[The long of it]
During "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas," Marge meets Tammy, who leads a social club called the Cherry Red Tomatoes. She organizes group sky- diving expeditions. She has a double life; by night, she secretly plots a daring robbery of stately Burns manor. She's even voiced by Lily Tomlin, who has a history of playing characters that engage your attention. Tammy should, by all rights, be a pretty interesting lady, yet in this episode she's almost bland. And that's symbolic of the problem with "Red Hat Mamas." The elements of an interesting story are there, but the actual show is forgettable.
Maybe that's because the show gives us a superficial look at the Tomatoes before diving into the heist subplot. As Marge herself points out, she participates in exactly three activities with her new friends, and that's counting the robbery. The other two -- a museum tour and some group skydiving -- take about a minute of show time. That's enough time to get some feel of what the group's about, but not enough to get to really know (and thus care) about the women. It doesn't help that of the seven women in the group (counting Marge and Tammy), four of them are nameless ciphers. (The seventh is the crotchety Agnes Skinner, in case you were wondering.) The robbery is less that it could be, too. An elaborate caper has the potential to be funny, since there are more things to go humorously wrong, or at least to be interesting in its mechanics. Tammy's plans take up an entire wall of her basement, but the plan is really simple: sneak in through an air duct, unlock a gate, crack the safe, and make off with the booty.
The subplot is more interesting. Lisa needs to learn fluent Italian, presto, so she can go on a summer tour of Rome. This skill isn't already in her bag of tricks, so she responds to an ad offering Italian-language tutoring. The company sends Milhouse, who learned the language while staying with his grandmother in Tuscany. It's a nice twist to see Milhouse competent at something (and at something that isn't dorky, to boot). He even manages to prove what we've long suspected: fluency in a Romance language will drive the ladies wild. Too bad the ending for this plot feels so inconsequential; we never hear about the trip to Rome after Lisa applies for it in the first act. Did the school drop it to save money? Was another student selected? We'll never know.
There are a few bits that lift this episode's rating a notch. Mrs. Quimby leads a tour of her husband's office. Much to her chagrin and our delight, every button she pushes transforms the room into a 60s- era fantasy bachelor pad. It might be a simple gag, but I loved the way the Cat Lady was able to chuck a feline over the Simpson house. Milhouse's flashback to summers with Grandma was fun. And the very last joke, a callback involving Moe and his attempts to kill himself, makes the show worthwhile almost by itself.
A couple of good jokes scattered here and there do not make for a classic episode, however. More's the pity, because "Red Hat Mamas" has the potential to be a cool caper show. As it stands, it's a little like Tammy; intriguing on the surface, but there's less substance than we'd expect underneath.
[The short of it]
The elements of an interesting story are here, but the actual show is forgettable. Our look at the Cherry Red Tomatoes gives us some feel for what the group's about, but we never really get to know (and thus care) about them. (It doesn't help that the majority of them are essentially extras.) The robbery plan isn't that engaging, either. The subplot, where Milhouse tutors Lisa in Italian, is more interesting, in large part because it's a surprise to see Milhouse so competent at something. This plot thread ends a little too abruptly, though. There are a some really good bits (the last joke is terrific), but this episode could use more substance. (B-)
[DYNs]
... Nelson doesn't bother to put his phone number in his "for sale" sign? ... somewhere in Springfield there's a language tutoring country that will employ a ten-year-old boy? ... Milhouse's middle name is "Mussolini"? ... Marge counts the jewel heist as an activity (the other two being the trip to the museum of suffering, and the skydive)?
