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| "MENDOZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" |
So, Bart's building something in the garage. Homer is in the living room witnessing Bart carrying this and that or asking him questions he doesn't bother to check into, and he mostly doesn't care. Meanwhile, Patty and Selma present to Marge a "Fatherhood Quotient" quiz for Homer to take. The quiz features four questions:
1) Name one of your child's friends.
2) Who is your son's hero?
3) Name another dad you talked to about parenting?
4) What are your son's hobbies?
Unable to answer the first three, Homer then claims Bart has no hobbies, but upon learning that Bart is building a soapbox derby racer, which is a hobby, he breaks down into tears over how bad a father he is (and on Patty and Selma's suggestion, how fat he also is).
Needing help, Homer calls the Fatherhood Institute, the company responsible for the quiz. Realizing Homer's predicament, they quickly bring Homer in. There, they give Homer a copy of Bill Cosby's book Fatherhood and advise him to spend more time with Bart. Homer decides to help Bart build his soapbox racer, although he needs the book to help him get Bart to allow him to help. Together, they build a... pretty crappy soapbox racer, but the day for some kind of preliminary race is upon them.
Martin Prince seems to have the prize car, the Honor Roller, which resembles a NASA shuttle. Nelson Muntz also is in the race, featuring a rather menacing car of his own. Martin and Bart share the sentiment that at least one of them has to beat Nelson. As the race begins, Martin finds himself unable to control his increasingly fast racer, and crosses the finish line in a blaze of fire. Bart's car is unable to finish, stopping just before reaching the finish line.
Breaking his arm in the subsequent crash, Martin is unable and unwilling to race again. However both he and Bart know that Nelson can't win the soapbox derby, and both agree that Bart should ride Martin's car to prevent Nelson's victory. Bart, however, knows that Homer is gonna be 'crushed' upon learning that Bart no longer wants to drive the soapbox the two of them built, and sure enough upon learning the news Homer gives up and decides not to bother Bart, deciding to not even attend the final race (although it is aired on TV somehow). Depressed, Homer catches his eye on the fatherhood test again, and tries to answer its questions.
1) Son's hobby? Building a soapbox racer.
2) Son's friend? Martin, a name Homer will curse 'til the day he dies.
3) Son's hero? Three-time soapbox derby winner Ronny Beck.
4) Another dad who he talks to about parenting? Nobody, but he talks to Flanders for two seconds about dating, which apparently counts.
Now considering himself the perfect father, Homer makes it to the soapbox derby in time for Bart to race and defeat Nelson. The two are given the big trophy by the young Robby Beck (never mind that it was Martin who built the car), and Homer and Bart find the time to taunt Nelson before embracing one another.
Quick Review
I really enjoyed this episode. In particular, a scene near the beginning of the episode where Homer glimpses at the "best part" of the McBain movie is the best the episode has to offer. People seem to have a problem with the soapbox racing portions of the episode, but that's silly, the amount of good the entire episode has to offer shouldn't be soiled by one's lack of care about something like soapbox racing. There's just a lot of jokes and situations that just work in the episode, particularly at the beginning and altogether it makes for one of the better episodes in the series.
Final Score: 9.2
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