The Canine Mutiny
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"The Canine Mutiny" is an episode from the eighth season of "The Simpsons."
Synopsis
When Bart complains he never gets any mail, Marge gives him the family's junk mail. Bart is only interested in a credit card solicitation from MoneyBank. He fills out the application, and when pressed for a name, he uses Santa's Little Helper (the company reads the name as "Santos L. Halper"). Amazingly, the credit card application is approved, and before long, Bart is sporting his very own credit card.Bart – blissfully ignorant at how credit works – goes on a shopping spree, buying the family some very expensive gifts from a mail order catalog: Vancouver smoked salmon and a radio-frying pan, a golf shirt with corporate logo for Homer, "Trucker's Choice Stay-Alert Capsules" for Lisa ... and plenty of toys and clothing for himself. Lisa is immediately suspicious, but Bart takes advantage of his sister being high on pills and explains his way out her questions.
The best item of all that Bart buys with his fraudulent credit card: A finely-bred, pre-trained collie, of which only 800 will be born. Not letting its $1,200 purchase price stand in the way, Bart promptly orders one with his credit card. Before long, a crate with his new dog arrives. An overjoyed Bart learns the dog's name is Laddie, and Homer and Marge – still not suspicious about Bart's recent spending spree – falls in love with the dog, who can herd sheep and perform CPR.
Bart fails to pay off "Santos L. Halper's" credit card bill, and it isn't long before he gets a call from a collection agency demanding payment. When the calls and collection letters persist, Bart has enough and enlists Laddie to help him bury his ill-gotten credit card. Later, repo men arrive to take back all the merchandise. Lisa – who is the only one home – demands an explanation, and Bart is forced to admit the truth. When a repossessor demands the $1,200 dog, Bart identifies Santa's Little Helper as the dog they're after. The greyhound is herded into the truck, and Bart sadly watches as it drives away.
Noticing that Santa's Little Helper is gone, the family begins to bond with Laddie ... except for Bart, who begins to miss his canine friend. He fears for Santa's Little Helper's fate, at one point imaging him being burned alive in a cruise ship's furnace. An exhausted Bart is giving Laddie yet another walk, when the collie saves the life of the unibrow baby.
At a ceremony honoring Laddie's heroism, Chief Wiggum decides that Laddie would make the perfect police dog. Bart gives him away, and now Bart is forced to explain why the Simpsons now have no dog. Homer makes Bart do whatever it takes to get Santa's Little Helper back. Bart eventually learns from Rev. Lovejoy that the dog was given to a parishioner named Mr. Mitchell.
Bart visits Mr. Mitchell, who is blind, and asks for his dog back, but when he sees how the man and Santa's Little Helper (who has been renamed Sprinkles) have bonded, a heartsick Bart leaves. Bart, still determined to get his dog back, makes a late-night, unannounced visit to Mr. Mitchell's home. Bart and Santa's Little Helper are reunited, but Mr. Mitchell eventually traps Bart in a closet. He calls the police and wants Bart charged with burglary, but Chief Wiggum has brought along Laddie, who immediately sniffs out a marijuana packet in Mr. Mitchell's pocket.
Chief Wiggum begins to read Mr. Mitchell his rights, when Eddie remarks about medicinal uses of the drug. After sending Bart away with Santa's Little Helper, Chief Wiggum declares its time to party as the Bob Marley song Jammin' plays over the end credits.
Trivia
- The episode title is a play on the 1951 Herman Wouk novel The Caine Mutiny.
- The name "Laddie" is a play on Lassie.
- The scene in which Santa's Little Helper has to choose between Bart and Mr. Mitchell is very similar to a pivotal scene in Air Bud.
Quotes
- Willie: Yup. I bought your mutt. And I 'ate him! (Bart gasps) I 'ate his little face. I 'ate his guts! And I 'ate the way he's always barkin! So I gave him to the church!
Bart: Oh, I see. You hated him so you gave him to the church.
Willie: Right. And one more thing, I also 'ate the mess he left on me rug. (Bart stares at him) Ya heard me! - Moe: Ya gotta give me back my floor! My customers are walking around on the pipes!
Repo guy: Hey, next time pay your bills.
Moe: But I don't want to!
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