You Only Move Twice (S08, E02-155)

I'd work for him, no question.  Wouldn't you?

Plot Summary
A group from a Globex Corporation attempts to hire Waylon Smithers away from the nuclear plant, but when he refuses, they decide to recruit the man with the next longest tenure at the plant: Homer Simpson, who gladly agrees to the new job in hopes of achieving his dream: becoming the owner of the Dallas Cowboys.  As the job is upstate in Cyprus Creek, the family would have to move.  Though Marge is reluctant to leave, Homer uses a video Globex gave him to convince her and the family to move, and abandon their home as selling it would do little good anyway.

Just after reaching their new home, the family is greeted by Homer's new boss, Hank Scorpio.  Scorpio is a wonderful sort of boss, and his warm, kind demeanor helps Homer fit right in, not even laughing at Homer when Homer reveals his Cowboys dream to Scorpio.  Soon, as Homer decides to inquire about work hammocks to Scorpio, Hank sets Homer aside to take care of 'business': as it turns out, Scorpio is a supervillain and his Globex Corporation is building a giant death ray for the purposes of conquest, and Homer's job is to motivate a 'team' to get the nuclear reactor the death ray needs up within a short period of time.  Homer comprehends none of this, though, and finds he's really starting to like his new job and his new boss.

His family, meanwhile, are having some difficulties.  Marge finds herself having no housework to do as the house does a pretty good job of keeping itself clean.  Bart is unable to keep up with a well educated new school and is sent down to a remedial class whose tedium sits poorly with him.  Lisa finds that she's allergic to nearly everything in town.  One night, after Homer tackled a "loafer" at work, the family lets him know their struggles, and their desire to move back to Springfield.  Trouble, Homer decides to talk to Scorpio about it, just as Globex is being invaded by government forces.  During the chaos, Homer tells Scorpio his troubles, and Hank tells Homer that he should do what's best for his family, and suggests he does move back to Springfield.  Homer thanks Scorpio for everything and leaves just as the mayhem starts to get good.

The Simpsons return home, and at that moment Homer gets a telegram from Scorpio, who informs Homer that Scorpio's plan (which involved seizing the east coast apparently) couldn't of succeeded without Homer, and as a present Scorpio gets Homer one step closer to his dream.  While not the Dallas Cowboys, Homer instead now owns the Denver Broncos, which bums Homer out as Denver, at the time, was not good at football.  Then they won two Super Bowls just a little over a year after the episode aired.  Go figure.

Quick Review
You Only Move Twice is a wonderfully genius episode with a character in Hank Scorpio (voiced wonderfully by Albert Brooks) that was very well written as a likable boss regardless of his schemes.  Homer's football team subplot provided a few laughs whenever it was mentioned, and the family's troubles, particularly Bart's, were well done as well.  Its one of Season 8's best episodes.

Final Score: 10