Co-Dependent's Day

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"Co-Dependent's Day" is the fifteenth episode of The Simpsons' fifteenth season. The episode aired on March 21, 2004.

Plot

Homer, Bart, and Lisa see the newest Cosmic Wars film, The Gathering Shadow, and the movie turns out to be less than what they expected. At home, Marge suggests that Bart and Lisa write a letter to Cosmic Wars creator Randall Curtis. Two weeks later, they get a reply from Curtis, which completely ignores their criticism, having sent them Jim-Jam merchandise. This forces the Simpsons to go on a trip to California, where Homer and Marge go to wineries, and Bart and Lisa go to the Cosmic Wars Ranch, which was previously called Fresno. Bart and Lisa visit Randall Curtis and tell him that his Cosmic Wars movies have lost their way. He doesn't like what they are saying until Lisa points out that better technology is no way to make the story better. Curtis agrees, and he decides to go back to his storytelling roots. (For inspiration he decides to go to the video store, and rides there on a tauntaun.)

Bart and Lisa rejoin Homer and Marge, who are both drunk from free samples of the wine. Back in Springfield, Homer and Marge go to Moe's Tavern and drink more wine. Moe opens a bottle of Chateau Latour 1886 vintage wine, clearly unaware of its value. The next morning Marge suffers a hangover. She tells Homer that he shouldn't be drinking, and he agrees. Unfortunately, when they go to an Oktoberfest featuring Grammy-winning nuclear polka band Brave Combo, Marge, who tries to go through without drinking, gives in and ends up drunk along with Homer. He tries to drive them home, but in a drunken stupor overturns the car.

In order to avoid an arrest, Homer makes things look like Marge (who is more drunk than him) was the driver. She is arrested, but he bails her out. Later, Barney suggests that Marge go to a rehab clinic for a month, and when Marge is gone, Homer lets Flanders take care of the kids. He sees her and confesses, but Marge drinks again. Later on, she finds out that she likes being with Homer more than drinking, and spends some time with him.

Continuity issues

Using Cosmic Wars and Randall Curtis instead of the actual names were ways for producers to avoid upsetting Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox with their strong criticism of The Phantom Menace, but some fans saw the basis of this episode as confusing with previous acknowledgements in Simpsons universe. Not only did this parody air five years after the film came out (and indeed, two years after its sequel), but Star Wars, George Lucas, and The Phantom Menace has been mentioned numerous times by name in previous and future episodes. In fact, an earlier episode, C.E. D'oh, featured Lenny & Carl using plutonium rods in a fashion similar to lightsabres whilst arguing over which film sucked more, The Phantom Menace or Attack of the Clones. One oddity however is that Randall Curtis, Lucas' cartoon version, was seen three seasons before in Worst Episode Ever as one of the people banned from the comic book shop.

Production notes

• A deleted scene from this episode was used in Mommie Beerest.