Singin' in the Lane (S29, E07-625)

Recap: Homer and Moe start up a new version of the Pin Pals bowling team, who ultimately have to try and defeat a team comprised of manipulative hedge-fund douchebags.

Review: Well, first off, its an inoffensive episode, so that's a plus.  Like the previous episode, it tries to ride on the success of a classic episode, in this case Team Homer.  Unlike the previous episode, it doesn't make every attempt to ruin or otherwise dismantle Team Homer's supposed legacy, using the Pin Pals only to set up a bowling storyline.

The episode is paced oddly.  As Team Homer already did a "they play against teams comprised of Springfield citizens", this episode felt the need to do it again to progress the plot but rushed through it so that it wasn't just a complete retread.  The main storyline focuses on their new opponent, the hedge fund team who hustle Moe, befriend Bart and irk Lisa just enough to make her a subtle hero yet again.  The episode doesn't really do a good job at setting these plotlines up; Bart and Lisa's plotlines feel rushed and the plot with Moe attempts to take a sideturn at the end which just falls flat.

Oh, and the jokes were half okay and half not that great.  Most of the misses involve the hedge fund team, they just weren't that funny.  The episode ends up okay, but it definitely could've been better with what it tried to do.

Final Score: 6.8

My Fare Lady (S26, E14-566)

Not even Lenny is immune to the cruelties of today's modern old ladies.

Plot Summary
Marge has a busy day ahead, needing to drive the kids everywhere.  Homer is aware that his help is needed for this mundane task, so he quietly escapes and is able to get a drink into his system at Moe's before Marge can do anything to stop him.  Undeterred, Marge is able to drive her kids to every needed destination that day.  While filling up at a gas station, she meets someone who turns out to be an Uber driver "a social media-based ride-share service", using a large smile on his car's grill to indicate his service.  Realizing she, too, can be paid for driving people around, Marge decides to opt in as a driver herself.

Meanwhile, Moe has in his possession a ticket to a theatre show, but can't leave the bar unattended on a Saturday night.  Homer agrees to take his place, but while Moe is gone, Homer, Lenny and Carl decide to find ways to get Moe some profit.  They set up a "ladies night", where ladies drink free under the premise that guys will also come in to court these ladies and spend money on drinks, thus profit.  Unfortunately for them, only ladies show up.  Not only are they giving up alcohol for massive losses, but the ladies start fighting amongst themselves, turning the bar into a nearly unsalvageable mess by the time Moe returns.

With the bar in ruins, Moe needs a new source of income.  The three men who helped ruin Moe tell him to apply for the nuclear plant's open janitorial position, which he does successfully.  There, Moe is able to shoo away some health inspectors.  Impressed, Mr. Burns promotes Moe to supervisor of Sector 7G, where Homer is stationed.  I should say "was", as Moe notices all of Homer's mistakes there, and decides to reposition him as Mr. Burns' flower waterer, opting to not just fire Homer because they're friends.  Soon, Homer as well as Lenny and Carl find that Moe is a huge jerk when he's not serving the three of them beer.

Marge's new life as a makeshift cabbie is immediately exhausting as she fulfills the zany requests of her customers.  Cab drivers across Springfield quickly gain notice of this, and Marge in particular.  One night, Marge picks up a depressed Moe.  The two (over a song) discuss their problems and both agree that they should each quit their new jobs.  Marge is confronted by the alliance of cab drivers for taking their business, but Moe shoos them away.  Marge officially quits her new job, and Moe uses what I presume is his earnings from the nuclear plant to rebuild his bar, so that Homer and his friends can go back to tolerating Moe once more.

Quick Review
This episode is slightly better than the last couple, but that's not saying much.  Neither plot was particularly humorous.  Marge's storyline which despite the episode title was only a subplot didn't have much going for it other than a couple of unimpressive visual gags while the main storyline with Moe had some potential but didn't really do anything to laugh much about.  The bit with the cab drivers seemed like a missed opportunity as well.  Another disappointment from this season.

This is, apparently, the first and subsequently only episode in which Bart has no lines to speak.  565 previous episode Bart had at least one thing to say.  In this episode, though there were a couple of instance he could've said something, he doesn't even appear after Marge agrees to be a chauffeur.

Final Score: 6.7

Whiskey Business (S24, E19-527)

Does this really happen to anyone?  Is this really a plausible situation?

Plot Summary
At the bar, Moe is once again depressed, and he finds the distracted Homer, Lenny and Carl unable to help him out.  Having lost the will to live again, Moe decides to hang himself.  However, the wooden beam he attached the noose to breaks, catching the attention of his customers.  Homer is able to give Moe CPR, saving his life.  Moe's optimism for life is renewed, but only for a moment as he's reminded his life is still awful.  Marge barges in to yell at Homer, but Homer tells Marge what happened to Moe and she, too, becomes worried.  So much so that she decides to take Moe on a road trip to brighten his outlook, which Moe is somewhat eager to do.

