OTH: The Simpsons- "The Joy of Sect" / "Das Boat"

We are watching Fox. Or Disney+. I'm using the DVDs, myself.

Season 9, Episode 13

Aired February 8, 1998

Directed by Steven Dean Moore

Written by Steve O’Donnell

Synopsis: Homer is invited to a weekend get-together from the new cult in town, the Movementarians, whose goal is to earn enough money from its people to build a spaceship to send everyone to the planet Blisstonia. While it takes some time for the Movementarians to crack into his skull, they eventually succeed, and Homer sells the house to his new ordinance to help with the movement. It takes some time for the rest of the family to adapt, but soon the kids are in full support of the Leader and his movement, even though all they see of him is his gloves. Even Lisa gets sucked in with the hopes of maintaining her GPA, but Marge remains skeptical. She really doesn’t like seeing how the cult has shaped her kids and husband, and plans to make a run for it to get them out of the premises, and after a tough fight, she makes it out and teams up with Reverend Lovejoy, Flanders, and Groundskeeper Willie to try to bring her family back. They rent a limo and give Marge similar gloves to the Leader to trick Homer and the kids into coming inside. Marge easily wins the kids back with the empty promise of hover bikes, but it takes a little more convincing to take Homer away from the cult. Ned nearly cracks the code by offering Homer a nice, frosty beer, but the church’s layers grab him before he can take more than one sip. Still, that touch of Duff on the tongue is enough for Homer to reclaim his sanity, as when he returns to the farm, he opens the Leader’s secret barn door to reveal… a very impressive spaceship, that flies off without taking any follower with him due to Homer’s skepticism. However, the ship soon falls apart as it becomes evident that the Leader is riding a floating bike with bags of money holding him steady, and it soon crashes into Cleatus’ nearby abode. This ends the Movementarian movement in Springfield.

David Mirkin is back to produce another episode, once again featuring Steve O’Donnell writing it, but rather than offer another clip show, we get a pure hit.

The Simpsons has never been afraid to tackle organized religion before- hell, we just had “Lisa the Skeptic” a couple of weeks ago- but its takes on religion usually tend to go somewhere along the lines of “we find it silly, but it matters to a lot of people, so as long as you’re not harming anyone with your beliefs, it’s chill”. When it comes to more modern cults, though, the kiddie gloves rightfully come off. Which isn’t to say that Christianity or other major religions haven’t caused serious harm over the years. but they have histories of important contributions to our culture. Scientology is largely just responsible for some crappy science-fiction novels and Edgar Winter’s worst album.

I think “The Joy of Sect” works at delving into just what makes certain groups able to crawl into the skin of potential followers, often laser-focusing on the impressionable and weak-minded, which happens to apply to most of Springfield. It’s telling that the few who don’t join the Movementarians are either already devoted to another order, like Lovejoy and Flanders, or try their hand at another religion entirely, like Mr. Burns. Everyone else buys into the order, even supposedly stronger latecomers like Willie.

The crew use real tactics from cults like Scientology to pepper the episode, like having members question people who try to leave their seminars early in front of wide audiences or how the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s leader only showed his hand outside of his Rolls Royce, to make the episode feel as authentic as possible, and it works to make the Movementarians feel as creepy and unwelcome as a real cult. What works even better is seeing how the members appeal to the family, using Lisa’s devotion to validation or possibly lobotomizing Bart to their benefits. It’s even more revealing that Homer only needs the cult members to sing the Batman theme, and that Marge is too much of a free spirit to be bolted down to explain their relationship.

Actually, if our last spiritual episode was any indication, it is surprising to see Marge be the one who escapes instead of Lisa, even if she gets the episode’s most iconic quote (“The whole damn system is wrong!”). But at the same time, children are easier to indoctrinate, and despite her intellect, Lisa is still a little girl. Marge, meanwhile, represents the last ounce of freewill needed to escape, and I think she does a good job of such.

To keep the show’s signature charm amongst such a dour subject as a life-sucking cult proves The Simpsons’ long-lasting appeal, as it continued to push buttons and remain daring in its ninth season. Sharper, better-equipped minds have discussed the theological qualities of “The Joy of Sect” in greater detail than I could, while I have little use but to give my welcome, if mushmouthed thumbs up.

