Secrets of a Successful Marriage

"Secrets of a Successful Marriage" is the 22nd and final episode of The Simpsons' fifth season. Homer teaches an adult education class on how to have a successful marriage; however, to keep his students interested he has to tell personal secrets about Marge.

1 Plot
2 Syndication Cuts
3 Cultural references
4 Reception
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Plot

Homer Simpson plays poker with the guys and as usual, he wins without realizing it, prompting Carl to call Homer "slow." Hours later his brain registers, by which time the game had already ended. The next morning Homer talks to the family about it, and he realizes that he indeed might be a little on the slow side. Marge recommends that he take an adult education course.

He marches down to the adult education annex, where he talks to the dean and learns that there is an opening for a class on having a successful marriage. Homer thinks he can get away with anything as a teacher. When he stands before his class, he has absolutely no lesson plan. Class members tell him about their problems, hoping for advice, but Homer has none to offer.

The class collectively gets up to leave, but when Homer mentions his conversation with Marge in bed, the class decides to stay, eager to hear gossip. Marge soon discovers that everyone in town knows her personal secrets (including the secret that she dyes her hair blue because, according to Homer, "[Marge has been] gray as a mule since she was 17"). She confronts Homer about it and he promises to stop, but he continues telling her secrets anyway; this time telling the class that Marge gets sexually excited whenever Homer nibbles on her elbow. Homer then takes the night off teaching class--so he can have his class observe the family over dinner.

The kids and Marge are horrified and Marge kicks the class out...including Homer (after Moe tells Homer to calm Marge down by nibbling on her elbow). Homeless, Homer camps out in Bart's tree house, where Bart and Milhouse find Homer scrubbing his underwear. Marge tries to reassure Bart and Lisa that she and Homer love the kids, despite their current situation. Marge tries to get advice from Reverend and Mrs. Lovejoy, but they opt that Marge divorce Homer (something of which Marge is opposed).

Homer creates a replacement for Marge - a plant with a paper plate for a face that he accidentally destroys. He soon longs for his real wife again. Moe comes by to declare his interest in Marge. She turns him down, but decides to invite him in for a glass of water.

Homer comes into the house with flowers he picked. When Moe sees him, he jumps out the window. Standing before her in rags, Homer professes his total and utter dependency on Marge. She is flattered, if pitying, and decides to take Homer back. The family is glad that he has returned, although Moe is less than thrilled. ^[2]

[edit] Syndication Cuts

The following cuts were made to this episode when it appeared in syndication:

The scene where Homer laments being slow and blames it on watching TV at the breakfast table.
Moe's "Funk Dance for Self Defense" demonstration, which includes Moe firing off a shotgun.
A cutaway of Hans Moleman teaching a learning annex class on how to eat an orange.
Homer's brain commanding him to eat the rice pudding before coming up with a plan on how to win Marge back.

[edit] Cultural references

Homer's bedroom rant to Marge is a parody mishmash of four popular movies: ...And Justice for All ("I'm out of order? You're out of order! The whole system is out of order!"). A Few Good Men ("...You want the truth?..."), the 1970 film Patton ("...When you reach over and put your hand into a pile of goo that was your best friend's face..."), and Chinatown ("Forget it, Marge, it's Chinatown.")
Homer sings the end of the theme song to Family Ties.
Smithers' recollection of his marriage parodies "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" and "A Streetcar Named Desire." Both were written by Tennessee Williams.
When describing his area of expertise at the Adult Education Center, Homer claims he can tell the difference between butter and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, to which the administrator replies, "No you can't Mr. Simpson! No one can!"

[edit] Reception

The episode is number seven on MSNBC's top ten The Simpsons episodes list, compiled in 2007. They felt the episode embodied Homer's qualities of being "stupid, good-natured and mildly pathetic."^[3]