Hey, everybody. This is Sari. And this is Sean. And we're the Simpsons siblings. And we talk about the Simpsons. And we have a podcast. We do. Fun fact. It's nice to be on like a regular episode episode again after doing a two-parter on Simpsons movie. Yeah, it was fun, but... It's like hard to fit it all in. Like the flow was different. Yeah. Different things are scary sometimes. Technically a three-parter if you count the Patreon episode, which will be up this week.
Woo-hoo. Woo-hoo. At patreon.com slash simpsonsibs. But yeah, I'm excited to get into this one. This one was chosen by your fiancé. Yes, and we watched it together, too, just a little bit ago. She picked a good one, too. Oh, yeah. This is definitely on my top ten list. It's a very meme-worthy episode. Oh, yeah. It's got everything. Well, let's just get to it then. We are covering And Maggie Makes Three.
Season 6, episode 13, originally aired January 22nd, 1995. Written by Jennifer Crittenden, directed by Swinton O. Scott III. And we have no guest stars. We don't need Maggie's the guest star. Yeah, she's the star here. And then we have the blackboard saying bag man is not a legitimate career choice. Mm-hmm. Which I'm sorry if you're a bagman. Bagman. Yes. And then the couch gag is the good old James Bond intro with Homer shooting at the camera. Oh, yeah.
It's so abrupt, too. Oh, man. They're totally gripping off GoldenEye 64 here. Yes, that's totally a parody on that game, which is a very independent story. Did the Simpsons predict GoldenEye 64? GoldenEye 64 predicted the Simpsons. Oh, okay. I'm sure that works in some timeline. On to the story. We're starting out with the classic TV series Night Boat. And I love this concept where, like, he can only chase them on a boat. So there's always, like, they'll go on land, but...
Oh, look, a canal. An inlet. A fjord. A fjord. When Homer's trying to convince Marge that it's a good show, the way he puts the emphasis on this, that it's the crime solving boat. Is there like another boat? That only commits the crimes? Like, why did he emphasize that word? I don't know. And, I mean, he makes a point, sort of, but it's weird. It's Homer being Homer. So they always have to have a reason behind these flashback episodes. The one that I always remember is the...
Homer's Barbershop Quartet where they get, like, stranded in the middle of nowhere and Marge gets them the tire. Oh, you see her, like, walking, like, way far in the distance. Yeah. The reasoning here is that they need to have some family time and they get bored and they start looking at the pictures. And we have the TV with night boat on it. Yep. And I love the amazement when they have, like, the mirror there. And it's like, it looks like we have two TVs. Wow. And even Lisa's in on it, too.
We get those quick glimpses of Snowball the First as well, like Bart kind of riding on her. Yeah. I definitely had a flashback to this scene with the sleeping baby Bart pictures. When my puppy was really little, I sent everyone, like, sleeping pictures of him. You see, I thought you were going to talk about your daughter, but no. Well... That too, but that was further back. This was more recent. But it really is when you have a baby of any kind, human or otherwise.
They do a lot of sleeping. And then when they're running around, you're too busy running around with them to take pictures. Yeah, exactly. Or like Amos, every picture of him is blurry. Even when he's sleeping somehow. Even when he's grown up as well. I love that the whole basis for this episode is why aren't there any pictures of Maggie? Like, it seems like such a silly...
basis for an episode, but it works so perfectly. Yeah. And even like going into it, I'm like, wait, why aren't there any? And then it's like, oh yeah, that thing at the end. Yep. When Homer starts going into the description of the times, and he's like, and the domestication of the dog continued unabated. That's so ominous.
Oh, my gosh. And he also mentions the clear beverage craze, which I have to mention because my wife is obsessed with Crystal Pepsi. And when it came back, drove like two hours to go get some. So, very much the clear beverage phrase. Oh, yeah. We go straight into a diehard spoof for some reason. Yes, and, like... When he's like going down to attack everybody, the way he falls through the air vents, like he just falls straight down like he had been falling for like five seconds before. Oh.
