11. One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish

Episode Title: "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish"
Episode Number: 24
Original Air Date: January 24, 1991

Plot Synopsis: At Lisa's insistence to try something new, the Simpsons venture out to a Japanese restaurant to try some sushi. Initially hesitant about the whole thing, Homer ends up really loving sushi as he does most food. He ends up demanding sushi made from fugu, which is a scary type of blow fish. If prepared improperly, fugu is poisonous and can result in death. As the Japanese restaurant is in Springfield, Homer eats poison fugu and is soon diagnosed with 24(ish) hours to live.

Homer makes a list of all the things he wants to do before he dies. He has a customary father and son talk with Bart, listens to Lisa play her saxaphone and even heads to the Retirement Castle to make peace with Grandpa. Because he overslept for his last day on Earth, he's running a little behind and ends up getting pulled over for speeding. After attempting to give the cops the business, he gets hauled into jail for... something. Being a jerk, I guess. Anyway, he calls Barney, who bails him out.

Homer tells off Mr. Burns and heads to Moe's for one last drink. When he gets home, he says a quick "I love you" to the kids and "gets intimate" with Marge. As the hours past, Homer gets out of bed. He says a peaceful "Goodbye" to each of the Simpsons kids and heads downstairs to listen to a book on tape version of the Bible recorded by Larry King. As the sun starts to come up, Homer appears to collapse. Marge wakes up sometime later and sees Homer. She initially thinks he's dead, but in reality, he's the opposite of that. He's still alive for some reason. Whatever, though. It's good that Homer's not dead. Homer also thinks it's good that Homer's not dead, and vows to live life to the fullest from now on. The episode ends with Homer watching a bowling tournament and eating chips for an extended period of time.

Overall Thoughts: I love the idea behind this episode, but the actual execution kind of leaves a lot to be desired. The episode hits the emotional beats quite effortlessly, which I guess is the most important thing. At its core, it's a legitimately touching piece about a man who thinks he's about to die. The problem is that the episode isn't really that funny (though it does have a few really solid jokes, including the essentially silent final scene of Homer just watching a bowling tournament), and it's plagued by a few weird bits (more on that later) that prevent it from being really great.

What Works: Like I said: this episode is funny enough, but it's real strength lies in the emotion of Homer's story. Homer working his way through the items on his "Last Day on Earth" list is a great deal of fun in the beginning and kind of naturally transitions to being really, really heartwarming by the end. We move effortlessly from the silliness of Homer agreeing to go to Flanders' cookout only because he thinks he'll be dead by then to Homer making peace with his father. By the time we get to Homer quietly saying his goodbyes to the sleeping Simpson kids, if you don't feel at the very least a little legitimately moved you're probably a cold, heartless robot who hates and/or fears emotion.

Watching a character move through the last day of his or her life isn't the most original story, but it leads to a lot of good jokes and a lot of great character moments for the entire family.

What Doesn't Work: While I think that the story itself eventually leads to a lot of great things, the inciting incident for that story is kind of balls. I really like the "Homer is dying, tries to quickly live a full life" aspect, but "Homer is dying because he ate poison blow fish" is stupid. I wish it were literally anything besides that and I'd rate this episode higher.

Bart and Lisa singing the "Shaft" theme at the Japanese restaurant just strikes me as a weird bit. As does Homer coming across Mr. Burns and Smithers staring at women in the park through binoculars. This episode feels like it suffers a bit from "brand new writer" syndrome. I wish they would have had time for one last rewrite to iron out some of the kinks.

Closing Thoughts: If there was a better conceit for the episode than "Homer ate poison sushi," and if it were a bit funnier, this episode would probably rank higher. As it stands it's a solid episode, but few episodes have suffered from a more obvious case of the "Missed Opportunities" (I just made that up) than this one. Despite that, it still manages to show a lot of emotion and is therefore a fine episode.

Final Grade (out of 10): 7