Today I Am a Clown (S15, E06-319)

When Mr. T made that line about not managing his
finances better, how serious do you think he was?

Plot Summary
The family learns that Santa's Little Helper conceived puppies with Dr. Hibbert's poodle.  The family finds this odd as, after the last time the dog had puppies, Homer was supposed to get the dog neutered.  However, Homer took pity on the dog and had it promise never to get 'busy' again, which obviously didn't work.  So, Bart and Lisa go around town to give away the new batch of puppies.  They give one puppy to Krusty the Klown, who takes it for a walk a short time later.  He gets taken to the Jewish walk of fame, but learns to his disgust that he isn't featured on there.  When he goes to get his name on there, he learns he isn't eligible because he never had his bar mitzvah.

Bart and Lisa find the ashamed clown, and get him to ask his father, the venerable Rabbi Krustofsky, why Krusty never had a bar mitzvah.  The Rabbi simply reveals that by the time Krusty could have one, he had fully gone into his career as a clown and that holding a bar mitzvah for him would've shamed the family.  Krusty decides to have one, anyway, and furthermore begins to openly display his beliefs on the show.  This includes not doing the show on Saturdays like before, so Krusty decides on having Homer replace him on that day, under the premise that Homer will screw up so bad there's no way he could replace Krusty (there's no way that plan will backfire!).  As Krusty takes his extra free time to study up for his bar mitzvah, Homer's fill-in show on Saturday is basically just him, Moe, Lenny and Carl ranting about things.  The kids aren't fans of it, but most adults are and the show becomes a hit.  Homer becomes a bit power-hungry, though, replacing Lenny with Barney when the former hinted at a pay raise, and Barney with Disco Stu when the former complained about the lighting.  It becomes so popular, the network executives decide to simply cancel Krusty's regular show.

Krusty goes to FOX and they agree to air his bar mitzvah live.  Meanwhile, Homer makes the grave mistake of listening to Lisa and uses the show to talk about important issues.  Predictably, people stop watching, the ratings tank and Homer's show is quickly cancelled.  At the same time, Krusty's bar mitzvah gets underway, and he gets Mr. T to help with the show.  However, Krusty sees his father in the stands looking awfully disappointed in Krusty, and Krusty decides to have a normal bar mitzvah after the show.

Quick Review
This was an alright episode, nothing special.  The middle act was probably the best of the three, but the others were okay as well.  I didn't enjoy Mr. T's appearance as much as I thought I would, it was just him either doing the ceremony or making a joke based around his famous "I pity the fool" phrase.  Still, its better than the other episode focused on Krusty's religion, which isn't saying all that much.

Final Score: 7.5

Two Dozen and One Greyhounds (S06, E20-123)

"I really like the vest."
"I gathered you."

Plot Summary
Santa's Little Helper is feeling rather frisky, tearing or burying all kinds of stuff.  Attempts to wear the dog out also fail, and going to the pet store to get a diagnosis ended up being a scam as well.  At that point, though, the dog slinks his way out of the car and runs back to the old dog racing track, where Homer and Bart found him oh so long ago.  Though intending to find the dog, Homer takes the opportunity to bet on a race, specifically for the dog "She's the Fastest".  While watching that race, in which She's the Fastest is winning, Santa's Little Helper comes into the racetrack, runs down She's the Fastest, and mounts her rather effortlessly.  The two dogs fall in love, and the owner of She's the Fastest gives up the dog to the Simpsons, as once its in love it can't really race anymore.  The two dogs do all sorts of stuff together, including each other, and soon enough She's the Fastest is super pregnant, so much so that she ultimately gives birth to 25 puppies.  Talk about frisky.

With the Simpsons enamored, the 25 pups begin their lives at their new home.  Soon, though, it becomes a hassle, as 25 dogs chewing up socks, sniping chips and plopping waste isn't an easy task.  A breaking point is reached when two of the dogs find their way into an already cooked turkey during a dinner featuring Homer's old drill sergeant, an IRS agent and Reverend Lovejoy.  Homer and Marge decide to give the puppies away, but people are reluctant to snatch any up as the 25 dogs don't want to be separated.  Soon, Mr. Burns appears, eager to acquire the dogs.  Amidst concerns as to what Burns would do with them, Homer doesn't allow Burns to take them, though Burns "finds a way" to acquire them anyway.

Now with the puppies gone Bart and Lisa hear from Chief Wiggum that Burns somehow acquired 25 puppies last night (not being able to connect 2 and 2 together, of course).  The two sneak into Burns' manor and are shocked to find Burns giving the puppies a bath.  One of them even stands up, like Rory Calhoun.  As Burns picks up that puppy to be his personal favorite, he soon reveals his true motive via a catchy tune: he plans to turn the dogs into a tuxedo in an effort to complete his animal-skin wardrobe.  Quickly, Bart and Lisa attempt to rescue the dogs, but are trapped by Burns in the basement.  Ultimately, though, Burns finds himself unable to kill any of the dogs, as Bart strategically placed some socks so that every puppy stands up, and both the dogs' and the kids' cries stay Burns from pulling the trigger.  Burns learns his lesson and promises to never kill another animal for the purposes of clothing (or at least any animal that can perform tricks).

Some time later, the 25 dogs have grown up and each become dog racing champions, earning yet another $10 million for Mr. Burns.  Unable to cope with giving up those dogs, Homer hangs himself up with his arm in the basement so he can bat a lightbulb around for amusement, at least until it crashes into his head.

Quick Review
This episode is a good episode, it can hold its own and it has plenty of good moments, most notably the "see my vest" routine near the end, but it doesn't compare to any of the other non-clip episodes this season has provided thus far.  The humor starts off rather slow as it builds up the storyline with Santa's Little Helper, and though the puppy storyline is pretty good it isn't fully able to help the episode recover from that slow start.

Final Score: 8.0