Oh, my God. I'm a bit curious, too, why he's so obsessed with Dick Clark when they show his calendar. New Year's of Dick Clark. Dick Clark's birthday. Harass Dick Clark. Oh, and then we know from the 1999 episode that he's actually a robot. Oh, yeah. Oh, no, what's happening? Oh. So, of course, the thing that Homer's so excited about is he's finally going to get out of debt. We get this literal burning of the bridge, which always cracks me up. I know, like, so literal.
As he's playing his boss's head like a bongo. Yep. Yep. There you go. So he goes home and... Tells Marge the news, and they kind of go on this date. And I always thought this date was so cute that they do their little dancing in the car. Yeah, and they're at the Krusty Burger.
It kind of shows that, like, they don't want or need a ton out of life. They just want... the simple things and part of that is just being with each other and that they get so much out of that that they're willing to both get dressed up just to go out and get burgers together i mean i was gonna say that sounds like a good date night too
Yeah, it's cute. Now, we do have in the scene before where he's like laying out his plan to Marge and the family for being like debt free and everything. It sounded like he didn't. consult with Marge or anything before quitting this job. That's all a surprise to her. I was wondering about that. That's definitely the kind of thing you want to talk to your spouse about. Oh, yeah. Yeah. We get Homer's sperm and egg reenactment. And the caption says seconds later.
Oh, my God. No, I don't want to think about now. It's like, come on, Homer. Oh, my God. Jesus. And the Marge hair on the egg is so weird. Oh, I didn't notice that. If you look at it, it's the, so it's the Homer sperm. And then the egg has like Marge's hair surrounding it. I mean, that's biology, so it makes sense. Oh, yes. That's definitely biology. Yes.
Like Bart said in another episode, the birds are out there singing and the bees want to have sex with them. The birds and the bees. It's definitely how that works. And then he has no way to know that she was pregnant. No signs or hints whatsoever. That's so nuts. Like, it's... We always go back to that scene where everyone in town knows, but he doesn't. And thinking, like, how does he not know? But really, the how does he not know starts much, much earlier. Yeah.
Marge constantly throwing up in the morning, and how did he not notice the bump? Just a classic, Homer. It's definitely classic Homer. And it's almost kind of zen how much he loves this bowling alley job, because it is very simple. It's a lot of, you know, cleaning things, but he's also appreciating all of the little parts of it as well, like the bowling fresh, urinal fresh. Yeah, it's like...
If things would have just stayed the same and they would have just had the two kids, like he would have been happy with, not saying he's not happy with life, but like he would have been happy with that career path. Yeah, yeah, like, that doesn't take... He's a simple man with simple interests and simple pleasures in life, and there's nothing wrong with that. Yeah. Yeah.
The scene where he shows where the pins go gets me every dang time. Oh, I love that one. Like, so much work was put into animating that. Entire tree for a single pin to be used once. Oh, my God. And then we have Homer putting his head in the Shino Bolo, which I always think you're polishing bone. Oh, my God. He doesn't put it in there too long. That's why he's safe. Yeah. Yeah. So Dr. Hibbert...
tells Marge that she's pregnant. And once again, he's got a haircut to match the times. Oh, yeah. That's the only indicator. Oh, yeah. That test that he gives her is pretty dark. I know it's not supposed to be a test, but... Dr. Hibbert sells babies. Yeah, that's pretty creepy. I mean, they could help get the spunklers out of debt. Yeah? Oh my god. One of my favorite Homer moments just of all time is this part where he's praying with the cookies and milk.
The whole, if this is your will, give me no sign. I will be done. I'll give you this offering of cookies and milk. If you'd like me to eat them for you, give me absolutely no sign. That will be done. It's kind of the same tone as like the... The Rod Todd, this is God. It always reminds me of that. Yeah, it's very childlike, but very earnest and silly all at the same time.
