Brush with Greatness
"Brush with Greatness"
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Episode Information
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"Brush with Greatness" is the 18th episode from the second season of The Simpsons. The episode aired on April 11, 1991.
Synopsis
After Bart and Lisa see Krusty do his show at the Mt. Splashmore water park, they ask Homer if they can go there. Homer gets annoyed, but reluctantly decides to take them there. The family goes to Mt. Splashmore, where they ride H2WHOA!, a crowded water slide. As Homer goes on H2WHOA!, he gets lodged in a section of a pipe. After the rescue crew removes him from the ride, with the help of a large crane, he realizes that he needs to lose weight and announces that he will go on a diet.
While Homer is looking for his weights, Bart stumbles on paintings of Ringo Starr that Marge made as a student in high school, when she had a crush on him. Lisa asks Marge what her painting talent was as a schoolgirl, and she says that as a high school student, she was scolded for doing a painting of Ringo Starr. She also recalls sending a painting to him for an "honest opinion", which she also recalls never actually got a response. Lisa suggests that Marge take a painting class at Springfield Community College, which she does. She makes a painting of Homer, which her professor, Lombardo, praises. It wins the college art show.
Meanwhile, Mr. Burns grows exasperated as a number of hired artists fail to paint a suitable self-portrait of himself for installation in the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts. After seeing Marge's winning painting in the newspaper, Smithers has Mr. Burns consider Marge. She reluctantly agrees, as long as Burns insists that the painting portray him as a beautiful man. During the sessions to paint him, Burns constantly heckles different members of the Simpsons family, causing Marge's patience to wear thin. When Homer finds out that he weighs 239 pounds, which is 21 less than what it previously was, Burns insults Homer by calling him 'the fattest thing he's ever seen.' After this incident, Marge insists that Mr. Burns can leave. Marge concedes that given Mr. Burn's personality, she can't paint a beautiful picture of him. Homer encourages Marge to finish the painting, and in the mail she gets a reply from Ringo Starr, who is decades behind on answering his fanmail, praising a picture she sent him years earlier. She finishes the painting, and at the opening of the Burns Wing, she unveils the painting. The painting depicts a naked, frail, and weak Burns. The people are shocked, until Marge explains that it depicts what Burns actually is: a vulnerable human being which will, one day, be no more. Everyone, even Burns, who is at first outraged but then accepts his new glory, praises Marge's painting. . Also noted is that when Carl speaks in the episode, it is the voice of Lenny speaking as Carl.
Appearances
Characters
- Krusty the Clown
- Sideshow Mel
- Bart Simpson
- Lisa Simpson
- Homer Simpson
- Marge Simpson
- Maggie Simpson
- Dr. J. Loren Pryor
- Black Weasel
- Scott Christian
- Santa's Little Helper
- Female TV Reporter
- Kent Brockman
- Mr. Schindler (flashback)
- Selma Bouvier (flashback)
- Patty Bouvier (flashback)
- Apu Nahasapeemapetilon
- Sanjay Nahasapeemapetilon (mentioned)
- Professor Lombardo
- Snowball II
- Mr. Burns
- Waylon Smithers
- Carl Carlson
- Ringo Starr
- Weatherby
- Barney Gumble
- Moe Szyslak
- Julius Hibbert
- Elizabeth Hoover
Vehicles
Locations
- Mt. Splashmore
- 742 Evergreen Terrace
- Springfield High School (flashback)
- Bouvier House (flashback)
- Springfield Community College
- Springfield Nuclear Power Plant
- Liverpool
- Springfield Palace of Fine Arts
