Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in "Curse of the Flying Hellfish" (S07, E22-150)

"I'll be in the car, dudes."

Plot Summary
On a "take your grandparents to school" day, Grampa thoroughly embarrasses Bart with his senile demeanor.  Bart chastises Grampa later at dinner, but the family for the most part defend Grampa (well, seniors in general moreso than Grampa).  Later that day, Grampa gets a mysterious letter stating "Asa Phelps has died", stunning the old man.  At Asa's funeral, only two people are in attendance: Grampa and Mr. Burns.  After the service, the two bring out keys that open a vault, revealing a list of names, all of whom are now crossed out save Burns and Grampa.  It seems the last surviving of these two will earn some sort of treasure.  To that end, Burns decides to simply have Grampa killed to expedite the process.

Wanting quick results, Burns hires a famed assassin to do the job.  However, Grampa is able to slink away from the assassin's attempts at his life, including one all out assault on Grampa which is foiled by the nursing home's aid, who is more than prepared for a gunfight.  Needing a place to hide, Grampa runs to the Simpson home and demands to stay there for a time, telling them that Burns is after his life but not revealing why.  As the family quickly decides Grampa'll stay in Bart's room, Grampa decides to tell his secret to Bart.

Abe Simpson was once the commanding officer of a unit in World War II known as the Flying Hellfish.  Made up of people all from Springfield, it also included the trouble making Monty Burns.  At war's end, the unit raids a German castle filled with valuable artwork.  Burns decides to steal the paintings and convinces the rest of the unit its not a bad idea.  At that point, Burns introduces the concept of a tontine, where in this case the artwork is to be sealed in a crate and its contents will be given to the last remaining survivor of the group.  With now just Burns and Abe left, Burns is trying to kill the latter to claim the treasure.

Bart, though, passes the story off as another senility-induced lie, still upset over what happened in school.  Before long, though, Burns attacks via a crane of some sort, and forces Grampa to hand over his key rather than kill him.  Bart, now knowing Grampa's tale to be truth, is able to steal both Grampa's and Burns' keys back without Burns knowing, and the two agree to get the treasure right away.

At the graves of the fallen Hellfish, the two learn that the treasure was placed deep in a lake.  Grampa steals a boat and the two quickly go and retrieve the crate.  Just then, Burns arrives, armed, and again forces Grampa to give up the goods, kicking Bart into the now empty crate and overboard to ensure escape.  Grampa rescues Bart, and the two give chase.  After some time and some crafty harpoon work from Grampa, he confronts Burns and the two crash upon a beach, Grampa with the clear advantage.  He then states that, since Burns attempted to kill him, Burns is officially out of the Flying Hellfish unit, and as such no longer part of the tontine, giving the paintings to Grampa.  However, the feds arrive on the scene, having been looking for those paintings since their disappearance, and quickly give them to their rightful heir: some kind of 90s hipster douchebag German.  Even with the treasure lost, Grampa and Bart reconcile their relationship, much to the amusement of the German.

Quick Review
This episode with quite a lengthy name is fun, adventurous sort of episode.  Usually episodes focusing on Burns or Grampa work very well, and this romp featuring the two of them is no exception.  That said, the quantity of jokes is slightly lesser as it makes way for the plot of the episode.  So the score might seem a little low, but make no mistake its another quality episode for the season.

Final Score: 8.5