He just wants his life to continue the way it is. He doesn't want any changes. He found the loophole. Mm-hmm. This ultimate screw-the-audience joke with Patty and Selma and the phone book. Yes. From A. Aronson to Mr. Sikowski. Mm-hmm. They're the two biggest gossips in town. But they are. They did their job. Yep. Yep. Now we get that famous scene where he's walking down the street and everyone knows except for him. And the way that it builds up from...
You know, congratulations. What's the one? The first one is, I know the second one is congratulations on your little bundle. And he's like, yep, the paycheck's small, but it still gets us by. All the way to, hey, Homer, way to get Marge pregnant. I wrote it down because I wanted to remember exactly. The bundle is little, but I'm not in it for the money. And I wish we would have like lingered on Apu and like his reaction. Yep. That they're like, oh my God, he doesn't know.
And Moe's just absolutely cut into the chase. Way to get Marge pregnant. And he's like, this is starting to get weird, but thank you for congratulating me for my new job. I'm wondering, by the time Maude says, by the way, congratulations on your new job, is that... I'm wondering how all of that comes together in his head. It's like...
It wasn't really Mod's words that made him realize it. It was just a delayed thought process. It was similar to when he was waiting at Lenny's, when Lenny says he's so slow. And if I go home, Homer, wait, something was said. Yeah. So it was because I always, I always read it as her saying that got him to figure it out. But you're probably right in that it's just that the process took him so long that he finally got it at that point. Yeah. Yeah. Either way, it's comedy gold.
As Troy McLaurin would say. It's gold. Mm-hmm. I love this montage where Homer rips his hair out and how they keep the angles the same every single time. And the way he points at Marge's belly. He points and screams. Oh, my God. We also had to take a step back. The whole thing was like, oh, Homer doesn't know yet. And the door blows open with the wind. Oh, yeah. And then it, like, lingers. Homer runs and, oh, man, it's windy as hell out there.
It's the small baby-sized gifts. I'll be in the tub. I'll be in the tub. The way he just, like, goes to take a bath while the guests are over. Yeah, he doesn't care. He's like, eh, there's a party, whatever. I'm going and sub. I love this sort of, it's a fourth wall breaking moment, but it's really subtle when the kids are like, you can't expect us to sit here a whole half hour without getting up to go to the bathroom and we're getting a snack.
and the Marge sitting and thinking about products she might like to purchase right when it cuts to commercial. Oh, I guess that is, okay. Sometimes I forget, like, commercials exist these days. And so it's like that's when they would cut the commercial. That's perfect. Yep, that's when it goes to black. It doesn't land as well without commercials, but that's when it would cut.
Because it kind of goes black for, like, a couple seconds and then comes back. What would be amazing is if she said, like, I'll think about products I'd like to buy. And then they do a commercial. And then they do the, mm, that'd be nice to have. Like, in between commercials. Yeah. That would be good. So, Homer realizes that he can't get by on his current salary, and he asks his boss for a raise. And he says...
That if he could get, like, triple the amount of customers, then he could give them a raise. And this progress from Homer reading advanced marketing, and then he goes to beginning marketing. And then he just looks up marketing in the dictionary. Didn't they do something like that for something like when he was building his brother's car or something similar where they had stages of books? Yeah, something like that.
Was it during the CompuGlobal HyperMegaNet? Maybe. Maybe that's something that we could get some listeners to tell us about. We've had a couple times now where we've had listeners contact us on Twitter or leave a comment. That's at Sibs and Sibs. That they let us know something that we can't figure out in the episode or something like that. I know. What we always do is like...
We'll have a question like that like two days later. I'll get a Discord message with the answer. Yep. Yep. Homer's solution is just one of the dumbest things ever. Where he just stands outside the bowling alley with a gun, shooting it into the air, saying, bowling, get your bowling. And then he says, like, out of all of the firemen and policemen that arrived...
Only a few stayed the bowl. Which I love that some of them did. I can just imagine Chief Wiggum stayed the bowl. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. He's like, oh, I might as well since I'm here. And Lisa's reaction where she's like, mom, get him to tell the story right. And she's like, no, that's what happened. And she's just like, bones. This little kid, when Homer loses his job there, and we get this little kid who says, sure we will, Mr. Homer. Sure we will. We do that accent all the time.
