Brake My Wife, Please
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Brake My Wife, Please is an episode of the fourteenth season of The Simpsons that aired on May 11, 2003.
[edit] Synopsis
At the Springfield Aquarium, Marge accompanies the kids on a school field trip. During a show, Lisa sneaks off and spots penguins flying in another room; when they notice her, they all stop and look mysterious. Principal Skinner spots a giant oyster opening in a nearby display. When it opens, we see two giant "yellow pearls", which Skinner calls "flawless", only to find that it's only Bart mooning everybody underwater. As he tries to get out of the water, he is grabbed by an octopus, punched in the gut by a tortoise and hit on the head by a hammerhead shark. At the hospital, Dr. Hibbert tends to his wounds, while Marge and Lisa look on. When he asks about their insurance, Marge says that Homer has the insurance card. Hibbert shackles Bart to the nearby radiator till he gets the insurance. Marge calls everywhere for Homer, including Moe's Tavern, but he is nowhere to be found. Finally, he shows up at the hospital. When Marge asks him where he was, he tells her that he was at the video store, trying to pick out a movie, when he got sidetrackeded by the TV previews. Marge tells him that he has to get a cell phone, so that they can contact him whenever they need him. When he says that buying a cell phone won't be an easy job, in walks Lindsay Naegle (now hawking cell phones) and she gives Homer one which has a Mexican Hat dance ringtone.
The next day, Homer, while driving in the car, tries to talk to Barney. Barney, who himself is driving, is using the hands-free headset and advises Homer to do the same. Homer goes to the store and is bamboozled by the clerk to buy all sorts of accessories that can be plugged into the car's cigarette lighter socket, like a DVD player, a snowcone maker, fog machine, a LED sign that looks like Homer and many other rather unnecessary accessories. The car is filled with these and Homer drives around using each one without paying any attention to where he's headed in the car. When he looks outside, he realises he's on the pier and is headed straight for the ocean. Panicked, he tries to send an SOS on his fax machine but, before it can be sent, he hits the drink.
Later, his car is pulled out by the "Navy rejects", the Coast Guard, for whom he has gained some respect now. He is taken to court, where Judge Constance Harm takes his license, guillotines it in two, feeds it to two police dogs and orders their poop burned as well - anything to keep Homer off the street. Without a license, Homer can't drive to the store or for work or "to the store at work", which means that Marge will have to do all of the driving from now on. She has to take Homer to Shelbyville to pick up pants at the dry-cleaners and pick up Lenny and Carl. Homer, at first, is upset at having to walk and envies all the other people driving cars, even Ralph Wiggum, who is driving his dad's police car, with Clancy in pursuit on Ralph's tricycle. When he reaches Moe's, he realises that he feels great at having walked all the way and decides to keep walking, much to Moe's chagrin.
While Homer begins to enjoy the fruits of hoofing it, Marge gets more and more stressed out when she drives, considering all the gridlocks and bumper-to-bumper traffic that she encounters. And what happens inside the car is of no great comfort to her, what with Milhouse's and Bart's Peruvian fighting frogs fighting around in her hair. Homer calls her "Stresserella", which angers her a bit. Homer seems to be getting in good shape thanks to walking. One day, as he sings about the virtues of walking, being followed by other Springfieldians and Steve Buscemi, and walks into the street, Marge accidentally injures and runs over him with her car.
Later, Homer is at home, recuperating from the accident. Marge brings him some hot soup and profusely apologises for hitting him. He tells her that it's okay. Hibbert tells her that she now has to do everything for him, given his crushed pelvis. When he tastes the soup, he finds it too hot. Marge, offering to cool it down, accidentally drops the hot soup all over Homer. Later, Homer comes out walking with a cane and says he feels fine, much to Marge's annoyance, since she has to drive. Again, "accidentally", she kicks his cane, on which he is leaning, making him fall. Homer begins to suspect that Marge is trying to hurt him. They have a fight and go to see a marriage counselor. When Homer does not list Marge as one of the people who are most important to him (his list basically contains variations of his name), she walks off sadly. The counselor advises Homer to perform one completely unselfish gesture to win Marge back. He suggests a romantic dinner. So he decides to do one better and invites all the people of Springfield for a backyard barbecue in Marge's honour. But first he gets rid of the Flanders by sending them a note that reads: "Dude, meet me in Montana xxoo - Jesus (H. Christ)" (needless to say, they bought it and took the next train to Montana).
Marge returns that night in a foul mood, feeling frustrated after driving, she walks to the backyard and is welcomed by everyone and Homer. When she sees all that Homer has done for her, she can't stay mad at him. Homer has another surprise, Jackson Browne, who sings a duet with Homer, praising Marge. Finally, when the barbecue is done and everyone is happy, Marge thanks Homer and tells him that she loves him a lot and that she wants to kill him... with kisses. Homer toasts her along with the other guests. They even got the best bus-boys from France... uh... America to attend to the dishes. After dinner, Homer, wanting some privacy with Marge, gets rid of the guests by turning on the sprinklers and then walks with Marge back inside their home.
[edit] Trivia
- In the video store Homer is watching a clip of a film called "EDITOR-IN-CHIMP". In the season 13 episode "Jaws Wired Shut", when the family enters the cinema, this is one of the films they could have watched.
- Springfield is located somewhere near the Missouri/Illinois area according to a map in this episode.
- Marge also had road rage in "Marge Simpson in: "Screaming Yellow Honkers"".
- Homer scratches a record and sings in a karaoke microphone singing the intro to "I Feel For You" by Chaka Khan.
- Homer sings his own little version of the Mexican Hat dance when it plays on his cell phone:
"I dance, I dance, I dance
Around a Mexican Hat
I dance, I dance, I dance
And that's the end of that
Or is it I guess I'll keep singing
my cellphone appears to be ringing."
- In the end when Homer wants to get everyone out of the yard he says (Proudly)"Get the hell
out of my yard."
[edit] Cultural references
- The title of this episode is a parody of "Take My Wife, Sleaze", a past Simpsons episode. Both of these are references to the old Henny Youngman line, "Take my wife, please".
- Homer's song "I love to walk" was a parody of the theme song of the 1967 movie and animated series Dr. Doolittle.
- Homer's duet with Jackson Browne is a parody of Browne's song "Rosie" from the album Running on Empty.
