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| Gil finally learns that Marge can be the craziest Simpson of them all. |
Its almost Christmas, and the Simpsons go out for a fun time, seeing a musical on ice featuring Krusty and a Grinch-like character named the "Grumple". The event comes to an abrupt halt when a basketball game is about to start, causing a riot with Homer beating up on the Grumple for stealing Christmas or whatever. Later, the family goes to the mall, and Lisa decides to visit the mall Santa, currently being filled by Gil Gunderson. Lisa laments that the toy package she wants has been sold out, but Gil recalls there being one set aside in the back, and goes to get it for Lisa. Lisa is happy to get her thing, but it turns out that thing was put aside by the owner of the store. Upon learning what Gil did, the owner fires Gil on the spot. Marge, whose still there, sees this happen and, feeling some guilt over what happened, invites Gil over for Christmas Eve.
With Gil having no place to go or live, Marge's continued guilt has her let Gil stay through the holidays. Gil continues to find a way to pull at Marge's strings to stay at the house rather than leave, citing he's got a real estate opportunity lined up in Scottsdale, Arizona. Homer tries to get Marge to finally kick him out, when Marge reveals that she just can't say 'no' to anybody, citing a traumatic childhood experience as a reason. Homer realizes he can't kick Gil out himself as Marge needs to do so for her psyche, but its gonna be a long wait. Eventually, the day after the next Thanksgiving, Marge finally has enough and gathers enough anger to finally say 'no' to Gil. Unfortunately for Marge, Gil has actually moved out, to Scottsdale no less, and Marge is unable to properly vent her building rage. Refusing to let her psychological gain go to waste, she takes the family to Scottsdale to find and scold Gil.
They quickly learn that Gil is somehow a real estate big shot in Scottsdale, and they eventually find him lecturing prospective agents. Marge couldn't care less, though, and immediately confronts Gil over his eleven wasteful months, and finally says "no" to ol' Gil. Everyone in the office is taken aback, and the boss of the company fires Gil on the spot. Again, Marge and the family feel sorry for Gil, and decide to buy a house where they celebrate the next Christmas alongside a family of Grumples, whose father Homer had beaten up earlier in the episode.
Quick Review
This was a weird episode. Its a Christmas episode, though the entirety thereof occurs over an entire year. Its an episode featured mostly around Gil Gunderson, a character introduced in Season 9 whose optimistic pathetic-ness you wouldn't think would last an entire episode. For some reason, those Grumple make continued appearances throughout the episode, when they provided no comedic value after the first act. So yeah, it all makes for a very odd episode and, perhaps expectedly, not a very funny episode. Its too bad as I do find Gil a humorous character most of the time, but he's best left for one-off jokes and the like, an entire episode seems too much for his character to handle.
Final Score: 6.7
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