Adventures in Baby-Getting (S24, E03-511)

How horrifying... a world where 3D picture is still notable.

Plot Summary
Homer's negligence in fixing an outdoor faucet leak causes a massive sinkhole to pop up nearby the following year.  This is particularly trouble for Marge, as the sinkhole swallows her car, though thankfully she had a sinkhole kit ready for her escape.  The mayor eventually fills the sinkhole with the Springfield tire fire then smoothing it over with cement, which actually works, but Marge's car is no longer retrievable.  Marge is able to smartly purchase a new car, with just enough room for her, Homer and the kids.  Soon, though, Marge has trouble starting the car, though Homer has no such difficulty himself.  At a car shop, the mechanic confirms nothing is wrong with the car, and he suggests the perhaps Marge actually hates the car for some reason.  Homer asks Marge about it later, and Marge comes to a realization: the car is only big enough to hold just three kids, not four, and she really wants a fourth kid.

Homer really doesn't, but won't say anything to Marge about it, instead tries to stall for time in hopes that Marge gives up.  Homer is seemingly in the clear when its reminded that Homer is completely sterile thanks to working in the nuclear plant, but later Moe tells Marge that some years back Homer donated some of his sperm to a sperm bank in Shelbyville.  Soon, the two drive towards Shelbyville where Homer tries to stall yet again by stopping at various attractions.  So much time is spent, they have to spend the night at a hotel, where Homer lets slip that he actually doesn't want a fourth kid and that he's been making efforts to get Marge to give up.  Angered, Marge kicks Homer out of the room for the night.

Meanwhile, Bart and Milhouse spy Lisa sneaking off somewhere, accidentally dropping a piece of paper with a cryptic phrase on it.  Bart tries to confront Lisa, but she's not talking.  Bart invites Lisa's former boyfriends in Nelson and Ralph and the four further the investigation, coming across a second, similar phrase.  Principal Skinner forces himself into the fray, where he recognizes the paper having an unique feature to them that belong only to her predecessor, Principal Milgram.  The five, and now Otto for no reason, go to Milgram's house where they meet the retired Principal, and Lisa.  Lisa reveals she's been learning the dead art of cursive writing from Milgram, thus the pages - which contain every letter written in cursive, and she mocks the boys for wasting their time on this.

At a diner, Homer sees a four-kid family and notices the father is actually okay, and Homer comes to accept having a fourth child.  Marge sees Homer's change, and is more than happy to get kid #4 now.  At the sperm clinic, its learned that Homer's sperm (which he donated as "Thad Supersperm") has since been used up, the last sample of which was just taken.  Homer rather easily retrieves the sample, but Marge sees on a wall pictures of children born from the clinic, all of whom look rather like a Simpson - it seems Homer donated a ton of sperm.  Unwilling to bring another spawn of Homer into the world, the two agree that three kids is enough for now, and they decide to take their current kids to a drive-in theatre, where Homer comes across newborn septuplets who look just like him.

Quick Review
To begin, instead of the opening the episode did another take on voting day hijinks similar to what was found in Treehouse of Horror XIX, except instead of dying Homer gets sent to a Chinese factory where American flags are made, and Selma is not too far behind him.  This entire segment was awful and unfortunately took away from the rest of the episode.

Not that the rest of the episode was anything special to begin with.  The side plot with Lisa was forgettable and not very funny.  The main plot has its moments, especially as Homer tries to squirm out of having a fourth kid, but its not enough to counteract everything the episode has going against it.

Final Score: 6.1

Lemon of Troy (S06, E24-127)

Nothing like turnip juice to cure what ails you.

Plot Summary
Marge catches Bart etching his name into wet cement and is furious.  At dinner, she lectures Bart about town pride, a lesson that sticks in Bart's head.  The next day, Bart sees Milhouse selling lemonade just as his lemon supply runs out.  The two run off to acquire more, finally reaching a rather divine lemon tree on a hilltop on the edge of town.  As Bart remarks about how great it really is to live in Springfield, he's quickly countered by a batch of boys from the neighboring Shelbyville, who are there to take a batch of lemons from Springfield's lemon tree.  Bart and some other kids chase them away by throwing lemons at them, saving the other lemons from being stolen.

Grampa, who is also there for some reason, tells the kids there about the origins of the tree, which goes back to the town's founding.  Jebediah Springfield and another man, Shelbyville Manhattan, were ready to found a town right at that same hill, however the two come to blows over whether a man could marry his cousin or not, a right Shelbyville will refuse to give up.  The settlers decide to split up from there and the two men found their own towns right next to one another at which point the lemon tree was planted to mark the sweet occasion (lemons being the sweetest fruit available at the time).

The next day at school, Nelson interrupts an important lesson about Roman numerals to show the kids that the lemon tree had been stolen and dragged to Shelbyville.  Bart, still filled with that new hometown pride, decides to lead a team into Shelbyville to get it back.  Telling his parents he's "going to teach some kids a lesson", which they comprehend as Bart becoming a tutor, Bart quickly gathers a group consisting of him, Milhouse, Nelson, Martin, Todd Flanders and the oft-forgotten Database to enter Shelbyville.

The boys confirm that the tree was stolen by the same group of boys that gave them trouble the other day, but eventually the trail runs dry and the group splits up.  Nelson and Martin come across one of the boys during their search for the tree, and as Bart goes undercover to join up with the Shelbyville gang, the group's leader learns about the infiltration and has everyone go up to Shelbyville Bluffs to spray paint "Springfield Sucks" into a rock formation.  Bart is given this task somehow and instead writes "Springfield Rules, Suckers", revealing he's from Springfield.  He is given chase by the group's leader via skateboard, coming to an abrupt end when Bart ironically runs into wet cement.  He runs into the zoo, specifically a lion's den, where the rooms are numbered with Roman numerals.  Bart tries to contact Milhouse via radio for help, but Milhouse is interrupted by one of the Shelbyville kids though the two soon find out they have the same name and reconcile.  Bart eventually uses the Rocky movies to do Roman numeral addition and escapes.

Bart eventually does find the lemon tree, but its within a car impound lot, owned by the father of the group leader.  Before Bart's group can act, they are found by their fathers, who finally figured out what was going on and drove to Shelbyville in Flanders' RV to get them back.  However, when Bart tells them what happened, they agree to get the tree back.  However, the impound lot owner refuses to give it back, and with the lot locked up, its seems as though this is Springfield's defeat.

Bart, though, comes up with an idea.  He has Flanders park in a hospital zone, so that later in the day the impound lot owner will tow it away as its parked illegally.  The plan works and the group is in the lot ala the Trojan Horse.  As they sneak the tree away, Bart opens the gate, which sets off an alarm.  With some difficulty, the group is able to flee just in the nick of time, and the group is able to return the tree to Springfield in one condition or another.  Grampa revises his tale back at the hill to include the new tale of Springfield's heroes, meanwhile at Shelbyville an old man there praises the heroes of Shelbyville for having banished the lemon tree, as it was haunted.  Then everyone there enjoys a nice cool glass of turnip juice.  Good times.

Quick Review
This was another fun episode.  The differences between Springfield and Shelbyville, a place that creeps even Nelson out, was fun to see, and the rivalry between Milhouse and Shelbyville Milhouse was great as well, as was the dynamic between Nelson and Martin.  The episode serves as an excellent example of the rivalry between Springfield and Shelbyville, with their differences and similarities providing some comedic value as well.

Final Score: 9.2