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| All of these events over 400+ episodes, all while everyone's ages stay the same. |
One wintry morning, Homer wakes up from under a pile of snow. He doesn't remember what happened the previous night, and when he returns home he finds nobody around except the dog, who is growling at him for some reason. Homer goes to Moe's, where he learns that he requested Moe give him the "Forget Me Shot", a drink that contains the venom of a certain moth that, when consumed, makes the person forget everything that happened the past 24 hours. Homer wonders what could've happened that would want him to forget something that badly. Nearby, Chief Wiggum reveals that he was at the Simpson place last night because of a reported domestic disturbance. Homer starts to remember, and recalls that Marge had a black eye, using a seemingly flimsy excuse of "walking into a door" to cover it. Homer starts to fear that it was him that hurt Marge, and decides to talk to the person who reported the disturbance, whom Homer quickly deducts is Flanders. However, Flanders only tells Homer that he heard 'hubbub', and declines to go further into the matter.
Homer remembers Marge pleading him to stop, then a short time later covering her eye, furthering his fears. He tries talking to Grampa about it, and he recommends going to a doctor specialized in recovering lost memories. The doctor, who turns out to be Professor Frink, shows Homer a device that is used for that very purpose, and straps Homer into it. Homer awakens inside a bubble which allows him to visit any of his old memories. As he traverses through the 408 prior episodes that make up his memories, Homer comes across a memory from the prior night where, as he comes home, hears love-making squeaks on the couch, and finds Marge with an unknown man. As the memory stops, Homer grabs a Lisa from a prior memory to help him figure out who that man is, bringing along that memory's Bart just because. With their help, Homer is able to jump start that memory, and he learns that the man is actually Duffman, who admits Marge is gonna be sore in the morning. Homer wakes up, and realizes that his life is ruined.
Homer goes to "Suicide Bridge" to jump where he's met by his sisters in law who not only wish to see him jump, but also push him off anyway. During the fall, Homer is finally able to recall the memory in full. It turns out Homer caught Marge planning a surprise party for Homer's community service, and with Duff sponsoring the party, Duffman is there to help. An eager Homer tries to open a bottle of Duff champagne right away, but Marge tries to stop him, getting a cork shot right into her eye. Duffman gives her an ice pack, stating how sore that will be in the morning. Homer is happy to learn it wasn't nearly as bad as he thought, but then remembers he's still in the middle of falling. However, Homer lands on a bouncy castle on a boat, and learns that he landed right into his surprise party. Homer then remembers that this whole thing was his plan, in an attempt to make Marge's surprise a surprise again Homer willingly lost his memory of the night and correctly predicted his course of actions the following day, ensuring the boat had a floaty castle to secure his life. Marge lied to Wiggum about her injury because she didn't invite him (or his wife Sarah, whom Marge cares little for) to the party, Patty and Selma pushed him down so that he'd land on the boat, supposedly, and the dog hates him because Homer just treats him badly in general. With all of that cleared up, Homer enjoys his party, not actually drinking so that he'll remember these moments.
Quick Review
I enjoyed the direction the episode was trying to take and, fortunately, there was a decent amount of comedy in the episode as well. These two factors combine to make Season 19's best episode thus far. Its still nothing all that great, as opportunities for humor were limited over the drama of Homer's lost memory, but the effort to make the episode what it is is appreciated.
Final Score: 7.8
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