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| Marge has really let herself go, letting Barney do all of that. |
At Moe's one day, Barney is sad because nobody remembered his birthday last week. On the contrary, Homer threw a big party for Barney at his house, but Barney doesn't remember it. Moe shows a tape of the party, which displays a really drunken Barney making a fool of himself. On top of that, Moe and the others are given Barney joke presents, like helicopter lessons even though one would need to be sober to operate a helicopter. Tired of being ridiculed and mocked for being the drunk, Barney declares that he'll stop drinking and that he'll take those helicopter lessons.
Barney enlists Homer's help to sober up, and Homer takes Barney to an AA meeting to that end. After being sober for some time, Barney does take those helicopter lessons and gets the basics down. He takes Homer for a ride, but during the ride Homer takes an implication from Barney that he's ready to move on from life and, as Homer believes, move on from him and his bar mates. The two get in a little spat, and the two depart less friendly than before, acting cold to one another from there on.
Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa decide to enter in a photo contest, where the winning photo gets put on the phone book and the winner gets a bike-shaped 'mystery prize'. The two find an old yet working camera in the closet, and get to work. They try to set up a perfect picture, but either it never works, or the one time it does Nelson gets the picture before they do. They try their luck out in the woods, but Bart disposes of a still-hot flash bulb, which ignites the grass it lays on and sparks a fire.
Homer and Barney, during another spat, spot the fire, and Homer quickly turns to Barney to rescue them via a helicopter. Barney tries, but his nerves are shattered, and he's forced to land on a nearby bridge. The action causes a beer truck to tip over, and the unnerved Barney gets tempted to drink away. Homer, though, grabs the beer from Barney and drinks it all, as Barney needs to be sober to save his kids. Barney appreciates Homer's "sacrifice", and regains enough resolves to go save Bart and Lisa. Bart gets a picture of the woods on fire from the sky, and he and Lisa believe they have a winner.
The phone book comes in, and Bart and Lisa learn they've won, but the photo book features a picture of the two as naked babies sitting on the toiler. It seems that photo was in the roll of film in the old camera. Still, they win their bike as they sent in the photo. Meanwhile, Barney is happy not just to be sober, but to still be friends with Homer. The two enjoy a mocha latte, but Barney becomes rather addicted to that, much to the planned satisfaction of Moe, who now operates a mocha latte stand as well.
Quick Review
This episode features another large change: Barney becoming sober, and remaining sober for several seasons to come. Thinking about it, I had realized that Barney's presence in the show had all but vanished the past few seasons. I don't think he's been in anything significant since The City of New York vs Homer Simpson, and that episode was just before Mike Scully began his tenure as showrunner. So the current writing staff had probably exhausted Barney's potential, and decided to take him in strange new directions. Of course, there's nothing really funny about sober Barney, so the few times he appears sober he doesn't really add much, and he becomes drunk again several seasons from now. Still, this change is one I don't actually hate. For one, Barney doesn't die, so there's that.
Despite the change of Barney's character, the episode itself is still pretty good. The photo subplot is a bit lacking, but it ties into the main plot well enough, and the main plot had enough jokes and humor that worked to carry the episode. Its refreshing to an episode like this after the string of episodes I've watched up to this point, regardless of the role it plays in ruining a beloved character for several seasons to come.
Final Score: 8.2
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