A Milhouse Divided
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"A Milhouse Divided" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons' eighth season.
[edit] Synopsis
Marge decides to throw a dinner party to escape from the doldrums of everyday life at the Simpson house. She invites the Flanders family, the Lovejoys, the Hibberts and the Van Houtens. Kirk, Luanne and Milhouse Van Houten come late, and the parents nitpick at each other all night as Milhouse plays upstairs with Bart and the other kids invited. The two seem to get more quarrelsome as the party progresses, and finally, despite Marge trying to divert the party away from the fighting pair, Luanne demands a divorce.
Kirk moves out of the Van Houten house and into "Casa Nova: A Transitional Place for Singles", where he sleeps in a race-car bed. Despite his drab new surroundings, Kirk keeps a cheery attitude toward it all... that is, until he is fired from his job at the cracker factory for being newly single (crackers are "a family food," his boss explains). Meanwhile, Luanne quickly begins her life after Kirk by starting a new relationship with Chase, who goes by the stagename "Pyro" on American Gladiators. Marge invites Homer to go see Spalding Gray with Luanne and Chase, but Homer declines, instead going out with Kirk. Kirk also has a new relationship; he begins dating a wig-wearing radio station temp named Starla who promises to help him launch his singing career, but instead steals his car. While at Moe's, Kirk mentions that he never saw the divorce coming. "One day, your wife is making your favorite meal," he says. "The next day you're thawing a hot dog in a gas station sink." Homer begins to fear that his and Marge's marriage might be next, especially when he sees that Marge left hot dogs thawing in the sink for him.
Homer enlists the aid of Lisa to help him figure out how to save his marriage. He recalls his wedding reception, which was nothing more than him and Marge at a truck stop with a whale-shaped cake that read "To a Whale of a Wife." Homer tries to perform selfless gestures for Marge, such as making "soothing" ocean noises to lull her to sleep (which includes squawking and him saying "Arrr, matey"). Marge acts fairly indifferent toward these gestures, so Homer files for a divorce from Marge. However, this is not an admission of defeat; when Marge comes home, Homer surprises her with an impromptu second wedding, complete with many invited guests and a band with one of The Doobie Brothers as one of its members. Kirk sings a song at the reception to Luann, but she rejects a second marriage with him.
[edit] Trivia
- Although Milhouse's parents stay divorced after this episode ends, they reunite in the 2005 episode "Milhouse of Sand and Fog".
- Kirk works (or worked, since he was fired in this episode) at Southern Cracker, whose slogan is "the dryyyyyy cracker".
- Chase takes Luanne out on the town in an Atlasphere from American Gladiators.
- Marge makes Bart her specialty "butterscotch chicken", but in "Blood Feud " Marge says that Bart's allergies are "butterscotch and imitation butterscotch."
- Originally, Bart was going to be jealous of Milhouse getting more attention and was going to try to split up Homer and Marge. This sub-plot was later dropped.
- A big name singer was originally sought to sing "Can I Borrow a Feeling?" over the end credits. The writers wanted Sheryl Crow, but she declined and the concept was later dropped.
- Homer recommends reading Love Is... to a couple who are about to be divorced, and describes it as "a comic about two naked eight-year-olds who are married."
[edit] External links
- "A Milhouse Divided" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
