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Blood Feud
The Simpsons Season 02 Episode 22
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Maggie and Snowball II are responding to Lisa's animal flashcards the same way. They're both pawing at them. It's kinda cute.
Thanks to Marge's knowledge of her family, we learn a bunch in a rush: Lisa's shoe size (4B), the number of Bart's teeth (16 permanent, 8 baby), Homer's earmuff size (XL), Lisa's ring size (3, but Marge doesn't like her wearing rings, as she thinks it looks cheap), and Bart's allergies (butterscotch, imitation butterscotch, and glow-in-the-dark monster makeup).
Homer's version of Androcles and the Lion (or, according to him, "Hercules and the Lion") is so, so wrong. And very funny. I'll quote it in its entirety because it's worth hearing again:
Homer: Don't you know the story of Hercules and the Lion?
Bart: Is it a Bible story?
Homer: Yeah, probably. Anyway, once upon a time, there was a big mean lion who got a thorn in his paw. And all the village people tried to pull it out, but nobody was strong enough. So, they got Hercules. And Hercules used his mighty strength (n.b. you really need to see Homer's face as he says this) and bingo! Anyway, the moral is: the lion was so happy he gave Hercules this big thing of riches.
Bart: How did a lion get rich?
Homer: It was the olden days!
Bart: Oh.
Things I just learned: Otto is a "certified bloodletting tech dude." The bloodmobile license plate reads PLASMA1. And Otto's now humming Iron Man, very cheerfully.
And now I've just seen Mr. Burns' ass. Apparently we get to see pretty much every part of Mr. Burns' nude body this season (except his genitalia, which is a sight I never need to see, frankly).
Poor Smithers. He's so torn about having Homer beaten. He's all unshaven, disheveled, and smoking. Smithers, you may be a sycophant in too-short pants, but you do have a heart. Sometimes, at least.
Now that Smithers has shown Mr. Burns the error of his ways, Mr. Burns is so delightfully enthusiastic about buying the Simpsons a present. "A frabulous, grabulous, zip-zoop-zabulous present!" in fact. I wish I could reproduce his accompanying gestures here. They are priceless. The montage of Burns and Smithers shopping is one of the highlights of the episodes. I love it when Smithers plays the banjo (which Mr. Burns dismisses as "too cornball" a gift), and when Mr. Burns, discovering the "perfect" present, presses his beak up against the shop window. Also excellent: When Smithers cavils about the $32,000 cost of the item, Mr. Burns shoots back, "Don't you dare sully this moment with your pricetaggery!"
...And the gift is a giant, ancient Olmec head of Xtapolapocetl, the god of war. Oh, Maggie. So close, with your Aztec flashcard. But, as Lisa says, it's Olmec, not Aztec. I know Marge and Homer are less than impressed with the enormous head, which, as Homer complains, doesn't actually do anything, but I'm with Bart—it's cool. Waldorf just called it grotesquely useless (oh, and it is), but it's kind of awesome, too. And ancient! But hey, Snowball II does find a use for it—by the close of the episode, he's sleeping on top of the giant head. Clever kitty.
CONCLUSION
This one totally makes up for the last episode I reviewed. So much happens in this one. Mr. Burns is sick, he's well, he's evil, he's surprisingly kind. Homer gets to be greedy, indignant, remorseful, depressed, and relieved. Bart thinks he's responsible for destroying the family (but bounces back pretty quickly). The shopping montage is fabulous, and the stone head is iconic at this point (it will reappear in the background at the Simpson home many times in the future).
THIS EPISODE'S RATINGS
 5/5 donuts from Mrs. Waldorf
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RATINGS LEGEND
 = LAME
= BAD
= MEH
= GOOD
= CLASSIC
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PLOT SUMMARY FROM WIKIPEDIA
Mr. Burns falls ill with Hypohaemia (a fictional condition in which the body naturally runs out of blood) and needs a blood transfusion. His blood type, double O negative, is very rare, however, and none of the employees at Springfield Nuclear Power Plant have it. Homer discovers that Bart also has double O negative blood and urges his son to donate, promising that he will be handsomely rewarded. Bart reluctantly agrees and his blood donation saves Mr. Burns' life. Burns is rejuvenated by the blood and he sends the Simpson family a thank you card. Enraged at Burns' paltry gesture, Homer writes an insulting reply, but Marge convinces him at the last minute not to send it. The next morning, Homer discovers that the letter is gone as Bart has mailed it.
Bart explains that he knew Homer would probably change his mind, and decided to send the letter before that could happen. Homer desperately tries to prevent the letter from reaching Burns, but fails. Mr. Burns becomes furious and demands that Homer be beaten. However, his assistant Waylon Smithers calls off the beating on the grounds that that is no way to thank the man who saved Mr. Burns's life. Smithers convinces Burns to instead reward the Simpson family. The Simpsons receive an antique Xtapolapocetl, an Olmec head (a massive, Tiki-god-like affair) that Bart, the blood donor, likes, and which Homer hates. At the end, as the family stare at the head, the Simpsons debate on what the moral of this whole story is. It can't be 'A good deed is its own reward' as Bart got a reward he likes, but at the same time it isn't 'No good deed goes unrewarded' as they never would have received anything if Homer hadn't written the angry letter. Homer decides that there isn't a lesson to be learned from this, as it's "just a bunch of stuff that happened".
"Blood Feud" was written by George Meyer and directed by David Silverman. Executive producer Sam Simon and writers Al Jean and Mike Reiss came up with the idea for the episode while they were trying to fill up the rest of the production run. A co-worker had recently needed a blood transfusion, and the writers thought it would be funny if Mr. Burns had one. Although Meyer was credited with writing the episode, Jean and Reiss re-wrote and polished the script. Harry Shearer, the voice of Mr. Burns and Smithers, could not attend the table read for the episode, so his parts were read by Dan Castellaneta (the voice of Homer). "Blood Feud" includes a first act that is much longer than a normal episode of the show. The producers were going to end the act with Mr. Burns feeling better, but decided to extend it to show how the Simpson family was affected. "Blood Feud" ends with the family discussing what the message of the episode was, but decide that there was no message. The writers were having trouble conceiving an ending, but decided that since there was no point, they would discuss it. In his book Planet Simpson, Chris Turner writes that the ending is meant to openly mock the "notion of the tidy sitcom-style moral" and the "formulaic plots of sitcoms."
Accessed from Wikipedia on Mar. 15, 2010