Midnight Towboy

"Midnight Towboy"^[1] is the third episode of The Simpsons' nineteenth season and first aired on October 7, 2007. After Homer's car becomes towed, he meets Louie, a tow truck driver who introduces Homer to the joy of towing cars for a living. Homer soon goes too far, prompting Springfieldians to plot a revenge. Meanwhile, Marge confronts Maggie's dependence on her and hires a counsellor to make her independent.^[1] This episode was written by Stephanie Gillis, and directed by Matthew Nastuk.^[1] Matt Dillon guest stars as Louie.^[1] During its first airing, the episode gained 7.7 million viewers, less than the previous episode.^[2] 2.9 million viewers watched this episode in the UL coming 5th in it's timeslot and 91st in weekley ratings.

1 Plot
2 Cultural references
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Plot

While putting Maggie to bed, Marge discovers Maggie is too clingy. After Maggie's attachment towards Marge causes a jar of milk to be spilled, Marge attempts to email Creative Responses for Infant Edu-loving ("C.R.I.E."), a group which enables attached children to be more independent, with the intention of finding someone to make Maggie independent. Meanwhile, Homer finds out the Kwik-E-Mart and Moe's Tavern does not have any more milk, so he takes a trip past Shelbyville and Ogdenville to Guidopolis, a sleazy-looking town populated by Italian-American stereotypes. He goes to the "Mook-E-Mart", purchases milk, and winds up having his car towed by a man named Louie. After noticing Homer's fascination with towing, Louie lets go of Homer's car and introduces him to the joy of towing cars for a living. Louie decides to help Homer become a tow truck driver, if, and only if, Homer would "stay off [his] turf". Homer agrees, and becomes Springfield's official tow truck driver.

At home, a hippie arrives to help with Maggie's independence. After the woman orders Marge to leave Maggie alone in the room, Maggie's cry makes Marge desperate to hug Maggie; when the woman explains that "hugs are drugs, and Maggie is addicted", Marge ignores her and rushes to the living room to find a newly independent Maggie spell "I'm OK" on her building blocks. Later, a more independent Maggie climbs on a table leg in the kitchen, picks up a book and banana and seats herself in her high-chair, much to Marge's sad disappointment that she's no longer needed. After towing the Rich Texan's limo, a newly successful Homer goes as far as to tow down Arnie Pie's helicopter. After a brief celebration at Moe's, he then tows Lenny's car, Principal Skinner's car, as well as the Sunday School bus, causing Ned to sardonically call Homer, "Towmer".

The residents of Springfield begin getting frustrated with Homer's continuing tow-antics, prompting them to plan a revenge upon him. After leaving a car in Guidopolis, they spray on a handicap parking logo, stuff multiple tickets under the windshield wipers, leave it beside a fire hydrant, and attach an incomprehensible license plate. They cover Guidopolis's city limits sign with one saying "You're still in Springfield", with the intention of luring Homer to Guidopolis. At home, Maggie makes a baby book including her toenails and hair. After seeing her more independent, Marge begins to miss her, so she bonds with a sack of potatoes. At Guidopolis, however, Homer becomes abducted by Louie who keeps him in his basement with other tow truck drivers who trespassed his area, where he bonds with them.

Homer's absence causes parking pandemonium. Lenny and Carl smugly park their GMC in the handicap area, prompting an angry handicapped Agnes Skinner to park sideways. Rainier Wolfcastle parks his Hummer on top of her in spite. Duffman lowers his blimp on beside a fire hydrant, and shoots the Sea Captain's ship, which lands on the sidewalk. A train engineer however, crashes through it all. Marge, meanwhile worries about Homer, who had not returned home for four days. Maggie, worried for her father and mother's happiness uses her newfound independent abilities to save Homer by riding on Santa's Little Helper through the night to Guidopolis. A humble Maggie rescues all tow truck drivers from the cellar, and returns home with Homer. After giving the sack of potatoes a punch, Maggie gives Marge her pacifier and hugs Marge, reuniting with her.^[1]

[edit] Cultural references

The song playing on the radio when Homer got into Louie's car was Cochise by Audioslave. The episode title is a reference to Midnight Cowboy.^[3] Louie's trapdoor is activated by Jon Bon Jovi.^[3] Homer, Bart, Lisa, Ralph, and Milhouse parody a scene from Animal House, and sing "Shout!" in togas.^[4] "Mr. T is The Lion King" is seen on a billboard while Homer drives to Guidopolis.^[4] Maggie owns a stuffed animal, Justin Timberwolf, a parody of Justin Timberlake.^[5] Homer enthralls the kidnapped drivers by describing the plots of the summer 2007 releases Transformers and Shrek The Third.^[5] The kidnapped drivers sing "Under the Boardwalk" by the Drifters.^[5] When Marge drops the milk, Homer begins to sob and cry. This is a reference to the phrase No use crying over spilt milk.

[edit] Reception

The episode had 7.8 million viewers.^[2] Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode 7.7/10, calling it a "solid, funny episode". He felt that the "odd scene involving the Duff blimp, the Sea Captain's pirate ship and a train engine driving through the streets was simply too ridiculous not to be funny."^[3] Richard Keller of TV Squad called it a "decent, strong episode" that had many laughs and enjoyed the episodes' subplot with Marge and Maggie and enjoyed the scene where Marge struggled with the computer.^[4]