Jaws Wired Shut
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| The Simpsons episode | |
| "Jaws Wired Shut" | |
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| Episode no. | 278 |
| Prod. code | DABF05 |
| Orig. Airdate | January 27, 2002 |
| Show Runner(s) | Al Jean |
| Written by | Matt Selman |
| Directed by | Nancy Kruse |
| Couch gag | The living room is black and white and Homer is portrayed as the Little Tramp. |
| SNPP capsule | |
| Season 13 November 6, 2001 – May 22, 2002 |
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| List of all Simpsons episodes... | |
"Jaws Wired Shut" is the ninth episode of the thirteenth season of The Simpsons.
[edit] Synopsis
While the Simpsons are relaxing outside their home, they see the Springfield gay pride parade passing by. Many homosexual-themed floats pass by, including one with gay dogs, which intrigues Santa's Little Helper, freaking Homer out. He drags his family (and SLH) away and they go to the Springfield Googolplex to watch a movie called "Shenani-Goats".
However, the movie never seems to start, what with the number of commercials, public service announcements, movie trailers, etc.. Homer starts getting tired of all these previews and jumps up in front of the screen chanting, "Start the movie!", to the approval of the audience, all except Marge and Lisa (though Bart has no trouble inciting his rage further). The ushers, fearing that this situation could spiral out of control, attack Homer with giant Kit Kat sticks. Homer runs, pursued by the confectionery-armed ushers. At the park, Mayor Quimby is inaugurating a large metal statue of boxer Drederick Tatum. Homer, turning his head to taunt the ushers, runs into the statue's metal fist, which hits him squarely in the jaw. He hits the ground, with a broken jaw, crying in pain.
Later, at the Springfield General Hospital, Dr. Hibbert wires Homer's jaws shut, saying that he will not be able to speak for a while, and not be able to eat solid food. On hearing this, Homer tries to commit suicide by using a suicide machine. However, because he is so large, the hypodermic needles only provide sexual release.
At home, unable to eat a steak, he puts it in his nose, but ends up feeling more woozy than satisfied. Bart takes advantage of Homer's problem, by asking if he had any verbal objection to his using Milhouse as a human yo-yo. At Moe's, they are visited by Duffman, who is there for the Duff Trivia Challenge, in example, anyone who answers the trivia question correctly wins a lifetime supply of Duff Beer. The question is: "What beverage, brewed since ancient times, is made from hops and grains?". Homer knows but is unable to say it. The other barflies and Moe are too dumb or drunk to answer. Finally, time runs out and Duffman says that the answer is: Beer. Homer is grief-stricken at the thought of having lost the chance of a lifetime supply of Duff.
Homer starts using a little chalkboard to communicate with family while unable to speak. That night, in bed with Marge, he asks her (using the chalkboard) about her day. Pleasantly surprised at Homer's attention, she starts talking about not liking Ned Flanders for wanting to ban culottes from the school, which makes Homer love her more. The next day, when Lisa comes home angry, she finds an attentive ear in Homer and gets a hug from him (although it's only to "cork her cry-hole"). Bart also confides in Homer about his negative feelings about being the class clown. Homer even listens to Grampa's rambling out his stories on his senile old mind.
Marge decides that, since Homer is so well-behaved, they can going to the Springfield formal ball at the Country Club. Apparently last year's dance didn't go so well, with Homer and a donkey knocking down the cake. At the ball, he is rewarded by an impressed Mr. Burns, who thinks that Homer has correctly guessed that the music playing is from Southern Hungary, when Homer actually wrote "So hungry" on his chalkboard. Homer is complimented for not having laughed at an aristocrat's crazy eye, and for passing on the appetizers. They even get invited to have dinner with a socialite someday. As they dance, Marge is ecstatic that Homer did not screw up this magical evening. He even passes up an opportunity to horse around with the donkey (from last year). Dr. Hibbert informs Homer that he can remove the jaw wires the next day. Though Homer is happy, Marge is not.
The next day, the jaw wires come off. At Moe's, Homer tells Lenny and Carl about the virtues of just listening. They try it and hear Moe, in the backroom, trying to arrange for an escort. Lindsay Naegle, now a guest booker for the talk show "Afternoon Yak", invites Homer and Marge to the show. During the innuendo-filled show, Marge, with the support of the hosts, pleads with Homer to stop his "rascally ways". Despite the upcoming Demolition Derby, Homer decides to do it for her sake.
The next day, Marge comes home to a clean house, just the way she left it. However, she hears Homer declare that he's going to kill Bart. When she investigates, she finds that he is rehearsing a play with Bart. Homer even starts to drink milk, instead of his usual beer, and goes to sleep earlier than usual. However, all this peace and quiet is having an adverse effect on Marge, who starts going crazy with boredom. The demolition derby form flies into her hand, and she decides to give it a try. When she leaves, Homer wakes up and finds that Marge is gone and so is the demolition derby form. He puts two and two together, and heads off to the derby, with the kids in tow.
At the derby, Marge, in her station-wagon, wearing a safety helmet, smashes into another car and feels good about it. However, all good feeling goes down the gutter when a large black SUV crashes into the stationwagon. Homer and the kids show up and see Marge in trouble. Homer has no idea how to save his wife, considering he has given up being reckless. Bart comes up with an idea and calls for a beer can from a vendor. He opens it, Popeye-style, by squeezing it, till its contents come bursting out and fall into Homer's open mouth. Homer, in a Popeye accent, declares that he is going to save his wife. He rides the same mischievous donkey (from the ball) into the arena. Marge spots Homer and starts gesturing wildly (like Olive Oyl in distress) towards him. The donkey stops, exhausted, and Homer feels that he needs "some fuel for his mule; some gas for his ass". He feeds the donkey beer, energizing it for a second, but putting it to sleep immediately after.
Determined to save Marge, Homer runs over to the station wagon and pulls Marge to safety just before the black SUV delivers another crushing blow. Marge, relieved to be alive, decides that though the family needs a live wire, it's not her. Homer comforts her by saying that she's a good wet blanket, the kind he likes wrapped around him. They leave the derby and go home.
The derby announcers recap quickly the episode's highlights and end the show.
[edit] Trivia
- This is the first time they acknowledge that there has been (and, in future episodes, will be) more than one Duffman. As the current incarnation enters Moe's, Lenny remarks, "I thought he was dead." Duffman responds "Duffman can never die; only the actors who play him!" This point is further emphasized in the episode "Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play."
- If you look closely at the X-ray of Homer's skull, specifically his brain, you can see the crayon lodged in his brain from the episode "HOMR."
- Goof: Smithers appears in both the gay pride parade (along with Patty on the "in the closet" float) and in the movie theater. However, the Simpsons left the parade while it was still going on to go see the movie.
- On the cinema, you can see a movie title called "Dude, Where's My Pepsi?". This is obviously a parody of "Dude, Where's My Car?".
- When Lisa asks if Homer really wants to know what happened, Homer shows the chalkboard saying "YES", when she asks "Really?", he rubs it out and writes "YES".
[edit] Cultural references
- The episode's title is a reference to the 1999 Stanley Kubrick film Eyes Wide Shut.
- The rich woman asking Marge and Homer to dine at Toad Hall is a reference to Mr. Toad of The Wind in the Willows
- There's also a lot of classical music in this episode: Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee when Maggie's pacifier gets stuck to Homer's wires, Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik during the start of the formal dance, Johann Strauss II's The Blue Danube when Marge and Homer are dancing, and the theme from the movie The Magnificent Seven when Homer enters the demolition derby on the donkey.
