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Difference between revisions of "Funeral for a Fiend"

Wikisimpsons - The Simpsons Wiki
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{{episode
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{{Tab}}
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|episodeTitle=Funeral for a Fiend
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{{EpisodePrevNext|Husbands and Knives|Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind}}
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|image=[[Image:DeathOfBobb.png
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{{Quote|America has a tradition of turning outlaws into legends after their deaths: Billie the Kid. Bonnie and Clyde. Jesus Christ.|[[Kent Brockman]]}}
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|productionCode=KABF01
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{{Episode
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|originalAirdate=November 25 2007
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|image= Funeral for a Fiend promo.png
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|blackboardText=
+
|number= 408
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|couchGag= A magician walks in, and with his cape makes the couch appear, and then the family
+
|season=19
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|specialGuestVoices=[[Kelsey Grammer]] as [[Sideshow Bob]],[[David Hyde Pierce]] as [[Cecil]],[[John Mahoney]] as [[Dr. Robert Terwilliger, Sr.]], [[Keith Olbermann]]
+
|snumber=8
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|Written By=[[Micheal Price]]
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|prodcode= KABF01
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|Directed By=[[Rob Oliver]]
+
|airdate= November 25, [[2007]]
 +
|couchgag= A magician walks in,with his cape makes the couch appear, then the family appears.
 +
|guests= [[Kelsey Grammer]] as [[Sideshow Bob]]<br>[[David Hyde Pierce]] as [[Cecil Terwilliger]]<br>[[John Mahoney]] as [[Dr. Robert Terwilliger Sr.]]<br>[[Keith Olbermann]] as {{Ch|Keith Olbermann|himself}}
 +
|showrunner1= Al Jean
 +
|writer= [[Michael Price]]
 +
|director= [[Rob Oliver]]
 
}}
 
}}
  
 +
"'''Funeral for a Fiend'''" is the eighth episode of [[season 19]] of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' and the four-hundred and eighth episode overall. It originally aired on November 25, [[2007]]. The episode was written by [[Michael Price]] and directed by [[Rob Oliver]]. It guest stars [[Kelsey Grammer]] as [[Sideshow Bob]], [[David Hyde Pierce]] as [[Cecil Terwilliger]], [[John Mahoney]] as [[Dr. Robert Terwilliger Sr.]] and [[Keith Olbermann]] as {{Ch|Keith Olbermann|himself}}.
  
−
"'''Funeral for a Fiend'''" is an upcoming episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki> [[The Simpsons (season 19)|nineteenth season]]. It will feature [[Kelsey Grammer]] in his tenth guest appearance as [[Sideshow Bob]], as well as [[David Hyde Pierce]] in his second appearance as Cecil Terwilliger and [[John Mahoney]] will make his first appearance as the father of Bob and Cecil. [[Keith Olbermann]] also makes a guest appearance as himself.<ref name=Futon>[http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings.aspx?id=20071102fox16]</ref>
+
== Synopsis ==
 +
{{Desc|Marge dreams that Keith Olbermann chides her for fast-forwarding through television commercials. Marge tries her to make restitution by watching hours of advertisements, and she and the Simpson family take particular interest in an ad for Wes Doobner's World-Famous Family-Style Rib Huts. They drive to the restaurant, only to find Sideshow Bob waiting for them, triumphant in his elaborate hoax to lure them to their doom. When Sideshow Bob's attempt to terminate the family is foiled, he is put on trial, where his father blames Sideshow Bob's psychosis on Bart. During the proceedings, Bart accidentally kills his old nemesis, and Bob's brother Cecil invites Bart to attend the memorial service for Sideshow Bob to bury the hatchet for good.}}
  
