| "Faith Off"
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| Episode Information
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Faith Off is the eleventh episode of Season 11. It originally aired on January 16, 2000. The episode was written by Frank Mula and directed by Nancy Kruse. The song "Testify" is featured in this episode. Don Cheadle and Joe Mantegna guest star.
Synopsis
Bart becomes hooked on the art of faith healing after witnessing the spin of a traveling revivalist. Meanwhile, Homer prepares for the homecoming game of his old college-days chums.
Plot
Homer visits Springfield University (from "Homer Goes to College") to pull a prank on Dean Bobby Peterson with his old nerd friends, Benjamin, Doug and Gary. Homer tries to put a bucket filled with glue on the Dean's head, but another bucket full of glue is already above the door and falls on Homer's head, and he cannot get it off. The family attends a religious revival, hosted by a faith healer named Brother Faith, and Bart pulls the bucket off Homer's head. Brother Faith considers this act a sign that Bart has the "gift" of healing. Lisa is skeptical and attempts to use reason to explain that the hot stage lights heated the metal bucket, allowing Bart to pull it off. Undaunted, Bart becomes a faith healer, pulls miracles of his own, and even forms his own church where he heals Springfield's residents.
The church is cut short, however, when Milhouse is run down after he mistakes an oncoming truck for a dog. Bart had "healed" him of his myopia during his revival meeting by knocking his glasses off his face. Subsequently, Bart decides to end his career as a faith healer. Meanwhile, Homer prepares for Springfield University's homecoming football game by building a float that he has fashioned out of flowers (stolen from Ned Flanders' garden). At the game, everyone (including the family) cheers for S.U.'s football team's star player, a kicker named Anton Lubchenko. Homer gets drunk and forgets he has made a float to celebrate SU. He crowd surfs down to the playing field, and runs to his float. Unfortunately, halftime has ended, the other floats have left the field and the players have come back on. Homer drives his float over the leg of Lubchenko, horribly wounding him. Fat Tony threatens to kill Homer with an ice pick if Lubchenko doesn't return to the game. Homer convinces Bart to try and heal the kicker. Bart prays to God to help him heal the kicker. With his team down by 2 points, Lubchenko returns to the game and kicks the football, which does not make the goal. Lubchenko's leg is then shown to have come off, hit the ball into the air and through the goal, winning the game. Bart announces that he doesn't have special powers.
