Old Money (S02, E17-030)

Bea is a ghost at this point, so the people only see a wailing old man.

Plot Summary
After yet another dull third Sunday of the month with the family, Abraham J. Simpson, known up to this point simply as "Grampa" Simpson, meets a wonderful old woman whose pills are mixed up with his.  The woman, Bea, and Abe become a quick couple and have probably the best month they've had in a long time.  Bea's birthday is coming up, and Grampa gets a gift and is ready to go.  Unfortunately, her birthday is on the third Sunday of the month.  Homer and the family, realizing they need to spend better quality time with Grampa, decide to go to a fake African safari.  Homer forces Grampa to go along after believe Bea to be a figment of the old man's imagination.  The fake safari becomes a mess after Homer takes a wrong turn and winds up in the middle of a lions den.  They aren't rescued until the next morning, and after Grampa rushes back, he finds out that Bea died, as Grampa surmises, of a broken heart.

With what had happened, Grampa refuses to talk to Homer.  It is soon learned, though, that Bea was somewhat wealthy, and she gives Abe $106,000 to spend however he pleases.  Abe tries his best to do all sorts of fun stuff with the money, but it just isn't working.  Bea's ghost appears while Abe is riding a rollercoaster and instead advises Abe to use that money to make other people happy.

Abe asks townspeople how they would use the money to determine if they deserve it or not, but nobody is really making a good case.  Lisa suggests Grampa use the money to help the poor and needy, but given the state of that, a hundred thousand dollars isn't nearly enough to cover that, so he decides to gamble it and make more.  Homer catches wind of this and is able to stop Grampa before he gambles it all away.  Finally, Abe decides to use the money to improve the otherwise run down retirement home, naming a dining room after Bea.

Quick Review
This is a touching episode, moreso than it is a funny episode.  It mainly features Grampa Simpson in what's the first episode focused on him, and as it avoids many of his character's stereotypes (feeble, his family ignores him, helpless), it also takes him on an emotional rollercoaster that involves a woman he falls in love with, her money, and his son whose entangled in the whole mess.

As such, this isn't so much a funny episode as it is an emotional episode.  It gets some high marks for that.  Otherwise, its not a hilarious episode, but its still worth a watch for those of you who like Grampa Simpson beyond what most episodes portray him as.

Final Score: 7.8