Yeah. When Among Us was first big, my Among Us character had that little hat and he was yellow and I named him Sure We Will. Love it. I don't know why I picked that, and I don't think anyone else got it, but shout out to that kid. Yeah. I really love the line delivery on... There was only one place in town a man like me could make it. Like, it's a sort of mixture of determination and pitifulness.
that he gives off that he just he really doesn't want to do this but he knows he has to but this is too like he steps up and he knows like he does the right thing yeah And this secretary, she's so sweet. And then when he's like, yeah, I quit and I wanted to get my job back. And she just goes through there. Yeah. It's like almost a completely different voice actress. And of course, Mr. Burns says it's company policy to give you the plague. That's a plaque, sir. Yep.
And of course the plaque says, don't forget you're here forever. And so that kind of puts Homer in a bad. mood when he comes home and then finds that Marge is going into labor and he's just so like downtrodden this whole time but then His emotions completely change when he sees Maggie. Yeah, and she grabs his thumb. It's a boy, and what a boy. Sir, that's the umbilical cord. It's a girl. I love that one. How did he think that? It's the wrong place. Oh my god.
Um, I'd like to say as much as the do it for her scene has been memed through the years, it still hits me like a bowling ball to the heart. Yeah, they did a good job writing that part. It was great. It's a culmination of so many different scenes of the sign and the whole basis of where's Maggie's pictures and where Homer's motivation is in the episode.
the happiness and the sadness and the bittersweet and all that. And it's, it's just perfect. Oh my God. I still cry. Yeah. I'd like to, that they took the time to draw. all the different individual photos and they're all different poses and different things along from her to sleep, doing different things. And I like that little tension detail. Yeah. It's all very, um,
It's all very different, too. It's not like stereotypical baby stuff. It's like there's one where she's doing a little pose and one where she's being held by Homer and just different little things. And of course, this is... It's even better in context, if you think about the year of this, that those were probably the only copies of those photos that they had, that this wasn't the time of digital photos.
That those were literally the pictures that they had of Maggie. Yeah. Yeah, that's really cute. Yeah. Yeah, it's sweet. I, this... I feel like this is one of the best balanced Simpsons episodes in that it has just the right amount of sentimentality and just the right amount of humor. And both sections, both of those parts are... It's perfectly emotional and perfectly funny. Yeah, and it doesn't take you on this ride that's too crazy or unbelievable. It just explains where they are now.
Yeah, yeah. It's great. It's definitely up there in my, if not top 10, top 15. I don't know. I don't have a set top episodes. But it would be on there. I'm the same way. If you have me write down my favorite 10 episodes and then ask me again in a week, two thirds of them would be different. My head would explode like that one scene with Homer where his head just blows up. Yeah. That would be me. Well, we would like to give a shout out. Do it for him. Do it for Tim. That rhymes. Yeah.
Timothy Burleson, that is, who is our one and only Patreon member, patron saint. We love you, Timmy. We're going to have two bonus episodes. I'm going to try to get them up this week. One of them is a Simpsons movie part three, where we talk about what a Simpsons movie two would look like. And another one is about our favorite couples in the Simpsons for a little Valentine's Day.
episode. That was fun recording that one. Or both of them. Yeah. So if you're interested in our Patreon and helping to support the channel, that's patreon.com slash SimpsonSibs. And we super appreciate Timothy. Woo! We've got a more modern episode for the next one. And by more modern, I mean this episode's less than a year old. What? That episode is Season 34, Episode 3, Lisa the Boy Scout.
I'm personally loving seasons 33 and 34. I know I've probably mentioned it on here before, but it feels like a re-Renaissance that like, I don't know if that even makes any sense. Re-Renaissance. But anyways, it feels like finally Simpsons is on its game again after so many years of like blah episodes. These past couple seasons have been great. Yeah, I'm working through those too. Yeah.
They're really good. So, yeah, watch the episode first to get the full experience. Until next time. Bye, everybody.