There's Something About Marrying (S16, E10-345)

Homer's latest exploitative scheme not only works, but Homer is
left completely unpunished for his motivations.  How about that.

Plot Summary
Bart and Milhouse can't trick anyone in town anymore because they've all gotten wise.  Fortunately for them they come across a tourist riding on the back of a turnip truck, and decide to take full advantage, pulling him into several pranks.  Eventually the guy has enough and leaves town.  Unfortunately, that guy is also part of a national morning program that chronicles his travels across America, and he gives a rather scathing review of Springfield, giving it his lowest score ever: 6/10.  Within a month's time, tourism has completely died off and the town is in a dire situation.  Mayor Quimby hosts a town meeting about fixing this, when Lisa makes a rather bold suggestion: allow gay marriage to occur in Springfield, that'll really boost tourism.  Most of the town agrees, and it comes to pass.

Gay couples come to Springfield by the hundreds to get married, however Reverend Lovejoy refuses to perform gay marriages, citing the bible for his refusal.  In frustration, Quimby notes that each gay marriage is costing Lovejoy about $200 per couple.  Homer overhears that tidbit and decides to get in on the action.  He goes online and quickly becomes legally able to provide wedding services, and so every gay couple in Springfield goes to him to get married.  Afterwards, Homer decides to further open up his marriage services to allow anyone to marry anything.

All the while, Marge is happy with the whole process and is happy for the couples getting wed.  However, she's visited by Patty, who wishes to use Homer's services.  Marge is happy to hear this, until she learns Patty is marrying a woman named Veronica (a pro golfer in the LPGA)... thereby confirming that Patty is also gay, not that anyone is really surprised.  That is, except for Marge, who is completely taken aback by Patty's outing despite several obvious signs throughout her life which pointed as such.  Marge, now feeling somewhat betrayed that Patty kept this 'secret' for so long, starts acting hostile towards Patty who takes notice and tells Marge to only attend the wedding when she's ready to accept Patty for who she is.

Marge is still upset the day of the wedding, but as she wanders into the bathroom, she notices Veronica inside, however she notices that Veronica left the toilet seat up, and is also shaving, thereby mostly proving that Veronica is, in fact, a man.  Marge keeps it a secret as now she's taking joy in the knowledge that Patty is really marrying as God intended, and attends the wedding.  However, she sees how committed Patty is to her wedding vows, and soon guilt overrides Marge's dubious joy.  She informs everyone about Veronica's secret, one Veronica did to gain entry into the LPGA.  Patty breaks up the wedding, and the two reconcile.  Homer's gay marriage scheme ends for some reason, and Patty gets back up with Selma to once again go out and find respective mates.

Quick Review
This episode garnered some controversy when it aired in 2005.  Obviously most of this was because of the gay marriage theme, as well as some hype leading up to the episode as to who exactly would come out as gay (Patty).  Right-leaning groups hated the the episode was going to 'force' it down audience's throats, though those who actually watched the episode were still happy that the episode featuring the usual gay-joke arsenal.  Left-leaning groups loved the episode concept and apparently couldn't care less about the gay-joke arsenal used within.

Of course, with all this time spent addressing gay marriage within the episode, is there any time left for the show's intended purpose: comedy?  The answer is: not really.  Homer's role in this episode provides the most entertainment, however the late-blooming, unfunny plot surrounding Patty as well as the episode's central controversy hindered this episode from being, well, good.

Final Score: 6.4

Three Gays of the Condo (S14, E17-308)

A big fat party animal and a bunch of gay guys enjoying the dance.

Plot Summary
On family recreation Wednesday, Marge reveals a gigantic jigsaw puzzle for the family to complete, and it takes them an entire week of non-stop work to complete the puzzle.  The family thinks they've finished it, but its pointed out to them that a single piece has gone missing.  Each member checks various places of the house to find that final piece, when Homer stumbles upon an old chest labeled "Marge's Memory Chest".  Homer opens it to find a picture of Moe's Tavern on its grand opening 11 or so years ago which both Homer and Marge attended.  On the back of the picture, though, Marge wrote a scathing letter to Homer.  That night years ago, Homer drank so much he suffered from alcohol poisoning, and Marge at that point decides they're done.  Homer wonders why, then, did Marge stay with him, then he realizes that Marge was pregnant with Bart just two days later, and figures out that Marge only stayed with Homer for Bart's sake.  He becomes absolutely furious with Marge, and decides he can't stay in the house with her.

