Put It In The Fridge, Moe. I’ve Got A Date With My Wife

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1990

Abstract

The Simpsons is a sit-com, so typically everything is back to normal by the end of the episode. If Bart had sold his soul at the beginning, he has it back in the end. Homer might not lose all the weight he gained to qualify for disability, but we see him working it off. It’s a trope that the Simpsons both gleefully accepts and often mocks.</p><p id="45cc"><i>Duffless</i> doesn’t return to the status quo. Homer went to Moe’s with every intent of coming home loaded, but he stops himself. Instead of drinking his beer, he heads right back home to take Marge on a date. The episode ends with her sitting on the handlebars of the bicycle Homer has been riding to work. They ride off into the sunset happily singing together.</p><p id="2271">By the end of the episode, Homer has overcome one of his flaws and his life is better for it. He’s healthier, he’s spending quality time with Marge, and he’s saved money. It feels final.</p><p id="a501">The Simpsons often makes light of Homer’s apparent alcoholism. He can be seen in most episodes with a beer in hand (or balanced on his stomach while laying on the couch or in the hammock). In season two’s <i>One Fish, Two Fish, Blow fish, Blue Fish</i>, Homer was easily cajoled into spending part of his supposed last hours of life at Moe’s Tavern drinking with his buddies. In<i> Lisa’s Pony</i>, he rushed out after work to get Lisa a new saxophone reed and instead got a few beers in the two minutes before the music store closed.</p><p id="9552">In short, Homer clearly has a problem.</p><p id="0732">This episode shows it as an issue that Homer can and does overcome with effort and the support of his wife. It’s a sweet and funny episode that manages to present a story about a man dealing with an alcohol problem without inherently making fun of alcoholics.</p><p id="9dbd">But by the next episode, Homer is back to drinking and he continues to let his drinking hinder his health, his finances, and his family. Maybe I’m a bit melodramatic

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, but <i>Duffless</i> makes the rest of the series feel really depressing. From halfway through season 4 until season… 34 (wow, really? That sounds fake) we’re asked to laugh at the drunken antics of a man who tried and failed to overcome his alcoholism.</p><p id="a571">To the show’s credit, they do revisit this theme in the season 11 episode <i>The Days of Wine and D’Ohses</i> where Homer’s longtime drinking buddy Barney battles his own alcoholism. Unlike Homer, Barney continues his recovery throughout the remainder of the series (with some relapses).</p><figure id="3f72"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*jcvxo8VjUC8hfq5fZYhWqw.jpeg"><figcaption>20th Century Fox/Disney Image: <a href="https://frinkiac.com/">frinkiac.com</a></figcaption></figure><p id="ca43">I like to think that when the Simpsons does eventually reach its final episode (perhaps in 2089 after a full century) that they’ll revisit this idea of Homer getting sober. Maybe Homer and Marge will ride off into the sunset singing a Burt Bacharach song again.</p><p id="03ce"><i>If you liked this, check out <a href="https://connorjimandrei.medium.com/youll-have-to-speak-up-i-m-wearing-a-towel-ae7cff4d3004">You’ll Have To Speak Up: I’m Wearing A Towel</a> about another sweet Simpsons moment.</i></p><div id="94ca" class="link-block"> <a href="https://connorjimandrei.medium.com/membership"> <div> <div> <h2>Join Medium with my referral link - Connor Jim Andrei</h2> <div><h3>As a Medium member, a portion of your membership fee goes to writers you read, and you get full access to every story…</h3></div> <div><p>connorjimandrei.medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*2Edvh-Bpk9f1mfbj)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

Some thoughts on the sweetest ending in all of The Simpsons

20th Century Fox/Disney Image: frinkiac.com

Sometimes I wish that season 4’s Duffless was the series finale of the Simpsons. Obviously, I’m ecstatic that the show didn’t end in 1993 — a world without Steamed Hams isn’t worth living in. But Duffless had such a perfect ending that it makes me wish it were the series finale.

The sixteenth episode of the fourth season mainly centers around Homer’s drinking. Driving home from a tour of the Duff beer brewery, Homer gets his license revoked and is sentenced to AA meetings. Marge becomes worried that Homer might be an alcoholic, so she asks him to give up beer for a month.

20th Century Fox/Disney Image: frinkiac.com

Homer’s quest to abstain from drinking has him facing temptation from every direction — from the tedium of watching baseball sober to hundreds of beer bottles parachuting out of a blimp. At his lowest point, he’s even kicked out of his AA meeting, losing a much needed support system for his path to recovery.

It isn’t easy for Homer, but he does make it a full month without drinking any beer. By all rights, this should be a first step on his life-long journey of sobriety, but instead he rejoices having made his goal and immediately sets out for Moe’s to get drunk.

This is where Duffless becomes one of my favorite episodes and my ideal of a series finale of the Simpsons.

Duffless doesn’t return to the status quo. Homer went to Moe’s with every intent of coming home loaded, but he stops himself. Instead of drinking his beer, he heads right back home to take Marge on a date. The episode ends with her sitting on the handlebars of the bicycle Homer has been riding to work. They ride off into the sunset happily singing together.

By the end of the episode, Homer has overcome one of his flaws and his life is better for it. He’s healthier, he’s spending quality time with Marge, and he’s saved money. It feels final.

The Simpsons often makes light of Homer’s apparent alcoholism. He can be seen in most episodes with a beer in hand (or balanced on his stomach while laying on the couch or in the hammock). In season two’s One Fish, Two Fish, Blow fish, Blue Fish, Homer was easily cajoled into spending part of his supposed last hours of life at Moe’s Tavern drinking with his buddies. In Lisa’s Pony, he rushed out after work to get Lisa a new saxophone reed and instead got a few beers in the two minutes before the music store closed.

In short, Homer clearly has a problem.

This episode shows it as an issue that Homer can and does overcome with effort and the support of his wife. It’s a sweet and funny episode that manages to present a story about a man dealing with an alcohol problem without inherently making fun of alcoholics.

But by the next episode, Homer is back to drinking and he continues to let his drinking hinder his health, his finances, and his family. Maybe I’m a bit melodramatic, but Duffless makes the rest of the series feel really depressing. From halfway through season 4 until season… 34 (wow, really? That sounds fake) we’re asked to laugh at the drunken antics of a man who tried and failed to overcome his alcoholism.

To the show’s credit, they do revisit this theme in the season 11 episode The Days of Wine and D’Ohses where Homer’s longtime drinking buddy Barney battles his own alcoholism. Unlike Homer, Barney continues his recovery throughout the remainder of the series (with some relapses).

20th Century Fox/Disney Image: frinkiac.com

I like to think that when the Simpsons does eventually reach its final episode (perhaps in 2089 after a full century) that they’ll revisit this idea of Homer getting sober. Maybe Homer and Marge will ride off into the sunset singing a Burt Bacharach song again.