The Cartridge Family

From Simpsons Wiki

"The Cartridge Family" is the fifth episode of The Simpsons' ninth season, which originally aired on November 2, 1997.

Plot

The Simpsons, along with most other residents of Springfield, attend a soccer match between Mexico and Portugal. When the game starts, the crowd begins to lose interest and it turns into a violent soccer riot. Eventually the riot escalates and spreads all over Springfield, forcing mob rule to be installed. Homer does not want to pay $500 for a Home Security System and decides to buy a firearm.

After a 5 day waiting period, Homer surprises Marge with his new revolver. She is horrified and appalled, demanding that he get rid of the gun at once. Homer persuades Marge to come with him to the local National Rifle Association meeting to try and get her to change her mind, and suggests that "Just come with me to a meeting, and if you still don't think guns are great, we'll argue some more". After the meeting, she still remains unconvinced.

Homer treats the gun as though it were a toy, casually carrying it into the Kwik-E-Mart, firing bullets to retrieve items from the roof and shooting dinner plates as if they were clay pigeons. Finally, after a near fatal accident at the dinner table, Marge gives Homer an ultimatum: "It's your gun or your family. We can't live in the same house!"

Homer promises to get rid of the gun, but he hides it in the vegetable crisper drawer of the refrigerator. Later, Bart and Milhouse discover the gun and play William Tell in the kitchen. Marge discovers what is going on and confiscates the gun. Angry at Homer for having lied to her about the gun, Marge gathers the children and leaves for a hotel.

That night, Homer hosts an NRA meeting at his house but his reckless usage of his gun appalls the other members of the NRA and he is kicked out of the association. Realizing what his gun has cost him, Homer goes to the hotel to tell Marge he has gotten rid of it.

Homer and Marge make up, but while walking through the lobby to leave, Snake arrives to rob the desk clerk, demanding the cash register's contents while holding a knife to Mayor Quimby's throat. Homer pulls out his gun and disrupts the robbery. Marge is angry at Homer for lying to her again, and he pleads to her "I know I said that, but what I secretly meant was--" and Snake snatches the gun. Moe and some other NRA members arrive and Snake runs off with the money. Homer then asks Marge to get rid of the gun for him. Marge is about to deposit it in a trashcan when the shiny metal lid shows the reflection of herself holding the gun. She admires what she sees and decides to keep the gun for herself.

Production

This was originally called "Homer Gets A Gun." according to the DVD Commentary for the 9th Season. The opening sequence where soccer is portrayed as the most boring sport imaginable was based on an incident where John Swartzwelder watched the United States team's opening match in the 1994 World Cup at the urging of a friend. Swartzwelder switched it off after 20 minutes, and vowed never to watch another game.Template:Fact The end credits were originally to have the song "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" by The Beatles, but Michael Jackson didn't allow them to use it in time. Template:Fact The writers got into an argument with Fox censors over having Bart hold the gun at Milhouse with the apple in his mouth. This was announced during the DVD Commentary for this episode.^[2] The episode closes with music from The Avengers. In the DVD commentary, it is explained that the normal Simpsons music was desired, but it was too late in production to get the full orchestra to do a recording, and union rules meant that previous recordings couldn't be reused.^[2]

Cultural references

• The quip Marge makes about the soccer stadium being a former internment camp is a reference to the Chilean Coup of 1973 where opponents of the coup were held in a makeshift internment camp inside the national soccer stadium.
• On the DVD commentary, they mention that the gunshop is based off of the shop that police went to during the North Hollywood Bank Robbery when they ran out of ammo.
• The name of the store Homer purchases the gun is called Bloodbath & Beyond, a parody of the store Bed, Bath, & Beyond.
• The title of this episode is a play on the name of 1970s television series The Partridge Family.^[1]
• The song playing when Homer is sitting and watching things go by while he's waiting 5 days for his gun is 'The Waiting' by "Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers"
• The end music is the theme to the 1960s show The Avengers.^[1]

Reception

This episode of The Simpsons involves debate about the ownership of guns, but the writers of the episode did not want to make a point about guns, or take sides at all.^[2] According to the DVD commentary, complaints about the portrayal of the NRA were received by the NRA,^[2] despite that the Springfield NRA membership, including relatively stable characters like Dr. Hibbert and Agnes Skinner, are unanimously against Homer's irresponsible gun use.

Ian Jones and Steve Williams criticised the episode, calling it "a messy, unfocused lampooning of gun culture.

The episode was banned from the UK satellite channel Sky One due to scenes of flagrant gun misuse, yet was aired several times on BBC Two in an early evening timeslot.