Marge leaves Grampa in charge of the kids, and Bart in charge of Grampa while she and Homer take Moe to Capital City.  While in Capital City, the two take Moe to a suit store and buy Moe a nice, new suit.  Moe is ecstatic with his new suit, and afterwards decides to clean up his dusty old bar.  Refurbishing the place as "The New Moe's", Moe gets new customers to come in.  The two want to drink something relatively old, but Moe only has one such drink: homemade bourbon.  The two men love the drink, and reveal themselves as venture capitalists who love both Moe's drink and his suit, and are willing to give Moe as much money as he needs to start up a business based around the bourbon, an offer Moe easily accepts.

Meanwhile, Bart distracts Lisa by buying her tickets to a jazz show (where she becomes offended over the place's use of a Bleeding Gums Murphy hologram full of advertising, which she protests to no avail) so he can set up a wacky water slide in the backyard.  Grampa shows up and accidentally goes into the slide, taking a nasty hit at the end.  Bart is able to give CPR to the old man to save his life, but with him in bad shape Bart hides him in the basement to nurse him back to health without his parents learning he wasn't able to take care of Grampa.  Grampa comes to appreciate Bart's care, but when Bart starts questioning whether he feels better, Grampa feigns injury to spend more time with Bart.  Bart eventually catches on, but when Grampa explains his reasoning, Bart forgives him and the two bond.

Moe's new business is a success, and the venture capitalists decide to put Moe's business on the stock market.  Moe is once again happy, but tragedy occurs when a thread from his suit gets stuck in an elevator door, causing the suit to fall apart.  Late that night, Moe goes to the Simpson place in ruins, but Marge convinces him that it wasn't the suit that made his business, it was his drink and charisma.  The next day, at the stock exchange, Moe learns that, hey, the suit was a pretty big part of it, as his appearance in his normal garb scares everyone and Moe's stock goes down the drain.  So, its back to normal for Moe, though with his latest experience he decides to leave his old friend the noose alone until the holidays.

Quick Review
For an episode that had three plots, it was awfully boring.  The Lisa storyline was by far the shortest, having only two scenes, but was awful enough to drag the episode down just by itself.  Bart's and Moe's stories weren't much funnier if not less cringeworthy, and it makes for a decidedly subpar episode.

Final Score: 5.1

Flaming Moe (S22, E11-475)

For gathering the courage to try and kiss that thing, lets give applause to Waylon Smithers.

Not to be confused with the similarly titled Season 3 episode Flaming Moe's.

Plot Summary
Smithers is stunned to learn he's been left out of Mr. Burns' will.  Confronting Burns later, Smithers is told that because he's always been a follower, and has never been independent, Burns can't respect Smithers.  Torn by these revelations, Smithers tries to go to a bar for a drink.  However, a popular gay bar refuses him entry just from his looks.  Dejected further, Smithers goes to the bar across the street: Moe's.  As Smithers laments over a lack of a gay bar for regular guys, he notices that business is once again slow at Moe's, and comes up with an idea.  Smithers suggests to Moe that the two spruce the place up and turn into a gay bar.  Moe is initially hesitant, but given his only other customer at the moment is Barney, Moe decides to give it a try.

Once a lazy montage, the new bar is open for business, and Smithers is able to convince several gay men to come to it.  One of them, the school's music teacher Mr. Largo, finds a 'soulmate' there and the two decide to leave town for a bit.  To take his place at school, Superintendent Chalmers brings in a free spirited woman Calliope Juniper.  Principal Skinner eventually meets the woman and immediately falls in love.  Skinner calls in Bart for a favor: Calliope has a daughter named Melody, and he'd like Bart to take her someplace, and Skinner can chaperon Bart to meet Calliope.  Bart agrees to do so with some conditions, and Skinner's plan ultimately works like a charm, as the two go back to Calliope's place for the night.  However, Bart really can't stand Melody and before the rather obsessed Melody can get too close to him, Bart breaks up with her.  Calliope gets upset over this and decides to move out of town, but asks Skinner to come with her regardless of whether their relationship lasts for just one more day or a lifetime.  With that mindset, Skinner decides to go with them.

Meanwhile, Moe's new bar is work out pretty well, and Moe hopes it doesn't turn out like the other past, failed attempts at reimagining his bar.  As "Mo's" becomes popular, Smithers does receive the respect he desired from Burns.  However, Moe starts getting popular among his new patrons under the notion that Moe is also gay.  Moe picks up on this, but keeps up the charade to maintain his popularity.  Smithers doesn't like this, and on more than one occasion tries to get Moe to tell the truth about his preferences, but when patrons decide to let Moe run for a spot in the town council so that they can have a voice in government, Smithers reaches a boiling point.  Moe meets several groups out in public, but Smithers confronts Moe, and reveals to the truth to the stunned crowd.  Moe tries to defend himself, but Smithers forces Moe to prove his orientation... by kissing him.  Moe can't bring himself to do, and as he's likely running against a closeted gay Republican, he loses all of his support.  With nothing to lose (and nobody else around), Moe decides to kiss Smithers now, with no regrets.  Skinner also comes back, admitting that his relationship with Calliope lasted just one more day, though he's been gone for three months.

