The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer
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"The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer" is the first episode of The Simpsons' eighteenth season, which originally aired September 10, 2006. It was written by Bill Odenkirk and directed by Michael Marcantel.
[edit] Synopsis
Bart and Lisa board the school bus to Springfield Elementary. Bart refuses to let Lisa sit next to him and there are no seats left. Lisa complains to Otto, who blows her off to listen to Grand Funk Railroad on his Walkman. Lisa tugs on the earphones a little too hard to get Otto's attention and the Walkman falls and breaks. Without any rock music to keep him going, Otto goes crazy when the kids start singing their nursery rhymes and joke songs. He turns the radio on, but it is of no help either. Suddenly, Otto sees Metallica, whose tour bus appears to have broken down. He stops to pick them up. When he disembarks to speak to them, Bart hijacks the bus and drives to school. Otto misses his chance to rock with Metallica when the band hitches a ride with Hans Moleman, who claims to have slept with drummer Lars Ulrich's grandmother. At school, Bart opens the door and lets the other kids out. A fuming Otto grabs Bart and spanks him. Principal Skinner notices this act of corporal punishment, frees Bart, and suspends Otto from driving the school bus - with pay.
Without the school bus, the parents have to carpool the kids to school. Marge drives first, and angrily tells Bart not to act too smart. She picks up Milhouse - with his own car seat, Nelson, Sherri and Terri, and finally an introverted kid named Michael. Nelson bullies Michael as he gets into the car. Michael tells Marge that he forgot his Math book, so Marge drives up to his house (Nelson says "Your mom must work in the biggest strip club in town") -- a mansion -- to get it. Michael is handed his math book by his father -- Fat Tony D'Amico, a Springfield mob boss. A fearful Nelson pleads with Michael not to have him whacked.
In school, news of Michael's "family" spreads like wildfire. Everyone fears him. They all go out of their way to avoid offending him in any way. Groundskeeper Willie even lies on a vomit stain so that Michael won't soil his feet. Lisa sees that Michael is unhappy and friendless. At lunch, he sits by himself. Lisa joins him, and they become friends. When Lisa finds a battery in her lunch, Michael offers to make something for her. They go to the school grounds where Michael makes her a salad using available plants and fruits. Lisa likes it, and Michael confesses that he wants to be a chef rather than go into his father's business--"waste management."
Fat Tony swings by; it's his turn to carpool. He asks who would like to sleep with the fishes; he brought a Finding Nemo blanket. Goons working for the Calabrese family (Fat Tony's rivals in "waste management") attack them. Tony uses Milhouse's Three-ring binder (with a picture of Garfield) to puncture the goons' tires. The goons crash into a baking soda truck, and then struck by a vinegar truck. As they express relief that things could have been worse, a TNT truck collides and explodes. At the Simpsons' place, Michael asks the Simpsons to come over to their place for dinner. Marge accepts.
At Fat Tony's mansion, the Calabresis show up unexpectedly for a sit-down, during dinner. Fat Tony blames his PDA for this problem, and Louie "hot-syncs" it with a bullet. During the sit-down, Fat Tony advises the Calabreses against killing him as his son, Michael, would then take his place and exact a brutal vengeance. Michael, meanwhile, serves souffles to the Simpsons. Lisa tells him that it's so delicious that when his father tastes it, he will allow Michael to become a chef. In the sit-down room, Fat Tony and the Calabreses have declared peace and are making the customary exaggerated shows of affection. Michael and Lisa enter with the souffles, which become a hit with the mobsters. However, when they find that Michael made it himself, they laugh at Tony and leave. Fat Tony admonishes Michael for making him look weak in front of his enemies. Lisa tells Fat Tony that what's important is how he feels inside. Suddenly, an attack helicopter (piloted by the Calabresis) appears at the window, and a burst of gunfire later, Fat Tony doesn't feel good inside at all.
At Springfield General Hospital, Dr. Hibbert tells Legs, Louie, the Calabresis and the Simpsons that Fat Tony will be unconscious for a while. Johnny Tightlips tells them that, with the boss down, the Calabresis would be trying to finish the job. He tells Michael that he should step up. However, Michael has no intention of becoming a mob boss. Homer, feeling for Michael, decides to act as mob boss.
The next day, Homer, dressed in tracksuit and flashy jewellery, accompanied by Legs and Louie goes to shakedown Moe's. Homer goes in alone and, as "Mafia Homer", threatens Moe with dire consequences if he doesn't hand over the $50 he owes. Moe thinks about this and then threatens "Barfly Homer", telling him to pay his $50 tab, which Homer fearfully does. Then, "Mafia Homer" threatens Moe again, who says all he has is $25, which "Mafia Homer" says will do for now and leaves.
