"Coming to Homerica" is the twenty-first episode and season finale of the twentieth season of The Simpsons. It aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 17, 2009. Its name is a parody of the 1988 film Coming to America.[1] The storyline is a pick on the illegal immigration by Mexicans to the United States, complete with self-appointed vigilantes and building a fence to prevent it. Tying in with the episode's subject of Norwegian-descended settlers, its first US broadcast coincided with the Norwegian Constitution Day.
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Plot
Krusty is informed that Krusty Burger serves the unhealthiest fast food in the world (somehow a Double Krustyburger is healthier than a regular Krustyburger), so he decides that his namesake restaurant should serve the "Mother Nature Burger," which is entirely vegetarian. Although the Springfield townsfolk initially devour the burgers (Apu is ecstatic to declare, “A hamburger for the Hindus. Now nobody can tell that I am not American!”), they soon fall ill with food poisoning. The illness is traced to tainted barley, which was grown in the neighboring town of Ogdenville. The ensuing boycott destroys the local barley industry and the residents of Ogdenville, who are descended from Norwegian settlers and portrayed as overly stereotypical Minnesotans, are forced to abandon their town (serenaded by the mournful "Aase's Death" composed by Norwegian national romantic composer Edvard Grieg) and seek employment in Springfield.
The residents of Springfield are initially hospitable to the displaced Ogdenvillians, and hire them as day laborers. Homer hires several Ogdenvillians to fix his roof, Marge hires a nanny named Inga to care for Bart, Lisa and Maggie, and Selma finds love with Thorbjørn, a brawny blond who also seems to enjoy taunting Homer. Meanwhile, Bart wishes to establish his reputation as a star skateboarder after seeing a teenager from Ogdenville show off ski jump style. While Bart's skateboard stunt is executed perfectly, it ends abruptly when he crashes into the side of a school bus and dislocates his arm, which prompts Nelson to laugh at him.
Homer and Marge rush him to the hospital, but tension builds when they are forced to wait for hours because the waiting room is full of patients from Ogdenville. (The hospital form Marge is asked to fill out, is written in Norwegian, and the checkboxes include falling, being shot, "book poisoning", decapitation and other gags.) Furious, Marge, Homer and Bart return home, where Marge puts Bart's arm back into place herself. Homer storms off to Moe's Tavern, only to discover that Moe is now serving aquavit, and the bar is full of Ogdenvillians. Homer demands a mug of aquavit, unaware of its strong alcohol content, is instantly intoxicated, and subsequently loses his job at the nuclear power plant when he arrives at work drunk.
Mayor Joe Quimby calls a town meeting, where it is decided that the Springfield border should be closed to residents of Ogdenville. Chief Wiggum and fellow officer Lou are too lazy to control the border themselves, so they distribute guns and beer to a group of vigilantes, among them Homer, Lenny and Carl. After Homer asks the assembled crowd to suggest a name for themselves "that evokes America's proud history of citizens rising up to defend our way of life", Cletus suggests "The Klan" but this is eventually rejected in favor of the decidedly less offensive "The Star-Spangled Goofballs." After several failed attempts to keep Ogdenvillians out of Springfield, the vigilantes decide to build a wall. At first, Marge believes the wall contradicts the values of tolerance that she taught their children, but changes her mind when Maggie utters her second word, (The first being "daddy", but no one was around to hear it), the Norwegian word "ja" (meaning "yes"). The residents of Springfield begin building a massive wall and hire workers from Ogdenville to assist with its construction. As the building progresses, the residents of both communities discover that their similarities outweigh their differences. Once the wall is complete, the residents of both communities realize that they miss their neighbors, so the Ogdenvillians come back through a door they built in the wall to join a Springfield party.[1]
Reception
This episode was seen by 5.86 million viewers, making it the third least watched of the show's history, after "Lisa the Drama Queen" and "Four Great Women and a Manicure", both of which are also from the twentieth season.[2] It was very well received by Internet Movie Database users, which gave it a 7.5 score, the highest for the twentieth season.[3] On TV.com, it received an 8.2 score from users, making it the fifth highest-rated of the season.[4]
Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a positive review, saying that "shaky ending aside, the story unfolded well and the episode was full of funny bits." He went on to say, "funny, smart and, well, funny, "Coming to Homerica" was a great way to end a generally positive season."[5] Mac McEntire of TV Verdict.com gave it a mixed review, saying that "another season of The Simpsons comes to a close, with an up-and-down episode." He went on to say, "the first half of the episode is much stronger in laughs and content than the second half, especially the somewhat rushed ending."[6].
Cultural references
In the last scene of the couch gag (the one that parodies Cheers); Sideshow Bob enters the pub. Bob's voice is provided by Kelsey Grammer who played Frasier on Cheers.
When Carl and Lenny are up in the air, a house suspended by balloons can be seen floating by. This is a reference to the Pixar movie Up.
When Homer goes to the bar he finds out that they no longer serve beer, only Akvavit. The episode also shows a close up on a Norwegian coin. This is 20 Norwegian krone coin (approx worth US $3.50) with a fairly accurate reproduction of the current Norwegian king, Harald V of Norway.
Other references to Norwegian culture is displayed in the skateboard scene, in which Bart hurts his arm. The first reference lies in the style of the Ogdenville kid's jump. His posture is similar to the ones used in ski-jumps preceding the modern V-style technique. The second one is in the comment made by one of his friends, saying "Uff da, so many metres".
The final scene is a clear reference to the end of the movie A Day Without a Mexican.
At the end the Flag of Norway is displayed full screen, although with a black outline between the colors, which is incorrect. The closing piece is called "Hopparen" performed by Chateau Neuf Spelemannslag, a Norwegian folk song group consisting of students and faculty staff from the University of Oslo.
References
- ^ a b "May is Massive on Fox". FoxFlash. http://www.foxflash.com/div.php/main/page?aID=1z2z1z25z1z8&ID=4832. Retrieved 2009-04-08.
- ^ Ratings: Coming to Homerica
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ Canning, Robert. "The Simpsons: "Coming to Homerica" Review". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/983/983887p1.html. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
- ^ McEntire, Mac. "The Simpsons 20.21: "Coming to Homerica"". Tvverdict.com. http://www.tvverdict.com/2009/05/17/the-simpsons-2021-coming-to-homerica/. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
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