The long-running animated show, The Simpsons, has returned yet again with its 35th season, and the show still seems to be going strong. With Matt Groening coming back as the voice of the balding and potbellied Homer Simpson, the first episode of the season presents Homer with a new opportunity. Yet again, like countless times before, Homer becomes selfish and greedy. But will he receive his just comeuppance in the end?
Spoilers Ahead
What Is Homer’s New Duty?
The episode opens with a scene that could pass for that of He-Man, with a hero looking straight out of Conan the Barbarian, slashing orcs and then flying away on a winged Pegasus. As it turns out, it’s no mythical hero after all, but the perpetually stoned Otto, the bus driver, zooming away in the Springfield school bus after finishing an entire tray of acid brownies. In the next school meeting, Principal Skinner announces that, in the absence of the school bus, there’s a need for parents to drive their kids to school. When everyone unanimously objects, he requests just one parent to sign up for the crossing guard duty. Once a loveable idiot, now a selfish buffoon, Homer Simpson casually shouts in agreement and is immediately picked for guard duty. Of course, he had bad timing celebrating the announcement of a show and was, of course, misunderstood for something totally different.
Why does Homer face embarrassment?
At Homer’s workplace, the nuclear powerplant, when the meters start flashing and blinking rapidly, signaling danger, all the employees and even the owner, Mr. Burns, come together to avert the danger. Homer is disappointed to learn that he’s been given a fake control room, and he’s considered not good for anything. The workplace humiliation keeps Homer from performing in the bedroom with his wife, Marge, further adding to his plummeting self-esteem. The following morning, the kids find Homer on guard duty and poke fun at him for carrying around a tacky ‘STOP’ sign and a rickety lawn chair, as his kids Bart and Lisa are cowering in embarrassment.
How Does Homer Become A Hero?
At that very moment, local dullard Ralphie decides it’s the right time to cross the streets without looking and is almost run over by a speeding car. Thankfully, Homer jumps to the rescue and grabs Ralphie out of harm’s way just in time. With the bravery being recorded on camera, Homer quickly becomes known as a hero, and the town immediately changes its stance toward the crossing guard committee, and the mayor announces a huge budget for Homer’s team. With this sudden change of luck and being awarded the position of captain, unsurprisingly, success goes to Homer’s head. From shaking down the town police chief Wiggum, the father of Ralphie, to closing down Moe’s Tavern entirely for his crossing guard crew, Homer begins acting like a jerk very quickly.
What Changes In Homer?
However, the following morning, when the school presentation causes a massive traffic jam across Springfield, Homer feels extremely powerless. The explosion of certain reactive chemicals on a truck causes a huge wave of pink gum to spread across the town, causing massive financial damage, and Homer is called in to answer for his failure. Instead of accepting his faults, however, he blames the lack of funding and equipment and riles up the audience with a speech against the government. Not wanting to anger his voters, the mayor quickly agrees to hand Homer two blank checks, allowing him to buy anything he wants for his team. Soon, the Crossing Guards start ruling over Springfield with an iron fist, while Homer becomes a megalomaniac. He demands free meals for his family by threatening restaurant owners he’ll stop helping their kids cross the streets, and the police and the government are powerless to stop him. Finally, the mayor decides it’s time to cut Homer’s funding and declares a reduction of 1.5% in the budget, sparking a smear campaign against him.
What Does Homer Challenge Wiggum To?
Homer and his team make a video of how the mayor wants to kill the town’s children and plays cards with the Devil himself in his free time to present him as the worst person in American politics. The video earns quite a bit of support for Homer on social media, with the mayor receiving rampant death threats, as is common with the sheeple who choose to blindly follow someone and reduce themselves to ‘yes-men.’ It’s Chief Wiggum who hurls back Homer’s lawn chair through their living room window, with a reference to the ’80s neo-noir crime thriller The Untouchables. Homer declares war against Wiggum and the police force and challenges him to meet the Crossing Guards at an infamous 6-point intersection. On the day of the showdown, Homer’s crew stands before Wiggum’s police force, and then they’re interrupted by the Meter Maids, the TSA, the independent neighborhood watchers, and several other such peacekeeping groups. Homer stands in the middle of the intersection and begins verbally attacking everyone, considering himself to be the most important person in Springfield, until a bus runs him over.
Does Homer Get His Comeuppance In The End?
As it turns out, Otto, the bus driver who’d driven away with the school bus, returns to the exact spot where Homer was throwing tantrums and hits him with the bus. The captain of the Crossing Guards squad ends up in the hospital, completely covered in bandages, and his family comes to see him. Like every other time when Homer lets a little success get to his head and becomes insufferable, he once again receives a solid payback and learns his lesson twice over. The only voice of reason in his family, Lisa, who’d previously warned her dad against the corruption power can inflict on a person, reiterates her statement, and Homer can only watch from his bed as his family breaks down into an argument. Once again, chaos descends on his family, but the lesson learned is that money and power shouldn’t corrupt someone, although it surely will be temporary.