Quick Review
This was an episode that started off rather well, but fell apart at about the time where the Skinner subplot started up.  There was hardly anything about that side story that was even close to funny, and it brought the rest of the episode down.  The main plot also started to lose its steam as the episode shifted focus from Smithers to Moe, leaving it as one of the season's weaker episodes thus far.

Final Score: 6.7

Judge Me Tender (S21, E23-464)

Not... not everyone enjoys the comic stylings of Ellen DeGeneres.

Plot Summary
Homer and Bart prepare Santa's Little Helper for an Ugliest Dog contest, but they just can't get the dog ugly enough, but Bart has a plan.  The next day, tons of people attend said event, including Moe who can't get anybody to let him sit next to them.  Krusty is the judge who is tasked with providing jokes depending on how ugly the dog is, but his jokes are old and he gets pretty tired of telling them during the contest.  Moe takes a shot at the lethargic Krusty, and with the crowd behind him, Krusty lets Moe do the rest of the judging.  Homer and Bart finish the contest with their entry: Santa's Little Helper's butt made to look like a really ugly face.  Moe falls for it, after making a superb joke, and the two win the contest.  The crowd, though, is only interested in Moe and how great of an insult judge he was.

Soon, Moe is invited to judge a crazy beard contest, but to make time Moe has to close down the bar.  This leave Homer with plenty of time to spend at home with Marge.  Marge is initially appreciative (though well aware why Homer is home), but when Homer starts tinkering around the house - poorly, Marge tries to come up with ways to occupy Homer.  She tries taking him to a sports bar, but Homer doesn't really like it, and continues to stay at home.  Grampa offers a more permanent solution: golf, but warns Marge that once he starts, he may never come back.  Still, with Homer unwittingly causing more damage, Marge takes that chance.

The word on Moe's judging ability continues to grow, and soon he gets an offer to judge for one of FOX's many reality shows though by the time the FOX rep gets done naming them all, all of them are cancelled save one: American Idol.  Moe agrees to help judge that and he gets flown to Hollywood.  He meets Simon Cowell, who is impressed by Moe's insults.  However, Simon offers a word of caution to Moe: if he sets himself up as the "mean judge", he'll become hated and lonely just like Simon has become.  During the first airing of American Idol, Moe takes Simon's words to heart and instead of mocking the first singer, he gives her plenty of praise.  The crowd seems okay with it, but as Simon goes on his usual rant against the singer, he also takes time to take a jab against Moe's judging.  As the crowd rallies against Moe, Simon reveals that he wasn't about to give Moe a chance to upstage him in the mean judge competition.  Guards take Moe away before he can stab Simon with a broken bottle.

Marge is ready to let Homer get hooked on golf, but after seeing an elderly man admit he barely knows his family thanks to golf, Marge reconsiders at the last second and prevents Homer from taking his first shot.  Marge takes his mind off golf by making love to him, and by this time Moe has returned so Marge doesn't have to worry about Homer's presence anymore.  The two attend Moe's grand reopening, and Moe tells everyone that he's now been banned from California for his actions, but on the plus side he's also banned from watching FOX, so the bar is as popular as ever now that he's only got NBC going on the TV, much to the delight of the 'actually-voiced-by-him' Rupert Murdock.

Quick Review
Learning that this episode was going to feature American Idol in some capacity, I feared the worst.  Thankfully, those fears weren't realized as this episode isn't as bad as I thought it'd be, and its not as bad as it could've been.  Simon Cowell provide another strong guest appearance, and the other judges from that show's particular season didn't do anything to detract from the episode (though Ellen did try).  The subplot with Homer and Marge has its moments, and while its kinda odd to have another Moe-focused episode so soon, Moe brings a good amount of comedy to keep the episode decent.

Final Score: 7.2

Moe Letter Blues (S21, E21-462)

This story's biggest failing is the assumption Moe can actually talk to women.

Plot Summary
As narrated by Moe, he notices many married couples going through rough patches, including the Lovejoys, the Nahasapeemapetilons and, of course, the Simpsons.  Its the day before mothers day, and the family sees on a commercial an amusement park on an island to give mothers a break from her kids for the day.  Marge insists Homer take the kids while displaying no enthusiasm towards dealing with Homer's usual tomfoolery.  The next day, Homer, Reverend Lovejoy and Apu take their respective kids to the boat leading toward the island, when the three of them are given a letter at the last second from Moe.  It states that Moe plans on leaving town forever, and that he's leaving with one of their wives.  With the three unable to turn the boat around, they're stuck all day on the island trying to figure out whose wife it is.

