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"El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer"
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| "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer"
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| Episode Information
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- "Find your soulmate, Homer."
- ―Coyote
"El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)" (a.k.a. "The Mysterious Voyage of Our Homer") is the ninth episode of Season 8. It first aired on January 5, 1997. The episode was written by Ken Keeler and directed by Jim Reardon. A more accurate translation of the episode title from Spanish is "The Mysterious Trip of Our 'Jomer'." Nuestro is Spanish for "our," and "Jomer" is a Spanish pronunciation wordplay on "Homer" (in Spanish, the letter J is pronounced as an English H). Johnny Cash guest stars.
After Homer downs several Guatemalan insanity peppers at the annual chili cook off, his consciousness goes on a mystical journey, complete with a talking coyote spirit guide, to discover his soul mate.
Plot
It's time for the annual Springfield Chili Cook-Off, and Marge tries everything to keep Homer from finding out about it, including cutting the ad out of the newspaper and disconnecting a phone call between Homer and Lenny. Marge starts to get nervous and takes up smoking. Homer is suprised by her action and walks outside for some fresh air when Homer finds out out about the cook-off when he smells the spices from the house. He begs Marge to go but she disallows after last year's incident. However, Marge changes her mind and the family quickly races to the cook-off. After they arrive, Homer demonstrates an extraordinary ability to withstand hot foods, until he falls victim to Chief Wiggum's chili spiked with "The Merciless Peppers of Quetzlzacatenango", humilating himself in front of the whole town. Homer races around in search for a drink when Marge catches him trying to drink beer, breaking her promise. Marge storms off and Homer resorts to drinking water when he discovers that candle wax can protect his mouth from the pepper's spiciness. Homer then comes back to Cheif Wiggum's stand and amazes the whole town by eating five of the peppers at once. However, the peppers unfoil in his stomach causing him to hullucinate and run off into the desert.
Homer ends up in a bizarre world where the laws of physics don't apply, wherein he breaks the sun and encounter strange creatures such as a puddle that can transform into a snake. Homer is then instructed to follow a tortoise and climb a pyramid which grows to an enormous height where he meets his spirit guide, a coyote voiced by Johnny Cash. The coyote advises Homer to find his soulmate, and questions Homer's assumption that he has already found her in Marge.
When Homer regains his senses, he rationalizes his dream. For example, he compares the desert he wandered in to the real-life location where he woke up (a golf course's sand trap) and the pyramid to the course's pro shop. After returning home, he finds Marge (who thinks that he got drunk, thus breaking his promise) angry with him for his odd behaviour at the cook-off. Feeling that Marge doesn't understand him at all, and remembering the coyote's words, Homer sets off on his own quest to find his soulmate. After looking among the patrons in Moe's Tavern and responding to a Personals ad placed by "GBM," Homer happens to see the lighthouse and concludes that the lighthouse operator must be the loneliest guy in town.
Homer goes to the lighthouse and is elated to see a sign reading "This lighthouse operated by EARL." Shouting "No more loneliness for Homer and Earl," Homer goes inside to meet his new friend. He is frustrated, however, to discover that the lighthouse is operated by a machine: E.A.R.L., short for Electronic Automatic Robotic Lighthouse. Homer destroys the lighthouse's light in a bout of recklessness, but Marge arrives and they fix it, warning a ship that's just about to run aground. They decide they really are soulmates, and Homer mocks what he calls the “space coyote.” Unfortunately, the ship runs aground anyway, spilling its precious cargo of hot pants. The town of Springfeild then swim out to loot their free hot pants.
