Large Marge

"Large Marge"
The Simpsons episode
File:Large Marge.png
Episode no.	Season 14
Directed by	Jim Reardon
Written by	Ian Maxtone-Graham
Original air dates	November 24, 2002
Episode features
Couch gag	The family sitting on the couch is drawn on an "Etch-A-Sketch".

"Large Marge" is the fourth episode of The Simpsons' fourteenth season. The episode aired on November 24, 2002.

Synopsis

("Large Marge" is also a term used to describe female prisoners.)

Lisa and Homer make a bet on who would win the 1948 presidential election, with Lisa betting Harry S. Truman and Homer going for Thomas Dewey. Homer apparently wins but the votes were miscounted with Truman beating Dewey with 2 million votes and she has to choose the activity for Daddy-Daughter Day. Her activity is taking part in building homes for the homeless alongside Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George H. W. Bush. When Homer paints a house, he takes off his wedding ring in order not to get paint on it, and Lindsay Naegle and Cookie Kwan mistake Homer for being a bachelor. Marge, driving by, sees Homer flexing for the women (though he is actually discussing the history of how Marge gave birth to Bart). She worries that Homer has no interest in her anymore, so she decides to get liposuction, on the advice of Manjula.

Unfortunately, a mix-up causes her to get breast implants, which were intended for one of Mayor Quimby's interns, who in turn gets the liposuction surgery. Marge's doctor says that she has 48 hours to live with her breasts until she makes a decision whether to keep them or not. Marge is furious and angrily threatens that Homer will sue him when he sees this but the doctor is skeptical.

Meanwhile, Bart and Milhouse watch an old episode of Batman, featuring Krusty as a villain named Clownface, who threatens the Dynamic Duo with a rapidly spinning carousel of death. Bart and Milhouse like the idea, inspiring them to recreate the stunt, with Bart putting Milhouse on a roundabout in school. Otto starts the roundabout causing him to spin extremely fast with his bus, the roundabout to go flying through the air and knocking over the flag. Milhouse throws up on the flag while Iwo Jima veterans visit the school. Principal Skinner was about to blame Bart on this, and Bart says that he saw Krusty do the stunt on TV, and in response, Skinner leads a group protesting against Krusty, who is now seen as a dangerous influence to children.

At home, Marge tries to hug Maggie but she realises her breasts are making her life difficult. Homer, who comes home, sees Marge with her breast implants, and the family goes to dinner. The waiter, who had just rejected the Flanders said that there were no more seats but admits the Simpson family to a really good table after seeing her breast. The chef serves them real spaghetti, while Principal Skinner and his mother are eating some frozen canned spaghetti. Homer and several men including Snake, Sea Captain and others start singing about Marge's breasts. She meets a trade show executive, who gives her a modeling job. Marge prepares for the spot in the show, but her new appearance gives her problems (unable to lift Maggie because her breasts block the way) when she is there. Bart recruits Krusty to win back his trust, using Milhouse and Stampy (Bart's old pet elephant, which he won on the radio) in a stunt, which of course goes out of control by stuffing Milhouse and Bart in his mouth. Homer tries to save them, but Stampy also puts him in his mouth. Krusty forgets the word that was supposed to make Stampy fall down and roll over. Things go horribly wrong, when the cops decide to shoot at Stampy, which would endanger Homer, Bart and Milhouse. To distract the cops, Marge takes off her dress and shows her breasts to everyone. Krusty, still hated by residents of Springfield, saves the day by uttering Stampy's safety word, Magumbo ("Look at those magumbos!") when he sees Marge's breasts, releasing Bart, Milhouse, and Homer.

The next day, the Springfield Shopper shows photos of Marge's breasts worth 25 pages, Krusty gets everybody's trust back and Marge decides to remove her implants, and everything goes back to normal.

Due to its singularly haphazard plot and over-reliance on the most puerile of schoolboy humour, this episode is generally regarded as one of the poorest of this season.

Trivia

• The word "breast" is said only once in this episode.
• This is the last episode where Marcia Mitzman Gaven would provide a voice for one of Maggie Roswell's character's. Marcia voiced Helen Lovejoy in this episode.
• This is the first episode in years to use the "floor board" gag. In older episodes, frequently the camera would pan up (or down, depending) to the next level of the house and reveal bizarre objects, such as pirate gold. In this episode, reptiles are seen hatching from eggs.
• Though five Iwo Jima veterans are shown, only three veterans actually survived.
• This episode is notable for making a joke about Bart's vandal name "El Barto" (Homer tries to do his own, but it's unsuccessful, considering his vandal name is "EL HOMO").

Cultural references

• The three former US presidents parody The Three Stooges.
• The Baha Men sing a pair of parodies of their hit song "Who Let the Dogs Out?" in this episode. The first is a kid-friendly version on Radio Disney, called "Who Left the Milk Out?", that even Maggie dislikes. The second, Who Let Her Jugs Out, plays over the credits (with the use of repeated yells of D'oh in place of the dogs barking).
• In the parody of the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima, the episode features five marines, which is technically correct, as the sixth member of the group in the photo was a US Navy Corpsman.
• The shoe store Marge stands on is called "The Keds Are Alright", a reference to "The Kids Are Alright" by The Who.
• When the citizens are seen protesting Krusty, Principal Skinner is seen with a sign that says "Cancel Beavis & Butt-Head Jackass Krusty."
• The title is a possible reference to Large Marge, a ghost in Pee-wee's Big Adventure.