Thursday, January 31, 2013

Bart Carny (S09, E12-190)

Sorry Chief, no Bills or Mr. Bribes around here.
Plot Summary
Marge tries to get Bart and Lisa to do yardwork, but both are too lazy to bother.  The two see truck for a carnival, but have no money.  Just when Marge thinks she's got them cornered, Homer pops in, gives them tons of money and takes them to the carnival.  The yard never does get trimmed.

The family has some fun at the carnival.  Homer makes note of the carnies there and note that they are kings among men.  Later, during a display of Hitler's car, Bart sneaks his way into said car and accidentally crashes it into a tree.  The owner of the carnival forces Bart to work in the carnival until the damages are paid for, but Homer gets jealous and has the owner let him work as well.

The following morning, the two meet up with the father and son of a ring toss game, Cooder and Spud respectively, that Homer had been conned in the previous night, though there is no ill will between either side.  Homer and Bart are forced to do degrading and half-disgusting work, until Cooder and Spud have to leave to attend an AA meeting.  Homer and Bart are asked to run the ring toss game in the meantime.  Things go okay at first, but when Chief Wiggum goes in for a bribe (because the ring toss game is clearly fixed), Homer is unable to pick up on it, forcing Wiggum to shut the game down and tow it away.  The game having been the home of Cooder and Spud, Homer feels bad and, honoring a supposed "Carny Code", invites the two to stay at their house for a time.

Marge, unnerved by the two staying, is less so after Cooder gives the family tickets to a glass-bottom boat ride.  After an enjoyable time there, the family returns home to find the locks changed and the windows boarded.  It turns out that Cooder and Spud have conned the Simpsons out of their house.  The family tries the police for help but Wiggum is still mad at Homer for botching that bribe and refuses to help.  After spending a day in Bart's treehouse and several plans involving fire not meeting Marge's approval, Homer comes up with an idea that doesn't involve fire.  He calls the two out by making a deal: if Homer can toss a hula hoop onto the house's chimney they have to leave, otherwise he'll sign the deed over to them.  Agreeing to the deal because Homer's chances of success seem pretty low, the two come out of the house.  Before Homer throws the hoop, though, he and the family quickly run inside, leaving a conned Cooder and Spud out on the curb.  The family then spends time trying to undo the damage left by the carnies.

Quick Review
This ends up being a very enjoyable episode, with good jokes and gags throughout the entire thing.  Homer unable to pick up on Wiggum's bribe request was my favorite part of the episode, though Bart and Lisa being tricked into going into a ride that was far less than advertised was good as well.  Bart Carny is one of Season 9's best episodes.

Final Score: 9.8

No comments:

Post a Comment