Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

After watching the latest McBain movie, Grampa Simpson suffers a heart attack. Thinking he might die, he is prompted to confess a long-hidden secret: Homer has a half-brother.

As Grampa explains, he had met a carnival floozy and prostitute before marrying Homer's mother. They had a son, and left him at the Shelbyville Orphanage. Determined to find his brother, Homer and his family go to the orphanage and find out that Abe's son was adopted by a Mr. and Mrs. Powell and named Herbert.

Herb Powell, who looks just like Homer, except taller, slimmer and with more hair, is the head of eponymously-named automobile manufacturer Powell Motors, which is in danger of being taken over by the J a p a n e s e because of otherwise poor management. He is very rich, but is quite unhappy not knowing who he is and where he comes from. He is overjoyed upon hearing of his half-brother and invites the entire Simpson family to stay at his mansion in Detroit. The family drives in the road but accidently drives into an unauthorized detour, however, thanks to Homer's resembelance to Herb, they were able to do anything they want until they reach Detroit.

Bart, Lisa, and Maggie are enthralled by Herb's wealthy lifestyle and kind personality, although Marge constantly worries about spoiling her kids. Herb then decides that Homer, being an "average" American, is the perfect person to design a new car for his company. Homer is given entirely free rein in the design, but is at first too timid to voice an opinion, as Herb's designers begin to design the car with their own ideas in mind. When Herb gets word of this, he gives Homer a pep talk that sends him back to the designers determined to build the car with all sorts of weird effects like bubble domes, tail fins and several horns that play "La Cucaracha".

At the unveiling of the new car, dubbed "The Homer", Herb is horrified to discover that the car is a monstrosity that costs $82,000 ($125,791.13 when inflation adjusted to 2007). Herb's company folds, his mansion is sold off and he leaves regretting that he ever met his brother. As he departs on the bus he angrily remarks to Homer that he "has no brother". Lisa laments, "His life was an unbridled success... until he found out he was a Simpson." In the end of this episode, while Homer drives the family home, Bart tells him that the car he built was great. Homer becomes relieved to discover that at least one person seems to like it.

[edit] The Homer

The Homer

The features Homer added to his vehicle are:

Extremely large beverage holder
A little ball on top of the aerial
Tail fins
Bubble domes
Shag carpeting
Several horns that all play "La Cucaracha"
For younger passengers a second soundproof bubble dome with optional straps and muzzles

Homer describes the car as "powerful like a gorilla, yet soft and yielding like a Nerf ball".

[edit] Debut appearances

Characters making a first appearance in this episode are:

Herb Powell

Mona Simpson

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

In the video games The Simpsons Road Rage and The Simpsons Hit & Run, the Homer is a drivable vehicle, complete with a horn which plays "La Cucaracha.".
Herb returns, and his plight is resolved, in the later episode "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?" (Season 3).
This episode marks the first appearance of Homer's mother, who is voiced by Maggie Roswell. She is seen again in another flashback in "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy" and then turns out to be alive and reunited with her family in "Mother Simpson" where she is voiced by Glenn Close.
A few of the things suggested for "The Homer", like super-sized cup holders and built-in media-players, are now incorporated into modern day cars.
After Herb's company is bankrupt, whatever happened to the Homer is never shown or explained.
The Simpsons kids were all born in wedlock, but Bart was, as Homer likes to put it, a "close call".
The name of Kumatsu Motors, who takes over Herb's company, and builds Homer's snowplow in "Mr. Plow", is probably derived from Japanese heavy equipment manufacturer Komatsu.
Herb's birth is somewhat similar to Bongo in Life in Hell's birth.
The director of the Shelbyville orphanage closely resembles Dr. Hibbert in both voice and looks, the only difference being his mustache. The director also makes mention of his search for his long lost twin brother. All of this evidence points to Dr. Hibbert and the director being twin brothers. Homer could have quite easily help reunite them, however Homer had a lot on his mind (and is quite dim).
The word "bastard" is used in the episode a few times by Bart, when he is referring it to Herb. His bad language is used later in "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds", when he says "bitch".

[edit] Cultural references

The title of this episode is also the name of the non-existent book "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" in the Preston Sturges film Sullivan's Travels. The film is also where the Coen Brothers got the name for their movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
The storyline where a very controversially styled car causing the company to tank both echoes that of the Edsel and the Tucker Torpedo. The Edsel was a very controversially styled car that bore the name of Henry Ford's son, which is now considered one of the biggest flops in history (In fact, the name "Edsel" has since become assoiated with "failure") While the Tucker was a very advanced car. "The Homer"'s unveiling is a parody of the Tucker's unveiling, down to the girls wearing pink gowns, to Herb Powell calling it "The Car of the 90s" (Preston Tucker referred to the Tucker as the "Car of the 50s", hinting at how advanced it was). However, this is an injoke, as the Tucker was very advanced for its time, while "The Homer" was notoriously dated, using design features like tailfins, which went out of style in the 1950s. The storyline also slightly takes off that of the AMC Pacer, which was a controversially styled car that is blamed for the final fall of American Motors.
Herb Powell lives in a house that looks like Frank Lloyd Wright's house in Oak Park, Illinois, works in a studio that looks like the Taliesin school of architecture in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and his factory is none other than the Johnson Wax Company in Racine, Wisconsin, all three buildings designed by Wright.