Homer recalls a short time ago when Marge hosted a birthday party for her mother, but Homer ruins it for Marge by getting into another fight with Patty and Selma.  Moe was working there as a drink provider, so the theory is that Moe got to Marge after that party.  However, Apu remembers when his family went to Moe's to dry up from the rain, but after leaving a bickering Apu and Manjula realize they forgot a kid back at Moe's.  Manjula goes back by herself, and Homer was at the bar when Moe entertains Manjula and her left behind kid (before Marge took him home for her mother's party), so now its likely Manjula is the departing wife.  Homer and Apu then make Tim remember the Sunday after Marge's party, where the Parson helps the pastor realize that his relationship with Helen isn't as cheery as he had thought.  Inside the church, Moe and Helen get to talking, and outside Apu noticed Helen put her hand on Moe's knee.  So, in the end, none of three can figure out whose wife is being taken.

Finally, the day is at an end, and the husbands get to confirm whether its them or not.  Homer is the first to go, and sees Marge packing from a distance, but soon learns Marge was actually putting away painting supplies as she had been painting in front of her mother for the day.  Her mother helped Marge realize the fault of that fight wasn't Homer's, but Patty and Selma's and Homer and Marge make up, which Lovejoy and Apu can plainly see.  Next up is the Reverend, who upon returning to his room sees that Helen has packed up, telling Tim she's leaving... with him to Istanbul on the world's most romantic train.  Apu sees Tim and Helen kissing and realizes he must be the loser in this game, and upon returning to his apartment he sees Manjula and Moe sitting together.  However, Manjula states she wants to stay with Apu.  Moe then reveals to Apu, and later all three, that he noticed the three wives feeling down following their separate encounters, so he got in contact with Marge's mom to talk to Marge, convinced Helen to take the train to Istanbul with Tim, and then talked things over with Manjula.  Moe wrote the letter to the three of them to help them realize they hadn't been treating their wives right, as there's no better judge of that than an ugly, creepy, perverted, lonely bartender!  Still, Moe's plan worked out for the best.

Quick Review
This episode ended up being okay.  The plot was decently clever if not a little lacking in the humor department, but Moe provided a level of comic relief that kept the episode afloat.

Final Score: 7.0

Eeny Teeny Maya Moe (S20, E16-436)

She doesn't want people to care about her height, yet she wears those heels.

Plot Summary
Marge forces Homer to spend more time with Maggie.  After a brief stroll, Homer takes Maggie to Moe's.  Moe is cleaning the bar for some odd reason, revealing that underneath the deep layers of dust there is a window showing a playground for babies.  Homer decides to leave Maggie there while he keeps an eye on her, or so is the theory, anyway.  Moe then gives an explanation for why he's cleaning the bar in the first place.  About a week ago, Moe was at a public library using its internet to chat to a local woman on the internet, Maya, who actually finds him charming.  The two eventually shared photos, and while Maya looked pretty hot, he was amazed to learn the woman found him cute as well, and the two agreed to meet at the bar tonight.  Soon enough, Moe meets Maya, but it turns out that Maya is several feet shorter than what he was expecting.

Maya tells Moe that in the picture she sent him, she was actually standing near a lego building but regardless the two hit it off and have lots of fun together, even if Moe stumbles to refrain from offensiveness.  Soon, though, Maya wants to meet some of Moe's friends.  Moe realizes that most of his bar mates would take advantage of Maya's height, except for maybe Homer, so he has Homer and Marge go with him and Maya on a double date, which is mostly successful.  Soon, Moe finally gathers the courage to ask Maya to marry him, at which point his tensions ease so much he casually lets loose all of the short jokes he had built up to that point, offending Maya who sternly asks him to leave.

While this is all happening, Maggie is having a tough time at the playground Homer is leaving her at as she is being bullied by other, stronger babies, though Homer usually picks her back up before anything serious happens.  Maggie starts freaking out at home as well, leaving Marge to suspect Homer is neglecting his duties.  She sets up a spy camera in Maggie's bow and gets a day's worth of footage, but she doesn't have time to watch the footage.  Eventually, she makes time and sees that Homer goes to the bar while Maggie is advanced upon by the bully babies.  However, the footage then shows Homer coming in to save Maggie, only to get beaten up by a bully baby instead, forcing Maggie to save Homer.  Homer then openly blesses Maggie as well as Marge for birthing her.  Marge praises an unwitting Homer for his heart, and the two make out, I guess.

Moe gets advice to undergo a crazy scheme to win back Maya's heart, going to Dr. Nick to make himself short.  Maya intervenes, telling Moe that if the first then he's reminded of when seeing her is her height, not her beauty, then the relationship just won't work out, and she breaks up with him.  Later, a rather joyous Homer gives the saddened Moe advice that, hey, he's back in his game, and if he had modest success with one woman, then chances are decent he'll have similar success with another woman.  Moe takes the advice to heart and moves on.

