You Only Move Twice

"You Only Move Twice" is the second episode of season 8 and aired on November 3, 1996. The episode was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Mike B. Anderson. Albert Brooks guest stars as Hank Scorpio.

Plot
One fine sunny morning, Mr. Smithers is walking to work when a mysterious black car pulls up. The woman inside asks if Smithers would like a job at Globex Corporation, but he refuses. When Homer accepts the job at Globex Corporation in Cypress Creek, the family decide to move there, because the house is starting to fall apart. When they arrive at Cypress Creek, Homer meets his new boss and takes to him really well, and starts to enjoy his new lifestyle. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the rest of the family. Marge is unable to do any work at all since the house machines do it for her and descends into alcoholism. Bart gets put in the Remedial Class at school that he hates more than his normal class, and Lisa is allergic to all the area's plant life.

Back at work, Homer fails to realize that his boss is in fact an evil genius bent on world domination. But Homer enjoys his work and soon becomes a very competent manager. He even tackles a loafer (at least that's what he thinks) at Hank's office. However, his family tells him that they want to move back to Springfield. Stuck with a difficult choice, Homer decides to visit his boss in his office. Homer arrives in the middle of an assault (to which he is totally oblivious) by government forces on Hank's fortress.

After a conversation with Hank, and while the firefight is still raging, Homer reluctantly decides to resign. When the Simpsons return to Springfield, they find out that Hank Scorpio has seized the East Coast. Homer then picks up a letter saying that Hank Scorpio has given him a farewell gift. "It's not the Dallas Cowboys but it's a start". He soon finds out he now owns the Denver Broncos, though he is slightly disappointed (Earlier in the episode, Homer and Hank had discussed long-cherished dreams and Homer told Hank that his dream was to own the much more successful Dallas Cowboys).

Production
There was originally another short storyline involving Grampa. After he was left behind in Springfield, receives recorded greeting phone calls. The plot went on for four sequences, all of which were cut from the episode for time but later included in the DVD release.

Cypress Creek was called "Emerald Caverns" during production of the episode but the name was changed because the writers felt that "Cypress Creek" had more of a "Silicon Valley" feel to it.

Reception
"You Only Move Twice" is very popular with fans with Hank Scorpio being named the most popular Albert Brooks character. Albert Brooks was named most popular guest star in 2006 by IGN with Scorpio being named his most popular character. The episode is one of the highest rated on with a 9.3/10 rating.

In its original broadcast, "You Only Move Twice" finished 50th in ratings for the week of October 28 - November 3, 1996, with a Nielsen rating of 8.5, equivalent to approximately 8.2 million viewing households.