Editing The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons

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{{EpisodePrevNext|Bart Star|Lisa the Skeptic}}
{{episode
|image=The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons.png
|productionCode=5F04
|originalAirdate= November 16, 1997
|blackboardText=None
|couchGag=Bart spray paints a picture of his family on the couch, leaving his alias signature [[El Barto]].
|specialGuestVoices=[[Andrea Martin]] as [[Apu's mother]]<br>[[Jan Hooks]] as [[Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon]]
|Episode Number=185
|Written By=[[Richard Appel]]
|Directed By=[[Steven Dean Moore]]
}}

"'''The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons'''" is the seventh episode of [[season 9]].

==Synopsis==

Just as he begins to enjoy his popularity as a swinging bachelor, [[Apu]] receives an unwelcome reminder of his pending arranged marriage. Desperate to escape the agreement, Apu claims to have already married [[Marge Simpson]]. Guest starring Jan Hooks as [[Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon]] and Andrea Martin as [[Apu's mother]].

== Plot ==
At a bachelor auction to raise money for the Springfield fire brigade, the available bachelors on display are deemed undesirable, and the auction makes no money at all. [[Marge Simpson|Marge]] then nominates [[Apu Nahasapeemapetilon|Apu]], who is deemed a success by the women at the auction and is sold for $926. He goes out on dates with [[Luann Van Houten]], Miss Hoover, [[Selma Bouvier]], [[Ruth Powers]] and another unknown woman, and begins to enjoy his bachelor lifestyle. One day, he receives a letter from his mother in India, reminding him of his arranged marriage to [[Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon|Manjula]], the daughter of a family friend. Not wanting to get married, Apu asks [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] for advice. Homer suggests Apu tell his mother that he is already married. Days later, Apu thinks that he has escaped the marriage until he sees his mother walking towards the [[Kwik-E-Mart]]. To cover him, Homer tells Apu to pretend that Marge is his wife.

At the Simpson residence, Marge disapproves of the plan, but decides to do it for Apu's sake. Apu's mother is displeased with his choice of bride, and shocked to learn that she has grandchildren. While the plan is under way Homer decides to stay in the [[Springfield Retirement Castle]] with his [[Abraham Simpson|father]], posing as resident Cornelius Talmidge. That is, until the real Cornelius returns, at which point he flees. He returns home and gets into bed with Marge. Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilon enters to say goodbye, but is shocked to see Marge in bed with another man, and Apu on the floor. Tired of the whole charade, Marge forces Apu to tell his mother the truth, who declares that the arranged marriage will proceed as planned.

The wedding is held in the Simpson's back garden, but Apu still has second thoughts about it. However, when he sees Manjula for the first time in years, he realizes how beautiful she really is and feels a little less reluctant. Apu asks about her favorite food, book and movie; the answer to all three questions is ''Fried Green Tomatoes''. The pair decide that perhaps the marriage can work after all. Homer, poorly disguised as Ganesha, tries to stop the wedding, but is chased away by one of the guests, and Apu and Manjula marry.

== Production ==
Writer [[Richard Appel]] pitched "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons" at a story retreat several years before the ninth season, but it could not be fitted into a season at that point. [[Mike Scully]] liked the idea and so decided to use it in his first season as [[List of show runners|show runner]].<ref name=appel>{{cite video | people=Appel, Richard|year=2006|title=The Simpsons The Complete Ninth season DVD commentary for the episode "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons"| medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> Homer's sub plot at the Retirement Castle was an idea that Scully had for a long time, originally conceiving it as an entire episode on its own. The plot could not be sustained, and so it was fitted into to this one.<ref name=scully/>

The bachelor auction was created solely to provide more evidence that Apu is the best bachelor in Springfield, Appel found that the scene "wrote itself," as every other man in Springfield is essentially a loser compared to Apu.<ref name=appel/> The scene acted as the episode's opening set piece, a concept that Scully liked to use it every episode.<ref name=scully>{{cite video | people=Scully, Mike|year=2006|title=The Simpsons The Complete Ninth season DVD commentary for the episode "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons"| medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> The montage of Apu getting several different hair styles, originally included three more, but they ended up being cut for time.<ref name=scully/> The shot in which Apu's mother falls to the ground, a joke that the staff love, was inspired by a incident when Moore saw a man fall in much the same way.<ref name=moore/> The joke was only inserted to buy Apu and Homer more time to come up with a lie.<ref name=scully/> Before the wedding, Bart fuels a "sacred fire" with pages from a hymn book. Originally he used pages from The Bible, but after the scene had been animated Scully found the joke "horrible" and changed what the book said.<ref name=scully/>

[[Andrea Martin]] provided the voice of Apu's mother, recording her part in New York. She wanted to get the voice perfect, so in between takes she listened to tapes of [[Hank Azaria]] reading lines for Apu, to make sure her voice could realistically be Apu's mother's.<ref name=scully/> During the flashback to Apu's childhood, the animators made sure not to show Manjula, as they wished to reveal at the end of the episode.<ref name=moore>{{cite video | people=Dean Moore, Steven|year=2006|title=The Simpsons The Complete Ninth season DVD commentary for the episode "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons"| medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref>

The staff researched into arranged Hindu marriages, learning about ideas such as the lotus flower being used as a message, but a majority of the information turned out "not to be as hilarious [as the writers] had hoped," and so was dropped.<ref name=appel/> [[Steven Dean Moore]], the episode's director, researched into the design of every aspect of Indian culture shown in the episode.<ref name=moore/> The events of the wedding, as well as the items present, were all taken from traditional Hindu marriage ceremonies.<ref name=moore/>

== Reception ==
Todd Gilchrist named the episode as one of his favorites of the ninth season in his review of the DVD boxset,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.dvd.ign.com/articles/752/752082p1.html|title=The Simpsons - The Complete Ninth season|accessdate=2007-11-02|date=2006-12-21|author=Todd Gilchrist|publisher=IGN}}</ref> and Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book ''I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide'', called it "a good fun episode." Ian Jones and Steve Williams criticized the episode, calling it "a messy, unfocused lampooning" of arranged Hindu marriages.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/comedy/simpsons/decade.htm|title=NOW LET US NEVER SPEAK OF IT AGAIN|accessdate=2007-11-02|author=Ian Jones, Steve Williams|publisher=Off The Telly}}</ref>

Homer writing "Where are the sticky buns" on a sheet of paper after Apu asks him for advice is one of Mike Scully's favorite jokes.<ref name=scully/>

==References==
<references/>

{{season 9}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons, The}}
[[Category:Season 9]]
[[Category:Episodes]]
[[Category:1997]]
[[Category:Apu episodes]]
[[Category:Romance-themed episodes]]

[[sv:The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons]]