Sunday, March 1, 2015

The Princess Guide (S26, E15-567)

Nothing like depressing books to help a depressed man live life!
Plot Summary
Mr. Burns' nuclear plant still hasn't recovered from the damage done by Elon Musk three episodes ago.  As such, Mr. Burns welcomes a Nigerian king (for real) to set up an uranium deal.  Burns admits that if the deal doesn't happen, Burns will be forced to sell his things and move to the south Pacific with Smithers, something Smithers imagines to be rather pleasant, and thus subsequently hopes the uranium deal fails.

The king requests that Burns hire a bodyguard for his princess daughter who traveled with him, and Burns decides to hire Homer, seeing Homer treat Lisa well during "take your daughter to work day". Knowing of Homer's incompetence, Smithers agrees with Burns' choice hoping that Homer's involvement will secure the deal's failure.  That night, Homer is persuaded by the princess to go out, and thus Homer takes her out to the only place he ever goes out to at night: Moe's.  Moe learns of the princess' origin, then in a panic immediately takes Homer to a room in the back to explain that, some time previous, he got scammed by a Nigerian prince (not for real), and that this lady may be related to him.  As Homer tries to talk Moe out of it, they both learn the princess has left on her own.

Homer goes out to look for her, but gets arrested under the (for once, mistaken) notion of being publicly drunk.  The princess, however, immediately goes back to the bar to talk with Moe some more, alone.  Moe, at first, tries to discern whether or not the scam prince is actually her brother, but as the two continue to talk, those pretenses are dropped, and a connection between the two is made. As the princess decides to sleep at the bar for the night, Moe drops his quest and is happy to of made a lady friend.  The next day, the two go on a montage of sightseeing, but Homer catches up and demands Moe give her up.  Moe runs off with her, but the princess admits she needs to go back.  She kisses Moe on the forehead before she leaves, but is caught by a paparazzo, who takes a picture that quickly virals on the web, catching the eye of the Nigerian king, who becomes so upset with Burns he decides to end negotiations, all going to Smithers' plan.

Later, all parties involved meet in Burns' office, where the princess admits the kiss happened, but it was not a romantic kiss, but rather, well, a platonic one.  Moe understands and is still happy she's otherwise okay with him, while Homer convinces the king to forgive his daughter and go through with the uranium deal, shattering Smithers' hopes.  Later, the princess is forced to field questions from the press, which Moe helps defuse, and the two exchange gifts before she leaves for Nigeria.

Quick Review
This was your average Season 26 episode (i.e. not good), but it was kinda weird in how it operated.  There were several Family Guy-tier cutaway gags and the story with the Nigerian princess wasn't all that funny.  Most of the humor came from Moe and Mr. Burns, though the odd subplot with Smithers' hoping for the deal to fail so that Burns will retire with him was just out of place in the episode, kinda felt forced.

Some other notes: Jon Lovitz cameo'd as the paparazzo, and Richard Branson guest starred as Burns' annoying neighbor.  I don't know who Richard Branson was before this episode, and I have already forgotten who he is already.  The episode also paid a quick tribute to the late Leonard Nimoy, who guest-starred in two episodes.

Final Score: 6.6

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