OTH: The Simpsons- "Simpson Tide" / "The Trouble with Trillions"
Come, join Admiral Stupid!
Season 9, Episode 19
Aired March 29, 1998
Directed by Milton Gray
Written by Joshua Sternin & Jeffrey Ventimilia
Synopsis: In this week’s example of terrible safety management, Homer puts a donut in the reactor core, hoping to have it grow exponentially, only for it to cause a fire in the plant. It’s usually a crapshoot if Homer is reprimanded for his stupidity at work, but this time he is deservedly fired by Mr. Burns. Later, while sulking on the couch, Homer sees an ad promoting the naval reserve and is inspired to sign up, and convinces Barney, Moe and even Apu to sign up with him. While basic training is tough on them, Homer and his friends make it through and are soon welcomed among the elite of our nation’s proud military complex, reaping the benefits. One thing that doesn’t make him proud, however, is when Bart sneaks off and gets an earring to try to match Milhouse at school. Homer is furious and demands that Bart takes it off before joining Springfield’s local navy regiment for some war games in a fancy submarine. The regiment’s Captain (Rod Steiger) takes a liking to Homer and when he’s called to inspect a jam in one of the torpedo bays, puts him in charge of the ship. The Captain finds the bay full of beer bottles and empty potato chip bags, and while he’s stuck cleaning it, the crew notes a Russian sub across from them. Fearing retaliation, Homer haphazardly calls for torpedoes to be fired, sending the Captain right in the enemy ship, starting an international crisis. Now Homer is in charge, and things couldn’t be worse. It turns out that the Soviet Union never disbanded, and the Russian ship attacks, leaving a pinhole leak in the American ship. While it looks like they’re going to sink, Homer is able to save the day by recalling his son’s earring, which is sitting in his pocket, and plugs it into the pinhole. He saves the day, but Homer still needs to explain himself to multiple militaries, and his confession that this is his first day gets plenty of laughs all around. Due to sheer luck, Homer is only dishonorably discharged.
Last week we had the last Oakley and Weinstein episode, but now we’re hitting the last Jean and Reiss episode… or at least the last Mike Reiss episode. Al Jean will return…
This time, Jean and Reiss brought writers from The Critic, and you can tell, the episode is a little heavier on non-sequiturs and film references than a standard (at least their standard) Simpsons episode. As a fan of both shows, I welcome the slight change of pace, but I also notice how this feels closer to a then-modern episode than their previous endeavors, and as far as I’m concerned, this isn’t a problem at all.
A lot of the episode references Crimson Tide, which according to Jean and Reiss in their (surprisingly, yet welcomely empty) commentary, the bones of this story existed before the film’s release, and the nods were added in later. I can understand why some may call bullshit on this, but I can understand it, recognizing that considering everything else he’s done, it’s only fair that Homer accidentally committing a war crime would be next on the agenda.
Luckily, the show recognizes how silly this would have to be for Homer, and his actions are silly and totally coincidental. Homer’s a buffoon, after all, not a monster. And it shows how far along the series has come that Homer can be relied on to commit a light treason and that it can add up. It’s a silly notion, but the kind of silly that fits the show.
If I have only one problem with “Simpson Tide”, it’s that Bart’s earring could have played a bigger part of the story, or at least his connection to the earring should have. The earring itself works as a piece of deus ex machina, but one last line from Bart at the end, like him no longer caring about the earring, would have been perfect.
Still, this is a funny episode, with the show’s first truly spectacular showrunners offering one last triumph before the pair go their separate ways. It’s a joy from beginning to end.
Oh yeah, as for the bit about the Soviet Union not collapsing and how it contrasts to what happened last year, well, here are Al Jean’s comments. Again, this show doesn’t predict the future, and I don’t think it was even trying to imply something about the past. These things happen.
