Bart’s disrespectful behavior leads Marge to book him and Homer for a conflict-resolution cruise on the Relation Ship, and while Homer’s away, Marge takes charge of his fantasy-football team, with surprising results.
Nick Offerman guest voices tonight, and one of the ‘plots’ involves fantasy football apparently. These are two of my favorite things, but not watching this episode will still be the best decision I make today.
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22 responses to “Sunday Preview: The Wreck of the Relationship”
First time we’ve seen Lewis’ dad?
Also Rod looks terrible in that screenshot. And Cletus on a conflict-resolution cruise?
I assume this is based on the precedent set Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily where Cletus was also in the class for bad parents, but that was a child services mandated course whereas this kind of self-improvement cruise sounds like a very middle-class (or upper-lower-middle-class even) kind of thing for someone to do (possibly being hawked by a Brad Goodman type shyster).
Very bizarre that they would go with Lewis and Cletus’ son, when more logical options (e.g., Ralph and Chief Wiggum, Milhouse and Kirk Van Houten) were available.
But then, nothing makes sense these days. I’m surprised they didn’t go with the Sea Captain, Gabbo’s ventriloquist, and Bumblebee Man.
Gabbo and the ventriloquist would have been a very inspired idea if done right. Though I’m glad they didn’t go that route.
They didn’t even bother telling us why most of those characters were on the boat, except for Cletus and Gitmo (have we ever seen this kid before?). If it was Homer, Bart, and a bunch of guys they had never met before, the story would have played out EXACTLY the same.
I think Gitmo was in an earlier episode around the time Lurleen showed up and the show retconned what their names are, ignoring an earlier listing during “The Twisted World of Marge Simpson”. Don’t ask me if it’s the same kind, though.
You’re right that this episode completely wasted the secondary characters. Apu had one generic line with only Cletus and Gitmo being memorable (points for not leaning on tired redneck stereotypes for once). I believe I actually saw Arnie Pye and his clone son there too.
Arnie Pye (or whoever it was) was sometimes there, sometimes not.
Homer claimed he stole the flask of rum from one of the other dads, but which one?
Any excuse to put the Zombie Simpsons on a boat. Go back through the archives and count how many episodes involve something nautical. I would not be surprised if it is close to 100.
Off the top of my head, I can think of:
Dumbbell Indemnity
The Old Man and the C Student
The Mansion Family
New Kids on the Blecch
The Wettest Stories Ever Told
The Wife Aquatic
…damn, there really are a lot, aren’t there?
And “A Totally Fun Thing Bart Will Never Do Again” wherein Bart wants the family to stay on a cruise ship forever.
Cruise ships = Comedy?
Does Simpson Tide count?
I’d count it. It’s the first one in that very tiring trend. Bonus points if it hardly makes any sense and the danger is completely phoney.
I’d also count “Monty Can’t Buy Me Love” and “Trouble with Trillions”
Yeah, but that was a submarine, not a ship. I thought everybody here would be smart enough to catch that.
Can you blame them for trying to recapture some of that Cape Feare magic?
That and the glory of “Boy Scoutz ‘N The Hood”
Seeing Apu with just a single kid for whatever plot reason gave me an instant flashback to Fuzzy Bunny’s Guide to You Know What.
“Nine months later, Manjula gave birth to 8 beautiful babies!
One survived.”
Lol
My ulcer…. Was there even a B-Plot?
Okay, that sucked. Act 1 was the worst with some pretty horrid jerk-ass Homer creeping up.
Why is Homer all of a sudden trying to be a model parent when he’d been long established as a lazy slob who hardly cares what Bart does as long as he stays out of his hair? Homer used to need plenty of goading to be a dedicated, strict parent (i.e. “The Itchy & Scratchy Movie”). Now he stays awake 2 days straight (without food or water?) for Bart to eat all of his vegetables? Zombie Homer is surely and ever-morphing, logic-defying entity
Also, with that whole broccoli business, is the show trying to tell me Homer went through all that and didn’t eat any himself? If he had, he sure as hell wouldn’t have gotten scurvy. Then again, with as much food Homer eats in general, scurvy should be near impossible regardless.
Good points and observations.
It also takes a lot less alcohol for Homer to get drunk than I would have expected (remember, there was still enough rum in the flask for Joe to get drunk too).
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Sunday Preview: The Wreck of the Relationship | Dead Homer Society