Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind

"Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" is the ninth episode of The Simpsons' nineteenth season, and was first broadcast on December 16, 2007 on FOX.^[1] The episode averaged 10.15 million viewers, winning in its time slot^[2] and receiving a 12 percent audience share.^[3] The episode follows Homer's attempts to recall a deliberately forgotten memory from the previous night.

1 Plot
2 Cultural references
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Plot

During winter, Homer wakes up in a pile of snow and does not remember the events of the previous day, commenting that he must have drunk heavily the night before. Homer goes home and finds his family absent. Santa's Little Helper attacks him. Homer travels to Moe’s, where Moe informs him that he was there the previous night and wanted to forget an unpleasant memory. Moe explains he gave Homer a "Forget-Me-Shot", which wiped out the last 24 hours of his memory. Chief Wiggum tells Homer that there was a domestic disturbance at his house last night, which was reported by Ned Flanders. Homer instantly receives a flashback to the night before showing Wiggum questioning Marge about a black eye she had received, to which Marge nervously replies that she walked into a door.

A still confused Homer goes home, where a picture of Marge causes a flashback of her pleading Homer to stop, and then rubbing her eye in pain. Horrified, Homer goes to Grampa Simpson for help. Grampa tells Homer about Professor Frink's new machine that helps people sort through their memories. With the help of this technology, Homer sees himself walking in on Marge and Duffman. In the flashback, Marge tells Homer that she did not want him to find out about it, and Homer assumes that Marge was cheating on him.

Homer now considers his life to be worthless and decides to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge; he begins to reconsider, but is pushed off by Patty and Selma. While falling, Homer's life flashes before his eyes, and he sees the full memory of the preceding night. It is revealed that Marge was planning a surprise party for Homer finishing his community service, and did not want Homer to find out about it. Duffman, who was hired by Marge to entertain at the party, brings out a bottle of Duff Champagne. Overjoyed, Homer tries to open the bottle, while Marge pleads with Homer to stop, as she wants to save it for the party. The cork flies off and hits Marge in the eye. The flashback ends and, instead of falling to his death, Homer lands on a moon bounce, which is at the surprise party on board a ship.

When Homer asks Marge why she lied to Chief Wiggum, she claims that she did not want him at the party, because he would bring Sarah Wiggum, of whom Marge is not very fond. Lenny and Carl appear and cause a flashback which shows Homer telling his bar buddies that he felt very guilty for finding out about the party that Marge worked so hard on. When Moe offers the Forget-Me-Shot, Homer predicts exactly what is going to happen, and tells Lenny to make sure there is a moon bounce at the party. Finally, it is revealed that the dog attacked Homer because he doesn't take care of him.

[edit] Cultural references

The episode's title and the plot of Homer trying to forget an unpleasant memory refers to the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.^[4]^[5] Homer's life appears in the form of a Youtube video which is a spoof of Noah Kalina's "Noah takes a photo of himself every day for 6 years."^[5]^[6] Scrat, the squirrel from Ice Age, makes an appearance.^[4] Krusty states that he did a "Mel Gibson", referencing the incident when Gibson complained about the Jewish people.^[4] The ending of the episode, where Homer falls off the bridge, is also an allusion to The Game, where the main character tries to kill himself by jumping off a building and lands on an airbag at his birthday party.

[edit] Reception

The episode averaged 10.1 million viewers, won in its time slot, and received a 12 percent audience share.^[3] Robert Canning of IGN enjoyed the episode, saying it "did both very well by putting Homer in his own head as he tried to recall the events that transpired the previous day. Smart, funny and visually engaging, this episode was an absolute pleasure to watch." He gave it an 8.8/10.^[4]