for a terrible performance, the two decide to go back to their addiction and begin kissing, ending the story. The episode ends within Bart's story parodying the garbage scene in Sid and Nancy, but showing Homer dumping the trash as it covers the final scene.

[edit] Cultural references

The title of the episode is a take-off of Love, American Style. In the Bonnie and Clyde segment, the radio actors performing "The Bonnie and Clyde Hour" are drawn to resemble George Burns and Gracie Allen.[2] The "Robby Robin" character is a parody of Woody Woodpecker.[2] The dog Willie takes into the gas chamber is Disney's character, Goofy, who says the ordeal was better than working for Disney.[2] The final segment is a reference to the romance of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen and the film Sid and Nancy. Bart is also featured in the story as Johnny Rotten.[3] CBGB was a real music bar that is now closed (though in the episode it stands for Comic Book Guy's Bar).[2]

[edit] Reception

Richard Keller of TV Squad enjoyed the episode and said that it was overall pretty decent. He said that, "This time around they seemed to focus on the stories themselves rather than overload them with gags as they tend to do. The result were some pretty nice stories." His favorite was the second story.[2] Robert Canning of IGN said the episode "left out the fun and funny".[4] Canning said the Bonnie and Clyde segment "Jokes, were far from fast and furious" and that the segment "had no punch".[4] The "Shady and the Vamp" story, "Was what you'd expect, and the lack of surprise made the whole thing quite boring."[4] Canning thought, "The best was saved for last" on Bart's retelling of the Sex Pistols and Sid Vicious. He went on to say, "This segment really did contain the best throwaway gags...But overall, the segment wasn't funny enough to redeem the two bland installments that came before it." Canning gave the episode a 5.5 out of 10.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Primetime Listings", FoxFlash, 2008-01-27. Retrieved on 2008-01-25. 
  2. ^ a b c d e Keller, Richard. Love, Springfieldian Style. tvsquad.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
  3. ^ "SDCC 07: The Simpsons Panel", IGN, 2007-07-29. Retrieved on 2007-07-22. 
  4. ^ a b c d Canning, Robert (2008). The Simpsons: "Love, Springfieldian Style" Review. IGN. Retrieved on 2008-03-10.

[edit] External links

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