Quick Review
This was another decent episode.  In fact, this is the first episode in awhile where nothing within it really bothered me (other than the usual lack of joke quantity I've mentioned in previous reviews).  The Maggie subplot was pretty nice, and the main plot was your typical Moe episode, but it had several pretty good moments to make this one of the better episodes of the season.

Final Score: 7.4

Moe'N'a Lisa (S18, E06-384)

How can a guest spot this good end up in an episode this bad?

Plot Summary
Homer awakens to find several messages by him telling him not to forget something.  Soon, Marge tells everyone that they're going to the Senior Olympics to watch Grampa compete, and Homer assumes that was the awful thing he was trying to remember.  However, after they leave, Moe attempts to call the house.  It turns out that the thing Homer was trying to remember was that he was supposed to take Moe fishing for his birthday.  After watching Grampa feebly compete all day, the Simpsons return home, where they find Moe sitting there all depressed.  Homer remembers now what he was supposed to do, but attempts to hide from Moe to avoid him.  Moe gets frustrated enough to throw a message brick through the window, telling Homer how much of a scumbag he is, but Lisa (who is doing a school report on Springfield's interesting people) takes a liking to the writing, noting that Moe is a "troubled soul", and decides to do her report on Moe, much to Moe's delight.

Lisa soon visits Moe's apartment where Moe has various notes about his miserable life taped onto the wall.  Lisa rearranges these notes into a depressing poem, coming up with a neat title for it.  While neither the poem or Moe impresses at school, Lisa sends the poem to a poetry publication.  Its editor, J. Jonah Jameson for some reason, takes a liking to the poem and has it published.  Moe quickly becomes famous within the poetry scene and is invited (by Tom Wolfe) to the Wordloaf Literary Conference in Vermont.  Moe brings Lisa and the rest of the Simpsons along, as without Lisa Moe wouldn't be going in the first place.

At the conference, though, Moe learns that its members frown upon those who get 'help' from others for any reason, even kicking out Gore Vidal just for his outside inspirations on titles.  Panicked, Moe quickly takes credit himself for his poem's title, as well as everything else, devastating Lisa.  Lisa tries to confront Moe later on, but Moe keeps unwittingly dodging her.  Eventually, Moe is asked to write another poem for a gathering later that night, and asks Lisa to do it for him while he'll take the credit.  Lisa angrily refuses, and runs off.  She informs Homer and Bart about this, and the two agree to get back at Moe for making Lisa cry.

At the gathering, Moe's pathetic attempts at poetry aren't working, when he sees Lisa slowly walk in.  Moe decides to come up with an ode to Lisa on the spot, which wins back Lisa's respect.  Homer and Bart attempt to pour maple syrup on Moe, but with Lisa having forgiven him and the syrup dripping quite slowly, Moe (with Homer's blessing) easily dodges the syrup, and he and Lisa take their leave.

Quick Review
The best parts of the episode - I almost want to say the only good parts of the episode - were the two segments featuring Jameson (voiced by J.K. Simmons, who portrays him in the Spider-Man trilogy).  Otherwise, this episode has very little going for it.  Its a very Lisa-centric episode, which is hardly ever a good start, and the heavy focus on poets and poetry leave very little room for any good comedy to occur.  The guest stars were okay, particularly the interactions between Jonathan Franzen and Michael Chabon, but its too little, too late for this mostly boring half hour.

Final Score: 5.7

Mommie Beerest (S16, E07-342)

Lucky for Homer they clean a plane's sewage system before takeoff.  Uh, right?

Plot Summary
At Moe's, the bar mates freak out when the health inspector comes in, but it turns out the inspector and Moe are childhood friends, and gives Moe a pass on his otherwise unclean bar.  That is, until the inspector eats a foul pickled egg and dies on the spot.  A week later, a new health inspector comes in and cites enough health violations to shut the bar down.  As everyone mourns the loss of Moe's, Homer can't deal with it, and realizes that if Moe can simply pay for repairs it'll be back.  So, he takes money out of his house, despite having just fully paid off the mortgage, and Moe's is back in business.

Marge is angered by this move, and decides to ensure they get their money back by making sure Moe's remains profitable.  After all, she's now technically its co-owner.  With Marge now middling in Moe's business, she convinces Moe to turn the bar into a British pub.  It becomes a popular destination, and Marge and Moe become more than just uncooperative business associates, they also become good friends.

Homer takes notices of this, and learns from Lenny and Carl that the two are having an 'emotional affair', that even though there is no physical contact, the two are still now sharing a strong bond with one another.  To make matters worse, Marge and Moe are invited to a bartender's association meeting in Aruba... the next day!  Egged on by his kids and helped by the police, Homer quickly gets to the airport - and the airplane to save his marriage.  With Moe trying to make some moves on Marge (thus making Homer's fears half-right), Moe is able to get Homer off him by making him realize that Moe knows more about Marge than Homer does.  While Moe won that 'contest', Marge still can't leave Homer, and the two make up in a way where even Moe realizes he just dodged a bullet.  Even so, a depressed Moe does get some encouragement from Marge where, if he can clean up his act, he could get a woman, then she realizes that the kids are unattended, but its okay because they're having balloon adventures in Europe.

