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"Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield"
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| "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield"
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| Episode Information
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"Scenes From the Class Struggle in Springfield" is the fourteenth episode of Season 7, which aired on February 4, 1996. The episode was written by Jennifer Crittenden and directed by Susie Dietter. Tom Kite guest stars as himself.
Marge gets an expensive "new" dress at the outlet mall. While wearing it she meets a former schoolmate who invites her and the family to the country club. Marge becomes obsessed with trying to fit in. Homer takes up golf at the club and Mr. Burns challenges him to a game. After Homer catches him cheating, Mr. Burns agrees to help Homer's family become members of the country club if he doesn't tell anyone.
Plot
The family's TV breaks down (thanks to Grampa trying to fix it), and they go buy a new one at an outlet mall in Ogdenville. While the family is there, Marge sees a $90 Chanel suit (marked down from $2800). After some coaxing from Lisa she buys it, and is wearing it at the Kwik-E-Mart when she meets an old high school acquaintance, Evelyn Peters, who invites her to the Springfield Country Club. Marge begins visiting the country club with the family, and works hard to fit in with the snobbish members, finding less time for her children and spending it all socializing and altering her suit to appear like multiple outfits.
Meanwhile, Homer takes a fondness to the game of golf, meeting PGA Tour pro Tom Kite, who considers Homer to be a natural. When Mr. Burns discovers Homer showing off his impressive skills in a bathroom at work, he has Smithers schedule a match for the two. Burns appears to be an amazing player before it is revealed that Smithers has been cheating on his behalf for decades by secretly placing a ball on the green for each shot, leading Burns to believe that he has reached the green himself. Homer wants to reveal the truth, but is told that Mr. Burns will block the family's Country Club entry if he goes public. He reluctantly obliges to keeping the secret.
On the eve of the gala ball in which the Simpsons will be granted membership in the country club, Marge accidentally destroys the suit when Lisa is distracting her, and rushes back to the outlet mall to find another dress. Being unable to find one, she heads to a Chanel store to purchase an expensive replacement. As they approach the country club, Marge realises how she has changed to fit in and decides that she wouldn't want to join a club that would have the fictional, snobbish Marge, anyway. (It is revealed in a cutaway scene that the country clubbers really did like them, and were really looking forward to their joining). The Simpsons then have dinner instead at Krusty Burger, reveling in the lower-class surroundings.
