15. Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

Episode Title: Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?
Episode Number: 28
Original Air Date:  February 21, 1991

Plot Synopsis: Grandpa Simpson suffers a mild heart attack after watching the latest "McBain" movie in a theater. Despite the fact that it was a super, super mild heart attack, Grandpa is now confronted with his own sense of mortality and decides to reveal to Homer that he has a long-lost half brother. It seems that ol' Grandpa had an affair with a carnival worker years back. Homer goes to the orphanage where his brother was adopted and ultimately finds out that he lives in Detroit. After making a few calls (four, to be exact), he gets in contact with one Herbert Powell, bastard son of Abe Simpson and unbeknownst to Homer, a rich car manufacturer.

So the Simpsons go to see Herb and quickly find out about that whole "rich car manufacturer" part. Herb quickly finds out what his life has been missing - a family - and gives the Simpsons everything they want and desire. He's great with the kids, he pampers Marge and he even puts Homer to work designing a new car that average Americans will love. Homer has a hard time working with Herb's team at first, but after an ultimately misguided pep talk Homer is fueled with self value and gets to work. Not surprisingly, the car that Homer designs ends up being something that a seven-year-old would think was really cool. Herb, who was completely absent from the design process and just let Homer do whatever he wanted despite warnings from his staff, is caught off guard and totally shocked by this.

Because the car is so impractical, awful-looking and ridiculously expensive, it ends up bankrupting Herb's company and costing him his fortune. As Herb prepares to get on a bus and get out of their lives forever, he tells Homer that he "has no brother." Homer is disappointed, but is slightly less so when Bart reveals that he really liked his dad's car.

Overall Thoughts: I had almost no memory of this episode, which is very weird to me. Literally the only thing I remembered about this episode going in was the car that Homer designs in the third act. It's weird to me because there was a decent-sized period of my life where I'd fall asleep to three or four episodes of the show every night, week in and week out, and they were all exclusively seasons two through eight or nine. So somehow, I completely missed this episode for years and years.

I understand that doesn't have any relevance to my thoughts on the episode, or to you, dear reader, or to anything really. It just kind of warped my mind for a second and I wanted to mention it.

What Works: This episode is filled with lots of great one-liners and just funny jokes in general. I really like the running joke that has been running throughout the season (that I also didn't remember at all) that Homer always thanks the Lord for nuclear power whenever he has to lead grace before a meal.

The fact that Dr. Hibbert has an identical twin brother who is searching for him and that Homer could really easily tell him exactly where his brother is if he were self aware enough to realize what is going on, but he isn't so he doesn't, is a wonderful joke.

I enjoy the deathbed confession angle of the story. Grandpa Simpson having an affair with a carnival worker is surprisingly dark territory for the show. Now, there is that whole "Homer tries to commit suicide" episode from season one that is crazy dark and certainly much darker than this, but that was "Bad, Uncomfortable and Bizarre" dark. This is good dark.

This episode features another terrific guest actor holding his own amidst a cast of professionals. Danny DeVito is PERFECT casting for Homer's long lost half brother. His voice just sounds related to Homer Simpson.

The stuff with the Simpsons interacting with Herb's rich lifestyle isn't really advancing the plot, but it doesn't feel wasted, either. It's all funny, and a lot of it is rooted in character, so I don't mind spending time in these areas of the story one bit.

More than anything, I like the idea that Homer really just can't get ahead. I like that aspect of his character quite a bit. Even when he tries really hard, as he does in this episode when he's given the opportunity to design his perfect car, he just can't help but screw everything up somehow.

Additionally, Self Confident Homer really is a terrifying thing. Herb gives Homer a pep talk at one point to try to boost his self esteem for the car designing process. Homer almost immediately gets drunk on his own ego and turns into a one-man wrecking ball. Self Confident Homer may be funny, but I think it's a very sweet aspect of the character that even he realizes that too much self value can be a bad thing.

I really, really enjoy that there's no real "catch" with Herb. He doesn't turn out to be some rich monster bent on ruining people's lives. He's not a secret serial killer or any other contrived thing that would force him out of the family's lives at the end of the episode. He's just a shrewd guy who knows how to run a business who got ahead in life. End of story. Nothing else needed. It's very, very restrained and it allows for much better storytelling.

As with a lot of these, this episode ends on a very sweet note. Even though Homer has literally ruined his half brother's life, he still takes comfort when Bart tells him that he really liked the car that Homer designed. It's very touching.

What Doesn't Work: Nothing in particular stands out as "not working." There's some wonky animation when Herb and the kids are rolling around on the floor, laughing at an episode of "Itchy & Scratchy," I guess.

Closing Thoughts:  Something really crazy happens in this episode and it's so goddamn masterful that it's worth noting. At one point, Herb requests that Bart call him "Unkee Herb" instead of "Uncle Herb," as the latter sounds too formal. Now, it's never explicitly stated that Bart is doing it to appease Herb because he's super rich and is giving Bart anything he wants. There is no scene that nails "complete selfishness" as the reason that Bart is calling him that. But something in Bart's character, coupled with the fact that he calls him "Unkee Herb" SO MUCH, lands the idea that "Bart is only doing this because if he does, Herb will continue to let him do and say whatever he wants."

THAT is writing, folks.

I really like that, apart from one episode next season, Herb is never really seen or heard from again. Such is the affect that the Simpsons have on people - even half family members.

I also like that Herb is, essentially, a victim in the story. His only crime was trusting his half brother to not be a complete moron. Lesson learned.

This episode also features another clip of  "McBain," which is always a good thing.

All in all, another fine half hour from "The Simpsons" season two. We're a little more than halfway through the season, and at this point I feel like it definitely would have become appointment television for hypothetical "27-year-old living in 1991" Me.

Final Grade (out of 10): 8