I, Carumbus
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"I, Carumbus"
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Episode Information
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"I, Carumbus" is the second episode of broadcast season 32 of The Simpsons and the six hundred eighty-sixth episode overall. It originally aired on October 4, 2020. The episode was written by Cesar Mazariegos and directed by Rob Oliver. It guest stars Joe Mantegna as Gordus Antonius and Michael Palin as the Springfield History Museum curator.
Synopsis[edit]
- "At a museum exhibit of Ancient Rome, Marge and Homer get into an argument about Homer's lack of ambition. They then imagine a Roman version of what would happen if Homer were more career-driven. Thus, the story of Obeseus the Wide unfolds."
Plot[edit]
The family visits the Springfield History Museum's Ancient Rome gallery, where Marge and Homer argue over him participating in a management position training program, with Marge wanting Homer to put in more effort. When the museum curator hears their story, he proposes telling them the tale of Obeseus the Wide.
The curator recounts how Obeseus comes from a poor family and has to plow the land himself, growing strong and muscular. When his father earns enough money from Obeseus' work, he buys a bull to replace him and sells Obeseus to Rome.
Obeseus is sold as a fighter in the Colosseum and must battle Wolfus Rein to the death. When all seems lost, Obeseus tackles Wolfus and plows the arena floor with his face, winning the fight. Marjora, the daughter of Obeseus' buyer, stops her father from killing him after witnessing his victory.
Obeseus and the other gladiators make a pact that whoever is freed will free the rest. However, when it is discovered that Obeseus has impregnated Marjora, he is sentenced to beheading. This ironically results in his manacles being removed, and he is forced to marry Marjora.
Marjora's father offers Obeseus' fellow gladiators as workers for his new management job. Marjora teaches him how to do the work himself instead of relying on them, but he refuses to free them as promised. The job offered is at a laundromat that uses ammonia from urine to function. His friends suggest placing jars outside taverns to collect it.
With the idea, Obeseus and his family become wealthy and move to new land. His friends again ask for freedom, but he refuses. At church, Obeseus and Marjora are denied front-row seats because he is not a senator. Marjora encourages him to become one.
Obeseus seeks an audience to convince the emperor to appoint him senator but fails. The emperor's politically adopted son then proposes they assassinate the emperor, allowing Obeseus to become senator. Obeseus complies and, over the next ten years, grows even more obese, continues ignoring his friends, and distances himself from his children. Marjora urges him to become emperor.
When Obeseus refuses, Marjora poisons the emperor's drink, killing him, and promotes their son, Bartigula, as the new emperor. Nicknamed "Bartigula the Jerk" due to his cruelty, he begins to ruin Rome and declares himself a god. He orders Obeseus to be thrown to the lions.
Obeseus brings his friends as his "belongings", and they remind him of the pact he never honored. His daughter arrives to save him, but he refuses to flee and challenges Bartigula. After a brief fight, both die—one from a fatal wound, the other from strangulation.
Marjora ultimately realizes her mistakes and poisons herself. Rome collapses 400 years later.
Back in the present, the family argues over the story. Meanwhile, the gods lament that the family missed the point, and one god asks to change the channel, claiming the show has gone off the rails since season 2016. Another god insists on watching to see how it ends, sensing the show will conclude any day now.
Production[edit]
Reception[edit]
"I, Carumbus" was nominated for a 2021 Writers Guild of America award in Animation, but it lost to "Xerox of a Xerox" from BoJack Horseman.[1]
Gallery[edit]
References[edit]
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Wikisimpsons has a collection of images related to "I, Carumbus". |