Season 9, Episode 20
Aired April 5, 1998
Directed by Swinton O. Scott III
Written by Ian Maxtone-Graham
Synopsis: It’s the last day to return your taxes before penalty, and Homer somehow forgot to file them at all. He rushes through, lying about basically everything, and mails them in just in time. And wouldn’t you know it, the Simpson’s tax report was picked for heavy auditing, and Homer is quickly picked up by the IRS. He’s facing serious jailtime for mishandling his taxes, but there’s a light at the tunnel- Homer can avoid prison if he works for Agent Johnson of the FBI. Homer goes around town and spies on his friends for the FBI and is able to help convict a couple of people who’ve committed egregious illegal activity. Homer thinks that he’s done, but Johnson has one more mission for him. It turns out that the government made a one trillion dollar bill, which went into the hands of one C. Montgomery Burns to deliver to countries affected by WWII. But in actuality, Burns hoarded the bill himself, but the only intel Johnson and the FBI have is that it’s in his house somewhere. Homer is asked to infiltrate his house to find it, being an employee of Burns. As per usual, his boss doesn’t recognize Homer, but he allows him in anyway, thinking that Homer is actually working for an out-of-print magazine and intends to interview him. Burns shows Homer around his private museum, including a replica of the trillion dollar bill. When Homer asks if that’s the real thing, Burns pulls it out himself, when Johnson and one of his agents run in to steal it. Burns convinces Homer to knock out the agents and hightail it out of the house. They drive over to Smithers’ house and pick him up as the three try to plan a way to escape. Burns has them drive into his airbase and jump in one of his private jets so they can flee the country. Johnson eventually catches up to their jet, but just before they’re caught, Burns and co fly into international waters as they look for a new place to inhabit, settling for Cuba. It turns out that they meet with Castro just before he’s willing to call communism a failure and admit defeat to America, but instead, when he sees Burns’ trillion dollar bill, he steals it and now they’ll do okay. Defeated, the three Americans decide to return to Springfield, and the episode just kind of ends.
This episode’s title is taken from a classic Star Trek, “The Trouble with Tribbles”, and I’d kind of rather watch that instead.
I joke, but “The Trouble With Trillions” does feel a little off as I sit down and think about it. This is still a funny episode, but I also don’t think that it’s the best version of itself, almost like a knock-off Swartzwelder, down to the frequent old-timey references. Knock-off Swartzwelder is still quite good, I laughed a lot, but it’s not a fully baked story.
Trying to police how a work should be made isn’t always the best way to write criticism, but it’s hard to not feel like what we got could have been better than the final product.
Still, even if he’s only a key player for the second half, Burns is always welcome as a tertiary protagonist. The character usually gets the most interesting stories among the show’s supporting cast, and also features some of Harry Shearer’s best work. Here, Shearer does a lot of voice-overs, with the episode also heavily featuring Smithers and makes room for his turn as Agent Johnson, a standard, if entertaining force.
Ultimately, I don’t have a lot to say about “The Trouble with Trillions”. It’s a pleasant episode, but not the show at its finest. We’re still in a good place, but I know we can do better.
Homer’s Bar Tab:
Chalkboard Gag Wars: “My butt does not deserve a website” vs. “I will not demand what I’m worth.” Heh, nowadays Bart would settle for an OnlyFans for his butt. Or he would after turning 18.
Couch Gag Wars: Rocky & Bullwinkle reference vs. men using the couch as a sauna. Moose and squirrel, duh.
The mall becoming full of Starbucks feels simultaneously of its time and timeless, most of all due to the death of malls.
“My head hurts and my ear hurts. I have two owies.”
Wait, the Captain’s name is Tenille? lol
Damn, is Sherri really that much smarter than Terri?
This is brought up in the commentary, but the tax return ball changes to a ball of string when Homer meets with the IRS.
A) Business/pleasure B) Smuggle cigars C) Assassinate Castro
“Cheese” is a terrible code word.
Next Week: I’m going to do my one episode, and it’s looking like a memorable one- Bart and Lisa work on a kid-friendly edition of the news.