Episode 15 - Oh Brother Where Are Thou
24 June 2010
Synopsis: Grandpa Simpson has a mild heart attack. He decides to tell Homer about his half-brother who he left in an orphanage. Homer tracks him down and he is a wealthy businessman in Detroit. He invites Homer and family out to stay with him. Once there he asks Homer to help design a car for the average American.
The Good: There is a lot to enjoy here even though the story goes in a predictable and downbeat direction. Danny Devito is a good choice to play Homer's brother bringing an authentic gruff authority to Herb. The big car flop parody works out as you would expect with Homer's desires allowed to run wild.
The comedy is decent throughout. The show still pulls no punches with Abe admitting he paid a carnival worker for sex and hence Herb was born. Herb worked his way up from nothing and is proud. He yells at his Harvard educated peers (who now work for him) that "Daddy didn't pay my way; I had to work my way through washing your dishes and scrubbing your toilets." To which one of them replies "Oh yeah now I remember you." Later Herb gives Homer a stirring pep talk about having self confidence but he only 'sort of' understands. Herb demands that he reply with more confidence to which Homer yells "Sort of!"
The scenes with Herb showing off his wealth to entertain the kids and Marge built the sense of time passing as Homer worked on the car. They also show you what Herb is inevitably going to lose once Homer's idea fails. But the writers deserve special credit for the consistency which they show as Bart and Lisa constantly pester their parents for attention and Homer keeps being annoyed by it. All those little moments help simulate real life and make the stories that much more believable.
The Bad: Though really what did Herb expect? It's difficult to feel sorry for him or blame Homer for the car being a flop. And if Herb staked his whole company on one man's feelings about cars then he deserves what he got.
Best Joke: Herb decides that Homer is just the average American whose opinions he is looking for. He asks him to help build him a new car "and I wanna pay you two hundred thousand dollars a year!" To which Homer yells "And I wanna let you!"
The Bottom Line: A fun and well told story with a downbeat and unsympathetic ending. The "Homer ruins everything" idea just isn't much fun.
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