Brother's Little Helper
"Brother's Little Helper" is the second episode of the eleventh season of The Simpsons. It aired on October 3, 1999. The title refers to an early Rolling Stones song, titled "Mother's Little Helper" (the song is about pill abuse) and also to Santa's Little Helper
Plot
Principal Skinner introduces a fire safety skit to the students. When Ned Flanders catches on fire, the fire department tries to extinguish him, but it does not work because Bart is pulling a prank with the fire hose. Skinner has Homer and Marge come to the school. It is then when Bart is diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. Principal Skinner recommends that Bart take a behavior drug called Focusyn.
After several failed attempts by Homer, Marge convinces Bart to take the medication, and his behavior immediately improves. He begins paying attention in school and being respectful to his parents. However, side effects soon occur as Bart becomes paranoid that Major League Baseball is spying on the town using satellites. The doctors recommend that Bart go off Focusyn, but he refuses. Before anyone can stop him, he swallows several handfuls of Focusyn and runs away.
Bart wanders onto an army base and manages to steal a tank (ala Shawn Nelson). He cuts a swath of destruction through the town, until he eventually stops at the school. There, he points the tank's cannon into the sky and shoots down a Major League Baseball satellite, proving his theory right. Mark McGwire appears, but instead of explaining the bizarre situation, he distracts the townspeople by hitting some baseballs and then runs off with the evidence. Marge takes Bart off Focusyn for good and puts him back on "good old Ritalin", which he is okay with.
Cultural references
- The title is a reference to The Rolling Stones 1966 single Mother's Little Helper
- Marge standing in front of the tank is a reference to Tank Man.
- The Fire Safety Day slogan, "Learn, Baby, Learn", is a spoof of "Burn, Baby, Burn"
- Homer remarks that Bart has gone from Goofus to Gallant
- When on his rampage, in a tank, Bart sings Don't Stop by Fleetwood Mac
- Bart expresses a preference for the allergy decongestant Claritin D over regular Claritin.
- One of Bart's classmates (Sherry) reads aloud the poem "The Daffodils" by William Wordsworth.
- The book that Bart gives to Homer, "Chicken Soup for the Loser", is a spoof of the book "Chicken Soup for the Soul."
- On their date, Marge and Homer see the movie Showgirls.
- The t-shirt in the army barracks, which reads "I went to the Persian Gulf and all I got was this lousy syndrome", is a reference to Gulf War Syndrome.
- Bart's Ritalin song at the end is a parody of the theme song sung at the conclusion of the Popeye animated shorts.
- Nelson's reaction when he thinks about violence or a girl while wearing the shock neclace may be a reference to "A Clockwork Orange"
