The Heartbroke Kid
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- For the film starring Ben Stiller, see The Heartbreak Kid (2007 film)
"The Heartbroke Kid" is the seventeenth episode of the sixteenth season of The Simpsons. The episode aired on May 1, 2005 in the US.
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[edit] Plot
Principal Skinner is looking for a company to sign a vending machine contract with Springfield Elementary, with half of the machine's profits going to the school. He looks at suggestions of a Gumbo machine from the Sea Captain that seriously burned the Sea Captain's hand and from Gil and rejects them, until he gets a suggestion from Lindsay Naegle. The unhealthy vending machines are installed, and most of the students use the machines (save for Lisa, who protests their high sugar content), but Bart is seen using it the most frequently.
A montage of Bart eating lots of sweets, chips, and soda is seen, followed by a spoof of the intro to the show, entitled "Three Weeks Later." Everything seems normal, except instead of doing the chalkboard gag, a very overweight version of Bart gets another snack from the vending machine. The school bell rings, and Bart walks away. He takes several seconds to get his skateboard. As he slowly peddles down the street, his expanded girth causes the ground beneath him to crack. Additionally, he bends a streetlight, knocks over several people, and crashes into Marge's car, which causes her car to spin off-screen. Later, we see Homer parking his car in front of the garage of the Simpson house. Bart jumps on top of the car and damages the top of it, making Homer fall out and bounce away. Then, he waddles slowly inside. Homer, Marge, Lisa and Maggie run in and sit on the couch, ready for their couch gag. But where's Bart? Everyone looks around, puzzled. Bart arrives late, gasping, and suffers a heart attack,which Homer thinks Bart is in love, until Lisa corrects him.
Bart sees Dr. Hibbert, who says that malted milk balls have clogged his arteries, and that a wad of Laffy Taffy is blocking his liver. He informs the family that Bart is addicted to junk food and tells Marge to put him on a diet. However, Lisa discovers that Bart has been hiding junk food in his walls, and the family stages an intervention. When Bart tries to run away, his chubby frame gets caught in a fence and he is caught by two representatives of a maximum security fat camp, Serenity Ranch. Bart ends up there with Apu, Rainier Wolfcastle (who was last seen fattening up for a movie), and Kent Brockman, and the camp's leader is none other than former junk food magnate Tab Spangler (who is dealing with many anger issues). However, when Bart is there, the family is faced with an expensive bill. To pay for the camp, the family converts their house into a youth hostel which attracts German tourists.
At the fat camp, Bart cheats by sneaking food, so Tab Spangler takes him home to visit the family to show him the horrors that occur. His family is working continually to appease the students staying in their home. The Germans humiliate the family, making Homer dance and forcing Marge and Lisa to clean intentional messes. He suggests Bart fight his addiction, and he does, by destroying the vending machines in school. His addiction to junk food is over, and he steals the money from the vending machines, which the family uses to pay for the bill and give the Germans "Das Boot". Homer gets revenge by beating up the Germans, and tossing them out. Tab Spangler says that Bart still has three weeks left of non-refundable treatment, and Homer goes with Tab (if this is by choice or not is unknown), where the episode ends with them driving in Tab's car arguing over the cheeseburger Homer is eating.
[edit] Cultural references
- The title of this episode is a play on the 1972 film The Heartbreak Kid, which is also the nickname of the professional wrestler Shawn Michaels.
- Scammer and Z-Dog junk food was influenced by the urban junk food brand Rap Snacks.
- The song Homer sings for change to the German students on vacation is "99 Luftballons" (in its original German language, not the English version).
- The song played during Bart's junkfood sequence is "Yummy Yummy Yummy" by The Ohio Express. The song was previously featured in "Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie" when Homer listened to that song on the same day the moon landing aired on television.
- The line "raged against the machine" is a reference to the political rap-rock band Rage Against the Machine.
- When Bart rips off the Krusty poster in his room which conceals a stash of junk food, it is a reference to The Shawshank Redemption, where Andy Dufresne's means of escape is through a hole in the wall covered by a poster of Raquel Welch.
- When Bart arrives with the money procured from the vending machines, Homer and Marge agree (with some delight) to get rid of the German lodgers. When some try and refuse to leave, Homer announces that it is "time to take out the Eurotrash".
[edit] Legacy
Tab Spangler also had a cameo appearance in The Simpsons Movie as a member of the mob angry at Homer for polluting Lake Springfield.
[edit] Trivia
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- In this episode, a girl that looks oddly mysteriously like a younger version of Cookie Kwan is seen leaving the Scammer and Z-Dog vending machine.
- This episode was originally set to be the 350th episode (despite being the 352nd to air), but was switched with "Don't Fear the Roofer" because Pope John Paul II died just 8 days before The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star was supposed to air. Fox decided not to air "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star" (since it makes fun of the Catholic church) until the end of the season in May (making it the final episode of the season instead of the originally planned episode The Girl Who Slept Too Little [which is now a season seventeen episode]).
- The montage near the end of the first act spoofs Bart's shots in the show's opening. However, Helen Lovejoy's hair is her normal grey color, not the miscolored orange usually seen in the regular opening; additionally, Barney appears in place of where the now-deceased Bleeding Gums Murphy would've appeared.
- The license plate on the brownish green "Volkswagen Thing" car when Bart gets off the bus after the milkshake festival says ManH8ter.
