A Midsummer's Nice Dream (S22, E16-480)

Life will never be this groovy again...

Plot Summary
On TV, Kent Brockman reflects on the careers of the celebrated Cheech and Chong, who are going to be in Springfield for a show coming up.  As Brockman reveals "Richard Marin" and "Thomas Chong" were once Channel 6 meteorologists who got their first whiff of fun from an unrelated event outside, Homer is stunned to learn his kids don't know who the two are (Bart also claims ignorance on Beavis & Butthead, even though that show has premiered, ended and recently come back throughout the entire existence of The Simpsons).  Homer was a big fan of the two back when they were big, and Marge was okay with them I guess, so the family goes to see their live show.  Homer and the rest of the crowd gets excited when the duo start their "Dave's not here" bit, but Chong has gotten tired of the repetitiveness, and gets into an argument with Cheech about trying to experiment and not selling out.  The argument eventually reaches a head, and Chong just ups and leaves.  With the show in the balance, Marge convinces Homer, who has remembered every line from the duo's antics, to go up and finish the act with Cheech, which proves to be a pot-influenced success.

Cheech is impressed with Homer's act, and invites him to tour with him across the country.  As "Cheech and Chunk", Homer is excited by this at first, but slowly he comes to learn that Cheech the person is not like Cheech the character.  Real life Cheech cares about making sure the show is perfect, while valuing his cultural heritage, things Homer just can not believe.  Meanwhile, Chong tries to start up a new act, bringing along Principal Skinner as his new partner, as Chong believes him with the unfunniest person there is could create a mindblowing show.  Calling the act "Teech and Chong", the show takes a rather deep look into the fact Dave is actually there, but the show is universally hated.

Meanwhile, Marge and Lisa take the dog for a walk, but it runs off chasing after a cat.  Running into a house, the dog leads the women to the house of the crazy cat lady.  Full of clutter and garbage, its quickly realized that the cat lady is a massive hoarder, and Marge takes it upon herself to clean up the mess.  Sending the cat lady to a movie, Marge along with a team go in and clean up the woman's house, leaving it sparkling clean.  Not only is the cat lady's house cleared, so too is her mind.  As the cat lady regains her sanity, Marge starts taking an interest in some of the clutter that was cleaned up, opting to keep it for herself.  In no time, Bart and Lisa return home to find the house full of garbage, and Marge has become a massive hoarder herself.  Lisa tries to call Homer for help, but Cheech is forcing Homer to continue a rehearsal and he's unable to answer.

Homer does answer eventually and finds a moment to escape Cheech's iron grip to return home.  Homer confronts Marge over her hoarding, bringing in the sane no-cat lady to talk with Marge.  However, the woman becomes enveloped in her garbage again and quickly devolves, calling back both her cats and her insanity.  Homer takes Marge out of the house, under the premise that things will work itself out with a crazy lady inside, and they leave.  The two go back to Cheech, but Homer brings along another person: Chong, who has realized that people just like their classics, for better or worse.  Cheech also comes to terms that its okay to go outside the box every now and then as well.  The two reunite, and things work out for the best.

Quick Review
This is one of the best episodes of the season.  I may be old enough to predate The Simpsons, but I'm still not old enough to remember Cheech and Chong in their prime.  Even so, the pair provide excellent guest spots for the episode, and the bits with "Cheech and Chunk" were excellent.  The hoarding side story has its moments, but nothing too notable, but for the most part the main plot of the episode was pretty good, though the end with Bart as the Shakespeare character Puck (referencing the episode's title) was too odd to be of any worth.

Final Score: 7.9

Springfield Up (S18, E13-391)

Just like all billionaires, I would imagine.

Plot Summary
Declan Desmond, a supposedly noted documentary filmer, has returned to reveal he's been filming residents of Springfield since 32 years ago, first filming them when they were eight years old and filming how they've done every eight years since.  For instance, he's filmed Clancy Wiggum go from a boy with shoot 'em up dreams to a 16 year old hall monitor, to going to the police academy, then using his excellent pistol back rubs to earn him his Chief of Police title.

Desmond's documentary then focuses on young Homer, whose dreams involve becoming ultra rich and successful.  However, by the time Homer is 24, his dreams of fortune are basically shattered as he's involved in multiple odd jobs, but has found a nice gleam of hope in Marge.  At 32, Homer has now had kids (even though at 24 Homer states he never would), but promises that in eight years Homer will be so rich he'll kick Desmond's ass with a gold boot.  In the present day, much to Desmond's surprise, Homer has become a millionaire, apparently getting rich with a pen that shoots out condiments.

Desmond continues his film, focusing on Professor Frink, whose career path has left him unable to find a woman.  He goes back in time to warn his younger self and set him on a new path, but is run over before he can reach himself, probably dying.  The film then focuses on "Eleanor" whom at age eight wishes to be both a lawyer and a doctor, and accomplishes this at 24 after graduating from both Yale Law and Harvard Medical.  However, by 32 the woman has become burned out, losing her sanity and finding the comfort in booze and cats.  In the present day, the woman has become the person well known as the 'crazy cat lady'.

The film then focuses on Marge, whom at age eight is interested in photography.  This interest of hers continues into high school but by 24, Marge's photography is limited to use at some store she works at.  Still, in the present day, Marge is happy with her husband's success, when suddenly its learned that Homer's millionaire mansion is actually Mr. Burns' summer house.  It turns out Homer - gasp! - lied about his success!

Desmond tries to confront Homer about the lie back at his normal house, when Homer reveals that he's so disappointed his life is still as 'miserable' as it was eight years ago.  Desmond can't help to find such a statement odd, and after consulting Moe, invites Homer to his editing studio.  There, Desmond shows Homer footage of people across town who are actually envious of Homer's family, success and even some of his character.  Homer realizes that in his fruitless pursuit of his supposed dreams, he already has accomplished his dream: being with Marge each and every day.

Quick Review
I appreciate what the episode tried to do, presenting most of it in a documentary style, and I did find much of it interesting.  Of course, sadly, this episode still doesn't have all that much going for it in terms of comedy, so the score is lower than it probably should be, but I do like what the episode attempted to do.

Final Score: 6.8