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| I think this was the 'jump the shark' moment for the last few who hadn't seen it that way yet. |
The Simpsons are flat broke, again, and not even financial planning can help them. Meanwhile, Smithers is going on a break to star in a play he wrote, and so Mr. Burns won't have his assistant around for a week. Homer, desperate for money, asks Burns for a raise, but Burns won't hear of it. Burns, desperate for amusement, instead has Homer throw pudding at Lenny. Lenny's suffering gives Burns the laughter he needs, and decides to pay Homer to become his "prank monkey".
With Burns' vast fortune, doing something like buying and subsequently eating a copy of the first issue of Spider-Man is but a simple prank. With Burns supplying Homer cash with each embarrassing act, Homer is able to stabilize his family's finances, telling the family only that he and Burns are involved in a 'side project' for work. The pranks reach a head, disgustingly literally, when Burns has Homer pose as a panda donated "anonymously" during a show. Not only is Homer given electric shocks for being 'too frisky', but an actual, real panda becomes aroused by panda Homer, and goes to 'cuddle' with Homer, behind a curtain of course, but Burns gets his big laugh.
Lisa witnesses the horror, but doesn't find out its her father until a short time later when Homer makes his clumsy escape from the panda exhibit. Lisa learns what Homer actually has been doing with Burns, and feels sorry for him. Burns comes along to pay Homer, but with Lisa's help Homer shoos him away. However, Homer still has the money Burns just paid him, and he and Lisa decide to use the dirty money for good.
Homer uses the money to buy every toy in a toy store, and even agrees to become Santa Claus for the store-sponsored Thanksgiving parade, which is coming up. Homer happily throws out his newly bought gifts during the parade, but Burns casually rides in on a prank boat, tempting Homer with yet another prank. Though Homer is adamant on refusing, he seems to falter when Burns offers Homer a million dollars for the prank.
Soon, "Santa" is seen throwing not presents, but fish guts at parade spectators, and with seagulls coming in to peck at said guts, it creates pure chaos. Lisa is ashamed of her father, but as it turns out Homer wasn't even in the suit anymore; he turned down Burns' offer but I guess somehow Burns took Homer's costume to do the prank himself. Lisa is proud of her father, who got the present of dignity from his daughter just in time.
Quick Review
This episode is hated. There's a few reasons why its hated. For one, the panda scene. I mean, Homer gets hit with electric shocks a bunch and Lisa is there to witness it, that should've been enough, right? Did that real panda really have to get sexually confused in that scene. This really angered some people. Not so much me. I mean, I've seen the worst the series can do already, and panda rape doesn't quite qualify for the worst. Not quite.
Although that was a worthwhile complaint, one that doesn't quite hold up is the one that complains that because this episode 'recycles' older plots, it can't be a good episode. The family is broke, which has happened before. Smithers leaves for somewhere and Homer takes his place, that's happened before, never mind that Smithers departure was for completely different reasons each time or that what Homer was doing to 'fill in' for him is different as well. What's that? There was an episode where Lisa laments that a family member had lost their soul? You mean to say it happened again in this episode? Wait a minute, 'selling your soul which you didn't believe in for $5' and 'forgoing your dignity for money to pay the bills' are the same storyline? Who knew!
I know that these 'downfall' seasons aren't as great as the ones the preceded them, but complaints like that just seem like people are looking for reasons to find the episodes of these seasons bad. Panda scene aside, this episode ends up being fairly funny, with plenty of good jokes. Once again, its fairly difficult to screw up an episode featuring Mr. Burns, and once again that holds true here as Burns' antics keep the episode going well for the most part. Sadly, this episode is one of Season 12's highlights (despite the panda scene), but many people won't see it that way as they'll be too busy getting upset over recycled plot lines to find the jokes and humor the episode actually presents.
Final Score: 8.5
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