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| "No, Mr. Simpson, don't take your anger out on me! Get back, get back! M-Mr. Simpson, nooooooooooooooooo!" Dramatization: May not have happened |
Homer 'earns' two tickets to a candy convention and opts to bring Marge along, as she is the most capable of the rest of the family to store and hide loads and loads of candy; they hire a feminist graduate student, Ashley Grant, as a babysitter and off they go. At the convention, Homer stuff tons of candy into an oversized trenchcoat featuring multiple huge pockets he had Marge wear. Eventually, in the gummy section he spies a special piece of gummy carved to look like a miniature Venus de Milo. Homer attempts to steal the candy, using a combination of soda and pop rocks as a bomb to ensure his and Marge's escape. That night, though, Homer misplaces the Venus, but has to take the babysitter home in the meantime. Ashley is disgusted by Homer's demeanor and demands he just drop her off wherever. There, he sees the gummy Venus stuck right on Ashley's ass. Homer pries it off but Ashley, unaware of any gummy, mistakes the act as Homer "making a move" as it were, and runs off screaming. Homer, having enjoyed his sacred gummy, is content.
The next morning, though, the house is met with an angry mob. Believing it to be the candy conventioneers, Homer is instead stunned to learn its a protest group led by Grant who accuses Homer of sexual harassment. Though the family believes Homer when he tells them he was just grabbing the gummy, the attempt to tell this story to Grant and friends falls on deaf ears. The protesters won't give up and continuously hound Homer throughout each day. At one point, Homer receives a call from "Godfrey Jones" at a show called Rock Bottom willing to show Homer's side of the story. Homer agrees to do the show, but the show warps Homer's story to make him seem like the pervert the grad students believe he is. Now, Homer's got national media attention going against him, with every show making a theme or story around Homer's supposed act. Even the kids are starting to hesitate around Homer with how much Homer-bashing TV is doing.
Lisa gets the idea to use public access television to get Homer's story across. However, it is met with little fanfare, but one such viewer, Groundskeeper Willie, decides to help out. Willie, like all Scotsmen apparently, enjoy taking amateur videos out at night, often of couples in cars. Willie just happened to catch Homer and Ashley on tape, which clearly shows Homer grabbing the gummy, not any ass. The family shows this to the grad students including Ashley, and all is forgiven, I guess. You'd think Homer would've learned a lesson about trusting TV, but another Rock Bottom report about Willie being a "Rowdy Roddy Peeper" gets Homer against his savior as well.
Quick Review
As an aside, this episode has the first use of my favorite coach gag: the one where the couch and everything continuously goes backward and the Simpsons chase it indefinitely. I always found it hilarious despite how simple it is.
Anyway, this episode could've gone wrong at a few different moments, and probably would have with a different creative staff. However, keeping the focus on corrupted media and Homer's struggles really keeps Homer Badman together, so much so that it is one of the best episodes of the season. Homer's "live under the sea" escape scenario, Willie, the candy convention and the makeshift bomb, there was so much that worked well in this episode there was hardly anything that could slow it down.
Final Score: 10
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