Mobile Homer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Mobile Homer" is the thirteenth episode of The Simpsons sixteenth season. It was first broadcast in the US on 20 March 2005.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
When Marge takes the kids on a Sunday drive, Homer suffers from cleaning the garage at home. He gets spiders in his throat, and he is almost killed by the garage door. Luckily, he gets saved by Lisa (who gives Homer air) and Bart (who compresses Homer's chest by elbow dropping him, body pressing him and hitting him on the chest with a steel chair). After the incident, Marge insists that the family buy life insurance, but Homer is deemed uninsurable because of his bad medical history. Marge, influenced by a "Wifetime TV" movie about a wealthy man without insurance whose widow and children were forced to live on the streets, decides to save money by buying imitation brands of cereal and coffee. Homer tries to comfort Marge but she rejects him. Homer, now angry about Marge's new measures, takes the money she has saved and puts a down payment on a new motor home, although Homer already owned one in the episode "The Call of the Simpsons" (albeit a dilapidated one that was rented to him due to his lousy credit history.) After he buys his motor home, Marge tells him to enjoy it because she never wants to speak to him again.
Homer starts living in the RV, and he and Marge compete for the loyalty of Bart and Lisa. Fortunately, Homer's kid ways gives him an advantage and wins the kids over. Homer discovers a convoy of RVs at a gas station, and invites them to stay in his backyard. Marge gets annoyed with their behavior and cuts off their electricity, causing Homer's newfound friends to ditch him. Homer and Marge proceed to get into an argument so powerful that lasts all night. Fearing that Homer and Marge might divorce, Bart decides that he and Lisa should return the RV to the dealership.
Discovering that the kids and RV are gone, Homer and Marge give chase in the car. Bart and Lisa accidentally get on the freeway, and force their parents to make up. Bart and Lisa then try to pull over, but lose control of the RV, which plunges off an uncompleted runaway truck ramp onto a Turkish container ship. The ship is leaving port, but Marge convinces the captain to turn around after offering him several cans of mushroom soup she bought on sale. With their marriage restored, Homer tells Marge that he'll return the RV in the morning, and uses the ship's crane to put the vehicle on a nearby pier. This collapses, and the RV sinks in the harbor, much to Homer's dismay ("D'OH!"). Marge is unconcerned about the loss of money, because the Turkish sailors put hashish in her food.
[edit] Previous Episode References
- This couch gag marks the second time that Sideshow Bob has appeared in a couch gag. The first time was in the couch gag for the season eight episodes Bart After Dark and the original airing of The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show where The Simpsons are part of a detailed parody of The Beatles Sgt. Pepper album (Bob is located in the back next to Principal Skinner and Otto the bus driver in the Sgt. Pepper couch gag).
- Homer had an RV before in the season one episode The Call of the Simpsons (although it was destroyed after plunging off a cliff, and drove Ned Flanders' RV in the season six episode Lemon of Troy). Cowboy Bob, who first appeared in that episode, returns in this episode getting word that Bart and Lisa are trying to return Homer's RV.
[edit] Cultural references
- Songs in this episode: "Vacation" by The Go-Gos, "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses, "I've Been Everywhere" by Hank Snow, and "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" by They Might Be Giants (who performed the theme song for another show on Fox, Malcolm in the Middle). Also, the sound effects of the various slammed doors and windows during Homer and Marge's initial argument over the motor home mimic the opening riff from Pink Floyd's "Money."
- The spider poison is called "Charlotte's Dead," the name and product art being obvious parodies of the children's book Charlotte's Web.
- The cover of the TV Guide have Alf and mentions Victoria Principal.
- The couple in the red RV at the gas station are a parody of George and Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. The woman's voice may also be reminiscent of Katharine Hepburn and is also named Martha.
- The Wifetime movie that Marge watches, Homemaker to Homeless, is a parody of a real Lifetime original movie called Homeless to Harvard.
- The SUVs rolling off a road scene refers to criticism of SUVs safety.
- When Homer gets spider poison in his eyes he says "spider poison is people poison?" this refers to the cult movie Soylent Green. Homer makes a reference to it in an earlier episode, saying, "Mmm...Soylent Green."
- In the Spanish (from Spain) dubbed version, there is a reference to Wikipedia: when Lisa reads Homer's Flintstones map, she says, "Dino, abreviatura de dinosaurio; consultarlo en la Wikipedia" (Dino, abbreviation of Dinosaur; search for it in Wikipedia). In the original English, she said "Dino, short for Dinosaur? Remember to Ask Jeeves"
- When Marge and Homer discovers that Bart and Lisa have driven off on the RV, he says, "It's a parent's worst nightmare- they've stolen a car and they're Home Alone," then makes the gesture that Macaulay Culkin's character makes in the movie.
- After Bart gets the RV off the driveway, he discovers that his road map has been replaced by a Flintstones Fun Map.
- Lisa is seen wearing a Hooters shirt on the playground.
[edit] Reception
8.6 million viewers tuned in to the first airing of this episode [1]. Walter J. Keegan, Jr. of TV Squad thought the episode did not have enough laughs but enough subtle Simpsons humor espicially on SUVs, Turkish sailors, and evil religious icons. His most puzzling moment in this episode was Bart's drawing of Homer and he thought the idea of Marge filling in the viewers on what Homer does at work was a good idea since Homer isn't seen at work a lot anymore [2].
[edit] References
