An interesting Marge episode; no subplot to speak of either, except the first act setup. This isn't the first time there's been a Marge/prisoner plot ("Pokey Mom") but this is a little different and fairly engaging, while being fairly basic for a recent episode. A fun performance from Steve Buscemi... I liked the Moe (not Dwight) spying on Marge fakeout (though isn't he supposed to be in jail himself?), but I must say the coaching-Eddie-at-shooting (in the carnival game, ho ho!) thing didn't fool me even for a second. Well, till TOH time I guess...
DYN: ...the person behind Homer at the assembly looks a bit like Cecil Terwilliger (who is returning this season)? (Later, we can see it's only similar hair.) ...Marge approved Lindsay Naegle as a second wife for Homer, and she's also in the bank as a hostage? ...Sideshow Bob's "Cape Fear[e]" theme is used for Dwight this time (as he breaks out Shawshank style)? ...Dwight calls Marge "ma" on the viking ride? (I was expecting something the other way around, such as the screams in the movie sounding like "Marge" to Marge instead) ...the Washington Monument seems to be between the Lincoln Memorial and the reflecting pool in I&S?
Previous episode references EABF15: Steve Buscemi guest stars CABF19, DABF19: Dwight painted all blue reminded me of both Hairy Marge in CABF19 and Cat Marge in DABF19 CABF05: Main plot revolves around Marge and a prisoner CABF18: Gloria (voiced again by Julia Louis-Dreyfus for just a short cameo!) appears as Snake's girlfriend
Goofs While we never see if Marge's home-fixed light bulbs work, they're not likely to; conventional bulbs are filled with some inert gas, and halogens (at least one conical halogen bulb is seen) have - surprise! - a halogen inside. A corded phone would not keep ringing once removed from the cradle; then again, it is some sort of fancy foreign phone, so maybe its makers embraced a weird design.
Meta-reference corner Johnny Stabbo's prisoner number in the old movie is JABF19. The bullies hold for a long time on the funeral home ad before deciding to shift the camera's focus (reminiscent of GABF04).
Other things -The scene in the bank, where Marge makes small talk with Dwight before he holds the place up, reminds of a scene in Futurama ("Insane in the Mainframe (3ACV11)") with Bender, Fry, and Roberto. -The way Dwight saves Wiggum by jumping into the moving gears may be more popular in action movies (not my favorite type), but reminds me a bit of the climax of "The Brave Little Toaster." -Odd that they'd use non-cartoony disc art and menus for "The Negotiator" - furthermore, I'd be interested to see if those are the actual menus and (especially) chapter names in the movie. (Interestingly, I note that in 1998 it was released on DVD one week before it was released on the [almost gone by then] laserdisc format... perhaps the studio was trying to push DVD by that move?) -The sax solo here is #24, a repeat of JABF12's (which premiered in May). Not only is this the first new solo to repeat since #20 (season 11/12), but (here in Cleveland at least, probably most of Eastern/Central time) the repeat of JABF12 had a late/in-progress start (of about 3 minutes) with a poorly shortened intro (blackboard to driveway or couch, compared to full), so that solo was not heard in the repeat! -Tonight's Family Guy is a repeat ("Boys Do Cry") for some reason, but its first scene features a bad Julia Louis-Dreyfus sitcom promo. Juxtapositioning!
Finally This is probably of lower interest to most of you, but the movie was called "A Kiss before Frying"; when FABF08 first aired, I noted in my post that while screen 2 at the Googolplex was listed as having "The Fashion of the Christ," on the side (and as it turns out in a far shot of the marquee above the ticket window) another title was listed: I could only make out "A Kiss before..." and suggested perhaps "Frying" was the last word. (There may not be too many amusing rhyming words for that, but I still consider it neat.) Viewing it again without TV overscan, I can make out more of the title ("A Kiss before Bo..."); the next shot shows that it's about 6 letters long, but it's too small to tell. Perhaps the season 15 DVD will have sufficient resolution. Anyway, if we assume it's 6 letters and ends in "ing" the only words that make sense are "boning" and "boxing" - neither rhymes with "dying" or is hilarious.