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| Looks like Homer has the NFL referee's lifestyle down. |
After a failed history demonstration at school goes awry, Superintendent Chalmers tells Principal Skinner to figure out who the kids actually see as their heroes, with Skinner needing to get a sponsor for the school to acquire the necessary funding to set up a "my hero" contest at the school. At the contest, Lisa thinks she's a shoo-in to win with her report on her hero Marie Curie. However, Martin Prince gets to present before her, and Curie is also his hero. With the originality of her presentation lost, Lisa runs off in tears. Consulting the nearby Bart, Lisa gets the last-ditch idea from him to use Homer as her hero. Composing herself, Lisa goes up and talks about the various times Homer had been a good father to her, including being a steadfast and honest soccer referee that one time. The speech is a hit, and Lisa ties with Martin for the win, which means the school keeps the prize money.
Afterward, Lisa's speech goes viral on the internet, garnering the attention of top soccer officials, who needs Homer's honesty and incorruptibility for the upcoming World Cup in Brazil, given how many referees and top soccer officials have been corrupted by money. Inspired by Lisa's words, Homer accepts the offer and the Simpsons head to Brazil (again).
As Marge works on her Portuguese, Homer begins to ref World Cup matches, and does so admirably. Soon enough, a group of gangsters attempt to bribe Homer with food and money, but he turns them down, still holding Lisa's words strong within him. This is shattered, though, when Bart reveals he wasn't her first choice as her hero. Devastated, Homer reluctantly agrees to fix the World Cup final in favor of Brazil. Lisa confronts Homer before the match, and tells Homer that while it was true he wasn't her first choice, his actions afterward have truly made him the hero she always hoped he would be. His honesty renewed, Homer calls the World Cup fairly despite heavy Brazilian diving, and the Germans win the World Cup. The gangsters find Homer to kill him for breaking the deal, and not even Marge's newfound Portuguese fluency will stop them. However, the mother of the lead gangster steps in and forces them to leave Homer alone, after Lisa switched seats with her on the plane so she could watch HBO. With that resolved, the Simpsons enjoy the rest of their time in Brazil.
Quick Review
This turned out to be a lot better than I expected. Granted, I expected it to compete for "10 Worst Episodes" territory but, for once, my fears were unfounded. The subplot was the school was pretty good, I felt, and set a good pace for the episode. Of course, many episode before this do the same only to fall apart at the end. That sort of happened here, but not too much. Going in, I figured there'd be a lot of time wasted showcasing how great soccer is, and 'look at this, see how cool it is', stuff like that. Thankfully that was kept to the barest of minimums with even a recurring diving joke thrown in. (I'm aware this makes it sound like I'm not a fan of soccer and, outside of the World Cup ironically, I'm really not.) Overall, this is one of the season's better episodes with only a few missteps, but far fewer than what I thought there'd be.
Final Score: 7.5
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