The Bob Next Door
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- "The sum total is the greatest murder since Snape killed Dumbledore!"
- ―Sideshow Bob
"The Bob Next Door" is the four hundred and sixty third episode of The Simpsons and the twenty-second of the twenty-first season.
Contents
Synopsis
Bart becomes convinced that his new neighbor, Walt Warren, is his archenemy, Sideshow Bob, disguised and back for revenge. But when Marge tries to convince Bart otherwise by taking him to the state penitentiary, a disturbing truth is revealed, leading to danger for the spiky-haired boy.[1]
Plot
Act I
At an emergency town-hall meeting, Mayor Quimby announces to Springfield's citizens that the town is suffering from an economic crisis. Therefore, he decides to enact several cost-cutting measures, one of which includes the release of all prisoners convicted of minor offenses from Springfield Penitentiary.
Many Springfieldians move because of the crisis, including The Simpsons' neighbors, mother and daughter Ruth and Laura Powers and their home is put on the market.
Homer, after smelling cookies baked by realtor Cookie Kwan to attract buyers, decides he wants to purchase the house. Just as Homer is filling out loan paperwork, Cookie informs him that someone has already bought the property.
Shortly after, Marge, Lisa and Bart watch several movers carrying personal possessions into the house. They conclude that their new neighbor is a lover of hybrid cars, antique furniture, and koi ponds. Just then, the new neighbor -- Walt Warren -- arrives and Bart heads over to introduce himself, "Bart Simpson-style". Bart spits on his hand and holds it out to shake in a playful prank. Walt greets him with a eerily familiar "Hello, Bart." Bart immediately recognizes Walt's voice as that of Sideshow Bob's and runs off screaming in terror.
Act II
Bart begins barricading himself into his home, all the while trying to convince the rest of the family that Sideshow Bob is living next door, using the identity of Walt Warren as a distraction. Homer and Marge attempt to reassure him that "a lot of people sound like Sideshow Bob, like Frasier on Cheers, Frasier on Frasier, and Lt. Commander Tom Dodge on Down Periscope" but Bart remains unconvinced. He decides to unmask Walt as Bob and reveal to everyone the truth.
Joined by Milhouse in his treehouse, Bart attempts to trick Bob into exposing his identity by singing loudly to a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, knowing that his nemesis, who has a fondness for such music, would overhear and be unable to resist joining in. Their plan fails, however, when Walt expresses his distaste for opera and instead declares his love for country.
Later, at a neighborhood party, while Walt is giving a speech to a group of Springfieldians, Bart sneaks into Walt's home, to try and locate any proof. He searches through cupboards, drawers and a stack of magazines, but fails to find any solid confirmation that Walt is indeed Bob. He ultimately ends up getting caught by Marge.
In order to put an end to Bart's paranoia, Marge takes him to Springfield Penitentiary to show him that Sideshow Bob remains incarcerated. Bart and Marge see Sideshow Bob in a padded cell, wearing a straitjacket and writing "Bart Simpson Will Die" all over the walls with a pen held in his mouth. Knowing that Bob is still behind bars brings Bart a sense of satisfaction.
That night, Bob launches an escape plan. He swallows the pen, causing him to passes out. A prison guard rushes in to help and Bob spits the pen out of his mouth, hitting the guard in the eye, temporarily blinding him. Managing to wrestle the guard's taser off him with his teeth, Bob proceeds to stun him and dashes outside to the prison wall. After avoiding the attack hounds (one of which mistakes Bob's hair for a bush and pees on him), he makes it over the wall and escapes.
The next morning, Walt asks Bart if he would go with him to see a baseball game, as the Isotopes are playing against the Spokane Cascades. Bart accepts the invitation and asks Marge if he can go. Marge asks him if he cleaned his room and lets him go anyway because she'll have something to do while he's gone. Bart gets into Walt's Hybrid and they start driving to the stadium. When Walt doesn't make the turn off of the freeway to Springfield Stadium, Bart suspects that something's up. Then Walt says that Bart was right all along; he really is Sideshow Bob! To prove it, "Walt" takes off his shoes and unfolds his long feet, undeniable proof that he is Bob. Bob is relieved to finally be able to stop acting like Walt, and be able to sing all the Gilbert & Sullivan music he damn well pleases!
Act III
"Bob" goes to the Simpsons' house. He appears in the kitchen window where Marge soaks him with a hose and Homer closes the window on his neck, thinking he's Sideshow Bob. "Bob" tells them that he's the real Walt. To prove it to them, Walt takes off his shoes and shows them his short feet. They release him and they all head over to Bob's house. In the bedroom, they find dozens of pictures of Bart with knives in them, effigies of Bart being hanged and drowned in an aquarium, and so on. Lisa finds a brochure of The Five Corners, the only point in the U.S.A. where five states meet, with the notation "KILL BART HERE" handwritten in red. Walt and the Simpsons then head for The Five Corners.
Bob tells Bart how he escaped from prison: He had heard that prisoners convicted of minor offenses were going to be released, and his cellmate Walt was a minor offender and fortuitously had the same build and facial structure as he did. Just before the release took place, Bob knocked Walt out, performed surgery to switch their faces, and then simply walked out posing as Walt when the minor offenders were set free. He then used the proceeds from Walt's investments (which had done very well during his incarceration) to buy the house next door to the Simpsons.