Quick Review
Like many other episodes so far this season, the jokes are lacking in both quantity and quality for this episode to have any chance of being good.  Even though the slight twist in a repeating plotline (Moe remodels his bar... but now Marge is helping!) isn't enough to really hurt the episode any, there just isn't anything to either redeem or salvage the episode from being another 'mailing it in' effort.

Final Score: 5.9

Moe Baby Blues (S14, E22-313)

Nobody pulls off 'creep' like Moe.

Plot Summary
The entire town, it seems, congregate to Springfield's botanical garden to witness the blooming of a rare, giant flower.  At the bar, Moe is unaware of this but sees on the news that all of his customers are at the garden, so he decides to go as well.  However, his presence at the garden puts the area one over the allowed capacity, and so Moe is asked to leave.  The flower bloom, but shoots out a rather toxic pollen which forces everyone to flee.  With traffic jamming along a bridge, Homer accidentally crashes his car against the one in front of him.  In an odd series of events, Maggie's safety belt breaks and she flies out through the car's sun roof as it crashes.  Meanwhile, Moe is also at the bridge, preparing to jump to a pathetic death, when Maggie literally falls right into his arms.  The people stuck on the bridge witness this, and Moe is declared a hero.

Some morning later, Moe goes to the Simpson house to see Maggie.  With Homer late for work, Marge is forced to have Moe take care of Maggie for a bit to tend to the latest round of Grampa's senility.  Upon returning, Marge finds that Maggie has taken quite a liking to Moe, and vice-versa and so Moe becomes the go-to babysitter for Maggie.  Moe does a lot of stuff for Maggie, even reenacting the first Godfather movie for her.  However, in typical fashion, Moe gets a little too close to Maggie for her parents' liking; Homer is upset that Moe has become her father figure instead of him, and Marge is starting to get upset that Moe has learned more things about Maggie than she has.  It comes to a head one late night, when the two learn that Moe has both a video camera and a baby monitor in Maggie's room and rushes to Maggie's side when she's crying.  Homer forces Moe out, and tells him to stay away from Maggie.

Moe once again battles through depression afterward.  A night later, Maggie overhears some mobsters discussing a hit.  To cheer up Louie, Fat Tony does the gag with the orange peel from The Godfather.  Maggie recognizes the bit from when Moe did it, and mistakes Fat Tony for Moe.  As the mafia take their leave, Maggie exits her room through the open window and gives chase.  Marge finds out a short time later, and Homer quickly concludes that Moe must've taken her.  One police sting later, it turns out that Moe is innocent, but Homer and Marge decide to let Moe help them find their baby.  At the house, Moe finding a discarded orange peel and realizes what has happened.

Maggie chases the mobster to a restaurant, where Fat Tony and his gang engage in a standstill against another mob, with Maggie caught inbetween.  Moe, Homer and Marge arrive just in time to see this, and Moe decides to enter the restaurant to grab Maggie, openly describing his sob story to the mobsters, bringing them to tears.  Afterward, though Moe makes no effort to get his babysitting 'job' back, Homer does agree to bring Maggie around whenever the two meet up (or something to that effect, anyway).

Quick Review
This episode is a strong finish to what has been a very disappointing season.  Moe episodes can be hit or miss, but somehow an episode focused on him as well as Maggie works out just fine.  It helps that Fat Tony and his gang are involved, as they usually give an episode a nice boost of comedy, but otherwise the episode contains plenty of jokes and hilarity to make it one of the better episodes of the season.

Final Score: 8.1

Homer the Moe (S13, E03-272)

Yep, being a bartender must be fun made out of fun.

Plot Summary
Bart is digging a hole for some reason, and Chinese spies are starting to suspect Bart is trying to dig his way to China.  That's the lame story Homer is trying to tell at the bar, which frustrates poor Moe.  Tired of Homer's stupidity, Barney's current sobriety, and whatever annoying things Lenny and Carl do, Moe has gotten worn out on bartending.  He decides to go back to his old bartending school, Swigmore University, and has Homer tend to his bar in the meantime.

As Homer garners the praise of Barney, Lenny and Carl for his carefree style of bartending, Moe returns to Swigmore and meets with his old professor.  Moe is informed that the reason behind his fatigue is that his bar is, as Moe put it, a craphole, and that remodeling the bar could reinvigorate him.  Just like that, Moe returns to Springfield and begins sprucing up the bar with the help of some ultra hipster designer named Formico.  Formico transforms the bar into one full of post-modern decor and the bar is renamed to simply "m".  Homer and his bar mates give the new bar a try but its just too weird for them.  Homer confronts Moe and tries to get him to change it back, but Moe instead has him thrown out.

