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| Only HD could capture the alternate bastardization of The Way We Was. |
The Simpsons visit the Springfield Wall of Fame, where a new plaque is about to be added to it: the plaque of one Vance Connor. Homer is particularly unhappy with this, as it turns out Homer had run against Vance for Senior Class President back in high school, but apparently lost after Homer badly botched a debate against Vance. Homer hopes that Vance has some secret agony, but he doesn't, which depresses Homer more. Even worse, at the bar Lenny and Carl reveal that in high school, they were secretly tasked by Principal Dondelinger to dispose of the ballot box containing the results of that election. Later that night, Homer grabs Lenny and the two dig up the box where Lenny had hidden it. Homer takes it home and Lisa counts up the results, and finds out that Homer, in fact, won that election.
Angered, Homer locates the now retired Dondelinger demanding answers for that. Dondelinger admits that he did dispose of the box but, despite his disdain for Homer, actually did it spare Homer's feelings. At that time, Dondelinger had overheard some jocks planning to vote Homer in just so they can laugh at how big of a joke he is, and decides to ensure Vance's victory to spare Homer ridicule. Homer's feelings towards the incident are now very mixed, but he's still left wondering what would've happened had Dondelinger let the matter be.
The family goes to Luigi's for dinner, where Homer openly continues his depression. Luigi overhears, and tells the family that he employs a guy who stirs a sauce in such a way that staring into the cause can create illusions of "what if" scenarios. Homer decides to take advantage and looks into the sauce. In this new reality, Homer does win the election, but before any jocks can mock him, Lenny and Carl stand up for Homer and soon Homer becomes very popular. Soon, Homer becomes so popular he can take any girl he wants to the prom, and he chooses the girl he's been eyeing for some time: a cheerleader named Debbie Pinson. Lisa tries to exclaim that Homer's life would've been worse because he didn't end up with Marge, but the vision continues to the prom, where Homer finally sees Marge, and dumps Debbie right away to talk to Marge who, in this reality, is quite smitten with the Senior Class President. The two walk to Marge's house afterward and become a couple. Homer walks home from there where he's met by Mr. Burns, who is impressed by Homer's school standing and offers him a job at the plant, albeit in a slightly better sector. Now, Lisa wants to make the claim that Homer's life would've been the same anyway. However, now the vision moves to that reality's present. A much livelier Abe Simpson lives in the standard Simpson home, but Homer himself lives in a giant mansion next door. As regular Homer had predicted, Marge is in fact hotter in this alternate reality, and because this Homer had remembered to use protection, the two never had any kids. Marge half-assedly tries to convince Homer (and herself) that the kids are what make their current reality the better of the two, but Homer isn't buying it, and laments the trainwreck that has become of his life.
Homer is now more depressed than ever, but Marge and the kids take him back to the Wall of Fame where Homer now has a plaque on it for being a class president-elect (unknown to Homer, someone, guessing Bart, removed Seymour Skinner's plaque to make room for Homer's). Homer begins to cheer up, especially after some guy and his kid look up to newly notable Homer, and Homer feels like he's going to be okay, even though the family plan on going to a Korean barbecue which sells meat that can predict a time of death.
Quick Review
There might of been a point where the series moving to HD would've been hailed as a triumphant moment. Unfortunately, the series had begun to falter even before HD had even taken off as anything. With the long awaited switch to HD comes a new opening sequence. The new sequence shoves in many characters and their now-caricatured manners, Homer now being hit by Marge's car instead of him successfully evading it because "lol homer get hurt, be funny", and them now owning a flat screen TV instead of their old one that now sometimes falls off the wall at the end of the sequence. Personally, it seems pretty try hard to me, and a lot of people dislike the lack of fluid animation this sequence has compared to the old one, but whatever. Its just an opening sequence.
The episode itself is nothing special. The plot was pretty decent, if not a bit odd. "Hey, Homer finds out that he got cheated in high school, but then finds out what life would've been like if hadn't, and its actually better, so now he has to just deal with it. Except he can't so his family sets up a deception so Homer can stop feeling so bad about himself". That's pretty much what the episode was, and yes the continued lack of joke quantity (and quality) is a continued problem that also plagues this episode.
Final Score: 6.3
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