Homer Defined (S03, E05-040)

I wonder how many people pull Homers every day?

Plot Summary
In this episode we truly do determined how exactly to define Homer.  Not keeping track of the core's temperature, the plant experiences a meltdown crisis.  Not knowing how to fix it, we could define Homer as being "stupid" for being the plant's safety inspector despite having no knowledge of nuclear reactors.  Using "eeny, meeny, miny, moe" to pick a random button, Homer is able to correctly guess which button averts the meltdown.  At this point, he could be considered "Lucky".  The "heroic act" has Homer becoming employee of the month, and a free phone call from Magic Johnson!  In that call, Homer asks Magic what if a "hero" became one through dumb luck, and Magic replies that those frauds usually get exposed sooner or later.

Now with Homer being defined as a "fraud", he faces admiration from his co-workers, Mr. Burns, and his own daughter Lisa.  In fact, Burns has Homer meet Aristotle Amadopoulos, voiced by our friend Jon Lovitz, who tells him that Shelbyville's Nuclear Plant is suffering from worker incompetence, and he wants Homer to give them a speech on keeping calm in a crisis.  As the employee of the month, Homer apparently has to accept.

Meanwhile, in the subplot, Bart learns that Milhouse's mother doesn't want the two to be friends anymore, citing Bart as a bad influence.  As correct as that reasoning may be, it leaves both boys depressed.  When Bart turns to Maggie as someone to do things with, Marge realizes things can't continue like that, and convinces Milhouse's mother to let the boys be friends again.  Bart and Milhouse patch things up, and the first thing Bart does is grab a B.B. gun.  Great.

Homer is about to give his speech at the Shelbyville plant when it, too, undergoes a meltdown.  He uses the same "technique" as last time.  It works again somehow, but he gets exposed for his luck-filled antics.  Quickly, word spreads and soon a new word is defined.  To pull a "Homer" is to succeed despite idiocy.  So now we can define Homer, for he is simply "Homer".

Quick Review
This was another funny episode throughout.  The Bart & Milhouse subplot wasn't quite that great, but it was alright.  Indeed, it was Homer's journey of being a fraudulent hero that kept the episode strong, and the constant reference to a dictionary to redefine Homer was a nice touch as well.

Final Score: 8.9