The Great Louse Detective
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"The Great Louse Detective" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons
Synopsis
The episode starts with Marge cleaning the house in 3:40 minutes (her personal best), but she realizes that she vacumed up Maggie in the process. Homer sorts the mail with his George Foreman mail sorter to find out what mail is good and what mail is bad (like bills, jury duty and Patty and Selma's party invitation). Homer eats a hamburger made from the bad mail (the mail sorter took care of that), and one piece of good mail is an invitation to a weekend at the Stagnant Springs Spa for the family for free. The family has a great time at the spa, with Marge being massaged in a mud bath by turtles, and the kids even have their own fun with Dr. Mas-seus. Homer goes in the steam room (where he sees a naked Rainer Wolfcastle). After Wolfcastle leaves, Homer notices a sign saying that says that the steam room is not meant for people with heart conditions. At the same time, a mysterious man, outside the steam room, turns the thermostat up to "Murder", and shuts the steam room's doors with a wrench, leaving Homer suffering profuse sweating and a pass-out. Krusty opens the door and Homer falls out. This prompts Homer and Marge to see Chief Wiggum, who suggests that they get someone who can understand a murderer's twisted mind — Sideshow Bob, who is released from the Campbell's Chunky Soup Maximum Security Prison, much to Bart's discomfort.
Bob — who has an electronic bracelet on his ankle to keep his murderous urges at bay (a running gag in the episode is that everyone in the family has a go at pressing the button) — comes to live at the Simpson family house. He asks Homer to list all the people who may want him dead. Homer and Marge list a whole bunch of people. He decides to follow Homer around to investigate who the killer could be. The next day, Homer goes hang-gliding just to impress Sideshow Bob. Later they go to the Kwik-E-Mart, where Apu says he prefers Bob's polite approach to robbery much better than the other crooks'. Homer buys a magazine, and in the next scene, his car is busted because he was reading while driving. He tells the mechanic (Junior) to use original GM parts, but Junior retorts that the car was made in Croatia. Homer criticizes the man, until Sideshow Bob tells him to stop making more enemies.
That night, Bob makes a dummy of Homer (hanging on a clothesline) on the front lawn of the Simpson house to give people the impression that Homer is taking a walk, and wait to see who the killer is, but the dummy is beat up by people who don't appear to plot to murder him, including Moe, Groundskeeper Willie, Patty and Selma, Reverend Lovejoy, and even the real Homer (who just wants to take a few swings at a dummy).
Later, Homer and Bob go to Moe's, where Lenny and Carl wonder why Bob has so much difficulty killing Bart. Suddenly, a hand, holding a gun, appears at the door and fires at Homer, but it hits and shatters Moe's pickled egg jar, much to Moe's grief. The person gets away in a tow truck.
Sideshow Bob suggests that Homer should stay home and out of sight to be safe, but he is told that he was named the King of the Springfield Mardi Gras, in which he must ride on a float for the whole day. Bob discovers that Homer won because someone filled the ballot box with ballots saying Homer's name, but Homer takes part in the parade anyway. At the parade, Bob learns that Homer's engine is having a problem due to a fixing from a mechanic (the brake line is cut), and draws a correlation between the wrench used in the spa, the wrenches in the tow truck, a smudge on the spa invitation, and the tow truck driver (Junior). He saves Homer by getting fired out of a cannon, and grabs Homer by his feet, just before the float hits the Museum of Swordfish (with a giant swordfish protruding outside), arriving on the Duff blimp. A shot is fired and hits Duffman, and Homer and Bob find out that the killer walks on stilts. They get stilts from Jimbo Jones and Kearney and pursue the killer, who is found out to be, indeed, Junior, Homer's mechanic. He admits his name is Frank Grimes Jr., and blames Homer for his father's death, although it takes Homer quite a while to remember "old Grimey". Lisa and the cops arrive. Lisa says that she has figured out the killer's identity, but Homer cuts her off saying that it's Frank Grimes Jr. (she has deduced Bumblebee Man). Chief Wiggum places Grimey Jr. under arrest and has Bob tranquilised with a dart.
