Mommie Beerest

"Mommie Beerest" is the seventh episode of season 16. It was written by Michael Price and directed by Mark Kirkland.

Plot
After finally paying off the house's mortgage, the Simpsons go to a fancy restaurant for brunch. After Bart and Lisa have a fight, causing embarrassment to Homer and Marge, Homer goes to Moe's Tavern to complain about his kids. Before he has a drink, a health inspector,, comes in and says he should close the bar down. He then reveals that he's close friends with Moe so he wouldn't close the bar down. After eating a pickled egg though, he drops dead. Chief Wiggum then comes in, sees everyone surrounding the dead body, and runs away.

A week later, a new health inspector comes in and deems the bar a health violation, partially due to Frankie's corpse still being on the floor. Moe's Tavern is then closed down and many of the patrons come along to its "funeral", with Barney singing "" during the ceremony. Homer then tells Moe that he'll help him reopen his bar and goes to the First Bank of Springfield to get a loan out. In order to do so though, he had to put his house up as collateral, giving it another mortgage.

When Marge finds out Homer put money towards Moe's, she decides to become a partner in the tavern in order to get her money back. When Homer gets to the tavern after work, Marge tells him to go home and look after the kids rather than drink, which annoys Homer. Marge then convinces Moe to remodel his tavern through song. Moe knocks down the bar in order to turn it into a British-style pub, The Nag and Weasel.

The new pub is a big success and becomes popular among celebrities in the town. Homer becomes annoyed at how close Marge and Moe seemed to be getting. That night, Marge comes home at 4am only to have Moe ring her up with more ideas for the pub, upsetting Homer in the process. Homer and Marge then go to see a movie in the theater. When they do, Moe shows up and Marge invites him to sit with them. At work, Lenny and Carl tell Homer that they have something to tell him and take him to to do so.

On the log flume at Itchy & Scratchy Land, Lenny and Carl tell Homer that Marge is having an emotional affair with Moe and whilst there's no physical connection, there's an emotional connection which threatens their marriage. They tell Homer he has to become a good friend to Marge. However, that night Marge comes home too tired to talk and just wants to go to bed so she can catch her flight to Aruba for the Tavern and Restaurant Owners Convention. When Marge leaves with Moe, Homer decides that he has to win Marge back and travels to the airport (with the help of Chief Wiggum) to get Marge back. Homer boards the plane as it's taking off and realizes that Moe knows Marge better than he does so he gives up and lets Moe win.

Seeing what was happening, Marge tells Moe that she doesn't love him and she loves Homer. Marge then goes and tells Homer that she loves him and they share a moment. In Aruba, Moe is lying on the beach when he is attacked by a stingray. Homer and Marge then come along and Marge told Moe that he could make a woman really happy some day. Moe then tells them that there was a mistake at the front desk of the hotel which changed the sleeping arrangements. Homer and Moe then share a bed whilst Marge sleeps on the sofa. Marge suddenly realizes that nobody's watching the kids, who at this point are in Paris in a European balloon race.

Production
The episode was dedicated to Johnny Carson, who died a week before this episode aired.

Reception
The episode won writer Michael Price the 2006 Writers' Guild of America Award for writing in animation. As of March 2018, the episode has a 7.0 rating on and a 8.0 rating on.