Season 9, Episode 14

Aired February 15, 1998

Directed by Pete Michels

Written by David X. Cohen

Synopsis: Bart and Lisa are a part of Springfield Elementary’s Model UN, which consists almost entirely of children from Mrs. Krabappel and Miss Hoover’s classes. When they’re on their way to a Model UN retreat, Bart and Nelson have the wise idea to start a fruit race on the bus, Bart’s apple vs. Nelson’s orange. Milhouse adds a grapefruit into the proceedings, which falls under the breaks and blinds Otto when he has to slam on them. He ends up crashing into the ocean, and leaves the children stranded as he tries to swim away to find help. While the tide pushes Otto in the other direction, the bus pushes the kids into a deserted island. While the kids begin to despair, Bart steps in and suggests that this could be an exciting new society without adults. He asks the kids to find food while he and Nelson build a treehouse, ala the Robinsons. This turns out to be a bust, as the only thing they can find on the island are poisonous berries, while the treehouse is a dud. They’re at least able to start a fire with Milhouse’s glasses, but the kids end up very hungry in no time. Luckily, Lisa recalls that there’s a cooler full of snacks in the bus, which has sunken to the bottom of the sea, so Bart dives in and picks it up. The kids briefly feast, but Lisa takes away the food from everyone, demanding that they try to ration. While no one’s happy about this, they at least agree to follow suit for the time being and go to sleep. When everyone wakes up, they’re excited to eat more of the rations, only to discover that their cooler has been wiped empty, and right next to it is a full-bellied Milhouse whose breath smells of nacho cheese. While he denies eating everything, the kid’s gut reaction is to cut him alive, but Lisa steps in and requests that they give him a trial. Milhouse swears by his innocence, suggesting that the monster he saw earlier very possibly took their food. Although no one believe him, Bart as the judge decides to call the verdict as not guilty, as there’s no concrete evidence that he ate everything. The other kids are furious and attempt to kill Milhouse, and then aim for Lisa when she comes in to defend him, and then Bart when he tries to protect his sister. The three run away and find a cave to hide in, only to see that it’s shared by the “monster”, which is really a wild boar. That boar has a bag of cookies attached to its horns, which proves Milhouse’s innocence. Lisa deduces that if wild life can survive here, there must be edible resources and finds rocks full of slime which it must be living on. While our little vegetarian takes up the slime, everyone else cooks the boar alive. And the episode ends with narration from James Earl Jones, suggesting that someone (like, let’s say Moe) found the kids and returned them to Springfield.

Since the episode would otherwise have no use for Homer, there’s a b-plot where he learns about the dot com boom and starts up a small business online. Homer doesn’t know anything about the internet and has no real plans for his company, but he’s eventually “bought out” by Bill Gates.

Does the fact that the kids make peace in “Das Bus” suggest that writer David X. Cohen agrees with the theory that if the kids of Lord of the Flies, the episode’s main source of inspiration, were girls or were at least mixed in gender, that they would have gotten along? I don’t think that’s quite the intent, but rather that the show couldn’t move forward with the kids killing each other. That’s also maybe a little too brutal for 8pm on primetime, although The X-Files could get away with it.

I recall “Das Bus” being a favorite when it came around on syndication, as I always enjoyed the ecosystem of children in Springfield. Unfortunately, I don’t think this is still as clever as “Lemon of Troy”, but I do appreciate the change of pace it offers from your usual Simpsons episode. Homer and Marge primarily exist in a silly b-story that’s totally separated from the kids. And while this just proves that the show is afraid to do without Homer for very long, it still contains memorable material as he fails to understand the internet. The subplot also works as a nostalgic return to the dot com boom of the late 90’s, complete with an appearance of Bill Gates (not actually voiced by him, mind you) as he continued to colonize the web.

That stuff is funny, but the main story is what I always recalled, seeing how children would adapt to being away from society and authority. In hindsight, I’m not sure if the children would establish their own versions of hierarchy and work like they do here (I imagine a lot more chaos, and even more squabbling than what we see), but knowing how the characters function, it does make sense that Bart and Lisa would be among the first to try to form some logical ground rules. Of course Bart’s will be less sensical and cater to his whims, but who would expect anything else?

I tend to prefer the first two acts of the episode, since the last act feels a little too contrived to take us to a place where the kids can get along, although I appreciate that we get there without finding a logical reason to bring the kids back (and kudos to James Earl Jones for his narration cameo). It also feels like Cohen ran out of the best material before the trial, but this is still a good time, and the crew is still hitting highs even this far in the game.

Homer’s Bar Tab:

• The former episode has a chalkboard gag, “Shooting paintballs is not an art form”, and you know what, I don’t agree.

• Couch Gar Wars: The family is Lilliputian-sized and struggle to get up on the regular-sized couch vs. the couch being a lilypad and the family are frogs. Reportedly, the latter was suggested by Dan Castellaneta’s niece, so I’ll give her the point this time. Very cute!

• I just noticed that the airport bookstore is called “Just Crichton and King”, which is why Moleman was kicked out when he asked for Robert Landlum. I feel like today, this would Just Patterson and Flynn.

• I wonder what Nancy Cartwright, an active Scientologist, thinks of this episode. She’s been unhappy with the show doing Scientology jokes in the past, but this episode adds in bits from other recent religions… but it’s also totally at least somewhat about Scientology.

• “Yes, I am the highly suggestible type.”

• I haven’t seen this one in so long, I wasn’t prepared for the bit where Homer created his own movie. Had me dying.

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  I wonder how many parents of 90’s kids are triggered by seeing this guy again. Apparently a Barney reboot is coming, so be warned!

• Troy McClure returns to do a decent Charleton Heston parody in one of his iconic biblical epics. Enjoy Phil Hartman while you still can!

• Wait, so is Otto also supposed to be the supervisor? That’s not a very good idea… but also I get it, it would be a little less fun if Skinner was a part of the proceeds.

• A little bit of extra-nerdy trivia that I learned from the commentary- Cohen went to school with someone who earned a master in Chinese and had him accurately translate the fisherman’s dialogue in Mandarin. However, when the show hired legendary Chinese actor Jack Ong to speak the lines, he suggested that fishermen would be speaking Cantonese instead, and briefly retranslated the dialogue to fit the language.

• I love Lisa’s “Come on, man” when Milhouse asks her and Bart to carry him.

• Next Week: In our annual Krusty episode, he attempts to reinvent himself for today’s audience. Then Moe gets the center of attention, as he finally scores a girlfriend!