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| You will never be able to accept the challenge of Mr. Sparkle. ;_; |
As the Simpson family return from a particularly boring session of church regarding constancy, Homer and the kids decide to dump their old Christmas tree at the dump. While they do that, Marge goes to visit Reverend Lovejoy for a talk. There, she tells Lovejoy that she's worried the church isn't doing enough to help out. Lovejoy then persuades her to volunteer around the church. As she's doing chores, Lovejoy receives a call asking for advice, but the Reverend blows it off by telling the guy to simply read the bible for help. Marge inquires why Lovejoy was so lethargic to that plea for help, and Lovejoy tells his story: in the 70s he was a fresh, go-getting Reverend who just moved to Springfield ready to make a difference. However, right away, he has to give a young Ned Flanders advice (because Ned's butt accidentally touched another guy's butt at a dance). Ned would constantly call Lovejoy for advice over and over through the years, mostly over trivial nonsense. The 'constancy' of it all left the Reverend apathetic towards most things. Disgusted over remembering all of this, he has Marge take the next call, and as it turns out, Marge is pretty good at helping others with their troubles.
Meanwhile, at the dump, Bart finds a strange box - with Japanese characters and what appears to be Homer's head on the front, which is kinda freaky. After some investigating, Homer learns that its a box of laundry detergent called "Mr. Sparkle", a magnet of food stuffs who promises to banish dirt stuffs to the land of wind and ghosts. Homer's investigation leads to a phone number of the factory that produces the detergent. Someone at the factory promises to send Homer a video that will "answer question 100%". Some time later, that video arrives, and Homer and the kids are treated to a strange commercial featuring the corporate logo being a boss, but the answer to Homer's query doesn't come until the very end of the video where its learned that Mr. Sparkle is a joint venture between a fishworks, and a manufacturing company, whose logos (a smiling fish and a light bulb, respectively) merge to form Homer's head, thus solving the mystery.
Meanwhile, Marge becomes so popular with her advice-giving that the Reverend is feeling neglected and somewhat lost. Some time later, Marge gets her first call from Ned, who is concerned with some teenagers (Jimbo, Kearney and Dolph) hanging out near his store. Marge advices Ned to shoo them off, but that advice backfires as the bullies, who were just about to leave, take offense to Ned's directions. They start circling Ned with minibikes. Ned tries to call Marge back, but Jimbo cuts the line before Marge can settle the issue. She shrugs it off and goes on with her day.
The next morning, Maude visits and tells Marge that Ned never came home. Marge calls Lovejoy for advice, when a rejuvenated Reverend gets a call from Ned. Ned had been running from the bullies all night, and as the bullies take a moment to refuel their minibikes, he found a moment to tell them where he was. The two quickly go to that spot where they learn that Ned has since ran into the zoo. Ned is able to escape the bullies' pursuit, but in doing so finds himself in a baboon pit. With the baboon's needing to kill him for baboon pride or whatever, all seems lost, however Lovejoy comes in on a mini-train nearby, and is able to rescue Ned, fending off a few baboons on their way out. Lovejoy thanks Marge for helping him find his way, and the following Sunday has the Reverend telling the thrilling tale of how he beat up some monkeys to rescue Ned.
Quick Review
Season 8 just keeps rolling out superb episodes, this being the latest of them. As if the main plot wasn't outstanding enough - particularly the dynamic between Lovejoy and Flanders - the subplot of Mr. Sparkle was outstanding as well, the commercial being the best part of the episode.
Final Score: 9.3
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