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| This is the first episode to feature Ned's manly bod. It never looks right, does it? |
Marge is trying to get a part in A Streetcar Named Desire, but her family really couldn't care less. Trying out for the lead role of Blanche DuBois, Marge is immediately rejected by a familiar sounding director, however he then sees Marge on the phone talking to Homer, her voice and demeanor so... defeated. Seeing similarities between Marge and the role she was attempting to earn, the direction gives her the part.
As practicing the role takes up a lot of time, the director Llewellyn Sinclair advises Marge to take Maggie to a daycare run by Sinclair's sister. The rather familiar-sounding woman runs a strict daycare focused on a lack of 'dependency' on objects such as pacifiers. Once Maggie is dropped off at the daycare, she's stripped of her pacifier which is stored in a locker located high above. Unwilling to deal with sucking non-pacifier objects, Maggie orchestrates an attempt to retrieve the pacifier, but the effort falls short and Ms. Sinclair tosses Maggie into the 'box' for the rest of that day.
As the rehearsals continue, Marge is having trouble adapting to Blanche's role. Mr. Sinclair tries to have Marge see things in Blanche's perspective: having to deal with a selfish, loud, boorish oaf all day to the point of near madness, something which Homer is doing a lot of in this episode. As Homer annoying tries to hurry Marge along, Marge finds the passion she needs and aggressively does the bottle scene with passion (Ned Flanders, cast as Stanley, is barely able to fend her off and gets his chest lacerated apparently). Finding that motivation, Marge prepares herself for the play, though Homer is reluctant to go, only doing so out of obligation.
The night of play arrives. Maggie attempts one last desperate attempt to retrieve the pacifiers, using a complex plan to acquire the keys to the locker first, making access to the pacifiers that much more simple. It works, and by the time Homer arrives to pick up Maggie, the daycare is flooded with babies just standing there sucking on pacifiers. Homer picks up Maggie and leaves, creeped out with the ordeal.
At the play, it starts off with a bang with a wonderful song about New Orleans. Yes. Soon, Marge appears on stage, and Homer starts to pay attention, it would seem. The play concludes with grand applause and praise, particularly for Marge. However, looking in the crowd, she sees Homer slumped over, looking down. She confronts Homer afterwards ready to get on him for coming to a play he didn't care about, however she's surprised when Homer not only paid attention to the play, but was able to summarize the key parts of it correctly and then finds sympathy for Marge's character over how bad she was treated in the play. Marge's anger at Homer subsides, and the two leave the building happy as ever.
Quick Review
Not that I've ever seen any rendition of A Streetcar Named Desire ever to fully understand all of the references between it and this episode, but this episode really references the hell out of A Streetcar Named Desire. From what I've read about the play and how this episode plays out, this episode sets up a lot of weird parallels between the relationship of Homer and Marge and whatever the hell was going on in that play.
This was a strong episode. The play itself had several great songs, including the New Orleans one, Apu's soliloquy, or the concluding song "you can always depend on the kindness of strangers". After all, a stranger is a friend you haven't met! Maggie's daycare adventures were okay for a laugh or two, and Ned Flanders had a few humorous moments as well. Jon Lovitz was again great in his two roles this time around. Its not as funny as recent episodes, but its still very good.
Final Score: 8.4
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