The Simpsons Season 26 Episode 9 “I Won’t Be Home For Christmas”
Christmas is, of course, the time to be home - in heart as well as body. – Garry Moore
Some people like neat suburbs. I always am attracted to the rundown and the old and the offbeat. – William S. Burroughs
Ah, The Simpsons. A post-disco honored tradition of the American way of suburbia. You once held a mirror to the world from your tiny town and the world looked back. You were the giants of culture. You had everything and a rap song. Now, many would accuse you of being bloated, of going through the motions in a tired fashion. Like a king with a decades long rule, you cannot surrender the throne because of weakness, but because you have become the throne.
It is my argument that it was not you who should be blamed for your faults. Rather, the world around you has changed. The suburbs have died, the animation world has geared towards a new audience, and the culture has become self-parodying. In defense, you retreat to the microcosm. In this wide world, no town is more famous than the small world of Springfield, and you live there trying to keep warm. But the factory’s on its last leg, the supermarket closed down, and no one has Christmas trees for sale. Somehow, you pulled a Christmas miracle and stoked a great big fire of kerosene and newspapers in a drum and the whole town came out.
Sorry if I wax poetic rhetoric, but this episode has really got me in the mood, and I will justify these feelings. Let’s take a deep look at the 2014 Simpsons Christmas Special, and the town of Springfield in general.
It’s Christmas Eve, and the whole town is set for a comfortable night. Jeff “Comic Book Guy” Albertson and his wife Kumiko have settled in for “the worst half hour of television, ever” (spoiler alert: it’s a parody of the Star Wars Holiday Special). It’s as bad as he remembers, and he only watched it yesterday. Hans Moleman gets a Christmas card from Dr. Hibbert and the test came back positive. The nuclear plant is closing for the night, and Burns has a meeting to go to with three spirits. All is as it should be as Homer locks down the reactor with a small metal lock that hinges ever so slightly. Marge is on the phone with him as she is decorating the tree with less than ideal results, the star on top shattering as she falls off a stepladder. She comments on how she wishes Homer was here.
Give the episode credit. Homer, as much as he is a massive screw-up, is incredibly redeemed in this episode because of his good deeds and the fact that everyone would be better off with his help. The problem stems only from a situation of time and place. Speaking of which…
On his way home, Homer almost runs into a baby carriage and slams into a snow bank outside of Moe’s. Of course, it’s all an elaborate plot by Mr. Szyslak to get someone in the bar. They watch Miracle of 34th Street over beers. Homer decides it’s time to leave, but Moe realizes it will be another Christmas alone. He begs for his patron to stay rather pitifully, and Homer agrees to a few more rounds.
Back to Marge with a gingerbread Sideshow Bob and rake reference (heh heh heh, classic). His children are worried about his lateness, and Marge is starting to feel creeping notions of doubt. Homer’s having so much fun though with Moe, and for once Moe feels happy on Christmas. This is one of the key themes of this episode, and offers an honest depiction of the disenfranchised and lonely on Christmas. They get along with their lives and learn to make do with whatever they have, but in such a time of social joy, they have none. I was going to include a quote on how Christmas above all holidays excludes the lonely, but in hindsight, it felt wrong for this special.
Moe, feeling generous, sets the clock in the bar to the right time of 11:30 at night. Homer freaks out and hustles back to his house to find Marge with Patty and Selma. She’s put up with so much in the past, but the exhaustion has gotten the best of her. She orders her husband out of the house with anger, and he shouts back about assembling the toys for the kids. Patty retorts that they already did it. Again, another great theme appears, this time in the form of acceptance in a group of people. Sometimes, those that hurt you the most are the ones you care for the most. In that time, you separate and your heart grows only fonder. I can attest to how many times I’ve have to snap at people when I couldn’t take it anymore.
Like most great episodes of The Simpsons, this is a spiritual journey for Homer, as he wonders the town at night seeking companions. He tries going back to the bar, but Moe’s locked up for a round of karaoke. He goes to the Kwik-E-Mart for two bottles of wine and tries to hit the lottery for forgiveness. Also, Apu gets in some nice jokes, including how convenience store hot dogs are just old Twinkies.
Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa convene in his room, the result of not being able to go to sleep. Bart tries to get some sleep by having Lisa expound the story of jazz (okay, as someone who has had to sit through Ken Burn’s Jazz thrice, that’s hilarious). Lisa doesn’t have the time, as she hears Marge crying in the other room. Bart, having enough skin as he once saw his father hang himself with Christmas lights from the roof and get electrocuted, decides to do Lisa a solid. I have to admit; Lisa’s incredible devotion to her father this season has been a breath of welcome development. She’s scared that something may happen to him in his age, and it shows in most of her mannerisms.
With Marge feeling lonelier than ever, the children ask her to consider helping dad. Suddenly, Moe tumbles from the chimney because the front door was locked. In an act of kindness, he confesses that he kept Homer all night at the bar because of his overwhelming loneliness. Homer doesn’t answer his cell phone, so the rest of the family goes out looking for him.
Now comes the apex of the episode. Homer trudges into the Springfield Towne Centre for solace, but finds none as the shops are closing. He heads to the movie theatre only to find all the films are sad and depressing. He still buys a ticket and runs into the Springfield rogues gallery of Gil Gunderson, Dr. Eleanor Abernathy, Groundskeeper Willie, and Kirk Van Houten. Realizing this isn’t his crowd, he gives his popcorn to Eleanor and leaves to walk the streets again.
He runs into Flanders, and here’s where this episode got me. In 2013, voice actor Marcia Wallace passed away from complications of pneumonia. As such, her character Edna Krabappel was retired in March of this year with her last recorded audio being used to send her off. This year is the first Christmas that Ned Flanders, her husband, is without her, and he’s visibly choked. Even Harry Shearer sounded torn in half. Yet, Flanders still finds way to make it through with his two boys, his faith, and the memories of Edna. Homer, moved by compassion, buys a left-handed eyelash curler. Flanders takes this as a sign of gratitude and the two share a bonding moment.
Here on out, the episode follows realization for our family until they meet again at a mall employee Christmas party Homer stumbled into. With this, he spouts some great advice.
“The Place to Get Drunk Is At Home”
Cue Christmas morning, and the whole family is back to celebrating in good spirits in their own special way at home. End episode.
What I take from this episode is a high commentary on society’s lost, and how when they suffer the most, they find the most. In an odd twist of fate, those with like-minded hardships can assemble under one credo. They may be the loneliest saps in the world, but they have each other in the cold. This episode is a greatly needed view of honesty, and I’m glad it exists. Especially for their acknowledgement of Edna Krabappel.
Is it as good as past Christmas specials of The Simpsons? It was certainly better than last year’s, that's for sure, but nothing replaces nostalgia tinged glory. It shows this odd giant has life in it yet, but the world they have built will be their new playground. The world will have to come to it now, and find it alone at the top. Perhaps like the suburbs it satirizes, The Simpsons too may have times of uncomfortable isolation. However, no one does heart better. Count on it.