[References]
White House Easter egg hunt - every Easter, an egg hunt is held for children on the White House lawn; Mayor Quimby does the same thing at his house
Loony Tunes cartoons - egg hunt referee is Hugs Bunny, a play on Bugs Bunny - Mrs. Quimby refers to Hugs as a "wascawy wefewee," thus mimicking Elmer Fudd's speech impediment
Trix (breakfast cereal) - ads for this cereal had the tagline, "silly rabbit, Trix are for kids;" Homer yells "silly rabbit, kicks are for ribs" while attacking "Hugs Bunny"
tyrannosaurus rex - Homer propositions Marge by calling himself, "tyrannosaurus sex"
"La donna � mobile" (opera aria) - while brushing her hair, Lisa makes up new lyrics to this famous aria from Verdi's "Rigoletto"
[Previous Episode References]
[CABF22] REM appears
[FFF]
Signs at Easter egg hunt:
TODAY --
MAYOR'S EASTER EGG HUNT BEWARE
OF
RAT POISONHomer's "real" food stamps:
REAL FOOD
STAMPS [Homer eating]
[ a hoagie ]Lisa's Italian tape:
ITALIAN
FOR
ITALIAN-
AMERICANSSign's on the community bulletin board:
For Sale 2001 BMW. SPEAK
Martin Prince's GREAT ITALIAN
bike. CONDITION. SEND YOUR TONGUE
Call Nelson. NOT FOR SALE. ON A GONDOLA RIDEPoker show title:
HAS-BEEN
Celebrity
POKERMuseum sign:
MUSEUM
OF
SUFFERINGMarge's text message:
U
ROCK!Homer's home-made "welcome back" sign:
HOPE YOU HAD
FUN
[Homer] [Marge]Lisa's flash card:
PREGO
Little Italy sign:
SPRINGFIELD'S
Little [flag]
ItalyBIRTHPLACE OF BEEF-O-GHETTI
Burns manor blueprint:
BURNS MANOR GROUND FLOOR
Note on Smithers' picture:
WHY NO
GIRLFRIEND?Mr. Burns' novelty check:
BANK OF SPRINGFIELD 0723
C. Montgomery Burns [Illegible] 200[*]
1000 Mammon Lane
Springfield, USA Pay to the order of
Springfield Children's Hospital $1,000,000 00/100
One Million and 00/100 Dollars DONATION C. Montgomery Burns
12 22200 6676055[*] Final digit of date illegible
Channel logo:
FOX
SPORTS WEST II
Classic FOX
SPORTS
FOX[Each "FOX" is really the FOX network logo]
Marge's news clipping folder:
Marge's
CLIPABLES
AND
KEEPABLESMarge's folder categories:
"RECIPES"
"DRESS PATTERNS"
"TOASTER
UNDERCOATING
AGREEMENT""HEIST PLANS"
[Oops!]
Marge sure covered a lot of ground in a hurry to get from the vent opening in the ditch all the way to Burns' front gate. Maybe she does have a special skill after all.
[Personal Comments & Observations]
During Marge's downhearted walk around town, REM's "Everybody Hurts" plays in the background.
Mrs. Quimby is referred to as Mayor Quimby's "seldom-seen wife" and, in fact, she isn't seen very often on the series.
After Marge gives her the Faberge egg, Tammy says she and Marge are friends, but can never see each other again. I think this plays on the tendency for guest stars to come on a show, make friends with one of the regular characters, and then mysteriously disappear, never to be seen or talked about again.
Sherri (or is it Terri?) mentions that Rome was founded by twins. She's referring to the legend of Romulus and Remus, although they didn't exactly settle Rome together. Both men, citing conflicting omens, argued over which one would found a new city named for himself. During the argument, Romulus slew his twin brother. He founded his city (according to tradition, on April 21, 753 B.C.) and named it Sherriville, er, I mean Roma.
And that's why we don't refer to the glory of ancient Reme.
[Some information from "What Are the Seven Wonders of the World," by Peter D'Epiro and Mary Desmond Pinkowish.]
Vic Tayback -- Actor who is probably best known for his portrayal of Mel, the blustery owner of Mel's diner on "Alice."
The BMW "not for sale" ad may sound ridiculous, but something like it happened in real life. Someone paid to run a classified ad to describe a car and then proclaim that it *wasn't* for sale. The ad even made it to the "Tonight" show; Jay Leno used it in his weekly showcase of weird headlines and news articles.
I don't know the name of it, but there is a women's social club that asks its members to wear purple suits and red hats to meetings. The "Pickles" comic strip refers to it, and that's how I learned about its existence.