Looking around for a place to stay that isn't depressing, Homer sees a newspaper ad for a request for a roommate in a condo on a nice, well-kept street of Springfield.  There, he meets the roommates he's staying with, Grady and Julio, both of whom are gay.  Grady and Homer become quick friends, and Homer has no problem with what's going on (in contrast to the previous episode with a similar theme).  In the few instances Homer and Marge see one another, they only bicker.  Lisa suggests Marge apologize, and Bart suggests that Marge should fake it.  Marge goes out to the condo, having hired Weird Al Yankovich to sing a song to have Homer give Marge another shot, and they agree to a date.

Homer is panicking over it, when Grady invites Homer to have a few Margaritas.  He indulges in them a bit too much, though, and misses the date, arriving just in time for Marge to storm out on him, the marriage seemingly at its end.  Homer slinks back to the apartment, where Grady decides to make his move on Homer, but Homer freaks out and decides, yeah, that's enough of that.  Homer goes to Moe's, where he starts to make the connection that alcohol is the cause of his problems, but Moe decides, yeah, that's enough of that, and forces enough beer down Homer to give him alcohol poisoning.  At the hospital, Dr. Hibbert recalls Homer's first case of alcohol poisoning, and shows a tape of it when Homer implies it ruined his marriage.  In that tape, Marge appears at Homer's bedside and tells him that though there'll be difficulties such as this, she still sees Homer as a genuinely good person and she's more than willing to stay with him.  Homer's faith in Marge is renewed, and present-day Marge peeks in on this just in time for the two to make up and remain together.

Quick Review
This ends up being an enjoyable episode.  The overall plot line wasn't bad, and there were a decent amount of jokes to keep things going strong.  Weird Al's appearance wasn't as bad as what I was expecting, and the scenes with Grady and Julio were okay as well.  Its about as good as I can expect from this season.

Final Score: 8.0

Homer's Phobia (S08, E15-168)

Homer will never look at steel-crafted goods the same again.

Plot Summary
Needing $900 to pay for the gas bill following an 'incident', Marge decides she has no choice but to sell a 'priceless' Civil War figurine to cover the cost.  At an off-the-wall collectible shop, a man by the name of John informs the family that, no, the figurine is just a liquor bottle from the 70s.  Homer notices the oddities of the store, and John informs Homer about the value of camp.  Homer invites him over to the house later, and the two have a good time.  The next morning, Homer hopes he can invite John and his wife for further get-togethers, but Marge relays to Homer a rather obvious observation: John is a homosexual, a fact which horrifies Homer.

At this point, Homer refuses to talk to John, but as John invited the family for a little drive-around, everyone but Homer goes.  When the family gets back, Homer notices that Bart has picked up some of John's mannerisms, as well as some other stereotypically gay habits, and starts to fear that Bart might be turning gay on him.  He attempts to 'fix' Bart by having him stare at ladies on a cigarette billboard, but that only gets him to want to smoke slims.  Homer then takes Bart to a steel mill, but learns in terror that the entire place is run by gays, whose break time is basically partying rather hard.

At the bar, Homer laments his situation to Moe and Barney.  Moe recalls that shooting a guy in war would be a quick 'fix', but as its peacetime its not an option.  Barney instead suggests shooting a deer, as it would be like shooting a 'beautiful man'.  Homer agrees, and drags Bart along so that he can have Bart shoot a deer.

Unknown to them, the deer have moved away from those woods as the grass there had been replaced with astroturf.  After a whole day of finding no deer, Moe sees a sign for Santa's Village on the way back, and takes them there.  Homer tries to have Bart shoot a reindeer in a cage, but Bart refuses to do it.  Before long, though, the reindeer are riled up and are looking for a head-bumpin'.  Barney and Moe are able to hide, while Homer props Bart up high, taking shot after shot from the reindeer.  Just then, a Santa robot comes along and is able to shoo the reindeer away.  It turns out that John was able to find them and save the day via good timing.  Though Moe and Barney are ashamed to of been saved by a 'sissy', Homer sticks up for John, finally having warmed up to have after John saved his life.  At the end of the episode, Bart finally learns that Homer thinks Bart is gay, much to his shock.

Quick Review
As you may recall, I'm rating this episodes on a single criteria: how funny it is.  I've got the scale and everything.  I realize that this is a notable episode based on the themes it deals with, and all of that, however it has little bearing on how funny I found the episode.  How funny did I find the episode?  I found it quite funny, actually, as Homer's phobia proved to be a constant source of entertainment throughout the episode, with Barney and Moe provided additional fun near the end.

Final Score: 9.3