−
"'''Funeral for a Fiend'''" is the eighth episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki> [[The Simpsons (season 19)|nineteenth season]] and first aired on [[November 25]], [[2007]]. It was written by [[Michael Price (writer)|Michael Price]] and was directed by Rob Oliver. It features [[Kelsey Grammer]] in his tenth appearance as [[Sideshow Bob]], as well as [[David Hyde Pierce]] in his second appearance as Cecil Terwilliger. [[John Mahoney]] made his first appearance as Dr. Robert Terwilliger, Sr., the father of Bob and Cecil. [[Keith Olbermann]] also made a guest appearance as himself.<ref name="Futon">{{cite news | author = | title = SIDESHOW BOB and family RETURN for the ultimate simpsons revenge on "the simpsons" sunday, NOVEMBER 25, on fox  | publisher = [[The Futon Critic]] | url = http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings.aspx?id=20071102fox16| accessdate=2007-11-26}}</ref>
+
== Plot ==
 +
=== Act I ===
 +
Bart accompanies Homer to Circuit Circus to purchase a battery. The cashier who rings up Homer's purchase explains that if he signs up for a $200 TiVo and a two year subscription, he will receive his battery for free. Homer quickly complies and in almost a couple of hours, Lisa is busy installing the new TiVo system at home.  
  
−
==Plot==
+
The family quickly realizes the capability of their new TiVo device as they skip through the commercials (mostly from former episodes) during the Itchy & Scratchy episode entitled "Spherical on 34th Street". Marge takes a shine to their new TiVo, and becomes a pro at skipping all the commercials and recording all her favorite shows. Her TiVo watching passion quickly becomes an addiction and late one night after falling asleep on the couch watching TV, her guilty conscience gets the better of her in her dreams. Marge dreams of Keith Olbermann speaking to her through the TV and making her feel guilty for skipping all of the television commercials. She makes a vow to Keith that she will be sure to catch up and her advertisement watching.  
−
[[Image:DeathOfBobb.png|thumb|left|200px|The show's second promotional picture: Sideshow Bob's funeral]]
 
−
The episode begins with [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] and [[Bart Simpson|Bart]] going to Circuit City to buy a camera battery, but Homer ends up purchasing a [[TiVo]] because the batteries are free with the purchase of a TiVo. The family enjoys using the TiVo to watch TV without the commercials, especially [[Marge Simpson|Marge]], who happily skips over them. Late one night, Marge dreams of [[Keith Olbermann]] accusing her of not watching the commercials that pay for the TV shows, and convinces her to watch them. One such ad is for a new [[rib]] [[restaurant]], owned by a cowboy named Wes Doobner, and the family decides to visit it for its [[grand opening]].  
 
  
−
When they arrive they find the building deserted, and the door locks behind them. The cowboy walks out of the shadows and reveals himself to be [[Sideshow Bob]]. Bob plans on killing the family by having a [[Portable computer|PC]] explode from an overheated battery. While gloating, Bob incorrectly quotes [[William Shakespeare]], and Lisa tells him to look up the correct phrase on the computer, which explodes in Bob's hands. Bob is then arrested and taken to [[prison]].
+
During a marathon commercial watching session, Marge catches an ad for "Wes Doobner's World Famous Family Rib Huts". With a menu that appeals to everyone in the family, they excitedly visit the new restaurant that night. The family begins to sense that something is amiss when they see an empty parking lot and a restaurant devoid of any tables or chairs or other patrons. Once inside. The doors and windows close and latch behind them and Wes Doobner himself steps in through another door and emits a maniacal laugh. Wes reveals himself to be Sideshow Bob and gloats about his ingenious plan to trap and then kill the Simpsons. "Wes Doobner's World Famous Family Rib Huts" is an anagram of "Sideshow Bob's World Famous Family Style Return". His commercials were subliminally designed to only attract the Simpsons.
  