Homer, still upset at Moe, decides to build a tavern in his own garage, forcing his family to help refresh him and his bar mates.  Meanwhile, Moe has trouble getting along with his new patrons, as their snobby, hipster demeanors doesn't mesh well with Moe at all.  The ghost of his now late professor somewhat mocks Moe by telling him that even though the bar has been spruced up, Moe has cost himself his regulars, and the tip jar is still as empty as ever.  Moe regrets what he's done and goes to make amends with Homer and the others, but overhears them enjoying themselves at Homer's house and investigates.

Moe finds them at Homer's new bar enjoying a live performance from R.E.M. (whom Homer had duped into playing there), though Homer avoided legal troubles by proclaiming it as a "Hunter's Club" instead.  Moe, now mad at Homer, points out that hunting clubs must go hunting regularly and Homer, still mad at Moe, does just that.  Homer goes out to hunt a turkey.  Lisa tries to stop him, but Homer won't listen.  Moe and Lisa meet up and the two agree to stop Homer from shooting a turkey.  They do so, but Homer accidentally shoots Moe in the leg as a result.  Afterward, Homer and Moe make up, Moe's bar returns to normal thanks to the quick handiwork of professional contractors, and Moe and the Simpsons as well as R.E.M. have some kind of tofu-gluten slop shaped as a turkey to appease Lisa and the alternate rock group.

Quick Review
This episode has its moments.  Moe in episodes where he's the focus usually works out pretty well, and this episode, mostly, is no exception.  I've heard people bring up similarity between this and the Season 3 episode Flaming Moe's, but other than the fact that Moe's bar gets popular, there's hardly any similarities at all.

Unfortunately, what was a pretty good episode gets dragged down with the appearance of R.E.M.  Their lines weren't funny at all, and the scene where Homer is jamming to a song of theirs was the low point of the episode for me, as is the line "that's not the R.E.M. way".  They return for the episode's conclusion but they're hardly any better there (I would say 'funnier' but that would imply there was something involving them that was funny in the first place).  They bring down this episode pretty hard which is a shame because the episode really didn't need them at all in the first place.

Final Score: 7.0

Pygmoelian (S11, E16-242)

More like 'pugmoelian', right?  I mean, right?

Plot Summary
The Simpsons go to Duff Days, a beer festival.  One event in said festival is a bartending contest, which Moe is a part of.  Though it seems he's going to lose to a well endowed female contestant, the final contest is a bum tossing and after the female contestant is too disgusted to partake, Moe is barely able to edge out victory.  As a reward, Moe's picture is to be put on the upcoming Duff calender.  When the calenders come in, though, Moe finds that his face is covered with several stickers and, after peeling said stickers off, he's pretty darn ugly.

Depressed over that, Moe takes Lenny's advice and gets plastic surgery for his face.  The idea works, and Moe becomes presentable.  With Homer's help, Moe decides to use his new looks... for revenge!  After a few successful vengeance runs, Moe turns his new eyes towards the TV studio.  He reveals that, 25 years ago, he was denied a role (Dr. Tad Winslow) on a soap opera because he was ugly.  He goes to confront the executive of the show, but his new looks coincide with the actor of Winslow demanding a pay raise combine for the executive to give the role to Moe.

Moe's new gig starts off pretty well, and he gets all the ladies.  However, Moe is able to get a peek at future storylines for the show, and is angered to learn that Winslow's character is to die, leaving Moe without the role again.  On the next taping, which is aired live apparently, Moe has Homer come in and reveal several upcoming storylines.  As it turns out, though, Winslow's death was only part of a dream sequence, but the damage is done and Moe is fired.  Angered, Moe slams the door of a set behind him, confident his new looks will get him other roles.  However, the set wobbles and falls towards him, landing on his new face.  The weight of the wall forces Moe's face to change again, but back to what it was before, an oddity Moe begins to question just as the episode ends.

Quick Review
This was another episode that had its moments but not really enough of them for this episode to be considered great.  It was also sorta weird that this episode, focused on Moe, had Homer around for so many parts where Homer just happened to be around.  Whatever.

Final Score: 7.2

Dumbbell Indemnity (S09, E16-194)

"Must... kill... Moe... wheeeeeee!"

Plot Summary
Homer goes to Moe's after an unfortunate incident with the water heater.  As Homer praises Marge for dealing with all of his nonsense, Moe gets upset, having not gone on a date in years.  Homer realizes Moe's plight and decides to take him to a different bar to find a date, but Moe isn't so good with the ladies and botches his attempts.  As the two leave the bar, a flower girl by the name of Renee offers Moe a flower, and as the two talk, Moe is able to get her to go on a date with him (though she admits later it was initially out of pity).  The date is successful enough for the two to go on more dates, as Renee has taken a liking to Moe somehow.

