The Twisted World of Marge Simpson

Hey guys, this is Sari

and this is Shaun

and we're the Simpson siblings. We've been watching the Simpsons since we were kids

and we still watch it.

And today we're covering the twisted world of Marge Simpson season eight, episode 11, originally aired January 19th, 1997, directed by Chuck sheets and written by Jennifer Crittendon.

And we have our opening chalkboard scene with part saying, I am not licensed to do anything. And then we move on to the couch gag where it's the whack-a-mole. With the classic Simpsons circus music going in the bathroom. And then it closes just perfectly with the mallet hitting Homer on the head. D'oh! D'oh

and today we've got guest stars, Jack Lemmon, who was famous from movies, such as some like it hot and Joe . Hopefully pronounced right as fat Tony in here, we start out at the municipal house of pancakes and we've got a meeting of the investor assets, which is a group that we have not heard of before this. And we have not heard about since this episode, just kind of something they made up for March to have a social.

And we have the good opening with Agnes, just saying pancakes here, stink and then love joy. She just says, thank you, Agnes. Let's begin there. Used to her crap. Yeah, just brush it aside. Move on.

Great one liners in this episode. And it's interesting because we get to see her separate from Seymour, which you did something you don't really get to see a lot with Agnes.

Yes. She's always yelling at Seymour jump to the same line. No mother,

it's just the northern lights and they're trying to decide what to invest in. And she goes, children are so fat today. Can't we make money off of the. Oh man. And Marge just seems so averse to this idea of investing. And yet she joined a group called the investor assets. What did she think she was getting? She used, I was

just looking for like friendship and a group that so much that she's willing to put herself in this. Awkward position for herself where she's just not comfortable at all with the exact line from her. These high risk investments are so risky. Okay. Okay, March. And then we get the line. Um, you'll get your pancakes in the mail. Margins kicked out, which, uh, I think this is the same season.

Oh, that's a great, well man. Oh my gosh. So work. So then we go to investment fair. And why is there an investment rule?

Well, did you see the sign on the outside of the building? It's the franchise expo. We can make all of your non-sexual dreams come true.

Oh, so many great signs. We get the people doing their presentation. That mood and money is mine

at Royce McCutcheon. It sounds like such a specific name that I looked it up trying to see if he's a reference to anything. He maybe is a recurring character later that we just missed. Not much on him, but I did find several Twitter and Facebook accounts as him. And there's like two or three quotes that are used over and over on all the accounts, but they're very popular accounts, which I kind of want to follow them. Now, uh, one of

the interesting things about the Simpsons is it seems like every character, no matter how minor somebody loves,

right. And they present them as if they have this rich diverse background, when they're just a one-time use character.

Oh, and I just love this whole spiel with the picture hanging, where they fix it from being crooked and professional

frame nudging and not just moving just little nudges.

Who do you think is going to take care of it? Those fat cats in Washington. And you will have the power to answer. Commonly asked questions such as who are you and what are you doing

here almost as if you just appeared in someone's living room to fix their pictures?

Yep. That's all you do. And then you ask them for money because you gotta make the money back somehow. Oh my goodness. And then we get disco Stu with the goldfish and his shoes and your fish are dead. I can't get them

out of there. And then we get disco Stew's chart of this is a record of disco record sales up to the year ending in 1976. If these trends continue, it just reminds me of my college textbook had Alliance statistics. You can make anything look any way you want, depending on how you show the data. Oh

yeah. And if you don't know how to read that data correctly, you can be fooled pretty easily. And, oh my gosh. It's so ridiculous. How the pastor's wife doesn't like that? It's middle Eastern food. And what, what was the line that she

said, oh, from the middle east, isn't that area a little iffy. And she does handle wobble. I

think Jesus is from there. She's the pastor's wife,

what the hell? And then they take the whole PETA and rename it to a Ben Franklin just to, just

because, and they call it like the, the a to Z key sauce is like flavor sauce

or something

or something like that. And I mean, if you don't understand what cultural appropriation is, just watch that scene and it will make sense.

