At Long Last Leave
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- "The results are in. This town has voted unanimously to get rid of Springfield's unending nightmare, the Simpsons."
- ―Joe Quimby
Template:EpisodeHD "At Long Last Leave" is the fourteenth episode of Season 23.
Synopsis
The Simpsons sneak into a secret town meeting to which they aren't invited and discover it's about whether to ban the family from Springfield. The town decides to evict the family, forcing them to leave town. The family moves to the The Outlands, an off-the-grid community where people are free to do almost anything. One of their new neighbors is Julian Assange. Homer and Marge try to sneak back into Springfield dressed as Mr. Burns and Smithers, but are caught and threatened to be shot. They decide it was actually better in the Outlands, so go back. After the Simpsons get used to their new life, Bart and Maggie discover that Lenny and Carl have moved in. They tell the family they want to start a new life in the Outlands, away from Springfield. Soon all of Springfield's residents move to the Outlands, and they begin to move the whole of the town to the Outlands and re-name the Outlands Springfield.
Plot
The Simpson family are at home watching Channel 6 News where Kent Brockman announces that there is a disaster and everyone has to go into their underground bunkers. After saying it was a drill, and then acting like there was an actual disaster again, he tells everyone to go into their shelters for three hours and not to come out. The Simpsons head to their shelter.
After a while, the family is all bored and decides to head out of their shelter to explore Springfield while it is empty. They then go past Springfield Town Hall where they realize that there is a secret meeting going on. They sneak in to find that the town has voted to kick them out of Springfield. After making themselves known to the rest of the town, the townspeople act angry at them. They then reveal that it was a mixture of Homer's recklessness, Bart's vandalism, Lisa's environmental pleas and Marge's niceness that got them kicked out. They are then paraded out of Springfield.
After driving for a while, Bart says that he needs to pee. They stop to let him go and are then held up by a guy with a shotgun. After Marge explains their situation to him, he welcomes the family to The Outlands. The family starts new here and begins to enjoy life, although Marge still misses Springfield, doesn't think that their new neighbor, Julian Assange, is as nice as Ned Flanders and fears that Maggie is falling in with a rough crowd. She and Homer then decide to sneak back into Springfield.
Homer and Marge, disguised as Mr. Burns and Waylon Smithers, sneak back in, tricking Clancy Wiggum in the process. They have a romantic night together then head to their old home where they go to bed. In bed, they hear Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney come in and are found out. Before the bullies can tell anyone, the police come to the house along with the rest of the town and are prepared to shoot them. However, Homer calls them all jerks and both he and Marge leave to their new home, leaving the townspeople dwelling on what they just said.
The Simpsons are settling into life in The Outlands until Lenny, shortly followed by Carl, turn up, saying that after what Homer and Marge said, they wanted a better life too. Eventually, Moe turns up too, opening Moe's Cavern for them to drink at. After a while, more and more Springfieldians turn up and eventually, they start to move buildings too, until Joe Quimby and Gary Chalmers come by and ask to join the new town, which Marge seems annoyed about as the corruption is the reason why Marge liked her new life. However, they join too. Eventually, Seymour Skinner is the last person left in Springfield, until Bart rescues him in a wooden helicopter, crashing him into several buildings and landmarks. The Simpsons and the townspeople begin to move Springfield to the Outlands.
At the end of the episode, a title card appears stating:
"Thanks for 500 Shows.
All we ask is that you go out
and get some fresh air
before logging on the Internet
and saying how much this sucked."
Production
The plot of "At Long Last Leave" was announced as early as July 2011, at Comic Con, during a panel with the cast and crew of The Simpsons. [1]
Being the 500th episode of the show, show runner Al Jean described it as "a tribute to people who love the show." Written by Michael Price and directed by Matt Nastuk, the episode began development as an ordinary episode, with no plans of it being released as the show's 500th. However, once the themes of the story began to resonate, the writers decided to make it the landmark episode. [2]
Julian Assange, the controversial founder of WikiLeaks, guest stars as himself. Kelsey Grammer and Jackie Mason also guest star and return to voice Sideshow Bob and Rabbi Krustofski.
Promotion
The 500th episode has been promoted since late 2011. First, a suitcase was given to crew members. In January 2012, it was announced that "The Simpsons Ultimate Fan Marathon Challenge" would take place, a competition in which a single person wins by watching as many episodes of The Simpsons as they can, and recieves $10,500 and several pieces of exclusive 500th episode merchandise. It was also said that The Simpsons Shop.com would have many pieces of 500th episode-related merchandise.
Gallery
- At Long Last Leave 1.jpg
The family in their shelter
- At Long Last Leave 3.jpg
The Simpsons sit on their couch in the Outlands
- At Long Last Leave 4.jpg
Homer and Marge realise they've been discovered in Springfield
- At Long Last Leave 6.jpg
The family meet their new neighbor, Julian Assange
- At Long Last Leave 5.jpg
Homer and Marge talk to Julian
- At Long Last Leave 7.jpg
Homer tries riding his badly constructed automobile
- At Long Last Leave 8.jpg
Maggie hears something (Lenny) in a bush
Episode title card
