OTH: The Simpsons- "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons" / "Lisa the Skeptic"
PrinSkippal Sinner!
Season 9, Episode 7
Aired November 16, 1997
Directed by Steven Dean Moore
Written by Richard Appel
Synopsis: Springfield is full of dud bachelors. Now try to wipe that surprised look off your face and see how badly most of them are bombing at the town’s bachelor auction, although Marge notices one winner who’s sitting it out- Apu. She nominates him and when his credentials impress the women in town, a group of lonely single ladies pool their resources together to pay nearly a grand for dates with him. Apu is the town’s new lady’s man and he’s loving it, but his good luck comes to an end when he receives a letter from his mother (Andrea Martin) reminding him of his arranged marriage. Apu has no interest in this tradition and wants to marry for love, if ever, so Homer suggests that Apu lies to his mother and say that he’s already married. He does this, and she arrives in town a few days later to meet the woman he was too ashamed of her to meet. Apu is desperate for a way out, so Homer conceives another lie, suggesting that he call Marge his wife, and takes his mother to his “house” to meet “Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilon”. Homer is quickly able to convince Marge to go along with the lie, and she does the same with the kids as he goes to Grampa’s retirement center as Apu and his mother make themselves at home. The lie goes along pretty well, even if Apu’s mother resents Marge and the Simpsons are over the charade quickly, but it all goes to hell when Homer returns home early, just as Apu’s mother is ready to leave for the airport. Apu decides to tell her the truth, how he lied to avoid the arranged marriage, but she demands that he goes through with it and plans the wedding in the Simpson’s backyard. While he isn’t happy with the marriage, when he meets Manjula (Jan Hooks), Apu is smitten and the wedding goes through as planned.
Finger-pointing is no fun, nor is it particularly useful. I hope that modern viewers can tell how insensitive it is that Apu and his family, including new wife Manjula, are voiced by white people. Hank Azaria may have meant well, and while I know the crew were excited to have former SCTV star Andrea Martin play his mother, but this is all a tired cliché.
Still, there’s something to the episode, as the first act of “The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemaptilons” goes out of its way to make Apu look like Springfield’s most desirable bachelor for good cause. He has a degree, runs the Kwik-E-Mart himself, and is better looking than most every other man who submitted themselves, yet Apu often keeps to himself despite wishing for more. If the character has to exist in this current form, I like seeing him stand out against the competition so well.
And while it’s easy to worry about how the crew handles Hindu culture, writer Appel and director Moore are mostly respectful, aside from a questionable bit where Homer plays Ganesha. Even then, we’ve seen God tell Homer that he’d rather watch a football game than answer prayers, so this may be a case where it’s best to laugh at everyone.
Ultimately, I don’t think too much of this episode. While it’s fun to see Apu enjoy the bachelor life and it even works when he meets and falls for Manjula (who wouldn’t fall for someone whose answer to their favorite food, book and movie is fried green tomatoes?), a lot of the episode relies too heavily on sitcom tropes that the series should be better than, but seems to enjoy reveling in too much. The thing is, I appreciate a good sitcom episode, and I think it’s fun to see the Simpsons pretend to be Apu’s family, but I know we can do better. Next.