Moe's extravagant spending on these dates, though, comes to an end when he runs out of money.  Believing that Renee has only stayed with him because of his money, Moe desperately tries to come up with a way to get more.  Moe comes up with a plan to have Homer steal his car and wreck it so he can collect $5000 in insurance, getting Homer to go along with it as a favor.  Moe also has a perfect alibi: he's going to a police charity event on board a yacht so there won't even be any police to catch Homer or even know he stole it.

The event starts, and Homer 'steals' the car (though he has to stop Snake from stealing it, a move he quickly regrets).  He goes to the railroad tracks to have the 10:15 train wreck it, but is sidetracked by a drive-in theatre showing of Hail to the Chimp, and drives in to watch that.  Homer falls asleep during the movie, and misses the train.  Desperate to find a new way to wreck the car, Homer decides to run it off a cliff and into a body of water, however he does so right near where the police yacht is and after failing to bail correctly, Homer goes in with the car.  Though he is able to escape and surface, Homer is arrested for grand theft auto with Moe a witness to what's happened.

Moe does get $5000 for the car, but Homer pleads with Moe to get him out.  Moe can't change his story or he'll be put in jail as well.  Moe finally decides to spend the money on Homer's bail, but before he does Renee shows him a travel agency advertising a trip to Hawaii.  With pleasing Renee his top priority, Moe decides to buy tickets to Hawaii instead of bailing Homer out.

Upon realizing Moe isn't going to bail him, and after an exercise program, Homer is able to find a way to escape, and does so with the intent of killing Moe.  Meanwhile, Moe is haunted by not bailing out Homer, and his guilt overcomes him.  He tells Renee everything that's happened.  Renee is shocked, of course, but is willing to forgive as Moe tries to set things right.  However, Moe then starts coming up with a plan involving corpses and burning down the bar, and Renee is done with him, leaving as soon as she can.  Moe accidentally sets the bar on fire afterwards, just as Homer arrives to kill him.  The struggle between the two does not last long as they both suffocate from the smoke.  Just then, Barney emerges from the bathroom, and as he sees the bar on fire, he acts: he takes two kegs of beer to safety, then goes back in for Moe and Homer along with more beer before passing out.  Homer and Moe come to and make amends.  With Moe's bar burning up, Homer decides to help out his friend: by relocating Moe's to Homer's house.

Quick Review
This episode starts off pretty slow but as Moe starts in on his crazy schemes the comedy starts to pick up.  Apparently, Hank Azaria (Moe's voice actor) and Helen Hunt (who voiced Renee) were actually dating in real life and even married some time later, but were divorced a year afterwards.  Just... wanted to bring that up, I guess.

Final Score: 8.4

The Homer They Fall (S08, E03-156)

A promotional shot accurately depicting the events of the fight.

Plot Summary
Bart gets himself a tactical belt of some such, but it gets promptly taken by the school's bullies.  Homer learns of this and tries to get it back by talking to the bullies' parents at the bar, but they only beat him up to, or so they try.  As Moe shoos them off, he notices that despite having taken several blows to the head, Homer not only didn't fall, but he seems completely okay.  Moe suggests that Homer take advantage of this condition by taking up boxing, which Homer agrees to.

Marge forces Homer to see a doctor after hearing the news, and its learned that Homer's brain is far more protected from the inside than most others.  Later, Moe gives Homer a workout when its learned that Homer is terrible at actual boxing, so Moe comes up with the plan where Homer just stands there, taking punches, then when his opponent is worn out from punching, he can just push him over for an easy win.  This plan works out well, though all of Homer's opponents are some combination of bums or hobos.

Some time later, Moe, a former boxer himself, is met by his former manager, Lucius Sweet (who acts and makes as much money as Don King, and looks just like him, too).  Sweet, who manages the temporarily incarcerated boxing champion Drederick Tatum, offers Moe a chance for the big life: only if Homer can last three rounds against Tatum.  Moe is taken aback, knowing that not even Homer could stand too many of Tatum's punches, but is too tempted by the offer and accepts.

Homer seems blissfully unaware, somehow, of who Tatum is or how good he is, and willingly agrees to the fight.  Marge, who IS aware, pleads with Moe to throw in the towel if Homer is in trouble, though later Moe tosses the towel away in frustration.  A lot of celebrities show up for the fight, most notably that guy who flies in on a homemade fan.  Once the fight starts, sure enough, Homer is getting beat up bad by Tatum, though still standing on his feet.  Moe seemingly runs off, being unable to deal with the slaughter.  However, just before Tatum deals the finishing blow, Moe flies in with the fan guy's fan to save Homer at the last instant.  Sweet gives Moe his fight money out of disgusted pity and takes his leave, and Marge is happy that Moe was able to help Homer when he needed it.  Needing time to think, Moe flies off in the fan contraption, helping people around the world.

Quick Review
This ended up being a pretty good episode, with a lot of jokes and good boxing references throughout.  Things really picked up once Tatum was brought into the episode, and I really did like most of the "Tatum is going to destroy Homer" jokes that came up as a result.

Final Score: 9.1