Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind

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Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind
Season 19 Episode 9
Production Code	KABF02
Original Airdate	December 16, 2007
Written By	J. Stewart Burns
Directed By	Chuck Sheetz
Show Runners
Special Guests	none
Blackboard Text	"The Capital of Montana is not Hannah."

"Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" is the ninth episode of The nineteenth season, and first aired on[December 16, 2007 The episode averaged 10.15 million viewers, and won in its time slot. It received a 12 percent audience share.

Plot

During winter, Homer wakes up in a pile of snow and does not remember the events of the previous day, commenting that he must have drunk heavily the night before. Homer goes home and finds his family missing. and Santa's Little Helper attacking him. Homer travels to Moe’s, where Moe informs him that he was there the night before and wanted to forget something. Moe explains he gave Homer a "Forget-Me-Shot," which wiped out the last 24 hours of his memory. Chief Wiggum appears and tells Homer that there was a domestic disturbance at his house last night, which was reported by Ned Flanders. Homer instantly receives a flashback to the night before showing Wiggum questioning Marge about a black eye she had received, to which Marge nervously replies that she walked into a door.

A still confused Homer goes home, where a picture of Marge causes a flashback of her pleading with Homer to stop, and then rubbing her eye in pain. Horrified, Homer goes to Grampa Simpson for help. Grampa tells Homer about Professor Frink's new machine that helps people sort through their memories. With the help of this technology, Homer sees himself walking in on Marge and Duffman. When Marge tells Homer she did not want him to find out about it, Homer assumes that Marge was cheating on him

Homer now considers his life to be worthless and jumps off a bridge. While falling, Homer's life flashes before his eyes, and he sees the full memory of the previous night. It is revealed that Marge was planning a surprise party for Homer finishing his community service, and did not want Homer to find out about it. Duffman, who was hired by Marge to entertain at the party, brings out a bottle of Duff Champagne. Overjoyed, Homer tries to open the bottle, while Marge pleads with Homer to stop, as she wants to save it for the party. The bottlecap flies off the bottle and hits Marge in the eye. The flashback ends and, instead of falling to his death, Homer lands on a moon bounce, which is at the surprise party on board a ship.

When Homer questions why Marge lied to Chief Wiggum, she says that she did not want him at the party, because she knew he would bring Sarah Wiggum, who Marge is not very fond of. Lenny and Carl appear and cause a flashback which shows Homer telling his bar buddies that he felt very guilty for finding out about the party that Marge worked so hard on. When Moe offers the Forget-Me-Shot, Homer predicts exactly what is going to happen, and tells Lenny to make sure there is a moon bounce at the party. Finally, it is revealed that the dog is angry because Homer never takes care of him.

Cultural references

The episode's title is a reference to the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and the plot element of Homer trying to forget an unpleasant memory likewise refers to the film's story. Homer's mind appears in the form of a Youtube video, and Scrat the Squirrel from Ice Age makes an appearance. Krusty states that he did a "Mel Gibson", referencing the incident when Gibson complained about the Jewish people.

Reception

The episode averaged 10.1 million viewers, and won in its time slot and received a 12 percent audience share. Robert Canning of IGN enjoyed the episode, saying it "did both very well by putting Homer in his own head as he tried to recall the events that transpired the previous day. Smart, funny and visually engaging, this episode was an absolute pleasure to watch."

External links

• "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" at The Simpsons.com