−
During Bob's trial, Bob's father, Dr. Robert Terwilliger Sr. is brought to testify. He explains Bob has a rare heart condition, and also suggests that Sideshow Bob's psychosis is because of Bart. This convinces [[Springfield (The Simpsons)|Springfield]] that Bart is to blame, and they turn against him. Bart, however, tries to tell the town that they are being played by Bob. Bob then takes out a vial labeled [[nitroglycerin]], which Bart snatches and throws out the window, thinking it an [[explosive]]. The vial was actually Bob's heart medication and he collapses on the floor and is pronounced dead.  
+
=== Act II ===
 +
With the Simpsons tied up, Sideshow Bob provides a slide show to explain what he's been up to since the last time the Simpsons saw him in The Italian Bob. Sideshow Bob then shows the family how he plans to kill them. He places a laptop computer with a defective battery on top of a pile of TNT so that when the battery overheats and explodes, it will ignite the TNT causing it to explode as well. Bob quotes some Shakespeare and then makes his exit, but Lisa calls out to Bob, teasing him for getting the Shakespeare quote wrong. Sideshow Bob, not wanting to be upstaged, quickly reenters and uses the laptop to check Wikipedia about the accuracy of his quote. But while waiting for the website to load, the defective battery explodes in his lap knocking him unconscious. Within minutes Kent Brockman is reporting on the scene and Sideshow Bob is taken down.  
  
−
Bob's family and many people of Springfield attend Bob's funeral. Bart shows little remorse for Bob despite [[Krusty the Clown|Krusty]] and the rest of Springfield grieving. After Bart speaks to Bob's brother Cecil, he decides to go to the Springfield Funeral to make peace with Bob's corpse before it gets cremated; however, Bob leaps out of the coffin, very much alive, and traps Bart in the coffin to be incinerated, all the while gloating about what he was accomplishing. Back at home, Lisa discovers that everything was an elaborate plot put together by Bob's entire family, explaining that he was put in a temporary death-like state with a special drug injection by his father. The Simpsons race to the parlor and narrowly save Bart from being burned alive by blinding Bob with unclaimed ashes. Bob asks Lisa how she knew of his scheme, and Lisa explains that she was suspicious that Bob's coffin had extra room for his large feet, which the family would not bother to put in if Bob was really dead. Bob and his family are arrested and taken in jail, where Bob imagines himself killing the Simpson family, and goes completely insane.
+
At his trial Sideshow Bob confesses that he did try to kill the Simpsons, but that his plot was a product of his insanity caused by Bart's constant persecution. He calls his father, Dr. Terwilliger, a physician, to the witness stand. Bob's father testifies that Bob was a peaceful, weak and sickly boy due to a congenital heart defect, until Bart began "tormenting" him, which led Bob to full-blown dementia. Sideshow Bob pleads with the jury and begins to successfully paint Bart in a bad light and win sympathy from the court.  
  
−
==Cultural references==
+
An outraged Bart snaps and in an outburst tries to convince the court that Bob is lying. Sideshow Bob then reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a small vial of nitroglycerin, but before he can do anything with it, Bart snatches the vial out of Bob's hand and flings it out the window. Bob screams, clutches his heart in horror and collapses. Dr. Terwilliger rushes from the witness stand to his son's side and Sideshow Bob's mother emerges from the gallery to explain that the nitroglycerin was actually for Bob's heart defect. Dr. Hibbert rushes forward to check Bob's pulse and then confirms everyone's fears, telling them that Sideshow Bob is dead, blaming Bart in the process.
−
* The episode title is a reference to the [[Elton John]] song "[[Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding|Funeral for a Friend]]".
 
−
* The family layout in the popular series ''[[Frasier]]'' is repeated in this episode; Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce play brothers in both series, while John Mahoney plays their father.<ref name="IGN"/>
 
−
* A reference to [[Office Assistant|Clippy]], the Microsoft Word helper is also shown.
 
−
* The ''Itchy and Scratchy'' cartoon short that the family views on the new TiVo is titled "Spherical on 34th Street", a reference to the [[Miracle on 34th Street]] films.
 
−
* In "Spherical on 34th Street", Scratchy's demise comes about as a result of Itchy filling him up with hydrogen and igniting him with a flaming arrow.  As Scratchy burns up, showering the crowd with viscera, Itchy exclaims, "Oh, the hilarity!", a reference to broadcaster Herbert Morrison's famous cry of "Oh, the humanity!" during the [[Hindenburg]] disaster.
 
