Episode Title: Blood Feud
Episode Number: 35
Original Air Date: July 11, 1991
Plot Synopsis: When Mr. Burns misses the dedication of his new "Springfield Nuclear Reactor Status" warning sign, Smithers suspects that something must be wrong. His suspicions are soon confirmed when he finds Mr. Burns on the floor of his bedroom, writhing in pain. It seems that he's got something called hypohemia, which is where your body naturally runs out of blood. Mr. Burns has a very rare blood type, so a transfusion is very difficult to get. Homer soon finds out that Bart has that same blood type, so a transfusion is set up and Burns is saved.
Instead of the monetary reward that Homer was expecting, Burns sends the Simpsons a basic "Thank you" card because he's an evil dick. Homer is super annoyed and writes him an angry letter that will likely cost him his job. Marge urges him to sleep on it before sending it, which he does. Bart is impatient, however, and mails the letter anyway. Homer, horrified, attempts to get the letter before it is delivered but Burns ends up reading it. Because he's Mr. Burns, he demands that Homer be beaten in retribution.
Smithers ends up calling off the beating because he thinks (rightfully so) that Homer should be thanked for saving his life, not bludgeoned for it. Mr. Burns turns into the Grinch from the end of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and buys the Simpsons a giant, $30,000 Indian head statue as a gift. The Simpsons end the episode debating about what the moral of the last few days really was, and end up landing on the "it was just a bunch of stuff that happened" camp.
Instead of the monetary reward that Homer was expecting, Burns sends the Simpsons a basic "Thank you" card because he's an evil dick. Homer is super annoyed and writes him an angry letter that will likely cost him his job. Marge urges him to sleep on it before sending it, which he does. Bart is impatient, however, and mails the letter anyway. Homer, horrified, attempts to get the letter before it is delivered but Burns ends up reading it. Because he's Mr. Burns, he demands that Homer be beaten in retribution.
Smithers ends up calling off the beating because he thinks (rightfully so) that Homer should be thanked for saving his life, not bludgeoned for it. Mr. Burns turns into the Grinch from the end of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and buys the Simpsons a giant, $30,000 Indian head statue as a gift. The Simpsons end the episode debating about what the moral of the last few days really was, and end up landing on the "it was just a bunch of stuff that happened" camp.
Overall Thoughts: A solid episode. It doesn't really have a ton going on by way of actual "story," as it squanders two pretty cool ideas (more on that in a minute), but on the whole this episode is totally funny enough to make up for it.
What Works: This episode starts out as a really fun story. I like the idea that Homer holds the key to essentially saving Mr. Burns life and the morality issues he sort of has to struggle with later on.
The question of "Do we do nice things to do them, or to be rewarded?" is essentially handled very nicely when Homer expects a reward from Mr. Burns and ultimately gets nothing (for a little while, until he gets that giant head statute later on). Homer's disappointing is understandable, as is Marge's insistence that doing the right thing is important.
Bizarrely and awesomely, the biggest morality struggle in the entire episode belongs to Smithers. He has to grapple with the fact that Mr. Burns wants to rough up Homer even though Homer basically saved his beloved Mr. Burns. It's a nice character touch.
As I said before, this episode is very funny. There are a lot of great jokes, and even if the plot isn't all that strong the jokes still manage to tie directly into it. Thus far, "The Simpsons" has been really good at building jokes out of both character and plot instead of complete randomness.
Burns regaining his strength after his blood transfusion is a fun moment. I don't have a ton to say about it, but it's a great character bit and it's worth nothing.
Lisa teaching Maggie about random, non-barnyard animals is adorable. I also don't have a lot to say about this one, either. The first time Lisa teaches Maggie and Burns regaining his strength are probably my two favorite moments in the episode.
The question of "Do we do nice things to do them, or to be rewarded?" is essentially handled very nicely when Homer expects a reward from Mr. Burns and ultimately gets nothing (for a little while, until he gets that giant head statute later on). Homer's disappointing is understandable, as is Marge's insistence that doing the right thing is important.
Bizarrely and awesomely, the biggest morality struggle in the entire episode belongs to Smithers. He has to grapple with the fact that Mr. Burns wants to rough up Homer even though Homer basically saved his beloved Mr. Burns. It's a nice character touch.
As I said before, this episode is very funny. There are a lot of great jokes, and even if the plot isn't all that strong the jokes still manage to tie directly into it. Thus far, "The Simpsons" has been really good at building jokes out of both character and plot instead of complete randomness.
Burns regaining his strength after his blood transfusion is a fun moment. I don't have a ton to say about it, but it's a great character bit and it's worth nothing.
Lisa teaching Maggie about random, non-barnyard animals is adorable. I also don't have a lot to say about this one, either. The first time Lisa teaches Maggie and Burns regaining his strength are probably my two favorite moments in the episode.
What Doesn't Work: Like I alluded to earlier, the episode kind of comes off the rails a little bit towards the end as far as the plot is concerned. I guess everyone learns their lesson, but it just kind of happens. Smithers tells Burns that he shouldn't be mad at Homer, so he's not anymore. Homer gets the point of "we do the right things because they're the right thing to do" kind of automatically. It's a little ho-hum and it ties up a bit too neatly and arbitrarily.
Burns giving the Simpsons the giant Indian head as a token of gratitude is such a bizarre idea. It's funny-ish, but it's not really strong enough to stand on its own as a great punchline for the entire episode.
Also, the idea that he suddenly turns into Mr. "I Love to Give People Giant Gifts" is a weird one. I know that Bart saved his life, and that's cool, but he's still Mr. Burns. And he presumably gives up being Mr. Generosity immediately after this episode ends. It's a sudden character shift that is never really worth it.
One big morality question that never really comes up is the most obvious one: whether they should save Mr. Burns at all. I mean, obviously they should save him. But remember, even by this point Mr. Burns is already an evil dick. He's already hit Bart with his car, for which they were not compensated. It would have been nice to at least have someone ask the question.
This is also the second episode in a row where the characters end the piece by discussing the moral. Settle down, there, guys.
Burns giving the Simpsons the giant Indian head as a token of gratitude is such a bizarre idea. It's funny-ish, but it's not really strong enough to stand on its own as a great punchline for the entire episode.
Also, the idea that he suddenly turns into Mr. "I Love to Give People Giant Gifts" is a weird one. I know that Bart saved his life, and that's cool, but he's still Mr. Burns. And he presumably gives up being Mr. Generosity immediately after this episode ends. It's a sudden character shift that is never really worth it.
One big morality question that never really comes up is the most obvious one: whether they should save Mr. Burns at all. I mean, obviously they should save him. But remember, even by this point Mr. Burns is already an evil dick. He's already hit Bart with his car, for which they were not compensated. It would have been nice to at least have someone ask the question.
This is also the second episode in a row where the characters end the piece by discussing the moral. Settle down, there, guys.
Closing Thoughts: This episode is not as great and memorable as the last few, but still manages to be very funny. I do wish the season could have gone out on a higher note, though. One giant positive: even the sort of pointless episodes from season two, like this one, are still hilarious, which is a lot more than you can say about season one.
Final Grade (out of 10): 7
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