Four Great Women and a Manicure

"Four Great Women and a Manicure" is the twentieth episode of season 20, which aired on May 10, 2009. Valentina Garza wrote the episode, while Raymond S. Persi directed. Jodie Foster guest starred as the voice of Maggie. It should also be noted that this is the first episode where Bart is not seen, nor mentioned.

Plot
Marge takes Lisa to a salon for her first manicure, where they engage in a debate as to whether a woman can simultaneously be smart, powerful and beautiful. They tell four tales of famous women featuring Simpsons characters in various roles.

In the first tale, Marge recounts the story of Queen Elizabeth the First. Various royal suitors wish to win the hand of the Queen (Selma), including a flamboyant King Julio of Spain. The Queen rejects his advances, especially when he attempted to walk away with her jester, and King Julio vows revenge on England, summoning the Spanish Armada. Meanwhile, Sir Walter Raleigh, (Homer), falls for Queen Elizabeth's Lady in Waiting, (Marge). He leads a British naval offense against the Armada, defeating them by accidentally setting the lone British warship on fire, which then spreads to the entire Spanish fleet. Queen Elizabeth knights him, and then proclaims, "I don't need a man. I have England."

In the second tale, Lisa tells the story of Snow White, with herself in the title role. Her version features the dwarves Crabby (Moe), Drunky (Barney), Hungry (Homer), Greedy (Mr. Burns), Lenny (Lenny), Kearney (Kearney) and Doc (...tor Hibbert) because the Blue-haired lawyer appears and tells her that Snow White and the seven dwarfs belong to Disney; Lisa corrects him that Snow White is a classic children's fairy tale. When a wicked queen learns from her magic HD television that Snow White is fairer than she, the queen dispatches her huntsman (Groundskeeper Willie) to murder the young maiden. Willie the huntsman cannot commit the deed, nor kill anything else, though, and Snow White runs away to the forest, seeking shelter in the dwarves' cottage. She keeps house for them while they work in the mines, but the wicked queen, disguised as an old woman, forces Snow White to eat a poisoned apple. In Lisa's version, Snow White doesn't need a man to wake her, but is brought back to life by a female doctor.

In the third tale, Marge relates a story of ruthless ambition, embodied by Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth (Marge) is frustrated with everything. Not only does she have to clean the costumes worn by other actors, but is also criticized for the poor job by the director. Adding to her frustrations is that Homer does not have the titular role in a Springfield production of Macbeth and instead plays a tree(a role he's happy playing due to being uninterested in auditioning for lead roles). She convinces Homer to murder the lead actor, Sideshow Mel. He follows her command and then assumes the role of Macbeth. Unfortunately, Homer's terrible acting receives unfavourable reviews in comparison to the other actors and those with no lines. Patty and Selma tries to warn Marge in vain to stop her ambitions. Even a remorseful Homer feels guilty for murdering Mel and voices his own unhappiness in being the lead role. He begs her to give up her ambitions by letting someone else take the lead role as Macbeth and let him return to his original role as a tree. Furious over the lack of good reviews, Marge refuses and orders the more reluctant Homer to continue his killing spree until he is the only actor left. While cleaning out the costumes, she voices her annoyance in him making a real mess and is worried that someone will find out about her murderous plot soon. Marge is visited by the angry spirits of the actors she has murdered. She selfishly tries to pin the blame on Homer for their murder, but the angry actors' ghosts refuses to believe her. Sideshow Mel tells Marge that he and the other spirits knew that Homer was a victim himself in her devious plans. Lenny agrees and mentions that she should've listened to her sisters when she had the chance. Dr. Hibbert tells Marge that her ambitions in killing them in order for Homer to play the lead role, had done her in. Finally in the form of revenge for her actions, the angry spirits kill Marge by causing a fright-induced heart attack. In her memory (or rather, by her spirit force, since she apparently has not learned her lesson or anything from the experience), Homer performs a stirring soliloquy in the empty theater. Marge's ghost appears in the audience and is overjoyed by his effort. She raves that Homer has finally given a great performance for her and urges him to appear in more Shakespearean plays by tossing scripts in front of him. However much to Marge's chagrin, Homer decides to take the easy way out by killing himself so he doesn't have to audition any more. In his ghost form, a pleased Homer tells her off that auditioning for those plays would be a real tragedy for him and is free to be lazy. A frustrated Marge learns her lesson the hard way when she realizes that she has to spend the rest of eternity with a lazy and happy Homer.

In the final tale, Maggie is depicted as "Maggie Roark," representing Howard Roark from Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. Maggie's architectural brilliance is quashed by an oppressive teacher (Ellsworth Toohey) who encourages only conformity. She builds multiple structures out of blocks and other toys, but they are destroyed by Toohey. Maggie (voiced by Jodie Foster) rallies her classmates with a stirring speech about injustice and creativity, and grows up to be a wildly successful architect, and uses the top floors for child's care, where kids can build as tall as they want them to be.

Production
Four Great Women and a Manicure