−
* Marge Simpson, for skipping commercials while watching shows on TiVo, is named Keith Olbermann's [[Countdown_with_Keith_Olbermann#.27Worst_Person_in_the_World.27_segment|Worst Person in the World]].
 
−
* After showing The Simpsons family his evil plot, [[Sideshow Bob]] says that the commercial gained him position as director of "[[The Hills Have Eyes (series)|The Hills Have Eyes]] 3: The Hills Still Have Eyes.<ref name="IGN"/>
 
−
* At the funeral, [[Krusty the Clown]] plays the piano and sings to Sideshow Bob, in a parody reminescent of [[Elton John]] playing "[[Candle in the Wind 1997|Candle in the Wind]]" for [[Princess Diana]] at her [[Death of Diana, Princess of Wales#Funeral_and_public_reaction|funeral]].
 
−
*[[Moe Szyslak|Moe]] runs behinds the Hibbert's car and watches [[Sesame Street]] where [[Derek Jeter]] guest stars.
 
  
−
==Reception==
+
=== Act III ===
−
Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a 6.2/10, saying "there were some enjoyable scenes, but the half hour lacked in the number of laugh-out-loud moments, and Bob's ultimate scheme wasn't very surprising."<ref name="IGN">{{cite news | author = Robert Canning | title = The Simpsons: "Funeral for a Fiend" Review | publisher = [[IGN]] | date = [[2007-11-26]] | url = http://tv.ign.com/articles/837/837504p1.html| accessdate=2007-11-26}}</ref>
+
Most of Springfield turns out to attend Bob's funeral (including Bob's parents, wife, son, and younger brother Cecil, whose been let out of prison to attend) and Kent Brockman covers the scene with live coverage. Krusty leads the funeral in song as well-wishers pay their last respects to Sideshow Bob, lying peacefully in a tailor made coffin that accommodates his tremendous feet. The Simpsons enters the church to hostility and Bart storms off, refusing to pay his respects to Bob.  
  
 +
Later, Bart sits alone out on the sidewalk grumbling about how everyone hates him for supposedly killing Sideshow Bob, when Cecil, accompanied by two police officers, approaches. Cecil tells Bart that he once shared the same disdain for Bob, but tells Bart of felling better if he makes his peace with Bob. Bart reluctantly agrees and heads off to the funeral home to say goodbye before Bob is cremated. Milhouse makes his rounds delivering newspapers and at the Simpson home Marge asks if he has seen Bart. Milhouse mentions noticing Bart a few minutes earlier going for the funeral home to see Sideshow Bob one last time. When Milhouse asks to sit down because his feet are killing him, his words cause Lisa to suddenly realizes that Bart is in grave danger and convinces everyone to rush to the funeral home before it is too late.
  
 +
At the funeral home, Bart approaches as Sideshow Bob's coffin, which awaits the furnace, and confesses that he didn't mean for Bob to die. Just then, to Bart's surprise, Bob jumps out of the coffin, alive and well, and quickly throws Bart in. He laughs maniacally as he throws a switch that starts the coffin on a very slow journey down the conveyor belt to the furnace, despite other, faster settings being available, which he disregards. As the Simpsons rush to the funeral home Lisa explains how she figured out Bob's plan: she chronicles the fact that Bob would have never misquoted Shakespeare accidentally—as his mother is a noted Shakespearean actress—and that his real plan had been to be caught so that he could stand trial. She also explains that when Bob collapsed in the courtroom, his father must have injected him with a drug to make him appear dead when he quickly rushed to Bob's side.
  
