Eight Misbehavin' (S11, E07-233)

"Help, I need tungsten to live.  Tuuunnnnngsteeeenn..."

Plot Summary
The Simpsons go to a Ikea-like superstore, where they come across Apu and his wife Manjula.  The two spend a little time with Maggie, and come to decide that it's time for them to have a baby of their own.  Initial efforts to conceive a child prove fruitless, but Apu enlists Homer's help and eventually Manjula becomes pregnant.  Nine months later, Apu meets his first-born child - and then the other seven as Manjula has given birth to octuplets as Apu, Manjula and members of the Simpson family gave Manjula fertility drugs nine months ago.

The couple are initially thrilled with the babies, as is the local media, and companies are giving them free gifts for the miracle.  However, news turns up that a Shelbyville couple has given birth to nine babies, and suddenly all the media attention and free gifts are redirected to the nonuplets of Shelbyville, leaving Apu and Manjula with nothing.

Raising eight babies becomes overwhelming for the two, when a man comes over to talk to Apu.  The man, Larry Kidkill, offers the chance for Apu's babies to be raised at the zoo complete with nursing and care, with the only 'catch' being that the public are allowed to watch them as well.  With Butch Patrick around to help convince them, Apu and eventually Manjula agree to the terms.  Later, though, they learn that the babies are also contractually obligated to be part of an extravagant show, a detail that the parents overlooked but neither are pleased with.  They try to confront Kidkill, but are shown off the premises.

Apu again enlists Homer's help and the two sneak in at night and grab the eight babies.  They flee back to the Simpson place, but Kidkill finds them and demands their return.  Homer instead convinces Kidkill to let the babies go by having him be part of a new show, where he and Butch Patrick fend off venomous snakes (or robot snakes filled with venom).  Seeing Homer's trials, Apu and Manjula realize that raising eight babies can't be all that difficult.

Quick Review
This was an okay episode, for the most part.  It had its moments and a few jokes were pretty good.  Throughout the episode, though, I found it odd that the Simpson family kept being involved in Apu's affairs.  He gets Homer to help him conceive a baby, the Simpsons are there during the birth for some reason, they go see the baby show at the zoo, and them Homer helps Apu out at the end.  It seems like this Apu-centric story had the Simpson family kinda, I dunno, shoehorned into it, and it didn't really seem... natural, I guess?  Is that the word I'm looking for?  Probably not, but it still bugged me.

Final Score: 7.4