The Crepes of Wrath

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The Crepes of Wrath
image:7G13.jpg
Season One Episode 11
Production Code 7G13
Original Airdate April 15, 1990
Written By George Meyer
Sam Simon
John Swartzwelder
Jon Vitti
Directed By Wes Archer
Milton Gray
Show Runners James L. Brooks
Matt Groening
Sam Simon
Special Guests
Blackboard Text “Garlic gum is not funny”

Rate This Episode ( 4 votes )
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"The Crepes of Wrath" is the eleventh episode of The Simpsons first season. Bart is sent to France on a student exchange trip, where his hosts treat him as a slave; meanwhile, an Albanian student taking his place shows great interest in Homer's work at the nuclear power plant.

Contents

Plot

Homer trips over Bart's skateboard and falls down the stairs. He is consequently disabled and confined to the couch for several days. Marge then punishes Bart, forcing him to clean his room and as he does, he discovers an old cherry bomb in his room and decides to flush it down the toilet in the boy's restroom at school. On the day he plans to flush it, Principal Skinner's mother accompanies him to school, calling him "Spanky" in front of his students. Bart ends up pulling his prank at the same time as Principal Skinner's mother is in the girl's restroom. The resulting explosion blows her off of her seat and enrages Skinner. In order to punish him, Skinner proposes "deportation" to the Simpsons, by having Bart participate in a foreign exchange program. Bart is sent to France, whereas the Simpsons host a student from Albania. Bart is shown a picture of a lovely chateau in the heart of France and he immediately agrees to go, much to everyone's delight.

In France, Bart arrives at the "beautiful chateau", which is actually a dilapidated wine making facility. He is greeted by the two unscrupulous winemakers, César and Ugolin, who proceed to treat him like a slave. Bart is made to collect and crush grapes, sleep on the floor and test wine contaminated with antifreeze. Bart's experience is a reference to the Austrian Diethylene Glycol Scandal of 1985.

Meanwhile, in Springfield, Adil arrives and turns out to be a sweet and helpful boy. Homer immediately takes a shine to him, and it is noticeable that he is a better son and role model than Bart ever was. Unbeknown to the family, Adil is actually a spy sent by his government to obtain nuclear blueprints. Homer unwittingly takes him on a tour of the power plant and thinks nothing of the many photographs Adil takes.

Eventually Bart learns enough French to escape his captors and inform the authorities about his captors' plot to sell contaminated wine. First he tries to speak English to a Policeman, who replies: Je suis désolé, je ne comprends pas - I'm sorry, I don't understand. The policeman gives him a candy instead of helping him. Bart then goes away, upset, but accidentally speaks French and realises he has become fluent in the language. The wine-makers are swiftly arrested and Bart is hailed as a hero to conclude his stay in France on a satisfying note. Adil is caught by the FBI and is exchanged for another boy who was an American spy caught in Albania. Bart returns to his family, bringing them French gifts. Homer declares he is proud his son can speak French.

Debut Appearances

Characters making a first appearance in this episode are:

Trivia

  • Also Starring Christian Coffinet as the French gendarme officer.
  • Before Marge asks Bart if he wants to go to France, Bart is shown looking at his pet frog, remarking "Ah, the life of a frog, that's the life for me". "Frog" is traditionally a pejorative term for a French person.
  • Bart has to go get antifreeze from 74 Voltaire Street (74 rue Voltaire): the 7 is drawn European-style, with a horizontal line through the middle.
  • Early in the episode, there is some actual dialogue in Albanian between Adil and his family, but later on the dialogue is just gibberish. The dialogue in French is very loosely translated, but correct, however.
    • The only notable mistake is that César's line "Qu'est-ce que je t'avais dit?" (What have I been telling you?) is translated as "He sees well enough", however, César's argument to Ugolin was that adding too much anti-freeze to wine would not cause death, or blindness, hence the said translation. Also, "anti-freeze" is not translated: it should be "antigel".
  • When Bart talks to the policeman, the man says "Excusez moi? Je ne parle pas anglais... Voilà un bonbon... Je suis désolé, j'aimerais vraiment pouvoir vous aider." (Excuse me? I don't speak English... Here's a piece of candy... I'm sorry, I really would like to be able to help you).
  • In later seasons, Agnes Skinner's personality seems vastly different to her kindly demeanor in this episode. In the DVD audio commentary, Matt Groening offers the theory that her current mean streak can be attributed to being a victim of Bart's prank.
Image:César et Ugolin.jpg
César (left) and Ugolin (right).
  • The number of Bart's flight back to the USA is 1988 (dix-neuf cent quatre vingt huit).
  • This is the first episode of the series to satirize a particular nation (other than America), in this case France. Episodes targeting another nation would become a recurring theme (typically once per season) in later seasons.
  • Albania is portrayed as a totalitarian state. Albania's first multi-party elections were held only in 1991 - about a year after this episode was first aired.
  • Adil shares the most of the name of former Kosovar president Fadil Hoxha, and the surname of Enver Hoxha, the former leader of Albania.
  • In some showings on cable and satellite, the soundtrack varies in the scene where Bart communicates with the French policeman.
  • When Principal Skinner offers for Homer and Marge to host an exchange student, Homer confuses Albanian with albino.
  • First appearance of Springfield airport

Cultural references

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