A review of "Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play (HABF16)"

[The long of it]

Here's a switch: In a season where Homer and Marge seemed to be in marital trouble much of the time, we finish with an episode where they try to save someone else's marriage. Isn't this a bit like having Moe running a charm school?

Homer and Marge get in this position when ballplayer Buck Mitchell sees the two kissing on the Jumbo-Tron at an Isotopes game. His own marriage, to sultry singer Tabitha Vixx, is going through a rough patch, so he naturally figures a couple who can kiss passionately in public is best qualified to save it. Marge, like most people who have watched the series for any length of time, doubts they're the best people to be doling out marriage advice, but Homer talks her into it.

I liked the reversal here, with the Simpsons going from needing marital help to providing it. But the writers take a pedestrian approach. Their marriage counseling sessions consist of Marge leafing through an advice book, and repeating some common-sense advice like "trust your partner," and "keep communicating," while Homer cuts things short so he can have a beer. It's plausible that the counseling would go this way, but it's also a bit dull. The Simpson family, pretty much from episode one, has been described as "dysfunctional." Homer and Marge, at least at first glance, seem to be all wrong for each other. Yet their love has not only endured, but thrived to the point where it's hard to imagine them with anybody else. How do they do that? Don't you think they've built up a lot of offbeat (and hilarious) marriage advice over the years? Some of it has to be pretty loopy, like Homer's counter-intuitive life philosophy in "Lost Our Lisa (5F17)." That sort of advice would have been fun to see, but we don't get much of it. Or, as another tack, maybe we could have seen Marge earnestly repeating the standard platitudes, only to see them backfire. But instead, the Mitchell-Vixx union rebounds, until it's time for a crisis which itself seems contrived. (It's the "Homer and Tabitha do something innocent that gets misinterpreted" routine.)

A saving grace is that the ancillary humor in this episode is pretty good. Tabitha Vixx (voice of Mandy Moore) has that "wholesome slut" act down pat. We can see this in the opening part of her act, which celebrates fidelity and skankiness at the same time. (Speaking of guest voices, I liked that they went through the trouble of getting Stacey Keach to do a cameo reprisal of Henry K. Duff VIII.) Homer's idea to repair a rift between Buck and Tabitha is nice, even if his execution is questionable. I also liked the closing credits of a crime show the family watches, where Heidi Klum and Sir Anthony Hopkins share guest star billing. And it's always fun to hear Harry Shearer's (I *think* that's him, anyway) Vin Scully impersonation.

"Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play" would have been a better episode if they (or rather, the writers) had really explored what makes their marriage tick. "Secrets of a Successful Marriage (1F20)" takes this approach, and arrives at an interesting conclusion, but there's probably room to find other reasons for Homer and Marge's continued marriage success. After all, they've been married for seventeen seasons -- a better track record than most of their real-life audience. They must know *something* that we don't.

[The short of it]

Homer and Marge must have learned a lot about marriage over the years. Some of it has to be pretty offbeat, like Homer's life philosophy. Wouldn't it have been fun to hear some of it, as opposed to the standard "trust your partner" advice? The latter's what we get though, along with a contrived crisis involving Homer and Tabitha Vixx. The secondary humor lifts the show a little above mediocrity: I liked Tabitha's stage act, Homer's plan for resolving the crisis, and Harry Shearer's baseball announcer. This is the North American season finale, but either of the two repeats preceding tonight's airing would have been a stronger closing act for the season. (B-)

[DYNs]

...	Marge reads blogs?
...	it looks like Edna's last name is spelled with two "b"s on the
	championship plaque?
	[I always thought there was on "b" in "Krabappel"]

[References]

"A League of Their Own" (movie) - Springfield had its own Ladies Pro baseball team

The National Enquirer (tabloid newspaper) - Krusty shown on the cover of The Inquisitor, a similar style of paper

Led Zeppelin (rock band) - one of their signature tunes was "Whole Lotta Love"; baseball announcer says, "Said zeppelin is a whole lotta love"

"Black Sunday" (movie) - blimp crashes into stadium

The Hindenburg air disaster - Abe (?) says, "This is the worst blimp disaster ever," evidently forgetting this explosion that killed more than thirty people

[Previous Episode References]

[AABF19] Humorous closing credits
[AABF19] Anthony Hopkins' name attached to a project you wouldn't
         expect to see him in
[2F31]   George C. Scott appears
[2F15]   On the Inquisitor cover, Krusty drawn like his 2010 version
[1F10]   Homer dispenses marital advice
[4F18]   Marge also advises people

[FFF]

Closing credits for "Hunch":

    Hunch
    TONY HUNCHARELLA

    Written by
    J. D. SALINGER

    Gloria Huncharella
    GWYNETH PALTROW

    City of New York
    CITY OF LETHBRIDGE,
    ALBERTA

    Bystander #2
    SIR ANTHONY HOPKINS

    Furious Bowler
    THE LATE
    GEORGE C. SCOTT

    Guy Who Turned Out
    To Be That Other Guy
    HEIDI KLUM

Inquisitor cover:

    THE
    INQUISITOR

    KRUSTY'S
    SAD
    LAST
    DAYS

Marriage advice book:

          MARRIED
          ALIVE!

A Wife-Saving Guide

Homer's counselor "certificate":

            HOMER                             <- "Homer" handwritten
            L i s a   S i m p s o n           <- "Lisa" X'ed out

           2ND Grade Spelling Champion        <- lined through
                   COUNSELOR                  <- handwritten

Seymour Skinner [trophy] Edna Krabbappel

Homer's 10:00 appointment:

       DRINK
        AT
    TEN O'CLOCK

Homer's session notes:

    LADY PARTS
     = BOOBS?

     ASK DAD
      LATER

Channel 6 News caption:

MORE BANGS FOR THE BUCK!

Coliseum marquee:

       SPRINGFIELD
        COLISEUM

       TONIGHT --
      TABITHA VIXX!
    WARNING: FIRST TEN
    ROWS MAY GET HORNY

Tabitha's stage set:

            SEXY
        MARRIAGE LAND  >
          NEXT EXIT

MONOGAMY

                       VOWS
    HeALTH
     BeNeFiTS

Attendance quiz:

TONIGHT'S ATTENDANCE:

    A) 8,191
    B) 8,128
    C) 8,208
    D) No way to tell

[The correct answer was "C," by the way]

[Personal Comments & Observations]

This time it's Lenny and Carl fueling the innuendo fire with Lenny's "Remember when we used to kiss ... our respective girlfriends" question.

"Hunch" has assembled quite a stellar cast for what looks like a potboiler detective show.

J. D. Salinger -- Reclusive author of "The Catcher in the Rye." Although the book was well-received, I don't think he ever wrote a follow-up work. I'm sure the literary world would want to see him writing again, but I don't think "Hunch" is what they had in mind.

Gwyneth Paltrow -- Apple and Moses Paltrow's mom. Also a noted actress, most famously playing a woman actor sneaking into the all- male cast of "Romeo and Juliet" in "Shakespeare in Love."

Anthony Hopkins -- Another famous and dignified actor, perhaps best known to American audiences as the urbane psychopath Hannibal Lechter.

George C. Scott -- Actor; I think he had the title role in "Patton." (Did he pass away? I don't remember that.) He was also in a movie about the Hindenburg, which by coincidence was referenced in this episode.

Heidi Klum -- Supermodel. If she was passed off successfully as a guy, then "Hunch's" make-up person deserves an Emmy nod.