Season 9, Episode 8
Aired November 23, 1997
Directed by Neil Affleck
Written by David X. Cohen
Synopsis: Lisa discovers that they’re turning a plot of land where fossils have been found into a shopping center. Furious, she calls up Lionel Hutz to help her put a stop to this, but is rejected by the head of the project, who insists that the museum has found all possible fossils from the area. Lisa isn’t so sure that this is true and says that she’d like to have one last dig before construction continues. Before the head guy shuts this down, his assistant talks him into the idea, suggesting that it could make for good publicity, so he agrees as Lisa calls in a favor with Principal Skinner to build a team to go digging. Their dig proves underwhelming, but just before Skinner calls it a day, Lisa digs into something, and soon finds something interesting- a skeleton. Not just any skeleton, but one that appears to have wings. The town people soon come out and everyone assumes that it’s an angel, except for little atheist Lisa, who calls shenanigans and won’t stand for the talk about angels. As the townspeople debate her, the question comes up as to where the skeleton should be held in place for the time being, and before a logical answer could be determined, Homer nabs it up and places it on the hood of his car (to be fair, his daughter did dig it up). After a percentage of citizens express interest, Homer decides to charge them to come see the “angel” and makes a small profit. At night, Lisa clips off a piece of the skeleton and brings it to the town’s leading paleontologist, Stephen Jay Gould to determine if this is really an angel. Before he’s supposed to arrive, Lisa informs the people of what she did, which angers the townspeople, while Gould comes to reveal that his research was inconclusive. The people of Springfield are so angry with science that they decide to attack the town’s museums before making their way to provoke Lisa, only for everyone to discover that the “angel” has been stolen. Naturally, Lisa is blamed, even as she swears by her innocence, and is taken to court to prove once and for all how science is bad and religion is good, but before the trial starts in earnest, the “angel” can be seen outside of the courthouse. Everyone runs out and sees a sign written right below it, “the end will come at sundown”, which worries the people. What do you do when the apocalypse is nigh? The people return right before sundown for the rapture, and when nothing happened, disappointment sets. But soon, a voice calls and the angel rises… on a crane over to the newly built mall across the street, promising great deals. Lisa is outraged that these people planted a fake skeleton to mess with the people’s faith just for a cheap publicity stunt, but the townspeople themselves are cool with it and want a piece of those hot deals. Oh well, Lisa was right… again.
Lisa is often portrayed as the one sane person in town, often to the detriment of not only her social status, but in some cases her mental health. It allows her to stand out and offers two different kinds of jokes, where Lisa can simultaneously revel in her self-righteousness and the town can be equally frustrated with it.
Given that this is what fuels a lot of “Lisa the Skeptic”, it earns points for me already due to how much fun it is compared to many of her previous episodes, which tend to be on the emotional side. Lisa can be a funny character when the script allows her to be, but that usually works best when she’s on the side as opposed to this week’s protagonist, but here she has a few good bits going at both sides of her.
“Lisa the Skeptic” does still have an emotional core, though, as it portrays Lisa as, well, the skeptic denying the existence of angels, which is eventually contrasted by Marge, who likes the illusion, logic be damned. Like the show at its best, writer Cohen doesn’t pick sides and allows both possibilities to be real, even going so far as to have Lisa clutch onto her mother’s hand when the “angel” rises.
Cohen has proven himself to be one of the show’s smartest writers, to the point that he’ll help Groening develop his next hit series, and he fills “Lisa the Skeptic” with a clever debate of existentialism, which ultimately leads to yet another lazy example of capitalism. It’s Springfield, though, what do you expect?
Homer’s Bar Tab:
Only one chalkboard gag this week, and it’s kind of meh- “I will not tease fatty.”
Couch Gag Wars: “El Barto” draws the family on the couch vs. a trio of men using the couch as a sauna.
Wait, Luann pays Kirk alimony? Well, to be fair, her dad did lay him off, and I don’t know if he left him much of a severance package.
I like how Homer knows about the heads on Easter Island but Moe doesn’t.
In the commentary for the latter episode, David X. Cohen shares a funny story about how Nicholas Cage outbid him for a bunch of trilobites for $60,000, and that just explains why he had to make shlock Christian films for a couple of years to pay back his debts.
“What are we getting dressed up for, Mom? Are we going to Black Angus?” “Well, you might say we’re going to the best steakhouse in the whole universe.” “So we’re not going to Black Angus.”
it’s a small world: The late Jan Hooks (who was apparently born and raised in Decatur, what up!) was a familiar face on television, whose career ranged from notable recurring roles in Designing Women and 3rd Rock from the Sun to playing Jenna Maroney’s mother, Verna, in 30 Rock, but she’s probably best known for being a part of Saturday Night Live’s cast from 1986 to 91, roughly around the time fans consider the show’s next peak run. She’ll play Manjula on and off for the next seventeen years before her death in 2014.
Next Week: Marge tries her hand at another job- this time real estate. And then Bart ruins Christmas, oh no!