Asking Scarlet to pick his favourite Simpsons moment is the opposite of torture, it is an open invitation for me to visit some of my most treasured moments in front of the Television, something I'm sure Homer would approve of very much.
The Simpsons is well past its peak these days, but I was lucky enough to grow up with some of its finest moments, so I am going to revisit some excellent moments with you all. Just a few this time, but this could easily become a regular thing.
You Only Move Twice
You all remember this one right? This is Ron's favourite episode and one that sees the Simpsons do what it does best (Put Homer in a ridiculous situation and rip off pop culture along the way). The Simpsons find themselves in a new town and Homer gets a new job, a job that he actually enjoys for a boss we would all love to work for (the suspiciously Ginger Hank Scorpio). The principal plot is about Homer and the sacrifices one makes for one's family, but in the background sits a wonderfully crafted Clouseau-esque Homer, who remains oblivious to Scorpio's true motives even when they stare him in the face.
One could say that this is a piece about the ignorance of American employees to the chaos their corporate world wreaks on the rest of us, but it is also a display of the beautiful naivety of Homer we lost in future Series.
We also get a fistful of Bond references, which is always welcome.
Cape Feare
We move swiftly on to Scarlet's favourite episode. There are several factors that make this one of the finest episodes of The Simpsons ever made, and at the front we have one of the great guest actors in the history of television, enter Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob.
Grammer had made several guest performances before and would go on to turn up many times in the future, but this episode saw Sideshow Bob become the great character we know him as today. Bob shows us his psychotic side (of course) but we also see the deep romantic he is underneath the homicidal tendencies, and we see it with a glorious conclusion set to Gilbert & Sullivan:
Amongst it all we see Homer failing to understand the premise of Witness protection and a ridiculous sequence involving rakes.
I often look back at this and wonder if my love of Operetta came from here? We also get the first appearance of the Sideshow Bob Leitmotiv here, which is the main refrain from Cape Feare, the original film.
Homer's Enemy
Ah whatever happened to old Grimey?
We turn a little dark now, this one saw a real everyday man who had to fight for everything come up against Homer and it quite literally drove him insane. Perhaps a pop at Western Society and the modern world that common sense may seem so alien?
Homer's Enemy is loved by many Simpsons fans across the world, maybe because it reminds us how as much as we love to watch Homer, to be around him would be a nightmare. The real strength of the episode is Grimey's interactions with Homer, where Grimes is continually baffled, irritated and frightened, the resentment builds and builds...
What is so well done in this episode is that the whole thing is told from the perspective of Frank Grimes, and although we get to know him and what he stands for, we never become fond of him, maybe we prefer clowns to workers?
Scarlet Out
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