The Simpsons Project #9

The Simpsons Project #9 (Season 1, Episode 9)
Life on the Fast Lane
Original airdate: 3/18/90

Hello, everyone, and happy holidays! I hope you and yours had a fantastic holiday weekend, and hopefully all of you and your loved ones are in good health and good spirits.

I should have mentioned this in my last column, but December 14 marked the one-year anniversary of the creation of this blog. I’d like to sincerely thank everyone who has written an article for the Musicarium, and I’d also like to thank everyone who has ever taken the time to load this page up. To anyone who has mentioned the blog to myself, or to Matt, or to anyone else who writes/has written here, thanks so much.

The ninth episode of The Simpsons, “Life on the Fast Lane”, delves into the shaky marriage of the Simpson parental unit. We open with Bart and Lisa preparing a birthday breakfast for Marge, complete with a cake and about fifty pancakes. They awaken Marge with breakfast in bed, and Homer is completely oblivious and unaware of the significance of the day. He immediately runs to the mall to purchase a present, and in the end purchases a bowling ball for Marge so that he’ll be able to use it. To say she’s unhappy with his gift would be an understatement.

Homer has always been a thoughtless goofball, but in earlier episodes, his selfishness and rudeness is presented in a much more negative light. In recent episodes, the others expect him to act like a jerk and usually brush off his behavior with an eye-roll or a quip; in fact, that they know he’ll behave like that is a joke in itself. But here, Homer is truly portrayed as a guy who just doesn’t understand basic decency. When Marge opens the bowling ball and Homer says “If you don’t want it, I know someone who does”, referring to himself, it may be the low point of Homer as a husband and family man in the entire series.

To spite Homer, Marge decides to use the ball anyway, and ends up meeting a local lothario, Jacques, at the bowling alley. He offers to teach her how to bowl, but he’s really interested in preying on her fragile and attention-starved sensibilities in order to get her into bed. He buys her a bowling glove with her name on it and then takes her out to brunch. Jacques possesses a combination of feigned classiness and a general understanding of how women work. His gift of the bowling glove to Marge, so shortly after her “present” from Homer, and his self-portrayal as a classy French playboy, represent the opposite of Homer’s brutishness and thoughtlessness.

Every character in the episode has great, realistic reactions to what’s happening. Marge is wracked with guilt about what she’s doing, but she so desires genuine attention and affection that she nearly destroys her family. Homer realizes that he’s a shitty husband, but doesn’t know what to say or do about it. The kids see what is going on and deal with its implications. It’s actually a pretty heavy-handed episode, light on laughs but long on story and character development.

Marge agrees to visit Jacques’ apartment, but has second thoughts on her way there, and instead decides to drop in on Homer at the nuclear plant, mending their relationship and providing for a memorable ending.

B+

John Lacey

“Tell him I’m going to the back seat of my car, with the woman I love, and I won’t be back for ten minutes!” - Homer