El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer) (S08, E09-162)

"Well, sure, buddy, I'd be happy to help out. What can I do-diddily-
doodily-diddly-hobbily-hibbily-gobbily-gobbily-gobble-gabba-gabba-hey!"

Plot Summary
Homer eventually learns that there's an annual chili-cookoff being held right now, despite Marge's best efforts to prevent him from knowing.  She recalls the cookoff from last year, when Homer became embarrassingly drunk, and makes Homer promise not to drink at this year's cookoff, which Homer agrees to.

The two quickly separate at the cookoff, allowing Homer to go to work.  Homer is apparently a big shot at these cookoffs, as chili cooks fear his iron tongue and wooden spoon (said to of been carved from a bigger spoon).  He starts the day off fine, criticizing several bland entries, but then walks upon Chief Wiggum's entry, a special batch of chili made just for Homer.  This chili has been infused with, as Wiggum puts it, "The Merciless Peppers of Quetzlzacatenango! Grown deep in the jungle primeval by the inmates of a Guatemalan insane asylum".  Homer attempts to eat a pepper, but it burns even his tongue, forcing him to run for drinks, but after Marge prevents him from gushing down beer, Homer settles for plain old water to cool his tongue.  Now the laughing stock of the cookoff, he gets the idea to put melted wax in his tongue, thereby preventing it from feeling the heat of the pepper.  He goes back to Wiggum and, to the astonishment of all, gulps down several peppers effortlessly.  Though Homer once again becomes a chili legend, his stomach doesn't take the peppers very well.  Indeed, the peppers live up to their name, and Homer begins to have hallucinations, causing him to run off in a panic.

Marge learns of this when Helen Lovejoy gossips Homer's chaotic departure to her.  Believing Homer broke him promise and drank, she leaves the cookoff furious.  Meanwhile, Homer's hallucinations 'bring' him to a strange fantasy world, an endless desert.  After a tortoise eventually leads him to a pyramid-like structure, he is met by a space coyote, who sends Homer on a quest: to find his soulmate.  When Homer notes that Marge is his soulmate, the coyote questions whether that's actually the case, then departs.  After a 'ghost train' makes a run at Homer, he finally snaps out of it - waking up in a sand pit at a golf course the next morning -  and learns that the 'dream' took elements around him i.e. the sand pit as the desert, the pyramid-shaped pro shop as the pyramid, and the talking dog as the talking coyote.

Homer returns to his house where Marge is still very angry.  She refuses to believe Homer's story of having 'went to a strange fantasy world', and snaps at him when he suggest she's his 'soulmate'.  That night, Homer sees that he and Marge have little in common, and realizes that she can't be his soulmate.  He leaves the house in search for that person.  After trips to the bar and elsewhere prove fruitless, Homer stumbles upon the lighthouse, and hopes that an "Earl" stationed there will be his soulmate; Earl however is just a machine with the name being an acronym.  Frustrated, Homer suddenly hears a cargo boat coming in.  Believing that someone on that boat will be his soulmate, Homer destroys the light, in hopes of having the boat crash, revealing Homer's soulmate.  Just then, Marge appears, having found Homer based on several of his tendencies.  As the two talk, Homer realizes that Marge is, in fact, his soulmate.  After sticking it to that space coyotes, the two quickly work to get the lighthouse back in order, allowing the boat just enough time to avoid crashing into the lighthouse, instead tearing up on a rock nearby revealing its precious cargo: hot pants.  Regardless, Homer and Marge find renewed love and kiss one another in front of the light.

Quick Review
This episode starts off really strong with the chili cookoff and even Homer's fantasy world bit, a lot of good stuff happens with these two plots.  The episode does slow down a bit once Homer's actual soulmate quest begins, and the opportunity for laughs die down until the hot pants boat comes into play.  Still, its another great episode in Season 8.

Final Score: 8.6

22 Short Films About Springfield (S07, E21-149)

"Skinner with his crazy explanations, the Superintendent's gonna
need his medication.  When he hears Skinner's lame exaggerations,
there'll be trouble in town tonight!"

Plot Summary
Despite the title, there aren't 22 sub stories that fill this episode.  It's close to 22, but not quite.  Not that its a problem or anything.  Here, in minor detail, is every story featured:

1) Prologue: Bart and Milhouse, while chucking stuff at cars from a bridge above, wonder about the tales the people of Springfield have to tell, which sets up the rest of the episode.

2) "Apu in: The Jolly Bengali": As the two boys go to the Kwik-E-Mart to buy candy, Sanjay invites Apu to a party at his house.  Apu, unwilling to leave the Kwik-E-Mart for long, agrees to go for five minutes.  At the party, Apu pretty much has the full party experience in even less time, though he inadvertently locked Hans Moleman in the store in the meantime.

3) Lisa's Hair Problem (Part 1): As Lisa is recycling, Bart zooms along on his skateboard and tosses some gum away, unknowingly throwing it into Lisa's hair.  Lisa runs to Marge for help, but Marge only has oddball remedies for getting gum out of hair, such as applying peanut butter or mayo into the gum, but this doesn't seem to be working.  She has Lisa sit outside to let it sink it, but she's attacked by a swarm of hornets.

