Brawl in the Family (S13, E07-276)

Wiggum's seen too many Monopoly-related crimes in his life.

Plot Summary
The Republican Party nulls all environmental laws in Springfield.  The massive and sudden increase in pollution creates an acid rain, scalding all who come in contact with it.  The Simpsons stay inside and, with the acid rain having dissolved their TV antennae, decide to play a game of Monopoly.  The family bickers during the game, and it escalates when Homer starts choking Bart for a quip he made.  Marge and Lisa try to break it up, but it doesn't stop it, and Maggie has no choice but to make the call to police.  They arrive and are able to subdue the family and arrest them - all of them - for domestic abuse.

In jail, the family meets Gabriel, a social worker who Homer continues to believe is an angel.  Gabriel observes the family to identify their personalities and such.  After some time, Gabriel takes the family hiking, but hides their lunch up near the top of a tall tree.  Gabriel insists that each person's weakness can be compensated if they work together as a family to retrieve the lunch.  Homer, upon learning there's beer, just rams the tree with his car instead, causing it to fall, dragging Gabriel down a cliff.  With hungry wolves and cheetahs at the bottom, the family works together to save Gabriel's life.  With the family now in harmony, it seems not only is Gabriel's job done, but the weekly misadventures of the family may finally come to an end.

However, returning home from the trip, Homer finds his and Ned Flanders' old Vegas wives, who have tracked the two down.  Learning that Homer did marry in Vegas, Gabriel leaves in disgust, and after Homer is unable to annul his Vegas marriage, Marge kicks Homer out of the house, also in disgust.  Amber (Homer's Vegas wife) stays with Homer in Bart's tree house while Ginger (Ned's Vegas wife) attempts to life with Ned, Rod and Todd.

Marge refuses to speak to Homer, more furious about this than any other nonsense Homer had done in the past.  After a couple of nights, Marge sees Homer act pathetically outside and decides to let him back in to talk.  Soon, Amber overhears Marge and Homer argue intensely, and Homer decides to leave his family, taking Amber down to Moe's to 'start a new life', though this is quickly revealed as part of a ploy by Marge and the kids.  Homer gets Amber liquored up at Moe's, pretty badly at that.  The next morning, a hungover Amber learns to her horror that she married - and had a wild night with - Grampa.  With the wedding taped as proof, the thought of being stuck with Grampa drives Amber nuts, and she runs out.  With Ginger also sick of Ned and his family's goodness, the two women go back to Vegas.  The Simpsons worked together to rid themselves of Homer's Vegas wife, and they can enjoy how senile Grampa continues to be.

Quick Review
This ended up being an alright episode.  Its a bit of a disjointed episode: the 'unite the family by having them work together' plot prevalent early in the episode gets abandoned for a bit - Gabriel never does return - though it is revisited at the end as the family works together to rid themselves of Amber.  The Vegas wife callback kinda feels forced in, where it feels like the writers couldn't pull a "Gabriel deals with the Simpsons" storyline for a full episode so it concludes it early so that they could bring in a new conflict to fill the rest of the time.  The episode provides some laughs, though, so its got that going for it.

Final Score: 7.4

Viva Ned Flanders (S10, E10-213)

"Chop, chop!  Dig, dig!  Chop, chop!  Dig, dig!"

Plot Summary
Various townsfolk, including the Simpsons, attend the implosion of the Monty Burns Casino.  However, nobody is really aware of what occurs at an implosion, and when the building does implode, soot and dust get everywhere.  Upon taking the car to a car wash, Homer notices Ned Flanders getting a senior citizen discount for his wash, which draws his suspicion.  Homer tries to bust Ned at church, where its learned that Ned is 60 years old.  How does a guy look so good at 60?  By doing absolutely zero risk-taking, absolutely zero means of fun.  Slighted by the crowd's reaction to his secrets, Ned wonders if he has, indeed, wasted his life.

Noticing Homer doing some crazy thing or another, Ned realizes he can ask Homer for help to get him some 'fun'.  Homer agrees to do so, though he gets Ned to sign over his power of attorney in the process.  Recalling that gambling is a good way to have fun, Homer tries to take Ned to the Monty Burns Casino.  Recalling that it was just imploded, Homer takes Ned to Las Vegas instead.  Ned is overwhelmed by the bright lights and attractions of the city.  Urged by Homer to let loose, Ned decides to have a decent drink.  Somehow it turns into a bender for both Homer and Ned and after a wild night that neither man can remember, Ned declares success in his mission to have more fun.  However, during that wild night the two men also married the cocktail waitresses that served them the drinks.

With video proof that the two drunk men married the waitresses last night, both Homer and Ned start to freak out, with Homer eventually deciding to just make a break for it.  The two try to escape the casino, but are eventually caught, beaten up, and tossed out of the state (though their marriages to the waitresses are never annulled, which will come back up a few seasons from now).  The two walk back home, coming up with an excuse for their regular wives while vultures tail them.

Quick Review
I enjoyed this episode, even if it did take Ned's character into some strange places this time around (60?  That would make his beatnik parents too old for them to be beatniks for a 90s episode), but there's enough laughs once Homer and Ned reach Vegas to carry the episode to respectability.

Final Score: 8.2