Even the grumbling of chef in the background, that's given a new name. Yeah. It

ended up poor guy. All right. And then the pretzel wagon catches marches. I, and I just love this pretzel

guy, Frank Ormond, Frank, or

very humble guy. Yes. He kind of reminds me of Gil and Ned Flanders mixed together. Cause he's got the well mannerisms of Ned and the, just really desperate to succeed of Gill.

He's a sweet guy. The motivation, but it's just getting crushed by the world,

poor guy. And he gets this VHS tape kind of explaining how Marge can set up her office. And I love the scene with Homer in the garage door, where nothing's really said by either of the characters, but he just kind of cuts them out and he, his head follows the door as it goes

down. And I love the intro to that VHS tape reason. If you're like me and have principal fever. Well, not the one that attacks your intestinal lining. Ha ha ha. Let's get started. It says, turn one, I laugh and then just cuts. And it goes to the

next, when I found out that was Jack Lemmon after I didn't find out until after I'd watched the episode and I looked up the stats on it, I was like, oh yeah, that's Jack Lemmon. Oh my God. Oh man. In this, uh, phony, ticker tape parade to avoid littering laws.

With Lisa and space girl, just a random fake helmet on, in the back of their car.

Obviously it worked because even chief wigwam is there, you know, they're littering everywhere with these flyers and he's just like, You're back space, girl.

I just would love to know what story they presented for space girls to

make that happen. And Homer's official pretzel inspector hat. I'm not gonna mince words here. I want that hat.

I have some index cards at home. Tape it to a hat it's taken

care of. My dream will come true. And then we have March bring the pretzel wagon to the nuclear plant. Homer's will spiel here. I man, Dan castle Aneta. Giving this line, like he has to act like someone who's not acting well essential it because

it takes talent to sound bad,

the pretzel wagon way. And when he's face of just absolute joy at the idea, he's just, he is all in. And then once he gets to the wagon, he just has no idea what to order, even though there's only one item

on the menu. Well, did you see, as everyone was walking to the wagon who was in the background?

Yes. Mindy. Yup. Which is interesting because I mean, it's Homer just ignoring her completely now because she doesn't really show up at all.

Was this after that episode? I forget when the umbrella,

oh yeah, this was after that. This was well

after like three season, I have a hard time placing. Where all these episodes are in the timeline of the substance. I always watched them out of order.

Yeah, same here. Uh, then the PETA van comes and supersedes margin's territory and we get some good exchanges in the window with each of the investor assets and

Marge. Yeah. And just that turning in a brutal competition, just trying to crush each other.

Oh, and then we've got Cletus scene seen with the coupons. I love this

part when he says, well, you shouldn't have, but didn't have

300 coupons. And if you listened to dang, goodness, I have to suggest you check them out. They are the premier up and coming Simpsons remix channel on YouTube. It's D a N K M a N. The pretzel Ragen remix was part of what wanted, made me want to do this episode. And the part with Cletus doing the roll call is done so well. And

it which speaking of the roll call, why I have my little index card? Oh no. In case anybody wants the names of all the Spuckler children. Oh no. Even do it in the. We've got Tiffany, Heather, Cody, Dylan Dermot, Jordan Taylor, Brittany Wesley rumor scout, Cassidy Zoetrope. Max hunter Hendel Kaitlin, Noah, Sasha Morgan, Kira, Ian Lauren. Cubert Phil. He does a little laugh at the, oh my

gosh. That deserves a standing ovation. That

it's beautiful. And then we also, cause I looked up the names to make sure I didn't miss miss any when I was writing them down. There's some other children that are mentioned in later episodes. Condoleezza Marie rubella, scabies and gummy Sue . Sari: Sue. I love that. One of the kid's name is Cubert. Yes. Then the eighties video game. I'm like why? And then we have Marge going to the baseball game. Just can't catch a break. She's trying so hard. Oh yeah.

would barely be anything to him, but

he just wants it.

