Pulpit Friction (S24, E18-526)

"Not this crap again", thinks the ol' Reverend.

Plot Summary
The Simpsons break their couch during their latest couch gag.  Homer quickly orders a new one just like in, but in the shipping facility in Brooklyn hoards of bedbugs sneak their way into the couch.  After it arrives, the family remains unaware of the bedbugs, and Bart even has a sleepover with some of his friends, setting up a fort from the couch's cushions.  This allows the bedbugs to sneak into those other kids, spreading them once the kids leave the house.  Soon enough, the entire town is dealing with a bedbug infestation.  Seeking answers, everyone goes to church the following Sunday in desperation, but Reverend Lovejoy brings only insomnia relief.  Just then, the ol' Parson shows up.  He institutes a second Reverend to liven things up: Reverend Elijah Hooper who helps the congregation forget about the bedbugs by helping everyone remember good times by referencing anything and everything.  It works and everyone loves Reverend Hooper, leaving Lovejoy somewhat unloved.

Eventually, the bedbugs are dealt with, and Marge gets all of the family's clothes dry cleaned, but learns in horror that her wedding dress has been mixed up with Krusty's clown suit.  Quickly, Marge goes to Krusty to learn what happened, where Krusty tells her that after using the dress in a skit, he threw it out in a dumpster.  Marge is left depressed, but Lisa reveals she dug into the matter further, learning that a garbage man picked the dress out of the dumpster, selling it to a local theatre company.  After the company goes broke from producing a failed effort of "Mamma Mia!", the dress went on auction and was purchased by a young couple.  The two meet up with the couple, who are using the dress to get unceremoniously married.  Marge is happy the dress is being put to its intended use.

Revered Hooper gets to know Homer and decides to make him a Deacon, aware that if everyone sees someone like Homer get into religion, they could as well.  The move stuns Lovejoy, who realizes church is no longer fit for him, and he quits.  Homer embraces his new job as church Deacon, especially the parts where he can put Ned Flanders into less respectable positions.  Bart is somewhat upset by this as now he can no longer team up with his father in mischief.  He sees Ned similarly upset, and the two decide that Lovejoy needs to come back to return things as they were.

Lovejoy, though, has taken a liking to his new job as a hot tub salesman.  Bart then realizes that he can start up a frog plague to force Hooper out.  Flanders takes Bart to the police over this, so a short time later Bart brings Milhouse instead to the pond alongside bags of dead bedbugs.  Using the bugs, the two are able to lure hundreds, thousands of frogs into town, causing mass panic everywhere.  Just as church comes to an end, the frogs stop the congregation from leaving.  Reverend Hooper tries to calm everyone down with more references, but the people aren't buying it this time.  Just then, rolling in on a closed hot tub is Lovejoy, who preaches out one of his typical sermons, which is powerful enough to put the frogs to sleep, ending the threat.  Hooper apparently quits, and Lovejoy is back as the only Reverend at the church, while Homer gives up his Deacon position to pull another prank with his son.

Quick Review
This ends up being an alright episode.  Homer as a Deacon has its moments, as does the scenes involving the bedbugs.  I wasn't particularly fond of Reverend Hooper, who was kinda like a microcosm of the show nowadays that I don't think the writers are even aware of, even after having Lenny say "enough of your references" to the guy late in the episode.  The wedding dress subplot was too short to be of much worth, though, and the bits at church besides Homer were lackluster as well.

Final Score: 7.0

In Marge We Trust (S08, E22-175)

You will never be able to accept the challenge of Mr. Sparkle. ;_;

Plot Summary
As the Simpson family return from a particularly boring session of church regarding constancy, Homer and the kids decide to dump their old Christmas tree at the dump.  While they do that, Marge goes to visit Reverend Lovejoy for a talk.  There, she tells Lovejoy that she's worried the church isn't doing enough to help out.  Lovejoy then persuades her to volunteer around the church.  As she's doing chores, Lovejoy receives a call asking for advice, but the Reverend blows it off by telling the guy to simply read the bible for help.  Marge inquires why Lovejoy was so lethargic to that plea for help, and Lovejoy tells his story: in the 70s he was a fresh, go-getting Reverend who just moved to Springfield ready to make a difference.  However, right away, he has to give a young Ned Flanders advice (because Ned's butt accidentally touched another guy's butt at a dance).  Ned would constantly call Lovejoy for advice over and over through the years, mostly over trivial nonsense.  The 'constancy' of it all left the Reverend apathetic towards most things.  Disgusted over remembering all of this, he has Marge take the next call, and as it turns out, Marge is pretty good at helping others with their troubles.

Meanwhile, at the dump, Bart finds a strange box - with Japanese characters and what appears to be Homer's head on the front, which is kinda freaky.  After some investigating, Homer learns that its a box of laundry detergent called "Mr. Sparkle", a magnet of food stuffs who promises to banish dirt stuffs to the land of wind and ghosts.  Homer's investigation leads to a phone number of the factory that produces the detergent.  Someone at the factory promises to send Homer a video that will "answer question 100%".  Some time later, that video arrives, and Homer and the kids are treated to a strange commercial featuring the corporate logo being a boss, but the answer to Homer's query doesn't come until the very end of the video where its learned that Mr. Sparkle is a joint venture between a fishworks, and a manufacturing company, whose logos (a smiling fish and a light bulb, respectively) merge to form Homer's head, thus solving the mystery.

Meanwhile, Marge becomes so popular with her advice-giving that the Reverend is feeling neglected and somewhat lost.  Some time later, Marge gets her first call from Ned, who is concerned with some teenagers (Jimbo, Kearney and Dolph) hanging out near his store.  Marge advices Ned to shoo them off, but that advice backfires as the bullies, who were just about to leave, take offense to Ned's directions.  They start circling Ned with minibikes.  Ned tries to call Marge back, but Jimbo cuts the line before Marge can settle the issue.  She shrugs it off and goes on with her day.

The next morning, Maude visits and tells Marge that Ned never came home.  Marge calls Lovejoy for advice, when a rejuvenated Reverend gets a call from Ned.  Ned had been running from the bullies all night, and as the bullies take a moment to refuel their minibikes, he found a moment to tell them where he was.  The two quickly go to that spot where they learn that Ned has since ran into the zoo.  Ned is able to escape the bullies' pursuit, but in doing so finds himself in a baboon pit.  With the baboon's needing to kill him for baboon pride or whatever, all seems lost, however Lovejoy comes in on a mini-train nearby, and is able to rescue Ned, fending off a few baboons on their way out.  Lovejoy thanks Marge for helping him find his way, and the following Sunday has the Reverend telling the thrilling tale of how he beat up some monkeys to rescue Ned.

Quick Review
Season 8 just keeps rolling out superb episodes, this being the latest of them.  As if the main plot wasn't outstanding enough - particularly the dynamic between Lovejoy and Flanders - the subplot of Mr. Sparkle was outstanding as well, the commercial being the best part of the episode.

Final Score: 9.3