−
{{Season 19}}
+
Back at the funeral home Bob gathers with his entire family, including Cecil and his police escorts, who peel off their latex masks and are revealed to be the brothers' parents, who are as deranged as their sons. Bob then plans for Bart's ashes to be mistaken for his, and by the time police figure it out, Bob and his family will be away scot-free. As they watch Bart slowly head to the furnace, Lisa, Marge and Homer suddenly burst in to rescue Bart in the nick of time. Homer throws some hobo ashes into Bob's eyes, distracting him, and Marge reverses the switch and stops the conveyor belt.
−
[[Category:Episodes]]
+
 
−
[[Category:Season 19]]
+
Once Bart is safe, Chief Wiggum and the real police arrive on the scene to arrest Sideshow Bob and his family. As Bob and his family are being led away, Bob questions how Lisa could have figured out the plan he and the rest of his family had come up with. Lisa admits that she actually started getting suspicious when she noticed that the coffin at his funeral had extra room to accommodate his large feet—Lisa figures that Bob's family most likely wouldn't have bothered to pay if he actually were dead. Cecil gets mad at Bob for having that done it despite (presumably) being advised against it by wiser minds.
−
[[Category:Sideshow Bob Episodes]]
+
 
 +
In a prison cell with the rest of his family, Sideshow Bob sits in a corner, restrained by a strait-jacket, and laughs evilly as he comes to the Simpsons' house for his revenge on and kills the Simpson family, while his father, son, and brother play cards, ignoring his rants.
 +
 
 +
== Production ==
 +
<gallery>
 +
File:KABF01_Script.jpg
 +
</gallery>
 +
 
 +
== Reception ==
 +
Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a 6.2/10, saying "there were some enjoyable scenes, but the half hour lacked in the number of laugh-out-loud moments, and Bob's ultimate scheme wasn't very surprising."<ref name="IGN">{{cite news | author = Robert Canning | title = The Simpsons: "Funeral for a Fiend" Review | publisher = {{W|IGN}} | date = [[2007-11-26]] | url = http://tv.ign.com/articles/837/837504p1.html| accessdate=2007-11-26}}</ref>
 +
 
 +
== Gallery ==
 +
<gallery>
 +
File:Funeral for a Fiend promo 2.png
 +
</gallery>
 +
 
 +
== References ==
 +
{{Reflist}}
 +
 
 +
{{Images|ep=yes}}
 +
{{season 19}}
 +
 
 +
[[Category:2007]]
 +
[[Category:Bart episodes]]
 +
[[Category:Sideshow Bob episodes]]
 +
[[Category:Crime-themed episodes]]
 +
[[Category:Episodes written by Michael Price]]
 +
[[Category:Episodes directed by Rob Oliver]]
 +
 
 +
[[sv:Funeral for a Fiend]]

Latest revision as of 13:05, March 28, 2024

Season 19 Episode
← 407 "Husbands and Knives"
408
"Funeral for a Fiend"
"Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" 409 →
"America has a tradition of turning outlaws into legends after their deaths: Billie the Kid. Bonnie and Clyde. Jesus Christ."
―Kent Brockman
"Funeral for a Fiend"
Funeral for a Fiend promo.png
Episode Information
Episode number: 408
Season number: S19 E8
Production code: KABF01
Original airdate: November 25, 2007
Couch gag: A magician walks in,with his cape makes the couch appear, then the family appears.
Guest star(s): Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob
David Hyde Pierce as Cecil Terwilliger
John Mahoney as Dr. Robert Terwilliger Sr.
Keith Olbermann as himself
Showrunner: Al Jean
Written by: Michael Price
Directed by: Rob Oliver


"Funeral for a Fiend" is the eighth episode of season 19 of The Simpsons and the four-hundred and eighth episode overall. It originally aired on November 25, 2007. The episode was written by Michael Price and directed by Rob Oliver. It guest stars Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob, David Hyde Pierce as Cecil Terwilliger, John Mahoney as Dr. Robert Terwilliger Sr. and Keith Olbermann as himself.

Synopsis[edit]

"Marge dreams that Keith Olbermann chides her for fast-forwarding through television commercials. Marge tries her to make restitution by watching hours of advertisements, and she and the Simpson family take particular interest in an ad for Wes Doobner's World-Famous Family-Style Rib Huts. They drive to the restaurant, only to find Sideshow Bob waiting for them, triumphant in his elaborate hoax to lure them to their doom. When Sideshow Bob's attempt to terminate the family is foiled, he is put on trial, where his father blames Sideshow Bob's psychosis on Bart. During the proceedings, Bart accidentally kills his old nemesis, and Bob's brother Cecil invites Bart to attend the memorial service for Sideshow Bob to bury the hatchet for good."


