13. Some Enchanted Evening

Episode Title: "Some Enchanted Evening"
Episode Number: 13
Original Air Date: May 13, 1990

Plot Synopsis: Marge is feeling a little overwhelmed. The family rushes through her expertly prepared breakfast in the morning right before they all rush out the door. She calls into Dr. Marvin Monroe's radio show to talk about how Homer doesn't love or appreciate her. Homer hears this on the radio at the plant, which prompts him to quickly head down to Moe's Tavern for advice. Moe, ever the classy gentleman, suggests taking Marge out to a motel and not checking out until the next morning, "if you get my drift." Loud and clear, Moe. As Homer and Marge prepare to go out for a romantic evening, they also begin the difficult task of finding a babysitter for the kids. The Simpsons have a bit of a reputation in town, you see, that makes such things difficult. 

They eventually trick a babysitting service into sending over someone for the night - Ms. Botz, who is immediately and obviously up to no good. As Homer and Marge head out, the kids quickly discover (thanks to "America's Most Armed and Dangerous") that Botz is really "The Babysitter Bandit" who, as her name suggests, ties up kids and robs houses and stuff. Botz realizes that the kids know who she is, so she chases them around the house and eventually detains them. Maggie, however, saves the day when she wakes up from her nap and frees Bart and Lisa. Bart then savagely beats Ms. Botz unconscious with a baseball bat.

The kids can't use the phone in the house to call the cops because Ms. Botz ripped it out of the wall, so they have to go to a payphone. Marge can't get through to the house because of the aforementioned phone situation, so she gets worried and has Homer head home. Homer and Marge come home to find Ms. Botz tied up and think that the kids are just really, really awful human beings. They untie her, apologize and Botz quickly heads off into the night. The cops (and some reporters) show up and Homer realizes the mistake he just made. He tries to cover the fact that he just let "The Babysitter Bandit" escape, but the family realizes the truth: stupid Homer ruined something yet again. Marge insists that the fact that the kids were able to hold their own against a legitimate threat like Botz means that they "must be doing something right."

Overall Thoughts: I continue to be really surprised that, out of thirteen season one episodes, Homer and Marge's marriage issues play heavily into three of them. It would be a daring thing to do today, especially in animation, so I can only imagine how crazy it must have seemed in 1990. The interesting thing is that all three are approaching the situation from completely different angles. The first dealt with out and out infidelity, the second with Homer's perception of women and this one with Marge feeling unappreciated and unloved. While I definitely don't think that all three were completely successful, I totally applaud the writers for going "all in" on the topic this early in the series.

What Works: The strongest thing about this episode is the story. I really like Homer and Marge's marital problems juxtaposed with Bart, Lisa and Maggie fending off a burglar. Both sides of the episode are very compelling, and the "Babysitter Bandit" side eventually becomes a good amount of fun. Ms. Botz is also quite intimidating - it was a wise decision to make her a "bandit," I think. If she were a serial killer or something, I'd know that she'd never hurt the kids. Of course she wouldn't - this is still a cartoon, after all. But because she's a bandit who is also unhinged in a lot of ways, a part of me always thinks "Well, she's definitely going to clean out the house, and she MIGHT hurt the kids." Which is really all you can hope for in this kind of situation.

The episode isn't really that funny, but it's funny enough to fall into the "What Works" category instead of the "What Doesn't Work" category. So there's that. Lisa has a REALLY good line when Bart doesn't want to watch "The Happy Little Elves" for the millionth time: "You're just like Chilly: the elf who cannot love." When Bart tries (and fails) to take out Ms. Botz with a bowling ball: "Seeing as how no one was hurt, I think it would be really silly to dwell on this." After realizing that he just let the "Babysitter Bandit" go free, Homer laments "Lord help me, I'm just not that bright." All in all, some solid stuff here and there, for sure.

The voice cast, including guest star Penny Marshall as Ms. Botz, are all spot on. Everyone is starting to sound "normal," for lack of a better word. Penny Marshall is fully capable of holding her own, much to my surprise. I didn't remember much about this episode going in, but was happy to find out that the Ms. Botz character design, coupled with Penny Marshall's performance, lead to a genuinely creepy and intimidating character.

What Doesn't Work: This episode is a massive, massive step back in terms of animation. It's understandable, though - as the story goes, this was originally supposed to air earlier in the season but problems during production delayed it. So while it was the last to air, it was actually the first produced. And it shows. The series hasn't looked this weird since "Bart the Genius." Granted, I know that wasn't that long ago, but you get what I'm saying.

The pace of this episode also slows down considerably when compared to the last few, and especially to "Krusty Gets Busted." Homer and Marge getting ready to go out for a romantic evening moves at what feels like a glacial pace. Thankfully, things do eventually pick up in the third act.

Closing Thoughts:  A random observation: when Maggie wakes up from her nap and comes down stairs, Lisa and Bart are tied up on the couch. Lisa says "Maggie, you want to watch 'The Happy Little Elves' again? Okay, but you have to untie us." It's odd that Lisa thinks she has to bribe Maggie like that. Not "odd bad," and maybe even funny if intentional, but odd nonetheless.

It's really unfortunate that "Season One" couldn't go out on the high note that is "Krusty Gets Busted." Even still, this definitely isn't the worst episode of the year. Which I understand is a statement that doesn't really sound that positive, but in the context of a year with a lot of neutral episodes and only a few highlights, it really is.

I will say that Marge reassuring Homer that they "must be doing something right" in regards to how they're raising the kids is a really sweet way to close out the first season.

Final Grade (out of 10): 7