Husbands and Knives (S19, E07-407)

Marge sure is eager to find all of that junk in Homer's trunk.

Plot Summary
Kids across town are having another miserable experience at the comic book store, in large part because its owner, the so called comic book guy, continues to annoy them with his 'dedication' to his lifestyle.  Unfortunately for him, a new comic book shop opens across the street.  This new store, ran by some kind of super hipster, is much more relaxing and fun, and kids decide to start going there instead.  One day, during an event there where kids get to meet such great writers like Alan Moore, comic book guy tries one last attempt to get kids back to his side by proclaiming he now sells ninja weapons.  When that effort falls flat, comic book guy snaps and starts destroying the new store, only to get pummeled by Moore and the other writers, who are clearly capable of doing so.

Meanwhile, Marge realizes she's getting a bit pudgy, and decides to start going to the gym.  However, the big gym in town is too fast paced, full of big shots, and contains very little privacy.  Marge can't deal with it, and wishes there was a gym just for regular women.  She comes across the old comic book store, now closed down following comic book guy's meltdown, and decides to create such a gym herself.  Calling it "Shapes", a gym just for regular women, Marge quickly becomes successful as women all across town start going to the gym, forcing her to open up a second Shapes to meet demand.  Marge is declared a successful businesswoman for her efforts, and she along with Homer gets to attend a businesswomen convention.

There, Homer meets the husbands of the businesswomen, all attractive young men.  The men tell Homer that they're all second, trophy, husbands, and that soon Marge will start to find one herself.  Homer panics, noticing that Marge is displaying the signs the other husbands warned him about.  One of the husbands, though, reveals to Homer that he is, in fact, his wife's original husband, and that he got to keep her by going through massive self improvement.  Homer, of course, decides instead on an easier method: stapling his stomach.

Homer quickly gets the operation, and soon enough loses a lot of weight being unable to consume solids.  However, he has a lot of leftover flab, and finds it difficult to hide it from Marge.  Upset, Homer insists on having every other plastic surgery known done to him.  He reveals his new, wicked form to the masses, who decide to chase him with pitchforks.  Homer runs off with Marge, to the top of the local Notre Dame, when Marge reveals she's going to dump him for a trophy husband anyway, and pushes him off the roof to his apparent death.  However, this turns out to be a dream; Marge had actually stopped the multiple surgeries upon hearing about it, and also requested Homer's stomach be unstapled.  She confirms her love for Homer, and the two are happier than ever.

Quick Review
This episode got off to a pretty slow start with the comic book shop storyline, which is a shame as it had some potential, but it was mostly wasted.  The appearance of Moore and the other writers were okay at first, but them taking on superheroic stances was dumb.  The episode then shifted to Marge's new business and Homer's fear of being replaced; this storyline ended up being okay for the most part, nothing that funny but an improvement from the start.  Still, it all adds up to be a very subpar episode for the season.

Final Score: 6.3