A very family-centered episode, "Mobile Homer" took a very early-season premise (the Simpsons in money trouble - anticipated, anyway) as a lead-in to another old idea (one which actually has stayed with the show more faithfully: testing of Homer and Marge's marriage), even making use of a first-season prop (the RV, though we see that a more luxurious model is now within Homer's grasp). Some bits were a little too wacky for my taste (e.g. the shredder, most of the ending), but overall I found it a good Homer-and-Marge episode (not a tear-jerker for sure, but better than, for example, EABF15, where the rift seemed entirely too implausible). Though the make-up was a little abrupt (though certainly satisfying, knowing the strength of their bond), I very much enjoyed the dynamic of the two throughout the story arc. Homer's hosting of his RV pals smelled a bit of later-season antics, but thankfully it was only really involved insofar as it advanced the plot; the ending also kind of petered out along those lines, but I enjoyed and was amused by the rest of the episode enough that I will forgive that. (Let's be honest, with a prop such as this, it could have been a lot worse - I know how 7G09 went, but I'm thinking bike fight in BABF05 here - and I'm glad it stayed a pretty human story.) B+ I guess.
DYN: ...given the various on-screen text, the Wifetime movie was either very short or primarily devoted to her descent from opulence _almost_ to her haggard homelessness? ...Marge slammed the _microwave_ door in the middle of the "cutting you off" scene? ...Bart's idea of returning the RV to end the standoff was actually pretty good (and just what a ten-year-old might think of, too)? ...despite his appearing only 4 (production) episodes from now, Albert Brooks didn't voice Bob? ...Homer apparently has two favorite search engines (Google and Ask Jeeves)? ...tonight's episode is very light on regular supporting characters (the Flandereses, the three cops, and Krusty being the only ones that come to mind)?
Previous episode references 7G09: Homer buys an RV (different reason though) from Bob's RV Roundup, which eventually plunges to its demise 7G10, 1F20, DABF01, EABF12, and so on: Exile for Homer (some self-imposed, as here) 7F02: Homer's hair in Marge's dream like his first hairstyle here 7G13, 1F01, others?: Homer slips on Bart's skateboard 9F09: Merry Widow insurance (of the life variety this time), Homer's prior heart attack(s) (again, before insurance), trying to sign a form to validate the anulled policy 4F22: Homer seems to have reversed his take on Mountain Dew 9F18: Parking many people on the Simpsons' lawn AABF10: SUVs rolling over and bursting into flames, Marge's mad driving skills
Goofs: Lisa didn't learn CPR very well: for example, she didn't perform any sort of checks for consciousness/airway/breathing/circulation before beginning, started out just doing some version of rescue breathing, and kept breathing quite a bit throughout (even in two-person [adult] CPR, it's still only 2 breaths every 15 compressions, and not at the same time). I'll ignore Bart, since he didn't claim to have learned it. Homer wasn't too lazy to fill out the divorce paperwork in 4F04 (but would Lisa have known that?). A minor point: Bart had no time to leave a note on the lawn, unless he thought far enough ahead to write it out beforehand. Lisa could have gotten to the brake once Bart took the wheel again (though as she's 8, has very little driving experience, and was under pressure, I can forgive that... besides, she [and Milhouse] seem to have a limited grasp of how to work the pedals anyway, cf. DABF04).
Meta-reference corner: Homer and Marge both acknowledge that he will not die for many, many years, as will evidently happen as long as the show continues.
Other: Though it wasn't a guest appearance exactly, I think I can die happy now (but "I hope that I get old before" then, of course), with the music of one of my favorite bands, They Might Be Giants, being included at the end (their version of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)").
What happened to the special credits arrangement (see also GABF02)?
Correction: In my capsule submission for GABF06 last week, I made mention of a similarity to Seinfeld; no one corrected me, but it was not in "The Pitch"/"The Ticket" that Elaine hatched the Kramer plan, rather it was in "The Wallet"/"The Watch."