Bart and the mobsters go to Krusty, who pays Fat Tony to keep McDonald's and Burger King out of town, and has not been prompt with his payment this time around. Bart has the goons beat up the deadbeat clown. That night, Homer returns home in a pickup truck, which he claims fell off a "truck-truck". Bart rolls up in a truck-truck, which apparently fell off a "truck-truck-truck". Seconds later, a "truck-truck-truck" rolls up in front of the Simpson's house.
The next day, Homer, Bart, Michael, Legs and Louie play cards in the Simpsons' garage, when Ned Flanders drops by to hand over Homer's bills, which he had mistakenly received in the mail. However, the sight of Legs and Louie packing guns, Homer with a bat and Bart threatening to sling-shot Snowball at him, all make him withdraw in fright, with the promise that he'll pay the bills. Bart asks Homer whether he should shoot Ned in the ankles. But Homer stops him, telling him to slice him with a knife in the Achilles Tendon. Michael is appalled to see Homer and Bart (brandishing increasingly dangerous weapons and laughing diabolically) acting like his father. He tells them that he is going to put an end to this.
That night, he invites the Calabreses to the Simpsons' for dinner, where he informs them that they have won and that he is out of the family business. They applaud his decision and dig into the food that he has prepared for them. Lisa feels for Michael. Suddenly, the Calabresis start choking and fall to the floor, dead. The family is shocked and Marge, inspecting one of the meatballs, finds it's been poisoned. She looks suspiciously at Homer, who allays her suspicions by eating a whole lot of meatballs. Michael seems unhappy and tears up the meatball recipe he used, which when Lisa pieces together, has "Meat, spices and poison" as its ingredients and can serve 6-10 enemies.
At Fat Tony's mansion, Fat Tony congratulates Michael for defeating their enemies. Outside, Lisa asks Michael why didn't he tell Fat Tony it was all an accident, though she suspects it was not quite so. Michael tells her, à la Michael Corleone, never to question his business. He walks into the next room and is joined by Jimbo Jones, Dolph and Kearney, wearing Italian suits. Kearney closes the door on Lisa, as Michael Corleone did on Kay in the movie, with The Godfather theme song playing in the background. Lisa opens the door, wondering what evil business they must be plotting. As the music stops, she finds the four of them playing cars. Kearney again closes the door on her, as the music begins again and continues as the credits roll. Lisa stands there for a while, feeling a little betrayed.
[edit] Trivia
- Michael was first mentioned in "The Seven-Beer Snitch" when Fat Tony brought up that Marge occasionally gives him rides home from school.
- This episode's code is HABF15, meaning that to date, it is the earliest production code hold over shown.
- This is the first time Lunchlady Doris has spoken since "Lisa's Sax". This time she was voiced by Tress MacNeille, having previously been voiced by Doris Grau.
[edit] Cultural references
- The title of this episode is a take on the 1989 film The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover.
- Otto's exclamation "Real songs are about deals with the devil, far-off lands, and where you'd find smoke in relation to water." is an allusion to the song "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple.
- The song Metallica plays as they ride away in the back of Hans Moleman's truck is the title track from their 1986 album "Master of Puppets".
- When Fat Tony is driving the carpool, The Sopranos theme song is heard. Additionally, several Sopranos actors (including Joe Pantoliano and Michael Imperioli) voice mob characters in this episode.
- The house of Fat Tony also strongly resembles that of Tony Montana from the movie Scarface.
- Fat Tony's son, Michael, is named in honor of Michael Corleone, son of Don Vito Corleone, in Mario Puzo's The Godfather Trilogy. His hairstyle is also extremely similar to Al Pacino's around the time of the film.
- The scene in which Fat Tony gets shot by a helicopter through a window is mimicking a similar scene in The Godfather Part III. Joe Mantegna (the voice actor for Fat Tony) played a character in The Godfather Part III named Joey Zasa, who was in the helicopter in the assassination scene that the Simpsons mimicked.
- The final scene in which Kearney closes the door on Lisa is a direct parody of the final scene of The Godfather Part I. The theme song of The Godfather is also played over the end credits. Michael's warning to Lisa to "Never ask (him) about his business again" is a direct quote from the first movie.
- The Helicopter shooting scene is a parody of the similar scene from Godfather III.
- Homer claims Shark Tale to be the best gangster movie ever.
- Krusty the clown, owner of his own chain of Krusty Burger restaurants, pays the mafia to keep McDonalds and Burger King out of Springfield
- One of the gang members visiting Fat Tony's house when the Simpsons are dining there appears to be based on Henry Hill; Ray Liotta's character in the 1990 film, Goodfellas.
