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Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Simpsons Season 02 Episode 15
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Woah, movie tickets for seniors are only $2.50? I can't wait until I'm old.
The Simpsons no longer say grace before beginning their meals. I wonder when they stopped doing that.
I can't believe Homer's mom married Abe even though he had an illegitimate son. Also, that son had a five 'o clock shadow even as an infant. I'm pretty sure I was afflicted with the same hirsute condition.
I know he's only there for comic relief, but I wonder what would happen if the man at the orphanage actually got to meet his twin brother, Dr. Hibbert. If I were to find out I have a long-lost brother, I don't know if I would look him up with the tenacity Homer displays here.
Wherever the Simpsons live, driving to Detroit is a realistic option. Also, Herb's mansion in Detroit probably isn't so nice these days, his own downfall notwithstanding. I know Herb is played by Danny DeVito, but he sounds so much less douchey than DeVito's typical characters that I almost didn't recognize him.
I instantly loathe the guy whose roots extend to when the Angles met the Saxons, or as Herb puts it, when "white met bread". Well played.
Homer's complete lack of guile here when it comes to a full-time cook who will make him pork chops any hour of the day or night is really endearing.
Ah foreshadowing: the second Abe warns Homer not to do anything stupid re: Herb, you know Homer's going to screw it up.
Americans don't like big cars? Since when? How did Powell Motors end up with such clueless designers anyway?
Ha! Rack and peanut steering.
Man, Herb is such a great guy. Having the guy at the company call back and compliment Homer so his kids could hear it is such a sweet gestures.
How did Herb manage to get the pope to come to the unveiling of the Homer? "His life was an unbridled success until he found out he was a Simpson". But I'm with Bart, that car is actually pretty cool.
CONCLUSION
The introduction of Herbert Powell is a little jarring because he doesn't reappear for quite some time. But this episode is really funny and Danny DeVito is excellent as Herb. Even though they take the low road by introducing a new character without really intending to keep him on the show, I still rate this as one of the classics. So far, season two is gold.
THIS EPISODE'S RATINGS
  4/5 donuts from Mrs. Waldorf
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RATINGS LEGEND
= LAME
= BAD
= MEH
= GOOD
= CLASSIC
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PLOT SUMMARY FROM WIKIPEDIA
After watching the latest McBain film, Grampa suffers a mild heart attack. Thinking he might die, he is prompted to confess a long-hidden secret: Homer has a half-brother. Grampa explains that he met a carnival prostitute before marrying Homer's mother, and they had a son that they left at the Shelbyville Orphanage. Determined to find his brother, Homer and his family go to the orphanage and find out that Grampa's son, whose name is Herb Powell, was adopted by a Mr. and Mrs. Powell. Herb Powell, who looks just like Homer, except taller, slimmer and with more hair, is the head of the automobile manufacturer Powell Motors, which is in need of new ideas. He is very rich, but is unhappy not knowing who he is and where he comes from. He is overjoyed upon hearing of his half-brother and invites the entire Simpson family to stay at his mansion.
Bart, Lisa, and Maggie are enthralled by Herb's wealthy lifestyle and kind personality, although Marge constantly worries about spoiling her kids. Herb then decides that Homer, being an average American, is the perfect person to design a new car for his company. Homer is given entirely free rein in the design, but is at first too timid to voice an opinion, as Herb's designers begin to design the car with their own ideas in mind. When Herb gets word of this, he gives Homer a pep talk that sends him back to the designers determined to build the car with all sorts of weird effects like bubble domes, tail fins and several horns that play "La Cucaracha". At the unveiling of the new car, Herb is horrified to find that the car is a badly-designed and hideous monstrosity that costs US$82,000. Herb's company declares bankruptcy, it folds, his mansion is foreclosed, and he leaves regretting that he ever met his brother. As he departs on the bus he angrily remarks to Homer that he no longer has a brother. While Homer drives the family home, Bart tells him that the car he built was great. Homer becomes relieved to discover that at least one person seems to like it.
"Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" was written by Jeff Martin and directed by Wes Archer. Both Homer's mother Mona Simpson and Herb make their first appearances on The Simpsons in the episode. Some fans were upset with the sad ending of the episode, and as a result the producers decided to write a sequel in which Herb would be given a kinder fate. The resulting episode, "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?", aired at the end of the third season. In that episode, Herb briefly settled in the Simpson household, despite his intense continuing antipathy toward Homer. Homer loaned Herb US$2000, which Herb used to build an invention that translated infantile speech into comprehensible English, based on observations he made of Maggie. He proceeded to mass-produce his new product and regained his fortune. He then bought each member of the family gifts and paid Homer back with a vibrating chair, along with his forgiveness.
Accessed from Wikipedia on Mar. 07, 2010