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| You'd think 4H would've taught him not to get attached to livestock, but whatever. |
As Bart rides with Homer to Shelbyville for a errand, they come across Martin driving a large farm machine. Martin reveals he's a member of the 4H club, an agricultural club that's one of the more dangerous clubs around. Bart likes the sound of danger and decides to join. He comes to like the club, and some time later he and the rest of the club are tasked with raising young calves for the summer. Bart ends up with a scrawny little cow, but with the help of a young farm girl named Mary, Bart is able to nurture the cow, Lou, into a big, strong cow. Lou even wins first prize in a 4H club cow competition. However, Bart has become attached to Lou, and when he learns that he and the other 4H cows are going to be slaughtered now, Bart can't deal with it.
Lisa tries to help Bart out in hopes the experience will make him vegetarian like her. He won't go there, but he still appreciate Lisa's help as the two go rescue Lou from being slaughtered. Lisa's ultra-hippy friends help them break in, and Bart uses his 4H expertise to get Lou out. On Lisa's suggestion, Bart takes Lou to Mary in hopes she can hide the cow until the heat dies down. However, upon giving her the cow, her father, Cletus, is ecstatic, as it turns out giving a lady a cow is a formal means of marriage proposal for hillbillies like them.
Bart is forced to agree to marry to ensure Lou's safety until Lisa can get help. Lisa goes to Marge for help, and just as the wedding begins the next day, Marge arrives to stop it. Cletus unsympathetically notes that if Bart doesn't marry Mary, then the cow will have to go back, and sure enough that's what happens. However, Marge was ready for this contingency, and although it appears Lou is on the truck back to the slaughterhouse, its actually Homer in a cow suit. Marge takes Lou and the kids to the airport, where Apu has arranged a flight for it to India, where it will be praised and worshipped instead. Marge and the kids get back to the slaughterhouse just in time to save Homer, whose experience there makes him swear off meat, albeit just a tiny bit. Bart is happy that Lou is safe, aware that he did have a cow, man.
Quick Review
Can you believe that it was reported in an interview that Matt Groening calls this his favorite episode? I know I find that hard to believe, because this episode was awful. Well, it was a mostly boring episode for the most part, hampered just enough by the anti-meat message to bring it down that extra notch.
Final Score: 5.0
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