Secrets of a Successful Marriage

Infobox Simpsons episode
episode_name = Secrets of a Successful Marriage
episode_no = 103
prod_code = 1F20
airdate = May 19, 1994
show runner = David Mirkin
writer = Greg Daniels [ [http://www.simpsoncrazy.com/scripts/successful-marriage.php Simpsons scripts: Secrets of a Successful Marriage (1F20) // Simpson Crazy ] ]
director = Carlos Baeza
blackboard = "Five days is not too long to wait for a gun"
couch_gag = The members of the family run in, collide, and explode. Maggie's pacifier falls to the floor of the blackened living room.
commentary = David Mirkin
Greg Daniels
David Silverman
season = 5"Secrets of a Successful Marriage" is the 22nd and final episode of "The Simpsons"' fifth season. Homer teaches an adult education class on how to have a successful marriage; however, to keep his students interested he has to tell personal secrets about Marge.

Plot

Homer Simpson plays poker with the guys and as usual, he wins without realizing it, prompting Carl to call Homer "slow". Hours later his brain registers the insult, by which time the game had already ended, and Lenny tells Homer to get the hell out of his house. The next morning Homer talks to the family about it, and their awkward non-responses to his question about his intelligence makes him realize that he might indeed be kind of stupid. Marge recommends that he take an adult education course.

He marches down to the adult education annex, where he talks to the dean and learns that there is an opening to teach a class on having a successful marriage. Homer thinks he can get away with anything as a teacher, from running red lights to taunting the Krusty Burger's drive-through manager. When he stands before his class, he has absolutely no lesson plan. Class members tell him about their problems and seek advice--Smithers' marriage to a woman (!) fell apart because his wife hated Mr. Burns, Ms. Krabappel lets men victimize her, and Lionel Hutz uses women for their money--but Homer has none to offer.

The class collectively gets up to leave, but when Homer mentions his conversation with Marge in bed, the class decides to stay, eager to hear gossip. Marge soon discovers that everyone in town knows her personal secrets (including the secret that she dyes her hair blue because, according to Homer, " [Marge has been] gray as a mule since she was 17"). She confronts Homer about it and he promises to stop, but he continues telling her secrets anyway; this time telling the class that Marge gets sexually excited whenever Homer nibbles on her elbow. Homer then takes the night off teaching class--so he can have his class observe the family over dinner.

When Marge growls at Homer that she wants the class to get out of their house, Moe says that maybe Homer should nibble on her elbow. Marge then throws Homer out of the house, saying she can't trust him anymore, and refuses to let him back in when he repeats her secret again to Ned Flanders. Homeless, Homer camps out in Bart's tree house, where Bart and Milhouse find Homer scrubbing his underwear. Marge tries to reassure Bart and Lisa that she and Homer love the kids, despite their current situation, but Lisa tells Bart she's worried and has added string to a (by now huge) ball that she works on whenever she's terrified that her parents will get divorced. Marge tries to get advice from Reverend and Mrs. Lovejoy, which Homer is happy about because he's sure they have to tell her to honor her marriage, but Rev. Lovejoy actually tells Marge to cut ties with Homer.

Homer creates a replacement for Marge - a plant with a paper plate for a face that he accidentally destroys. He soon longs for his real wife again, and asks Lisa for advice which he then derides as inadequate. Moe comes by to declare his interest in Marge. She turns him down, but decides to invite him in for a glass of water.

Homer comes into the house with flowers he picked. When Moe sees him, he jumps out the window. Standing before her in rags, Homer professes his total and utter dependency on Marge. She tells him that that's NOT a good thing. Homer then makes his winning argument: he loves her, he needs her to love him, he has been away from her for a short time and is already "as dirty as a Frenchman" and can't afford to ever lose her trust again because he'll end up dead. Marge is won over and allows Homer to return to the house. The family is glad that he has returned, although Moe is less than thrilled. [Secrets of a Successful Marriage, The Simpsons Episode, 1F20]

yndication Cuts

The following cuts were made to this episode when it appeared in syndication:

*The scene where Homer laments being slow and blames it on watching TV at the breakfast table.
*Moe's "Funk Dance for Self Defense" demonstration, which includes Moe firing off a shotgun.
*A cutaway of Hans Moleman teaching a learning annex class on how to eat an orange.
*Homer's brain commanding him to eat the rice pudding before coming up with a plan on how to win Marge back.

Cultural references

*Homer's bedroom rant to Marge is a parody mishmash of four popular movies: "...And Justice for All" ("I'm out of order? "You're" out of order! The whole system is out of order!"). "A Few Good Men" ("...You want the truth?..."), the 1970 film "Patton" ("...When you reach over and put your hand into a pile of goo that was your best friend's face..."), and "Chinatown" ("Forget it, Marge, it's Chinatown.")
*Homer sings the end of the theme song to "Family Ties.
*Smithers' recollection of his marriage parodies "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" and "A Streetcar Named Desire." Both were written by Tennessee Williams.
*When describing his area of expertise at the Adult Education Center, Homer claims he can tell the difference between butter and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, to which the administrator replies, "No you can't Mr. Simpson! No one can!"

Reception

The episode is number seven on "MSNBC"'s top ten "The Simpsons" episodes list, compiled in 2007. They felt the episode embodied Homer's qualities of being "stupid, good-natured and mildly pathetic." [cite news | author = Patrick Enwright | title = D’Oh! The top 10 ‘Simpsons’ episodes ever | publisher = MSNBC | date = 2007-07-31 | url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19916798/ | accessdate=2007-10-08]

References

External links

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