| Picture
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#
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Original title
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Original airdate
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Directed by
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Written by
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Prod. code
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509 - 1
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"Moonshine River"
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September 30, 2012
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Bob Anderson
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Tim Long[2]
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PABF21
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When Bart's love life heats up again it will this time involve five flames. But when Bart learns that Mary has relocated to New York, he decides that she's the one that got away and embarks on a mission to track her down.[3]
Guest starring: Natalie Portman, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Sarah Silverman, Al Roker, Don Pardo, Ken Burns, Zooey Deschanel.[4]
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510 - 2
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"Treehouse of Horror XXIII"
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October 7, 2012[5]
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Steven Dean Moore
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David Mandel and Brian Kelley
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PABF17
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| The episode is set to feature a Back to the Future style story involving Homer and Marge, with Marge ending up with Artie Ziff in an alternative future scenario.[6] In "The Greatest Story Ever Holed" (the first segment), Professor Frink's unstable science experiment inadvertently created the black hole that slowly sucks in the town (and townspeople) of Springfield. The Simpsons adopt a mini-black hole that is growing more powerful. It has an interesting reaction to Bart feeding it his math homework. Comic Book Guy inserts Disney's The Black Hole into the black hole. In a found-footage parody is something really strange is going on in the Simpson house they are also have a segment about Mayan prophecy of the world ending in 2012.[5][7][8]
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511 - 3
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"Adventures in Baby-Getting"
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November 4, 2012[9]
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Rob Oliver
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Bill Odenkirk
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PABF18
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| When Marge's car falls into a sink hole, she buys the perfect replacement to fit her family of five. But she quickly grows to hate it because, as she tells a shocked Homer, the car would be too small if she wanted to have another baby. Meanwhile, Bart and his friends are determined to find out what secret Lisa is keeping when Bart finds her cryptic messages and follows her sneaking off downtown for covert meetings after school.
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512 - 4
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"Gone Abie Gone"
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November 11, 2012[10]
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Matthew Nastuk
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Joel H. Cohen
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PABF16
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| Homer doesn't trust banks, so has stashed Lisa's college fund in an online poker site. The actress and poker expert Jennifer Tilly pops up in an instructional DVD that Lisa watches to brush up on her card skills.[11]
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513 - 5
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"Penny-Wiseguys"
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November 18, 2012[12]
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Mark Kirkland
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Michael Price
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PABF19
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| Homer is shocked to discover that his bowling teammate, Dan Gillick (guest voice Steve Carell), is an accountant for Fat Tony (guest voice Joe Mantegna) and his mob. When Fat Tony gets jury duty, he appoints Dan as the temporary don of the mafia. Meanwhile, Lisa adds insects to her vegetarian diet after she passes out in the middle of a saxophone solo, but starts questioning her decision when bugs start pleading for mercy in her dreams.
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514 - 6
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"A Tree Grows in Springfield"
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November 25, 2012
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Timothy Bailey
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Stephanie Gillis
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PABF22
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| Homer wins a MyPad at the school auction and Steve Mobbs, who is now in heaven, talks to Homer through it. Homer goes into a funk when he breaks the myPad, until Ned Flanders discovers a miracle tree in the Simpsons' back garden.
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515 - 7
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"The Day the Earth Stood Cool"
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December 9, 2012
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Matthew Faughnan
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Matt Selman
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PABF20
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A "cool family" from Portland moves in next door to the Simpsons. Homer is desperate to befriend them, while Marge is skeptical, thinking that being cool is not all it's cracked up to be.[15]
Guest starring: Fred Armisen, Colin Meloy, Carrie Brownstein and Patton Oswalt
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516 - 8
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"To Cur, with Love"[16]
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December 16, 2012
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Steven Dean Moore
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Carolyn Omine
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RABF01
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| When a fire at the retirement home forces Grampa (Dan Castellaneta) to move home with the Simpsons, Homer throws out his back on moving day and decides to stay home to recover. While enjoying his time alone, Homer gets distracted by "Villageville" – a super-addictive tablet game in which he is able to create his own virtual village – and loses the family dog, Santa's Little Helper.
