Four Regrettings and a Funeral

"Four Regrettings and a Funeral" is the third episode of the 25th season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, and the 533rd episode of the series. The episode was written by Marc Wilmore, and premiered on November 3, 2013, on Fox.^[1] The episode is dedicated in memory of Marcia Wallace (the voice of Edna Krabappel) who died on October 25, 2013.^[2] In addition, the chalkboard gag in the opening sequence was changed to read a single "We'll really miss you Mrs. K".^[3] The title is a spoof of Four Weddings and a Funeral.

For this episode, Harry Shearer won his first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Character Voiceover Performance.

Plot

When a beloved Springfielder named Chip Davis (a man who never appeared on the show yet apparently greatly impacted everyone in some way) dies, four residents recall life events that they would like to do over.

Homer regrets selling his Apple stock for a bowling ball, and becomes increasingly irritated that Mr. Burns is gloating about buying Homer's stock with successful results.

Marge worries that her listening to Kiss albums while pregnant with Bart made him what he is today as she watches him acting out during Chip Davis' funeral with Milhouse, including removing the church's pew kneelers, hurting everyone's knees when everyone kneels to pray, stealing the collection plates and using them as swords, and stealing Reverend Lovejoy's gown, mocking him.

Mr. Burns regrets breaking up with a French woman Lila who became a Buddhist monk after rejecting his engagement proposal due to his selfishness. He later finds her in a Buddhist temple, and the two reunite. He then goes to the bathroom to freshen up. But when he returns, he finds her dead in bed after taking too long to prepare. He tries resuscitating her, but his "breath of life" ends up disintegrating her body. Smithers then encourages Mr. Burns to honor the one wish she had for him: be selfless for at least five minutes. Mr. Burns then sets out to volunteer at the soup kitchen, where he ends up staying longer than five minutes.

Kent Brockman regrets not taking a position as a cable news anchorman when he had the chance when he was younger. He later goes to New York City looking for a job. After reviewing his choices, he heads to Fox news, where one anchor encourages him to blame the Democrats for what happens in the news. After realizing the pettiness of the news station, Kent decides to return home.

Later, Bart decides to fly after making a balloon ride out of a laundry basket and hundreds of balloons. However, he begins to regret his decision after ascending too high into the air. Kent then sees this and broadcasts it on the news in hopes of regaining his drive for local news. Homer then uses his bowling ball as a way of weighing down Bart's balloon ride by shooting it out of a cannon which lands on the basket and brings Bart back to the ground. Everyone celebrates Bart's rescue while ignoring Lisa's success at an academics competition. Homer then begins to appreciate his bowling ball again, but then it explodes after a police sniper accidentally shoots it.

Before the credits roll, a tribute to Marcia Wallace is shown, with Mrs. Krabappel in her classroom. During the credits, photos of iconic Springfield moments are shown with Chip Davis in the background.

Reception

The episode received mixed reviews from critics. Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a C–, saying, "It's conceivable that an episode with a shoddy structure could be salvaged by some great individual jokes, but there's no such luck on that front, either. The callbacks and in-jokes engender nods of recognition but nothing like laughter. Krusty's the one who started the infamous Springfield Tire fire? Makes sense. Joe Namath is back for a one-line cameo? Sure—I remember when he was on the show that one time. There's just no snap to the jokes, if indeed they constitute jokes and not mere references."^[4] Tony Sokol of Den of Geek gave the episode four out of five stars, saying, "The death of the most beloved character in Sector 6 of the Springfield nuclear plant was The Simpson's way of saying we all live in Springfield and we play by their rules. Springfield exists outside the boundaries of the TV show that is played too low on purpose, so to turn down the commercials. The Simpsons mean to subvert all that is accepted as entertainment. They take on their own network, Kent Brockman has too much integrity to work at Fox News. They play with the media frenzy by teasing with the death of a beloved character and make someone up who fits the bill for the episode. When the Simpsons killed off Frank Grimes, it was one of the darkest episodes of situation comedy ever aired on television. It was also one of the funniest."^[5]

The episode received a 2.4 rating and was watched by a total of 5.43 million people, this made it the most watched show on Animation Domination that night beating American Dad!, Bob's Burgers and Family Guy.^[6] The episode was down from the previous episode "Treehouse of Horror XXIV," which was watched by 6.42 million viewers and received a 3.0 rating.^[7]

References