That night, after Homer puts Bart in bed, Bob shows up and gags Bart. He tosses the remote to his bracelet away and tries to kill Bart again. However, he stays his hand. Bob sings a song about how he's gotten accustomed to Bart's face and takes his leave. However, two birds have taken the remote control to the bracelet back to their nest, and repeatedly peck at the button, causing Bob to have a series of electrified convulsions on the back lawn.
Trivia
- The chalk board message is based on the phrase "All Your Base Are Belong To Us"
- At one point when Bob is shocked, his hair assumes the poofy afro style it had back in his earliest appearances in season one.
- That '30s Show is a television series within this episode. It is a parody of That 70s Show.
- Frank Grimes' gravestone has been modified since he was buried at the end of Homer's Enemy. In that episode, it simply said GRIMES; in this episode it says GRIMES (HOMER'S ENEMY).
- The episode's title is a take on the Disney film The Great Mouse Detective
- There is a continuity error during the stilts scene. In one shot, the masked Grimes clearly loses his cape. After the view cuts to Homer and Bob and back, the cape has returned to its position on Grimes back. Then, the angle changes and the cape is gone again.
- The steam room murder attempt is a tip of the hat to the James Bond film Thunderball.
Quotes
- Homer: America loves their kings from George III to Larry.
- Sideshow Bob: Now, I will need round-the-clock access to all the Simpsons. (sinister) Especially Bart.
- Sideshow Bob: Homer, to identify your killer, I must follow you through the course of a normal day. Just do as you usually do, and the killer will reveal himself.
Homer: Gotcha.
(cut to Bob and Homer hang-gliding)
Bob: This is a "normal day"?
Homer: I...just wanted to impress you. - Sideshow Bob (in cell): Hello, Bart.
Bart and Lisa: Ahhhhh! Sideshow Bob!
Bob: Oh, come now. We've been through so much together. Just call me "Bob".
Bart and Lisa: Ahhhhh! Bob! - Moe: Now, who's the sociopath, huh!?
- Krusty (gets a very wrinkled Homer out of the sauna): Who ordered the steamed Gentile?
Homer: Mmmm, steamed Gentile.
- Wiggum: Now, Homer, is it possible that you are leading a double or say...triple life that your wife doesn't know about?
Homer: Triple?! No! Absolutely no! - Homer (attacks his dummy): Once I kill you, everyone will think I'm the real Homer!
Sideshow Bob: None of this seems odd to you? ''(family shrugs) - Cat in the Hat masseuse (to Bart): Bad posture has flugoled and snozzeled your neck. I'll stop talking like this if you write me a check.
- Sideshow Bob: Ah, yes, the Kwik-E-Mart. I haven't been here since I robbed it dressed as Krusty. My one successful crime.
Apu: You were quite the gentleman. Today's robbers, they are all smash and grab. You understood the dance.
Sideshow Bob: Our time is passing, old friend.
Homer (to Apu and Sideshow Bob): Uh, if you country hens are finished clucking, I'd like to buy a copy of "Jugs and Ammo".
(cut to Homer's smashed car being put on a tow truck)
Bob: Well, we've settled that argument. You can't read a magazine and drive. - Wiggum: Now, if he even looks at you funny, this shock guarder will set him straight. And don't try taking it off, because it's taped to your leg hair and that really hurts!
- Wiggum: Alright Bob, if you help us catch the guy trying to kill Homer, we'll make it worth your while.
Bob: What could you possibly offer me?
Wiggum: Your pick of roles in the prison musical. This year, I think it's Man of La Mancha.
Lou: Yeah, Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, Dr. Carrasco, you know they're all great parts.
Wiggum: Ech, what a great show. I wish it was today. - (Homer and Sideshow Bob drop from a blimp and land on Jimbo and Kearney, who are walking on stilts.)
Homer: Your king needs these stilts.
Jimbo: Jesus is our only king.
Homer: Not anymore!
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