Every Simpsons Ever: “There’s No Disgrace Like Home”

Episode 4: “There’s No Disgrace Like Home”

Episode 4 begins with Lisa and Bart fighting. Two stalwart siblings caught in an eternal quarrel. Brother shoving sister, sister pushing brother, forever. And here comes Homer to break it all up. He tells his kids that they better get their acts together. The family has been invited to a company picnic down at the ol’ Burns estate. So, if he can just get his family to behave, Homer thinks he can make some headway in his relationship with his boss.

After a car trip full of reminders to be polite, the Simpsons arrive at the company picnic. Standing in a queue waiting to enter, it becomes clear that Homer wasn’t the only employee to bring along a gelatin mold. According to Mr. Burns, some dope has been going around the plant telling all the employees how much Burns loves gelatin. Regardless, when the Simpsons arrive at the front of the greeting processional, Burns prompts Smithers for their names. It’s bad enough that Burns doesn’t know Homer, his own employee, but then the cantankerous tycoon misreads Bart’s name and calling him “Brat,” only to have the mistake reaffirmed by Bart’s own father.

“I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I think there’s a little al-key-hol in this punch.” – Marge Simpson

While Homer chases after a rampaging Bart and Lisa, Marge decides to drop Maggie off in the hardly-supervised tot drop-off. Free of those burdens, Marge joins the other company wives and soon becomes overwhelmed with the snobbish, competitive nature of her new acquaintances. She confronts her nerves by steadily gulping down the punch at the party, which she soon learns is more-than-a-little spiked.

With her family distracted by a potato-sack race, Marge really goes to town on the punch. Soon, she’s super-tipsy, and leads the other ladies in an over-the-top song and dance routine. Then, Homer whisks her away and tries to sober her up a little while Mr. Burns prepares a toast. With the devoted (and now white, again) Smithers at his side, Burns thanks everyone, and tells them all to leave immediately, as he will soon be releasing the hounds.

“I’m sorry, Marge, but sometimes I think we’re the worst family in town.”                 -Homer
“Well, maybe we should move to a larger community.”
-Marge

Disgraced by his family’s behavior, Homer drives his devilish brood home where they’ll no longer be judged. He skulks off to do a little thinking at Moe’s Tavern, where he gets into a fist-fight with neighborhood drunk Barney. Then, like a message from the ether, Homer sees a commercial on TV advertising Dr. Marvin Monroe’s Family Center, promising “family bliss, or double your money back.” A skeptical Simpsons family reluctantly agrees.

At the Family Center, it becomes immediately clear that the Simpsons are not a typical case. Dr. Monroe instructs the family in a drawing exercise, prompting them to draw the source of their frustrations. When everyone draws Homer (except for Homer, who draws airplanes), Dr. Monroe begins to see the problems more clearly. After a few more exercises, Dr. Monroe submits the Simpsons to the extreme methods of electric-shock therapy. Each member of the family has a panel in front of them with buttons that correspond to each of their relatives. Bart shocks Lisa. Marge shocks Bart. Maggie shocks everyone, etc. Despite Dr. Monroe’s best instructions, the shocking increases to the point of causing a devastating power outage throughout all of Springfield.

With all of his ideas expended, a defeated Dr. Monroe refunds the Simpsons their money, doubling what they paid, per the commercial at Moe’s. Miraculously, this is what pulls the family together, as the victorious Simpsons take their hard-earned cash to buy a huge TV, a surefire therapy that will never fail them the way Monroe did.

FIRSTS

• Dr. Marvin Monroe
• Eddie
• Lou
• “Release the Hounds”

GAGS

• Chalkboard – “I will not burp in class”
• Couch – The Simpsons squeeze into the couch. This time, Homer pops off and slides away