See Homer Run
From Simpsons Wiki
"See Homer Run" is the sixth episode of the 17th season of The Simpsons. The plot is a takeoff of the 2003 California recall election.
Synopsis
On Father's Day, Homer is impressed by Bart's gift – a Leather Buddy multi-function knife, and proudly tells Bart that it's the greatest gift any father could receive. As for Lisa's gift (a book she created, with caricatures of herself and Homer as unicorns), it doesn't go over so well, even though Homer still likes it. In a half-hearted attempt to make Lisa feel better, Homer hangs the book on the refrigerator, but it quickly becomes a water-soaked glob of paper when the book falls into the refrigerator's water dispenser. Homer blames the magnet, which turns out to be a magnet that Lisa gave Homer for his birthday.
Lisa takes out her frustrations at school, leading her into trouble, and her parents are called to talk with Principal Skinner. School psychiatrist Dr. Pryor determines Lisa is going through a development condition, which can only be resolved by Homer trying to make amends for everything. He does so by deciding to dress up as the Safety Salamander and giving safety talks at school. However, a fireworks display during a school assembly causes a massive fire in the auditorium.
Meanwhile, Bart – on a dare from the bullies – steals a "Bart Blvd." street sign. This leads to a fiery multi-car pileup when Cletus is unable to find Bart Boulevard so that he and Brandine can go to the hospital to deliver a baby. Police cars, fire trucks and ambulances race to the scene but crash into the wreck, making matters even worse.
Homer, still dressed in his Safety Salamander costume, runs to the rescue, extricating people who were trapped in their cars just before the pileup explodes in a giant fireball. Homer gets a rousing reception, and Mayor Quimby is immediately blamed for the bumbling response. Springfield residents pick apart Quimby's administration for other failures, and demand a recall election, called on by Quimby himself accidentally.
On Lisa's suggestion, Homer decides to run for mayor, playing on his popularity as the Safety Salamander. After Marge washes the costume, it falls apart during a debate forum, disappointing the crowd. Eventually, none of the new candidates gain 5% of the master vote to oust Mayor Quimby. Nevertheless, Lisa confides in Homer that she is very proud of him and glad he is her father.
Trivia
- Throught the whole episode, the candidates seen are: Comic Book Guy, Miss Springfield, Crazy Cat Lady, Gil Gunderson, Bumblebee Man, Luigi Risotto, Rainier Wolfcastle, Homer Simpson, Dr. Hibbert, and Jimbo Jones.
- The title is a reference to the 2001 comedy film See Spot Run.
- This is the first appearance of both Dr. J. Loren Pryor (the school psychiatrist), and Freddy Quimby (Mayor Quimby's nephew) in many years. The voices of each character are very different from their original forms (particularly Quimby).
- Dolph stealing The Scream is a reference to one of The Scream paintings being stolen from the Munch Museum in 2004. The Scream itself, however, was first depicted on The Simpsons in Treehouse of Horror IV.
- In the last scene, when Homer is dancing with Lisa, he experiences phantom limb syndrome.
Cultural references
- 2003 California recall election – The Springfield mayoral recall election, Rainier Wolfcastle's campaign in particular, is an obvious parody of the 2003 California recall election, which saw incumbent governor Gray Davis ousted and replaced by Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, who in this episode is represented by Wolfcastle ("... a steroid abusing, pot-smoking, women-groping son of a Nazi, washed up has-been movie star...").fi:Äänestä Homeria