The Great Louse Detective

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"The Great Louse Detective" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons' fourteenth season. The episode, which aired on December 15, 2002, marks the point at which The Simpsons permanently switched to digital coloring.

Plot

When the Simpson family go to a free spa weekend, Homer is nearly killed when a mysterious man locks him into an incredibly hot steam room. This prompts Homer and Marge to see Chief Wiggum, who suggests that they get someone who can understand a murderer's twisted mind — Sideshow Bob, who is released from prison, much to Bart's discomfort. To ensure Bart's safety, Wiggum placed a shock bracelet on Bob's ankle to keep his murderous urges at bay when he comes to live at the Simpson house. He asks Homer to list all the people who may want him dead, and decides to follow Homer around to investigate who the killer could be. During their day, they go hang gliding (Homer wanted to impress him), visit the Kwik-E-Mart and end up at a repair shop, where Homer chastizes the mechanic, Junior.

Later, Homer and Bob go to Moe's, where a hand, holding a gun, appears at the door and fires at Homer, but it hits and shatters Moe's pickled egg jar. The person gets away in a tow truck. Bob suggests that Homer should stay home and out of sight to be safe, but he is told that he was named the King of the Springfield Mardi Gras, in which he must ride on a float for the whole day. Bob discovers that Homer won because someone filled the ballot box with ballots listing Homer's name, but Homer takes part in the parade anyway. At the parade, Bob learns that Homer's engine is having a problem due to the repair by the mechanic (the brake line is cut), and draws a correlation between the wrench used to lock Homer in the steam room, the wrenches in the tow truck, a smudge on the spa invitation, and the tow truck driver (Junior). He saves Homer by getting fired out of a cannon, and grabs Homer by his feet, just before the float hits the Museum of Swordfish. Homer and Bob end up giving chase to the killer on stilts, who is found out to be, indeed, Junior, Homer's mechanic. He admits his name is Frank Grimes Jr., who blames Homer for his father's death. The police arrive, and Chief Wiggum places Grimes Jr. under arrest and has Bob tranquilised with a dart.

That night, after Homer puts Bart in bed, Bob, who was hanging to the back of the door, gags Bart, bent on killing him once again. However, through song, Bob claims he's been accustomed to his face and he cannot bring himself to do it. With that, Bob takes his leave and Bart hurriedly shuts his window. At that point, Bob becomes electrifed with his shock bracelet by two birds who plays with the remote on their nest.

Trivia

  • At one point when Bob is shocked, his hair assumes the afro style it had back in his earliest appearances in season one.
  • Frank Grimes' gravestone has been modified since he was buried at the end of "Homer's Enemy". In that episode, it simply said GRIMES; in this episode it says FRANK GRIMES (HOMER'S ENEMY). However, both before ("Alone Again, Natura-diddly") and after ("My Mother the Carjacker" and "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story") this episode, the grave reads FRANK "GRIMEY" GRIMES (referring to the annoying nickname Homer gave him while Grimes was still alive).
  • Homer's enemies list include: Mr. Burns, Fat Tony, the Emperor of Japan (a reference to "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo"), ex-president Bush ("Two Bad Neighbors"), the late Frank Grimes, PBS ("Missionary: Impossible"), Stephen Hawking ("They Saved Lisa's Brain"), "the fat little Dixie Chick" and the state of Florida ("Kill the Alligator and Run").
  • We learn that Kent Brockman is really old; he gets his face made up at the Stagnant Springs Spa to look younger.
  • Lenny is from Chicago.
  • Frank Grimes Jr. says that Homer's car was made in Croatia from old Soviet tanks.
  • Rainier Wolfcastle mentions a nude scene he did in the movie Nudist Camp Commandant. In Day of the Jackanapes, which also revolved around Bob, while out of work, he says that he'd be willing to do a nude scene.
  • When Sideshow Bob hangs Bart on the Wall with the knife, Bart's belly can be seen, but when it goes closer, his belly is the same color as his shirt. Then it cuts back and his belly is yellow again.
  • When Sideshow Bob and Homer are chasing Frank Grimes Jr. on stilts, it is shown that Frank Grime's cape falls off, however in the next cut to his face the cape is back on, then vanishes the next cut.

Cultural references

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