Dumbbell Indemnity (S09, E16-194)

"Must... kill... Moe... wheeeeeee!"

Plot Summary
Homer goes to Moe's after an unfortunate incident with the water heater.  As Homer praises Marge for dealing with all of his nonsense, Moe gets upset, having not gone on a date in years.  Homer realizes Moe's plight and decides to take him to a different bar to find a date, but Moe isn't so good with the ladies and botches his attempts.  As the two leave the bar, a flower girl by the name of Renee offers Moe a flower, and as the two talk, Moe is able to get her to go on a date with him (though she admits later it was initially out of pity).  The date is successful enough for the two to go on more dates, as Renee has taken a liking to Moe somehow.

Moe's extravagant spending on these dates, though, comes to an end when he runs out of money.  Believing that Renee has only stayed with him because of his money, Moe desperately tries to come up with a way to get more.  Moe comes up with a plan to have Homer steal his car and wreck it so he can collect $5000 in insurance, getting Homer to go along with it as a favor.  Moe also has a perfect alibi: he's going to a police charity event on board a yacht so there won't even be any police to catch Homer or even know he stole it.

The event starts, and Homer 'steals' the car (though he has to stop Snake from stealing it, a move he quickly regrets).  He goes to the railroad tracks to have the 10:15 train wreck it, but is sidetracked by a drive-in theatre showing of Hail to the Chimp, and drives in to watch that.  Homer falls asleep during the movie, and misses the train.  Desperate to find a new way to wreck the car, Homer decides to run it off a cliff and into a body of water, however he does so right near where the police yacht is and after failing to bail correctly, Homer goes in with the car.  Though he is able to escape and surface, Homer is arrested for grand theft auto with Moe a witness to what's happened.

Moe does get $5000 for the car, but Homer pleads with Moe to get him out.  Moe can't change his story or he'll be put in jail as well.  Moe finally decides to spend the money on Homer's bail, but before he does Renee shows him a travel agency advertising a trip to Hawaii.  With pleasing Renee his top priority, Moe decides to buy tickets to Hawaii instead of bailing Homer out.

Upon realizing Moe isn't going to bail him, and after an exercise program, Homer is able to find a way to escape, and does so with the intent of killing Moe.  Meanwhile, Moe is haunted by not bailing out Homer, and his guilt overcomes him.  He tells Renee everything that's happened.  Renee is shocked, of course, but is willing to forgive as Moe tries to set things right.  However, Moe then starts coming up with a plan involving corpses and burning down the bar, and Renee is done with him, leaving as soon as she can.  Moe accidentally sets the bar on fire afterwards, just as Homer arrives to kill him.  The struggle between the two does not last long as they both suffocate from the smoke.  Just then, Barney emerges from the bathroom, and as he sees the bar on fire, he acts: he takes two kegs of beer to safety, then goes back in for Moe and Homer along with more beer before passing out.  Homer and Moe come to and make amends.  With Moe's bar burning up, Homer decides to help out his friend: by relocating Moe's to Homer's house.

Quick Review
This episode starts off pretty slow but as Moe starts in on his crazy schemes the comedy starts to pick up.  Apparently, Hank Azaria (Moe's voice actor) and Helen Hunt (who voiced Renee) were actually dating in real life and even married some time later, but were divorced a year afterwards.  Just... wanted to bring that up, I guess.

Final Score: 8.4