Penny-Wiseguys

"Penny-Wiseguys"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.	Season 24 Episode 5
Directed by	Mark Kirkland
Written by	Michael Price
Production code	PABF19
Original air date	November 18, 2012 (2012-11-18)
Guest appearances
Steve Carell as Dan Gillick Joe Mantegna as Fat Tony II Alex Trebek as Himself
Episode features
Chalkboard gag	"I want to secede but don't know what state I'm in"
Couch gag	A tattoo machine draws the family and couch on a patch of skin, revealed as Marge's lower back; she quickly puts her dress on to cover it.

"Penny-Wiseguys" is the fifth episode of the twenty-fourth season of the American animated television series, The Simpsons and the 513th episode overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 18, 2012, and was seen by around 5.06 million people during this broadcast.

Plot

Homer is shocked to discover that his neighbor and bowling teammate Dan Gillick is an accountant for Fat Tony II and his mob. When the government finally catches up with Fat Tony and he is forced to serve jury duty, Tony names Dan as his temporary replacement.

Dan gradually becomes power-hungry from the position, and is frightened by his own change. When Fat Tony orders him to carry out a murder, he begs Homer to do anything to stop him, so Homer ties Dan to a chair in the basement.

Meanwhile, Lisa passes out during a meeting at the school's Environmentalism Club. She is diagnosed with iron deficiency and decides to add insects to her vegetarian diet in order to combat it. Although she enjoys the addition to her diet at first, the insects start to taunt her in her dreams. She decides to release the grasshoppers she has been raising into the wild, but Bart accidentally breaks the aquarium holding them and they escape into the basement instead.

The grasshoppers later swarm over Dan, tied up in the basement, and it is revealed that his screams prompted Homer to cut him loose, allowing Dan to flee. After Dan escaped, he starts hunting down Fat Tony's associates, only to be inadvertently thwarted by Homer before he can kill any of them. Once the trial ends and Fat Tony is released from jury duty, he regains control of the mob. As Homer and Dan struggle over Dan's gun, it shoots a bullet into the Kwik-E-Mart, wounding Snake Jailbird (who had just been acquitted in same the trial in which Fat Tony served, as he tries to rob it).

Later, Lisa released the grasshoppers alongside a country road, where they immediately eat a nearby corn maze down to the ground.

In the end, Dan is fired from the mob, and he opens an ear-piercing stand in the Springfield Mall. He comments, that he loves the new job because he gets to use an ear-piercing gun.

Reception

Ratings

The Simpsons came second in the night in both the 18-49 demographic and total viewers. It received a 2.4 down from 3.2 last week.

Critical reception

Robert David Sullivan from The A.V. Club gave this episode a C, saying that "there's not much to laugh at in yet another flat episode". He especially criticized the inclusion of Carell's character, commenting, "Carell and his character, who has oddly normal body proportions for a Springfield resident, are not a great fit with the show. Carell speaks faster than everyone else, and he gets some uninterrupted, improv-like 'bits' that add to the sense that he’s not really interacting with the other voice actors", though he adds that the character's personality was effective as a contrast to Fat Tony. However, he praised the Lisa subplot, saying, "At least there's some fun, 'Treehouse Of Horror'-style animation here, as Lisa has a nightmare about riding a horse-sized grasshopper on a ranch full of giant insects..."

External links

• "Penny-Wiseguys" at IMDb
• "Penny-Wiseguys" at theSimpsons.com