Homer's Enemy
"Homer's Enemy"
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Episode Information
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Homer's Enemy was the 23rd episode of Season 8. Homer's life intertwines with that of Frank Grimes, a hard-luck case, who's just landed a job at the nuclear plant.
Synopsis
The show opens with a news report about Frank Grimes, an orphan who experienced many hard times in his life, and finally self-educated himself enough to enter the workplace. Mr. Burns sees the newscast and orders Smithers to hire him at the nuclear plant as Executive Vice President. The next day, Burns forgets this decision and gives the job to a courageous dog, and assigns Grimes to a low level position. Shortly thereafter, Grimes crosses paths with Homer, and immediately dislikes him. It may have something to do with the fact that Homer is lazy, annoying, and thoroughly unqualified for the job he has.
Meanwhile, while on a trip to a local government building, Bart wanders away from Marge and ends up buying an abandoned warehouse at a tax auction for a single dollar. He moves right in, and then hires Milhouse to act as a security guard.
Back at the plant, Grimes' hatred for Homer heats up as he furthers witness Homer's ineptitude. When he brings this up to Lenny and Carl, they don't see his point, and disagree with Grimes' opinion of him. When Homer accidentally almost drinks acid, Grimes' knocks the vial out of his hand and ends up wrecking the cafeteria wall, for which he then gets blamed. At this point, he declares to Homer that they are now enemies, and secretly Grimes makes it his goal to prove to everyone that Homer is a moron.
Upon advice from Moe, Homer decides to invite Grimes to dinner at his house to try and be friends. When Grimes sees the house, his family and learns of Homer's unlikely accomplishments, he only gets angrier, ranting that it is inconceivable that such a screw-up could achieve so much, when Grimes works hard for everything, and has nothing to show for it. After hearing this, Homer decides to clean up his act (in his own meager way) and appear more professional on the job. Grimes sees a flyer for a childrens' "Design Your Own Power Plant" contest, he maneuvers Homer into entering it. Meanwhile, the warehouse Bart owns collapses in the middle of the night, ending that plot point.
At the contest, Homer's diorama made from paper, macaroni and sparkles wins first prize, beating out Ralph Wiggum and Martin Prince. Grimes snaps, and begins to rampage through the plant, imitating Homer, as he loses his sanity. In a last desperate demonstration, he grabs an open conduit and electrocutes himself. Homer gets the last laugh at Grimes' funeral as he drools and talks in his sleep.
Quotes
Grimes: But this was a contest for children!
Lenny: Yeah, and Homer beat their brains out.
Grimes: [imitating homer] I'm peeing on the seat. Give me a raise! Now I'm returning to work without washing my hands. But it doesn't matter, because I'm Homer Simpson! I don't need to do my work, 'cause someone else will do it for me. D'oh! D'oh! D'oh!
Homer: Hey, you okay, Grimey?
Grimes: I'm better than okay. I'm Homer Simpson.
Homer: [chuckles] You wish.
Trivia
- The picture of Lenny on Homer's console reads "Homer Have A Great Summer".
- Homer eats Frank's daitetic lunch at 10:35 am.
- Grimes always wipes his hands on his pants before he shakes hands with someone.
- Lenny and Carl have master's degrees, but Homer's degree, which he received in an earlier episode isn't mentioned.
- Homer never introduces Frank by name to his family when he arrives.
- Lisa's IQ is 156, as mentioned during the dinner introductions.
- Lisa only says 11 words in this episode.
- Grimes walks into Mr. Burns' office with a name tag, even before he is hired. He is the only other person, besides Smithers who wears one in this episode. He also retains a reserved parking lot even though he is not hired as an executive.
- Moe's bar is depicted as being on Industrial Way, in this episode.
- Martin's power plant resembles the terraforming colony in the movie Aliens