Bob stops at a diner, and a waitress falls for Bob as Walt. She removes what she thinks is a loose thread on his jacket, but it's really one of the stitches from the face transplant. All of the sutures come undone, revealing that his face has been sewn on. Bob then runs away, taking Bart with him. Shortly after this, the Simpson family and Walt arrive at the diner, describe Bob to the waitress, and ask her where they went. She tells them that Bob was headed for Mexico, and accidentally unmasks Walt as also having a sewn-on, transplanted face. The Simpsons believe her and go to Mexico, but Walt, sensing that the waitress is attracted to Bob, knows this is not true and heads for Five Corners instead.
Bob arrives at The Five Corners and has himself and Bart stand in two of the states at the meeting point. He then tells Bart of his plan to kill him: Bob will stand in one state; reach into a second state and shoot his gun; have the bullet travel through a third state; hit Bart in a fourth state; and Bart will fall dead in the fifth state (although this is not possible, as the bullet would have to curve around to actually kill Bart). Because no single portion of the sequence is illegal, none of the five states will be able to prosecute him for Bart's murder. Bob brags about his plan, saying that "the sum total is the greatest murder since Snape killed Dumbledore!" Bart complains about Bob ruining the ending of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, as he never got to that part in the book (despite it being four years old) because he is a slow reader. Bart then jumps to the same state Bob's standing in, pointing out that if Bob shoots him in the same state, he'll go to jail. They both do several rounds of hopping between the different states, until Bob steps on a rake that flies up and hits him in the face. He then becomes so frustrated that he decides to just shoot Bart and get it done with, regardless of jurisdiction, and tell people that he did the plan.
Walt arrives in the nick of time and wrestles the gun away from Bob. Walt tells Bob to take off his face and give it back to him, but unfortunately he has a bee under Bob's transplanted face, which distracts him and leaves Bob an opening to take the gun back. Bob then grants Walt the privilege of choosing which state he shoots him in. Walt says "Hawaii" and Bob revokes his choosing privilege. Before he can shoot either Bob or Walt, Chief Wiggum arrives with Eddie and Lou from Springfield's state to arrest Bob, revealing that Bart wasn't really convinced that Bob was Walt. After Bart alerted them before he left with Bob, the police then were able to track them because Bob's Hybrid is secretly monitored by the government (like all Hybrids). Bob compliments Wiggum, before jumping to another state (and out of Wiggum's jurisdiction). However, law enforcement officials from the other four states arrive, cutting off Bob's escape. Bob is arrested by the New Jersey cops and taken away, and the rest of the Simpsons return from Mexico, where Homer has been having misadventures such as arguing with a cook over "How do you say 'taco' in Mexican?"
Back in the Simpsons' neighborhood, Walt's former house is vacant, but only temporarily. A distant Flanders relative called Ted Flanders moves into the house, and he and Ned start a conversation laced with "Flanders-isms", talking to each other from across the Simpsons' front yard. This drives Homer crazy and he yells at them both to shut up.
Production
"The Bob Next Door" was written by long-term writer John Frink and directed by Nancy Kruse, her second director's credit for Season 21 after "The Devil Wears Nada." The episode features the return of recurring guest voice Kelsey Grammer as the Bart-hating murderer, Sideshow Bob, making it his 12th and final vocal appearance to date. According to executive producer Al Jean, "The Bob Next Door" was slated to air on January 14, 2010, along with "Once Upon a Time in Springfield" and "The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special in 3-D on Ice", but was instead moved to May 16 for an unknown reason.
Reception
The episode was watched by an estimated total of 6.25 million viewers and received a 2.1 in the key demographic, losing out to Family Guy.[2]
Critically, "The Bob Next Door" received very positive reviews. IGN described the episode as "a funny return to form that proved there's still a lot to enjoy when The Simpsons pit Bob and Bart against each other." They ultimately gave "The Bob Next Door" a 8.5/10 rating, adding that the episode "reminded us what makes Bob so much fun."[3] The A.V Club called it "refreshing" and "a fine half-hour of entertainment." They compared the episode's final moments to previous Sideshow Bob episode "Cape Feare" and concluded, "If The Simpsons intends to self-plagiarize (and it obviously does), that’s a good episode to copy." They ultimately awarded the episode a B+ grade.[4] The TV Critic also gave positive opinion. They wrote that "The Bob Next Door" was better than recent Sideshow Bob stories "owing to the Face/Off elements which added a new twist on Bob's escape and murder attempts."[5]
Fan reaction was also positive. On The No Homers Club, a fan poll had a majority 4/5 rating, with many commenting that the episode was better than previous Sideshow Bob episodes, notably "Funeral for a Fiend" and "The Italian Bob." Fans complimented the final showdown at Five Corners, which was described as "inspired", but many were critical of Bob switching faces with Walt labeling it as "a bit too far fetched."[6]
Gallery
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Wikisimpsons has a collection of images related to "The Bob Next Door". |
- The Bob Next Door.jpg
Promotional image
References
- ↑ Official FOX Press Release
- ↑ TVbytheNumbers - "TV Ratings: Survivor Finale Tops ABC's Finale Sunday, Celebrity Apprentice Ties Series Low"
- ↑ IGN: The Simpsons: "The Bob Next Door" Review
- ↑ A.V Club - FOX Animation - "The Bob Next Door"/"Cleveland's Angels"/"The Splendid Source"/"Great Space Roaster"
- ↑ TVCritic.org Simpsons - Episode 22 - The Bob Next Door review
- ↑ NoHomers.net Fan forum - Episode discussion: R&R: The Bob Next Door
