THE SIMPSONS Greatest Hits: “Mr. Plow”
Welcome to The Simpsons Greatest Hits, my never-ending quest to find the greatest episode of The Simpsons. Please come find me on twitter @FirsttoLastpod and let me know what is the best episode, and keep a look out for it on this regular column.
“Mr. Plow”
Season 4/Episode 68 overall
First aired: 19 November 1992
Written by Jon Vitti
“Put it in H!”
“Mr. Plow” feels like the kind of plot-line a show goes to in its later years. Homer buying a snowplow and becoming Mr. Plow could be something a writer’s room comes to after the show has run for ten or fifteen seasons and they’re free-associating about what Homer could get up to next.
The fact that it falls in the fourth, and arguably best, season makes it a very interesting idea and one that is executed perfectly. Behind the scenes, Jon Vitti wanted to write an episode that featured snow, but that didn’t revolve around Christmas or Thanksgiving. In the end, he came up with the idea of the blizzard and the snowplow and a classic was born.
“And how comes Batman doesn’t dance anymore?”
The plot of this episode is this: Homer replaces his crashed car with a snowplow and creates a business plowing people’s driveways. All is good until Barney steals his idea and customers as the Plow King. It is a classic friend against friend story only set in the high stakes world of plowing snow.
As I’ve said in previous reviews for this column, early Simpsons episodes stand the test of time due to their simplicity. They have an easy to follow set-up, followed by short scenes full of jokes. They are more confident with their strange non-sequiturs like the Sea Captain’s ad for his album of sea shanties, and they use their celebrity guests sparingly and to incredible effect.
Linda Ronstadt and Adam West showcase two versions of Simpsons cameo. Ronstadt sings, has a few punchlines, and heightens the weirdness of the story. West, on the other hand, plays an insane version of himself who can’t stop talking about Batman or dancing. West’s cameo feels like a prototype for the character he would go on to play in Family Guy: a crazy, silky-voiced weirdo.
“The waiting game sucks! Let’s play Hungry Hungry Hippos.”
Overall, this is a Homer episode with the rest of the family chipping in jokes and moving the plot along. Each gets a few killer lines, but it’s Marge and her thirstiness for Homer in his Mr. Plow get up that wins the day. It is cool to see a married couple in a loving relationship shown to be a bit sexy, and it’s not to be for the sake of a joke or something weird. And also, that it’s not just the man who wants sex only for the woman to shoo him away a la a lot of sitcoms. It’s refreshing and something that might have been quite ground-breaking in the early 90s.
It is an awesome great final moment for the episode as, even though Homer lost the snowplow and his side hustle, he still has Marge, a jacket, and a theme tune to set the mood.
Overall Score: 5 Pornography Stores out of 5
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