The Sweetest Apu

Infobox Simpsons episode
episode_name = The Sweetest Apu


image_caption= Homer's nightmare after actually seeing Apu's affair with Annete.
episode_no = 288
prod_code = DABF14
airdate = May 5, 2002
show runner = Al Jean
writer = John Swartzwelder
director = Matthew Nastuk
blackboard = “I will never lie about being cancelled again”
couch_gag = The Simpsons come in just as two repo men take the couch away. Homer sobs loudly, Marge looks confused, and the kids sit on the floor to watch TV
guest_star = Tress MacNeille as Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon
James Lipton as Himself
season = 13

“The Sweetest Apu” is the nineteenth episode of "The Simpsons"’ thirteenth season. It is the only episode to date to feature Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon where Jan Hooks does not provide the voice, instead featuring Tress MacNeille in the role, however when Apu leaves India he talks to a young Manjula and was voiced by Maggie Roswell in Much Apu About Nothing.

Plot

Apu sells Homer a beer keg for the American Civil War reenactment of the Battle of Springfield which is shown in this episode and will never be seen again. At the reenactment, Principal Skinner watches as Springfielders disobey him and hold a rather inaccurate battle. After the battle, Homer brings the empty, dented keg back to Apu at the Kwik-E-Mart in an attempt to get the deposit. There, he hears a giggle coming from a closet and finds Apu making love with the woman who delivers Squishees to Kwik-E-Mart. He then walks backwards in shock all the way home to his bed.

Marge figures out what Homer saw from the movements of his pupil. They then confront Apu and he says he will break up with the Squishee Lady named Annette. However, he cannot help it, as it gets his mind off the octuplets. Later, Manjula watches the surveillance footage of Apu cheating. To help get them together, Homer and Marge invite them both, but do not tell them that the other one is coming. Manjula then demands a divorce.

Kicked out, Apu moves into the apartment complex where Kirk Van Houten lives. The octuplets then speak their first words, which put together, say “Mommy, will you let daddy come back...cookie!” Marge and Manjula go to Apu’s and arrive in time to prevent him from hanging himself. Apu is then subjected to several tasks to redeem himself, though Manjula says it will take time for everything to get back to normal. In bed, Manjula, finally satisfied with what he has done, kisses Apu while Homer watches from the window, on a ladder. The couple continues and Homer, traumatized, hops backwards on the ladder all the way home, without falling.

Cultural references

*"Catch-22"—Homer refers to the punctured keg of beer as being “so cold...so cold.” These are the words Snowden uses when hit and bleeding, in the novel "Catch-22". (Milhouse also says these words in the season seven episode "Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily" after Bart complains that nothing happened to Milhouse after playing with the monkey in the Pier One wicker basket.)
*"Wild Wild West"—Professor Frink’s giant mechanical spider.
*The title is a pun on the Sade song, “The Sweetest Taboo.”
*When Marge is watching the video of Apu’s wedding, Homer gets up with the band and tries to sing the same song from the wedding scene in "The Godfather".
*Apu’s cartoon appears in "The New Yorker", which Homer says he purchased only for the photos of Richard Avedon, featuring Lenny.
*Apu and his octuplets reenact "My Fair Lady" as part of Manjula’s list.
*Windex--Moe cannot afford Windex; he has to buy Windel instead.
* At the Civil War reenactment, there is a confederate soldier who bears a striking similarity to General Robert E. Lee.

External links

*snpp capsule|DABF14