Plot[edit]

Act I[edit]

Bart accompanies Homer to Circuit Circus to purchase a battery. The cashier who rings up Homer's purchase explains that if he signs up for a $200 TiVo and a two year subscription, he will receive his battery for free. Homer quickly complies and in almost a couple of hours, Lisa is busy installing the new TiVo system at home.

The family quickly realizes the capability of their new TiVo device as they skip through the commercials (mostly from former episodes) during the Itchy & Scratchy episode entitled "Spherical on 34th Street". Marge takes a shine to their new TiVo, and becomes a pro at skipping all the commercials and recording all her favorite shows. Her TiVo watching passion quickly becomes an addiction and late one night after falling asleep on the couch watching TV, her guilty conscience gets the better of her in her dreams. Marge dreams of Keith Olbermann speaking to her through the TV and making her feel guilty for skipping all of the television commercials. She makes a vow to Keith that she will be sure to catch up and her advertisement watching.

During a marathon commercial watching session, Marge catches an ad for "Wes Doobner's World Famous Family Rib Huts". With a menu that appeals to everyone in the family, they excitedly visit the new restaurant that night. The family begins to sense that something is amiss when they see an empty parking lot and a restaurant devoid of any tables or chairs or other patrons. Once inside. The doors and windows close and latch behind them and Wes Doobner himself steps in through another door and emits a maniacal laugh. Wes reveals himself to be Sideshow Bob and gloats about his ingenious plan to trap and then kill the Simpsons. "Wes Doobner's World Famous Family Rib Huts" is an anagram of "Sideshow Bob's World Famous Family Style Return". His commercials were subliminally designed to only attract the Simpsons.

Act II[edit]

With the Simpsons tied up, Sideshow Bob provides a slide show to explain what he's been up to since the last time the Simpsons saw him in The Italian Bob. Sideshow Bob then shows the family how he plans to kill them. He places a laptop computer with a defective battery on top of a pile of TNT so that when the battery overheats and explodes, it will ignite the TNT causing it to explode as well. Bob quotes some Shakespeare and then makes his exit, but Lisa calls out to Bob, teasing him for getting the Shakespeare quote wrong. Sideshow Bob, not wanting to be upstaged, quickly reenters and uses the laptop to check Wikipedia about the accuracy of his quote. But while waiting for the website to load, the defective battery explodes in his lap knocking him unconscious. Within minutes Kent Brockman is reporting on the scene and Sideshow Bob is taken down.

At his trial Sideshow Bob confesses that he did try to kill the Simpsons, but that his plot was a product of his insanity caused by Bart's constant persecution. He calls his father, Dr. Terwilliger, a physician, to the witness stand. Bob's father testifies that Bob was a peaceful, weak and sickly boy due to a congenital heart defect, until Bart began "tormenting" him, which led Bob to full-blown dementia. Sideshow Bob pleads with the jury and begins to successfully paint Bart in a bad light and win sympathy from the court.

An outraged Bart snaps and in an outburst tries to convince the court that Bob is lying. Sideshow Bob then reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a small vial of nitroglycerin, but before he can do anything with it, Bart snatches the vial out of Bob's hand and flings it out the window. Bob screams, clutches his heart in horror and collapses. Dr. Terwilliger rushes from the witness stand to his son's side and Sideshow Bob's mother emerges from the gallery to explain that the nitroglycerin was actually for Bob's heart defect. Dr. Hibbert rushes forward to check Bob's pulse and then confirms everyone's fears, telling them that Sideshow Bob is dead, blaming Bart in the process.

Act III[edit]

Most of Springfield turns out to attend Bob's funeral (including Bob's parents, wife, son, and younger brother Cecil, whose been let out of prison to attend) and Kent Brockman covers the scene with live coverage. Krusty leads the funeral in song as well-wishers pay their last respects to Sideshow Bob, lying peacefully in a tailor made coffin that accommodates his tremendous feet. The Simpsons enters the church to hostility and Bart storms off, refusing to pay his respects to Bob.