And, and here come the pretzel.

One of the only pretzels it would take to knock someone unconscious. I know.

Well, I don't know. So then we have March just to kind of given up and the next scene in the kitchen, really sad this year, just kind of give up and Homer provides the line, which is just so Homer. March needs help. And God knows I'm not the man that providing, he

just knows he can't do it,

but he also can't stand to see Marge down

like that. Yeah. He cares enough to go seek out help, which as we'll see, isn't the best source, but yeah, but she's just like that slow collapse on the table that Marge has. And then she just says, if you're looking for the butter, it's under my face, she's

just so sad. And then Homer goes to visit the pretzel wagon founder, just to find out that he's dead. And what about the next akin? Oh, he's dead too. They were in the same car. Oh, that's so sad. And then. Homer, it looks like Homer's looking to a different place for help, but he goes to the church. The church sign just says open, which is weird.

You expect a gag there, but just a simple

open, open. And I love the fake out here with Homer talking to the mob and not

God at the church. Yeah. That slope camera pan out. Yeah.

I told you the ad and the bulletin would pay off. All right. Now March gets the big orders and is back in business. I just love this stylish montage. That song in the background is called the lineman, by the way, it's one of those tunes where, you know, you've heard it before, but you can't tell where.

And I love some of the scenes like. My favorite one is when they remove that little protector table from the pizza box and smash it, and the pizza sauce gets all over the customers and they're acting like it's blood freaking me out, but like just the classic mafia scene just turned into something goofy.

Even her competition, really pizza and the girl Scouts. I mean, it just gets so ridiculous. And, and then the pizza truck ends up

exploding. I forget the exact line, but you know, you want to do like me and kind of jump into the air and then goes,

then we've got fat Tony confronting Homer about returning his favors. And of course he doesn't.

You mean the marble and do me a favor to get something in return. Oh,

fat Tony. And then Marge gets thrown off the road by the mafia and is told she has 12 hours to get them their

province. I'd love it. The whole you've got 24 hours. And just to show to you. You got 12

and Marge is determined not to give them the money. And then there's that pretty tense scene where Homer says, well, what are we going to do now? We're going to do, we always do. We make pretzels? And they do. And they wait and March continues to stand up to them. And I love homework standing in front of her, sort of, you know, Probably subconsciously protective of her. Right.

Some of my favorite was fat Tony's. Can we get little squirt? Like, it sounds it's such a playful and fun. Like it almost

sounds improvised. I'm wondering if that

line is. Yeah. It's, there's almost like a laughing, joking tone behind it.

Yeah. I love how an Italian mob versus your accuser fight is in the middle of a pretzel episode. You would not have seen that coming, but

yet when you watch it, it just seems like the natural

progression. That's where, that's where we're at now. That's, that's where we've come to. And the whole scene with that little guy in the back, he's going to do something which is such a trope in so many movies that the quiet one always just kind of explodes.

Eventually trying to remember was he, did he have like his arms crossed? Sitting there with his eyes, everyone

was kind of fighting around him, but he was just standing still and they, of course, they go inside and the minute the door closes, you hear a rocket and Homer just looked so

missing the point now. Yep.

And then the kids come downstairs. Just wondering what the heck's going on. And Marge goes, oh, kids, it's just a mob war. It's just another day in the Simpson house. Hold on. And then we end on the line forgiveness please, which is a hundred percent not done in a correct Japanese accent.

No, but, but at least they use that same accent going forward. Like when you have,

they do it consistently. Yeah, but

they're consistent

and isn't that just the Simpson.

But if someone were to use that accent, like around me, my mind would go straight to the Simpson. Yeah. You'd be

like, that's a Simpson's Japanese accent. Registered trademark. Oh man. What a crazy episode. Well, that's all for the twisted world of March Simpson. Thank you so much for listening until then. Bye everybody.