Oh Brother, Where Bart Thou?
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- "Dad... I want a baby brother."
- ―Bart Simpson
"Oh Brother, Where Bart Thou?"
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Episode Information
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"Oh Brother, Where Bart Thou?" is the eighth episode of season 21 of The Simpsons and the four-hundred and forty-ninth episode overall. It originally aired on December 13, 2009. The episode was written by Matt Selman and directed by Steven Dean Moore. It guest stars Peyton Manning as himself, Eli Manning as himself, Cooper Manning as himself, Smothers Brothers as themselves, Kim Cattrall as the dream Simpson sister, Huell Howser as himself and Jordan Nagai as Charlie.
Contents
Synopsis
- "When Lisa tells Bart he'll never have the special bond that she has with Maggie because he doesn't have any brothers, he tries to get Homer and Marge to make him a baby brother, but when that doesn't work, he goes to the orphanage - where a young boy follows him home."
Plot
Homer and Lisa are watching Under the Wrapper, starring Huell Howser when it begins to show horses being turned into gelatin. They then panic and try to change the channel. The next morning, Bart finds out that schools are closed due to a huge snowstorm. The snowstorm is too strong for Bart to go out and play so he stays in to play games. However, the power then goes out. When Bart gets bored, he hears music coming from Lisa's room and finds that she and Maggie are putting on a fake fashion show. Bart asks to join in at first but quickly gets annoyed at it after being given Hello Kitty stockings to wear. Bart then notices Lisa and Maggie's sisterly bond and gets jealous of it.
That night, Bart has a dream, seeing lots of brothers with each other. This includes Peyton, Eli and Cooper Manning, who were playing football with each other, and the Smothers Brothers, who were performing together. Bart then wakes up and realizes that he needs a younger brother. Bart tries to get Homer and Marge to have another child, helping set up a romantic dinner for them and giving them a copy of Kama Sutra: A Soulmate's Journey to Sensual Nirvana to try out. However, neither of these work. Bart then goes to Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney who tell Bart that he needs to get rid of Marge's birth control. Bart does this, throwing them out the window in a Tac Tics box which Nelson picks up. Marge then walks in on Bart and gets mad at him for messing with her birth control.
Marge explains to Bart that he shouldn't mess with her birth control, and asks him why. When Bart opens up about wanting a little brother, Marge tells Bart that even if she and Homer did have another baby, there was no guarantee it would be a boy. Bart then imagines carrying around shopping bags for an older Lisa, Maggie and a third sister, which horrifies him. Bart then decides to come up with another plan to get a brother and goes to the Springfield Orphanage. However, he is told that he can't adopt a kid as he's too young, so he goes home. However, Charlie notices Bart and follows him.
Bart is woken up in the morning by Charlie squirting whipped cream on his face. When Bart questions who he is, Charlie reveals that he escaped from the orphanage and followed Bart home. Bart is happy to have a little brother and the two of them spend the day together, going to school and playing pranks on people. At the Kwik-E-Mart, Lisa finds Bart and Charlie and Apu asks Lisa about her new brother. Lisa then tells Bart that he has to take him back but Bart refuses. Bart then takes Charlie to see Sever V at the theater, which scares Charlie. As they were going home, Chief Wiggum comes out of the bushes and tries to take Charlie back to the orphanage. Charlie grabs Wiggum's pepper spray and sprays him in the face as he and Bart run away and hide in a huge snow pile. Bart tells Charlie that they're going to run away together and live off garbage.
Lisa then finds Bart and Charlie, having followed a trail of lost Winter clothing. She tells Bart that he has to choose between her and Charlie, and tells Bart to hurry as Plow King was about to close them in. Bart takes too long and they get trapped in the snow cave. Bart then tells Lisa that he and Charlie have something she doesn't, and the two boys pee on the snow to melt a tunnel out, which disgusts Lisa. Charlie goes back to the orphanage and Homer and Bart go to visit him. However, they find that Charlie has been adopted by a new family, who have six daughters. Charlie bangs on the rear window of the car as it drives off, asking for Bart to save him.
Over the end credits, the Smothers Brothers perform "Boil That Cabbage Down" and talk with each other.
Reception
In its original airing, "Oh Brother, Where Bart Thou?" had a 3.2/8 share with 7.11 million viewers. The Simpsons was the third most viewed show on Fox that night.[1]
Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a 7.6 rating, praising the fact that there was no weaker "B" storyline for the episode.[2] Emily Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+ rating.[3]
Writer Matt Selman was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Writing in Animation in the 63rd Writers Guild of America Awards.[4] However, it lost to Futurama.
As of April 2020, the episode has a 7.1 rating on IMDb[5] and a 8.9 rating on TV.com.[6]
References
- ↑ TV by the Numbers - "TV Ratings Sunday: Football Wins, Oprah's Christmas Rates Below Brothers & Sisters" (archived on Wayback Machine)
- ↑ IGN - "The Simpsons: "O Brother, Where Bart Thou" Review" (archived on Wayback Machine)
- ↑ The A.V. Club - ""O, Brother, Where Bart Thou?"/"A Cleveland Brown Christmas"/"Business Guy"/"Rapture's Delight""
- ↑ Adweek - "PBS Dominates News Categories in Writers Guild Award Nominations"
- ↑ IMDb - "Oh Brother, Where Bart Thou?"
- ↑ TV.com - "Oh Brother, Where Bart Thou?"
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