Donnie Fatso (S22, E09-473)

I like how there's a carrot in Fit Tony's hand, as though we wouldn't get that he's fit otherwise.

Plot Summary
It's New Years Day, but unfortunately for Homer, he gets pinned by a slew of Springfield's new laws meant to tax the hell out of people.  Piling up $1000 worth of fines, Homer gets advice from Moe to place a bribe at window #9 at the courtroom.  Homer tries to do so, but nobody is at the window at the time so he leaves his ticket and a bag with the word "bribe" on it at the window.  Of course, a short time later Homer is arrested for the bribe and is given a 10 year jail sentence.

Homer is about to begin his sentence when Chief Wiggum reveals a way Homer can get out early: become a mob informant.  Homer meets up with an agent of the FBI, who informs Homer he's been on Fat Tony's tail for 20 years, trying to catch him smuggling Belgian guns.  He wants Homer to get close to Fat Tony, wearing a Fonzie-like wig which contains surveillance equipment as a disguise.  With Tony and his cronies currently in prison, Homer is sent in as Nicky "Blue Pants" Saxophony, and befriends Louie after he 'defends' Louie from a 'guard' (the FBI agent).  Louie takes Homer's act as genuine, and soon introduces Homer to Fat Tony, who decides to break out of prison.  As the prison was made by the mafia, Tony quickly crumbles a nearby wall and the group easily escapes.

Tony and Homer become fast friends, but before Homer can get any closer, Tony wants Homer to whack Moe, who mistakenly believed Tony's innocent mis-dial was a prank call.  Tasking Homer to burn down Moe's Tavern, Homer is saved when Moe does the deed himself rather than install a ladies' room.  Tony doesn't see this and only assumes Homer actually did it, and therefore lets Homer into the family, a gesture Homer fully accepts.  Soon, though, Homer is taken to a dock where Tony tells Homer about a Belgian gun shipment that's about to come in.  Homer tries to warn Tony, and as authorities start moving in, Tony finally figures out that Homer was a rat.  Unable to deal with the betrayal, Fat Tony has a heart attack, and dies right there.

With the FBI agents rather cold towards Homer, Homer is let free and is able to go home.  Still, he can't let go of his time with Fat Tony, and visits his grave where he gets whacked with a shovel.  Upon coming to, he thinks he hears Fat Tony's voice, but its actually the voice of his cousin, Fit Tony who, as the name implies, looks like a much fitter version of Fat Tony.  Fit Tony planned on killing Homer, but after seeing Homer's genuine sorrow and grief towards Fat Tony's death, Fit Tony decides not to kill Homer, believing that Fat Tony's memory will live on in him.  Homer narrates the rest, as Fit Tony takes over the Springfield mafia.  However, Fit Tony has a hard time dealing with the pressure of being a mob boss, and starts overeating to lessen his woes.  Eventually, he gains enough weight to be called "Fitfat Tony" and then just "Fat Tony", even wearing the same clothes as the original one.  Still, Homer is glad to be back with his family even if the only person in said family to ever shoot a gun was Maggie.

Quick Review
I remember seeing this episode when it first aired, and I remember hating it.  I gave a pass to The Principal and the Pauper back in Season 9 for its blatant screw around with established canon, but for some reason having Fat Tony die only for him to be replaced by his cousin Fit Tony who ate so much he became the new Fat Tony just bugged me badly.

Watching it again, the episode isn't as bad as I originally thought it to be.  Leading up to the big moment, the episode actually fares pretty decent, as well as most other Season 22 episodes thus far anyway, and the segment where Homer infiltrates Fat Tony's crew was entertaining.  Hell, the moment Fat Tony dies wasn't bad either by itself, I didn't have a problem with that and the gag with Homer's self-destructing hair added a nice but not overboard comical touch to it.

Still, though, the inclusion of Fit Tony, and using him to maintain a Fat Tony character for future episodes seems like such a cop out, even by Armin Tamzarian standards.  Its like the writers wanted to make an impactful episode, complete with a characters death, this time with meaning unlike a previous episode, yet they were mandated not to kill anyone off so they threw together a nonsense of an ending to keep canon intact, even though it loses all of the impact of the death.  It seems so pointless and it just ruins the episode.

Final Score: 6.4

Midnight Towboy (S19, E03-403)

Tow trucking seemed like a thing Homer could've stuck with, shame it didn't stay.

Plot Summary
Maggie is being particularly clingy and fussy one night, and an accident leaves Marge with no milk.  As Homer goes out to find some, Marge is convinced by Bart and Lisa to try out a service intended to help babies become more independent of their mothers.  Meanwhile, on what seems to be during an unfortunate milk shortage, Homer eventually goes all the way to "Guidopolis" which is as stereotypical as the name implies.  Homer finally gets some milk, but his car is about to be towed away after parking it improperly.  Homer is able to convince the tow truck driver, Louie, to come along at least to recover his car, when Homer discovers the easy, wonderful life of the tow truck driver.  Louie offers Homer to take over the Springfield duties, including a tow truck of his own, but has one simple declaration: don't even think about doing work in Guidopolis.

Marge does get help from the baby service, C.R.I.E., which immediately helps Maggie become independent, which Marge has some difficulty adjusting to, using a sack of potatoes to hold instead of her newly independent baby.  Meanwhile, Homer quickly makes a killing in the towing business, making life miserable for everyone in town.  Eventually, the townspeople have enough of Homer's civic duty and hatch a plan to rid themselves of him.  Agnes Skinner is aware of how territorial tow truckers are, and leads a plan where an illegally parked car is left just within Guidopolis, but with the town's sign covered up to imply its still part of Springfield.  Homer falls for the ruse, and as he goes to tow the car, Louie appears and, angered Homer has invaded his turf, knocks him out.

Louie locks Homer away in his basement, where several other tow truckers are imprisoned for daring to tow in Guidopolis.  With Homer gone, chaos returns to Springfield parking lots and streets, just the way they like it.  Louie forces Homer to call home to inform, well, Lisa, he's supposedly alright, but four days have passed now, and Marge can't help but worried.  Maggie sees the fearful Marge, and decides to put her new independence to full use, escaping the house and riding on Santa's Little Helper in a full-blown rescue operation.  Following leads and the dog's nose, she's able to locate Homer in Guidopolis, and frees him from his prison.  Homer, Maggie and the dog all return home to a relieved Marge, where Maggie agrees to return to her old clingy self to allow Marge to be comfortable again.

Quick Review
This episode was really going strong for most of it.  Homer's towing storyline was really going well up through the second act, and his interactions with the other imprisoned truckers were good for a few laughs anyway.

Unfortunately, the side plot regarding Maggie, which wasn't providing much humor to begin with, takes full focus in the episode's final minutes where Maggie alone stages her rescue operation.  People including myself have been critical of using Maggie in this fashion, particularly in the Season 13 finale where she gained the mocking moniker "sniper baby".  I understand that, in this context, Maggie's newfound abilities are a direct result of Marge allowing the baby to be more independent, but come on.  Like with the Season 13 finale, this seems like a cop out way to conclude an otherwise desperate situation and it really hampered what was going to be a shining moment of these later seasons.  Its a shame, really.

Final Score: 7.6