Marge in Chains
| The Simpsons episode | |
|---|---|
| "Marge in Chains" | |
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| Promotional artwork for Marge in Chains | |
| Episode no. | 80 |
| Prod. code | 9F20 |
| Orig. airdate | May 6, 1993 |
| Show runner(s) | Al Jean & Mike Reiss |
| Written by | Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein |
| Directed by | Jim Reardon |
| Chalkboard | "I do not have diplomatic immunity" |
| Couch gag | A miniature family climbs onto a normal-sized couch. |
| Guest star(s) | David Crosby as himself |
| DVD commentary |
Matt Groening Al Jean Bill Oakley Josh Weinstein Jim Reardon Jeffrey Lynch |
| Season
4 September 24 1992 – May 13 1993 |
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| List of all The Simpsons episodes | |
"Marge in Chains" is the 21st episode of The Simpsons' fourth season.
Plot
After many of Springfield's residents purchase a 'Juice Loosener', which are shipped from Japan, the dreaded Osaka Flu hits the town. Many of the townspeople are affected by the illness. Due to tiredness from having to look after the rest of her ill family, Marge accidentally forgets to pay for Grampa's bottle of bourbon when shopping at the Kwik-E-Mart. She is then arrested for shoplifting. Due to Mayor Quimby revealing this fact to everyone in town, Marge's reputation is lowered dramatically among the townspeople and they start to conspire against her. As usual the family hires Lionel Hutz to defend Marge at her trial (Bart realizes that you can do anything as a lawyer and plans to become one), but the jury finds Marge guilty and he loses the case. She is sentenced to 30 days imprisonment at Springfield Women's Prison.
Marge's absence is felt at home as Homer and the rest of the family struggles to cope without her. Without Marge, the house shortly becomes a complete wreck. The annual bake sale also suffers - without Marge's marshmallow squares, the Springfield Park Commission fails to raise enough money to pay for a statue of Abraham Lincoln. Instead they purchase one of Jimmy Carter. The townspeople are enraged by this and riot, using the statue as a battering ram and generally start to destroy the whole town. So, to save his career, Mayor Quimby has Marge released from jail. The townspeople cheerfully welcome her back and apologise for suspecting her. They even unveil a statue for Marge, though it is just the Jimmy Carter one with Marge's hair added to it. The last scene shows Bart and Lisa playing on the statue, which has been converted into a tetherball post.
Trivia
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- Jimmy Carter is called "history's greatest monster". In the DVD commentary for this episode, Mike Reiss and Al Jean reveal that they did not like Carter, although they would vote for him ahead of George W. Bush.
- In the scene where Bart attempts to get his immune system to let the virus win, the voice of the virus is the same as Snake Jailbird
- Apu calling Marge a bitch was semi-controversial at the time of the original airing.
- In one scene, after Marge was taken to prison, Homer was seen wearing her wedding dress.
Cultural references
- The name of the episode is a reference to the band Alice in Chains.
- The scene where Maude Flanders spies on Marge in the bathroom through a hole in the wall is a parody of the classic 1960 horror film Psycho.
- In one scene, Lisa compares Lionel Hutz to famed lawyer Clarence Darrow, although Hutz confuses him with Clarence Williams III.
- The environment of the Women's Prison in which Marge serves her sentence resembles that as seen in Prisoner.
- The prisoner nicknamed "Tattoo Annie" has a MAD magazine fold-in tattooed on her back, which when "folded-in" (by pushing her
shoulder blades together) shows the face of the magazine's mascot, Alfred E. Neuman, and his famous catchphrase, "What me worry?" - In the courtroom scene, the Blue-Haired Lawyer asks the jury who's more attractive, Mel Gibson or Tom Cruise while holding up their pictures, who were both hailed as sex symbols at the time.
- The scene where the people knock the statue of Jimmy Carter down and call him a monster could be a reference to what people did to the Vladimir Lenin statues in the Eastern European countries after the Soviet Union collapsed.
- David Crosby appears as Lionel Hutz's sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous. He is seen looking at a Crosby, Stills, and Nash album and ends his first conversation with the line "and know I love you", referring to "Teach Your Children".
- Marge's prisoner number is 24601, a reference to the book-turned-musical Les Miserables.
- The TV show on FOX that Ned watches and laughs at, and thus causes him to believe he is damned, is an animated recreation of Married...with Children.
External links
- "Marge in Chains" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
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