When we talk about The Simpsons at its best, we talk about maximizing the space of television, including as many jokes, ideas, and parodies as the space can hold, and this episode achieves that sort of density, covering eight different types of Halloween. That isn’t a knock on the episode. The reason the episode works so well is because Homer makes the perfect patsy, of sorts. The iconic “I Choo-Choo-Choose You” is one of the series’ most oft-used quotes. After Burns gets rid of the Power Plants' employee dental plan just as Lisa is in need of braces, Homer leads his fellow workers in a strike. Classic Episode. The attic story is actually a twin story: Apparently, the creature rattling around upstairs is Bart’s conjoined twin Hugo, an id creature à la The Dark Half who’s chained up for everyone’s protection and subsists on fish heads. Then the gurney is accidentally wheeled into the kindergarten class. It’s Bart at his most puckish: He’s pulling a prank, but only because he doesn’t want to go back to the reality of everyday life. The final story is an exercise in pure silliness that plays like an animated “Shouts and Murmurs” column, but it has a sting: Even after Homer crashes a spaceship into the Capitol and tells the world that “Bob Dole” and “Bill Clinton” are actually tentacled space aliens, the public is told that it has to choose one of them anyway because it’s a two-party system. Soon after the story goes live, Homer is kidnapped and wakes up on the Island, a mysterious land where people who know too much are kept. For basically every Simpsons episode, Lisa is the only genuinely smart person in Springfield. Moe’s Tavern is a regular spot on the show, and Homer is often drunk. What “I Married Marge” does best is create a heart-filled backstory that not only explains how Homer went from being a boy to a husband and father so quickly, but also reveals the undivided love between the two characters. ... so the best years will be defined as the episodes … The Simpsons may live in America’s Crud Bucket, but it’s THEIR crud bucket. The entire episode has an undercurrent of dread leavened by absurdity: When Lisa and Bart come home from school, respectively, shoeless (thanks to bullies) and wrapped in a burlap sack (his clothes burned to prevent the spread of lice), it’s funny but also horrifying because the kids are genuinely distressed. Speaking of the treehouse, it’s there that a now grown-up (and drunk) Bart and Lisa have a very real, adult conversation about their respect for each other and the specific bond they share by growing up in the same house. But this episode is a prime example as to why these two are just as entertaining as Homer or Bart. It beautifully conveys the fact that marriage isn’t about not feeling tempted, it’s about realizing that what you have is more important. With Ned mournfully singing “Que Será, Será (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” in the background, things devolve into chaos, and Homer follows his neighbor out of the shelter. To go through all these episodes and determine which are the greatest is no easy task. You’ve never been?” There are a lot of words one could use to describe Homer: fat, drunk, bald, fat (again). The final segment was memorable at the time for expanding into computer animation. Lisa and Abe are widely cast as wet blankets on The Simpsons. Ned is so often the calm voice of reason in a town filled with LOUD OPINIONS, so what would it take to make him snap? 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