QUICK SYNOPSIS

Homer and Moe attempt insurance fraud so that Moe can support his new girlfriend. When Homer ends up in jail, Moe has to decide whether or not to come forward.

POINTLESS GUEST STAR(S)

Helen Hunt as Renee, but not at all pointless. Celebrity guest stars playing other characters? Why, that’s come Classic Simpsons shit!

WHY THIS EPISODE SUCKS

I’m supposed to dislike this episode because it represents a shallow attempt to flesh out a minor character by introducing him to a love interest who is completely devoid of personality while Homer plays the bumbling sidekick. I don’t dislike this episode, though, because Moe is one of my favorite side-characters and the jokes are funny. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, big deal! You got a wife! I got a rash! Who cares!” That’s just one of the 70 funny things Moe will say. Hank Azaria, you’ve done it again!

Dissecting the episode more thoroughly will reveal writing issues. Yes, Renee is bland. She is a one-off character shoehorned into a relationship just to give the minor character a relationship. What’s her backstory besides just being a pretty flower girl? Does she actually have a lot of weird scars and a fake ass? We don’t know! Worse yet, she’s actually in the episode only to facilitate a zany insurance fraud scheme involving Homer. That would be like taking an episode like “I Love Lisa”, where Ralph falls in love with Lisa, and using Ralph as a love interest in order to allow Homer to make money punching dogs in the face after coming up with a zany dog-punching pyramid scheme. Like, why does everything have to be about Homer? Can’t we see Moe hit it off with a new girlfriend who likes biking or origami or something and not have to involve Homer stealing a car and going to jail? Please?

Other than that, great episode.! This is my personal favorite of Season 9 (unless I already said that somewhere else, which is entirely possible) mostly because Moe is so wretched and hopeless that it was nice to see him thrown a bone for 15 minutes.

IMDb TRIVIA FUNHOUSE!

During the making of the episode, Helen Hunt and Hank Azaria were dating. In an interview with People Magazine in 1998, Mike Scully stated: “Hank and Helen got along so well it’s hard to believe they are a real couple.” In July 1999, the couple married, but divorced in December 2000, after a long separation.
lol, July 1999 – December 2000 including a long separation. Marriage is beautiful, folks.

Mike Scully greatly enjoyed the scene where Homer attempts to escape Moe’s car when it is going down the cliff, and has said that it is one of his favorite scenes from the show.
This is because Mike Scully was a major contributor to the zombification of the Simpsons and that sequence was the most Zombie Simpsons moment of the episode! But who am I to complain? Just a loyal viewer who got fucked over by decades of shit.

The writers admitted on the audio commentary that Renee has no real personality.
Oh, the male writers wrote a female love interest with no personality? This has never happened before! Let’s make sure it never happens again!

FINAL GRADE
A-