Later, Bart sits alone out on the sidewalk grumbling about how everyone hates him for supposedly killing Sideshow Bob, when Cecil, accompanied by two police officers, approaches. Cecil tells Bart that he once shared the same disdain for Bob, but tells Bart of felling better if he makes his peace with Bob. Bart reluctantly agrees and heads off to the funeral home to say goodbye before Bob is cremated. Milhouse makes his rounds delivering newspapers and at the Simpson home Marge asks if he has seen Bart. Milhouse mentions noticing Bart a few minutes earlier going for the funeral home to see Sideshow Bob one last time. When Milhouse asks to sit down because his feet are killing him, his words cause Lisa to suddenly realizes that Bart is in grave danger and convinces everyone to rush to the funeral home before it is too late.

At the funeral home, Bart approaches as Sideshow Bob's coffin, which awaits the furnace, and confesses that he didn't mean for Bob to die. Just then, to Bart's surprise, Bob jumps out of the coffin, alive and well, and quickly throws Bart in. He laughs maniacally as he throws a switch that starts the coffin on a very slow journey down the conveyor belt to the furnace, despite other, faster settings being available, which he disregards. As the Simpsons rush to the funeral home Lisa explains how she figured out Bob's plan: she chronicles the fact that Bob would have never misquoted Shakespeare accidentally—as his mother is a noted Shakespearean actress—and that his real plan had been to be caught so that he could stand trial. She also explains that when Bob collapsed in the courtroom, his father must have injected him with a drug to make him appear dead when he quickly rushed to Bob's side.

Back at the funeral home Bob gathers with his entire family, including Cecil and his police escorts, who peel off their latex masks and are revealed to be the brothers' parents, who are as deranged as their sons. Bob then plans for Bart's ashes to be mistaken for his, and by the time police figure it out, Bob and his family will be away scot-free. As they watch Bart slowly head to the furnace, Lisa, Marge and Homer suddenly burst in to rescue Bart in the nick of time. Homer throws some hobo ashes into Bob's eyes, distracting him, and Marge reverses the switch and stops the conveyor belt.

Once Bart is safe, Chief Wiggum and the real police arrive on the scene to arrest Sideshow Bob and his family. As Bob and his family are being led away, Bob questions how Lisa could have figured out the plan he and the rest of his family had come up with. Lisa admits that she actually started getting suspicious when she noticed that the coffin at his funeral had extra room to accommodate his large feet—Lisa figures that Bob's family most likely wouldn't have bothered to pay if he actually were dead. Cecil gets mad at Bob for having that done it despite (presumably) being advised against it by wiser minds.

In a prison cell with the rest of his family, Sideshow Bob sits in a corner, restrained by a strait-jacket, and laughs evilly as he comes to the Simpsons' house for his revenge on and kills the Simpson family, while his father, son, and brother play cards, ignoring his rants.

Production[edit]

  • KABF01 Script.jpg

Reception[edit]

Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a 6.2/10, saying "there were some enjoyable scenes, but the half hour lacked in the number of laugh-out-loud moments, and Bob's ultimate scheme wasn't very surprising."[1]

Gallery[edit]

  • Funeral for a Fiend promo 2.png

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Robert Canning. "The Simpsons: "Funeral for a Fiend" Review"IGN. Retrieved on 2007-11-26. 


The Saga of Carl - title screen.png Wikisimpsons has a collection of images related to "Funeral for a Fiend".
Season 19 Episodes
He Loves to Fly and He D'ohs • The Homer of Seville • Midnight Towboy • I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings • Treehouse of Horror XVIII • Little Orphan Millie • Husbands and Knives • Funeral for a Fiend • Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind • E Pluribus Wiggum • That '90s Show • Love, Springfieldian Style • The Debarted • Dial "N" for Nerder • Smoke on the Daughter • Papa Don't Leech • Apocalypse Cow • Any Given Sundance • Mona Leaves-a • All About Lisa
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