Moe Baby Blues

"Moe Baby Blues" is the finale of the fourteenth season of The Simpsons. It aired on May 18, 2003. The title is a play on both the Spike Lee film Mo' Better Blues and the comic strip Baby Blues. In this episode, Moe starts spending time with Maggie, leading to Homer thinking that Maggie is seeing Moe as the father figure, rather than himself.

[edit] Plot

The town goes to the Springfield Botanical Gardens to see the blooming of a Sumatran Century Flower (based on the Titan arum). Because the huge crowd is exactly one person over the maximum legal capacity, Chief Wiggum decides to eject the already unpopular and bitter Moe from the ceremony. However, when the flower opens, it emits an odoriferous smell, sickening everyone and causing the town to flee. When the town starts to drive away from the Botanical Gardens, the Simpsons become trapped in a traffic jam. Homer is informed that the traffic is moving by Lisa, however he accelerates too hard and hits the brakes suddenly. The force sends Maggie flying through the sunroof. Moe, who is standing depressed on the edge of a bridge about to jump, catches Maggie just as she is about to fall into the river below the bridge. Moe is then instantly declared a hero.

Moe shows up at the Simpson house, and when Homer leaves for work and Marge ends up having to deal with Grampa, Moe is left babysitting Maggie. Maggie is instantly attached to Moe, and they have a good time. Marge returns and Moe asks if he can babysit Maggie, and she agrees. After a while, Marge is happy that she has had plenty of time to get things done, but Homer feels left out of Maggie's life and worries because she's his last chance to be a good father. Later, Moe tells Maggie the story of The Godfather. When he gets to the part where Don Corleone plays with his grandson, Moe demonstrates how the Don scares him by sticking a cut-up orange in his mouth, and Maggie enjoys it. He later goes on to tell her the sequel. When it comes to Maggie's birthday party, Moe annoys everyone with his behavior and his gift to Maggie: a toy-sized rendition of his bar, featuring "Classic Drunk Barney" and "Drunk Talking Homer" (whose recorded line, "I peed my pants" was taped for Homer's private use). Marge and Homer later learn that Moe has installed his own baby-monitoring system in Maggie's room and they decide that they've had enough, ordering him to leave for good.

Moe reverts to being depressed, to the point of Moe imagining the barflies as Maggie. One night, the family is asleep, and Maggie wakes up and hears the mafia outside the house, plotting to kill the Castallaneta family. When one of the mobsters feels hesitant, he does the Godfather-orange routine to cheer him up, and Maggie recognises it. She manages her way outside, and decides to follow the mobsters. When Homer and Marge find her missing, they automatically assume that Moe kidnapped her, and they track him down with the help of the police. They see Moe at his oven, and they think that Maggie is inside, though it is found that it is only a ham. When Moe is told that Maggie is missing, his request to help find her is granted by Homer. The group decides to search the Simpson's house yard. They find the cut-up orange that was used by Fat Tony, and Moe works out that Maggie must have followed them to Springfield's Little Italy.

Maggie follows the mobsters to Luigi's, where Fat Tony's gang and the Castallanetas are having a meeting. Maggie enters the restaurant where the two gangs are about to start a gun battle. The situation deteriorates when both groups of mobsters are aiming weapons at each other (with the angry head of the Italitan Anti-Defamation League pointing guns at both sides) and Maggie is in the middle of an "Italian-American Mexican standoff". Homer, Marge and Moe are standing outside and Moe decides to go inside and save Maggie. Moe goes inside, and to prevent being shot, tells the gangsters about Maggie's innocence and how it's redeemed his life. They start to cry, and Moe and Maggie are safe to leave. The family and Moe make up in the end, and Homer and Moe decide to have a "playdate": Homer spends quality time with the ham, and Moe spends more time with Maggie. It ends with more of "You're My Best Friend" by Queen and a picture montage of Homer with Moe's ham.

[edit] Cultural references

Many references were made to the Godfather trilogy in this episode. The "cut-up orange" gag used by Moe and Fat Tony references how Don Corleone scares his grandson, while working in the garden, just minutes before he suffers a fatal heart attack (and the recurring theme of oranges being a symbol of imminent death or injury). Another reference was that Fat Tony complains about paying to see The Godfather III. The actor who voices Fat Tony, Joe Mantegna, was in this final film. Also in the episode, Moe mentions Bridget Fonda, who was in the film as well.
The song "You're My Best Friend", performed by Queen, was featured in this episode.
The movie that is playing in the Hibberts' SUV is The Beverly Hillbillies Down Under.
The Castellaneta family is a reference to the voice actor of Homer Simpson, Dan Castellaneta.
The Moe's Tavern Playset (with "Classic Drunk Barney" and "Drunk Talking Homer") is modeled after Fisher-Price's "Little People" line of toy dolls.
When they enter the botanical garden one of the sculptured bushes is in the form of a bunny from Groening's Life in Hell comic.
When Maggie requests Moe to read out the book titled "Alice in Wonderland" to her, he rejects the idea on flipping through the pages, describing the book as containing themes such as "White rabbits" and "Chicks poppin mushrooms pills", which is an obvious reference to the famous psychedelic song "White Rabbit" by rock group "Jefferson Airplane".
When Moe is retelling the story of The Godfather he refers to Kay Adams (played by Diane Keaton) as Annie Hall, whom Keaton played in the film of the same title.