4) Smithers' Bee Problem: One bee flies off from Lisa and heads to the park, where it lands on Smithers (who is deathly allergic to bees), who is in the middle of a bike ride with Mr. Burns.  Burns, irritated that Smithers has slowed down, tries to shoo the bee away, but it stings Smithers instead.  With Smithers in dire need for help, Burns gets Smithers help the only way he knows how: by commanding Smithers to pedal the two all the way to the hospital.  The two make it but both collapse.  Rescue workers come out to help, but only grab Burns.

5) Dr. Nick's Malpractice Problem: After Nick confuses Smithers as a bum ("Holy smokes!  You need booze!"), he goes to a meeting with other doctors who confront him on a malpractice suit against him.  Just then, a crazy old man (Grampa) is causing havoc and insists on seeing a quack.  Nick steps up and 'calms' Grampa by telling him he has a condition where his skeleton is trying to escape the body, and uses 'electrotherapy' to 'cure' him.  The doctors drop the suit in forgiveness, and Nick gives Jasper a free nose job in celebration.

6) Moe's Burglary Problem: Moe officially calculates Barney's bar tab to be in the billions, but gets $2000 from him right away.  Snake runs in to rob Moe, holding Barney hostage.  Moe runs to safety inside a hidden, bulletproof compartment (with little air), which just allows Snake to loot Moe's newly acquired tab and run off.

7) "Skinner and the Superintendent": Skinner invites Chalmers for lunch, but burns his roast by mistake.  Using a series of lies and fabrications, Skinner is able to convince Chalmers that a bunch of Krusty Burgers he desperately bought is a family recipe and that the fire in the kitchen from the roast in actually Aurora Borealis in his own kitchen.  In all, it was a successful luncheon.

8) Homer's Maggie Problem: Hands full of groceries and Maggie, Homer sees an importantly headline in a newspaper stand, and goes to buy it right away, fumbling his possessions in the process.  He gets his paper, but accidentally gets Maggie stuck in the stand.  Having no usable quarters left and unwilling to leave Maggie to get more, Homer decides to just uproot the stand completely and take it home.

9) The Police's Hamburger Problem: Lou describes his time at a Shelbyville McDonalds, a restaurant that has zero presence in Springfield.  After hearing horrors about Krusty Partially Gelatinated Non-Dairy Gum-Based Beverages being called simply "shakes" at McDonalds, Wiggum has heard enough and goes out for donuts.

10) Bumblebee Man's Clumsiness Problem: After a hard day playing the bumbling bee at work, the actor tries to have a relaxing moment at home, but an incident involving oranges causing his clumsiness to take full effect, destroying the house and forcing his wife to divorce him.

11) Snake's Wiggum Problem: Coming off the heist, Snake is in a bind when he sees Wiggum, who just bought some donuts.  Panicking, Snakes tries to run over Wiggum, but crashes into a wall.  The two get into a brawl which goes into Herman's store, where he holds the two hostage for some reason.

12) Lovejoy's Flanders Problem: Reverend Lovejoy brought his dog to Flanders' yard for the sole purpose of having the dog do its business there.  Class act, Reverend.

13) Lisa's Hair Problem (Part 2): As Flanders goes to retrieve his shovel from Homer, he spies Marge still trying to get gum out of Lisa's hair.  He offers to help, but it doesn't seem to work.  Other townspeople chime in to give advice to Lisa's predicament, which only irritates the poor girl.

14) "Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel": Cletus finds a pair of boots for Brandine's job interview, but as they wouldn't really work well on the topless dancing runway, he has to return them where he found them: dangling on a wire.

15) Milhouse's Bathroom Problem: Milhouse desperately needs to use the bathroom, trying to do so at the comic book shop, but a transaction is required, and as Milhouse is doing that his dad gets him in trouble and takes him away before he could use the bathroom.

16) Wiggum and Snake in a Problem, Featuring Milhouse: Milhouse's next attempt is at Herman's shop, where his father notices both Wiggum and Snake beat up and tied up with Herman just standing there.  As Herman readies to take the elder Van Houten hostage, Milhouse accidentally knocks Herman out with a mace he grabbed.  Wiggum then tries to make his escape.

17) Lisa's Hair Problem (Part 3): Lisa passes Wiggum but is far too concerned about her hair to think about anything else.  She goes to the barber who cuts that part of her hair off, then stylizes it to make it look good.  Lisa starts feeling good again, but is immediately laughed at by Nelson.

18) Nelson's Tall Man Problem: Afterwards, Nelson laughs at Mrs. Glick tripping into a trash can, then laughs at a man driving a rather tiny car.  The man stops and steps out, revealing himself to be rather tall.  Nelson tries to escape, but the tall man catches him.  After a failed attempt at reasoning with the boy, the tall man decides to publicly humiliate Nelson instead, pulling down his pants and having townspeople laugh at him instead.

19) Epilogue: As Bart and Milhouse squirt condiments on Nelson from above, Bart realizes that there are indeed plenty of tales to be told by the townsfolk, but there simply just isn't enough time to hear them all.

20) "The Tomfoolery of Professor Frink": The professor runs in, his skit having been delayed by literal monkey trouble at the lab, but as he tries to sink his bit's theme song, the episode goes into credits and Frink promises that the monkey'll pay for this.

Quick Review
22 Short Films About Springfield, a rather experimental episode at the time, is one of the best episodes of the series.  There is just so many things that work right here.  I think part of it is that there are a good number of jokes in every bit that the writers forced in to make sure each bit is gold, but with so many bits there ends up being a lot of quality throughout.  Its a wonderfully written episode and its a shame more episodes like this were never made afterward.

Final Score: 10