The Spy Who Learned Me
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"The Spy Who Learned Me"
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Episode Information
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"The Spy Who Learned Me" is the twentieth episode of season 23. It originally aired on May 6, 2012. Bryan Cranston guest-starred as superspy Stradivarius Cain and Eric Idle guest starred as Declan Desmond.
Synopsis
- "Homer and Marge go through marriage problems, and when Homer suffers a concussion at work and gets two months off, he imagines the crime fighter Stradivarius Cain, to help Homer be a better man. Meanwhile, Bart learns a way to stop Nelson stealing his lunch money - giving him Krusty Burgers until he's too fat to punch anyone."
Plot
Homer and Marge are watching a movie starring the master spy Stradivarius Cain, and Homer keeps making remarks throughout it. Marge disapproves of it, but Lenny and Carl congratulate him. On the way home, Homer is chuckling but Marge is still angry.
At Springfield Elementary School, Skinner informs everybody that in order to cut down on the embarrassing YouTube videos of teachers, they have to take away the students' smart phones. The students also have to put their money on a plate, and when the they come out, Nelson steals it. Bart gets annoyed at this.
At work, Homer is on a stepladder when Lenny and Carl come up to him. Mr. Burns drives a mini car and crash into the steps and Homer falls on to the ground, receiving a concussion with eight weeks of paid vacation. When Homer comes home he want to tell the news to his family, but realizes that everyone is mad at him. He decides to keep it a secret. The next day, Homer says goodbye to Marge claiming to be going to work, but goes to town instead.
At Springfield Elementary, Bart's class watch a documentary by Declan Desmond entitled Do You Want Lies With That?. The documenary feature Desmond eating only food from Krusty Burger for a month; at the end of the month he is extremely overweight. This gives Bart the idea to offer Krusty Burgers to Nelson until he is too fat and lazy to steal their lunch money.
At noon, Homer is drinking at Moe's, when he sees Stradivarius Cain on the television. When he looks round, Stadivarius is sitting next to him, and explains he is an imaginary friend who intends him to help him become a better husband. At school, Nelson steals the boys' lunch money again, but when he comes to Bart, Bart instead gives him a Krusty Burger and fries, and coupons for free hamburgers. On the news, a report about childhood obesity features Nelson. Lisa realizes that Nelson has become fat because of Bart.
Homer visits a bar where Stradivarius tells him to attempt flirting with a lady, and he succeeds after a few failed attempts. The lady's boyfriend sees and prepares to shoot Homer, but he manages to weaken him by squeezing a lime in his eye (as a lemon failed to do anything).
Marge drives to the Power Plant, but when she arrives she is informed by Lenny that Homer has been away for six weeks after being given time off. Lisa takes Nelson to Krusty, who lets him loan his personal trainer. When Homer gets home, he finds Marge sitting at the front door. She asks him about his absence at work, so, on the advice of Stradivarius Cain, he tells her the truth about why he lied and Marge accepts it.
Homer takes Marge out to a club and she discovers that he is a better husband now. At the club, the boyfriend who Homer angered again prepares to shoot Homer. This time Homer has no lime to use on him, but the man's girlfriend distracts him so Homer and Marge hide from him to think of a plan. Homer telling Marge why this has happened and realizes that he must take help from Stradivarius to stop the angry boyfriend. Stradivarius gives Homer a tip, and Homer uses the same sentence he used on the man's gilfriend to convince the man not to shoot. Stradivarius says that his job is complete, while Homer and Marge continues to party.
The nerds in the school celebrate that Nelson has stopped stealing their lunch money, but the joy is short as Nelson appears much larger and stronger than before. Bart asks Lisa why she did this, and she says that "he's tough on nerds but easy on the eyes".
Reception
The episode gathered 4.74 million viewers in its slot on Fox. At the time of airing, it was the third least watched episode in The Simpsons history, in front of "The Daughter Also Rises" with 4.33 million viewers and "Ned 'n' Edna's Blend Agenda" with 4.00 million viewers.
