Home Away from Homer
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| The Simpsons episode | |
| "Home Away From Homer" | |
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| Episode no. | 355 |
| Prod. code | GABF15 |
| Orig. Airdate | May 15, 2005 |
| Written by | Joel H. Cohen |
| Directed by | Bob Anderson |
| Chalkboard | "A booger is not a bookmark" |
| Couch gag | The family sits on the couch, which turns out to be the lure of an anglerfish |
| Guest star | Jason Bateman as himself |
| Season 16 November 7, 2004 – May 15, 2005 |
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| List of all Simpsons episodes... | |
"Home Away from Homer" is the twentieth episode of The Simpsons' sixteenth season. The episode aired on May 15, 2005 in the US.
[edit] Synopsis
One lazy Sunday afternoon, Lisa calls in to an unpopular public radio station and wins tickets for four to a movie called Kosovo Autumn, her being the only person in Springfield willing to listen to discussions about obscure Peruvian banjo music. The film, a parody on several Eastern European dramas, is subtitled, the original language being Albanian. Since Lisa only has four tickets, Homer leaves baby Maggie with his neighbor, Ned Flanders, after barging into his house to find him in the midst of bathing. Friendly as always, Ned doesn't mind Homer's intrusion and agrees to babysit without charge. When Simpson family returns, Marge picks up Maggie and hastily offers to pay Ned for his troubles. He politely refuses but admits that a little extra cash in his life wouldn't hurt, seeing as the giant retail store Left-Mart is threatening his business. Kindly, Marge suggests that he rent out one of the rooms to some college students. He agrees, giving the room to a pair of girls from the community college. Taking advantage of his trusting nature, the two use their room as a staging area for a pornographic website called Sexyslumberparty.com. Bart and Milhouse come across a banner ad for it while searching "Ask Jeeves", and share their discovery with Homer. Finding the whole thing extremely amusing, Homer proceeds to spread the word, which rips through town like wildfire. A self-righteous Marge, however, soon discovers both father and son viewing the pornographic material and demands Homer tell Ned everything. Horrified at both the town's mockery and Homer's betrayal after working so hard to be kind to them, Ned promptly leaves town, moving to Humbleton, Pennsylvania, home of the charming porcelain "Humble figurines" (a parody of Hummel figurines), which he collects.
Coach Clay, the new neighbor who moves into Ned's house, proceeds to bully, mock, and physically attack Homer at every opportunity, berating him for his weight and lack on strength. He begins to cuts down trees Ned's pine trees, which fall into the Simpsons' yard, and siphons gas from Homer's car, (a parallel to Homer often stealing valuables from Ned). Meanwhile, Ned originally finds the pseudo-Germanic town of Humbleton to be everything he ever dreamed of. The townspeople are friendly to a fault; the houses are charming and freshly painted. It seems to be the ultimate idealic utopia. However, when applying for a job at the Humbleton Figurine Workshop, the manager's only request is for him to his shave his mustache, declaring it '"hippie-ish" and distracting. Ned briefly considers it but soon decides his '"nose neighbor" is more important then the townspeople, who immediately shun him. Meanwhile, Marge becomes irritated with Coach Clay's heavy metal music and brash behavior and forces Homer to try and fix what he did. Homer then drives to Pennslyvania and pleads with Ned to return, who, upon seeing the judgemental faces of the Humbleton residents all glating at him, agrees.
Unfortunately, Coach Clay doesn't want to leave the house, despite Ned pointing out his $200,000 check bounced and, legally, he still owns the property. However, he is persuaded when Ned overpowers him by sheer force, causing him to beg for mercy. Homer then hits him over the head with a chair anyway, inexplicably declaring that it was "what heroes do". LA few hours later, Homer obtains a musical organ places it in Ned's backyard for a welcome-home party, which several Springfield residents attend. At first Ned has doubts about it, believing that Homer stole it from the church (which he did, based on the several bent pipes and Homer's guilty expression), but decides to let the party continue. All is right again in the Simpson universe.
[edit] Trivia
- The name Kosovo Autumn is (for The Simpsons) a surprisingly obscure and dark in-joke of sorts, regarding the infamous Croatian Spring, or perhaps the German Autumn.
- Two of the other films in the strange arthouse movie theatre (Limited Appeal Theater) showing Kosovo Autumn are In Search of Molly, Alaska and Oppenheimer's Elevator (possibly a play on the "Schindler's Lift" pun).
- The tune played at the garden party at the end is 1980 song Freeze Frame by J. Geils Band.
- This is the third PG rated episode in Australia to air with an advisory warning before the episode (In this case, 'sexual references').
- Jason Bateman of Arrested Development fame appears in this episode. Not long before this episode aired, Dan Castellaneta appeared in an episode of Arrested Development as a doctor and uttered Homer's trademark "D'oh!"
[edit] Cultural references
- David Sedaris: NPR mentions him.
- Beastie Boys: The coach works out to the song “You gotta fight for your right to party”
- Doctor Zhivago: The song in the background when Flanders drives away is “Lara's Theme”
- Bad Company: Ned’s first days are accompanied by the song “Bad Company”
- Punk'd, Pimp My Ride: The Chop Shop’d parodies both
- Roger Ebert: Homer says: “I feel like Roger Ebert or his kiss-ass new partner”
- Scream: Homer changes channel to a guy with a ghost mask and a knife
- Wal-Mart: There is a chain store in this episode, called LeftMart.
- Jimmy Fallon: Homer says: “What are you kids laughing at? If you say Jimmy Fallon, I'll know you're lying.”
- The Seven Year Itch: When Flanders lets the breeze flow through his moustache, it’s a parody of the “Breeze Skirt” scene.
- If...: Flanders bursts into the ornament factory with a scarf covering his mustache in the same manner as Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell).