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517 - 9
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"Homer Goes to Prep School"[16]
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January 6, 2013
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Mark Kirkland
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Brian Kelley
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RABF02
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Homer joins the "Springfield Preppers," an off-the-grid survivalist group whose leader (guest voice Tom Waits) has set up a top-secret retreat outside of town to prepare for the end of the world. But Marge grows skeptical of the group's alarmist shenanigans.
Guest starring: Tom Waits.[17]
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518 - 10
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"A Test Before Trying"
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January 13, 2013
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Chris Clements
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Joel H. Cohen
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RABF03
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When Springfield Elementary is threatened with closure because of low standardized test scores, the fate of the school rests on one student who missed the test, and who must raise the average above the minimum threshold: Bart Simpson. Meanwhile, Homer finds a parking meter at a local dump, and starts deploying it around Springfield to fleece unwitting parkers of their quarters
Guest starring: Valerie Harper.
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519 - 11
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"Changing of the Guardian"
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January 27, 2013[18]
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Bob Anderson
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Rob Lazebnik
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RABF04
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After surviving a tornado, Marge and Homer seek out guardians for the kids, in case the worst should happen. They first turn to friends and family, including Homer's half-brother, Herb Powell (guest voice DeVito) with whom to entrust their kids, but when Bart and Lisa fall in love with a super-cool couple, Mav (Hank Azaria) and Portia (guest voice Jones), Marge starts to question their potential guardians' true motivations.
Guest starring: Rashida Jones, Danny DeVito.
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520 - 12
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"Love Is a Many-Splintered Thing"[19]
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February 10, 2013[18]
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Michael Polcino
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Tim Long
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RABF07[20]
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Bart's heartstrings are pulled once again when Mary Spuckler returns to Springfield, but his failure to pay her enough attention strains their relationship.
Guest starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Max Weinberg, Robert Caro, Zooey Deschanel[21]
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521 - 13
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"Hardly Kirk-ing"
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February 17, 2013[22]
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Matthew Nastuk
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Tom Gammill and Max Pross
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RABF05
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Bart and Milhouse explore the perks of being an adult when a shaving experiment leaves Milhouse looking exactly like his father. Also, Marge desperately tries to save Maggie from the dangers of children's television.
Guest starring: Kevin Michael Richardson[23]
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522 - 14
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"Gorgeous Grampa"
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March 3, 2013[24]
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Chuck Sheetz
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Matt Selman
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RABF06[25]
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| Homer's obsession with the TV show "Storage Battles" leads the family to discover Grampa's past identity as an old-time Gorgeous George-type wrestler. What's more, he was once revered by a young Montgomery Burns who now convinces Grampa to get back in the ring. But when Bart starts to adopt some of his grandfather's former cheating ways, Grampa must reconcile with his past before it's too late. [26]
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523 - 15
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"Black-Eyed, Please"
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March 10, 2013
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Matthew Schofield
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John Frink
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RABF09
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Flanders becomes jealous when his laid-back parents start to prefer Homer's company over his and he faces unbearable guilt after punching Homer in the eye, as he desperately tries to reconcile with him. Meanwhile, Ms. Cantwell becomes Lisa's substitute teacher who does not warm to Lisa for some mysterious reason, making the latter feel distressed.
Guest starring: Tina Fey, Richard Dawkins
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524 - 16
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"Dark Knight Court"
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March 17, 2013
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Mark Kirkland
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Billy Kimball and Ian Maxtone-Graham
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RABF10
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Bart is falsely accused of pulling an Easter prank involving the school marching band and stuffing rotten eggs in the brass section’s horns, and Lisa must step in as his attorney to defend her brother. Meanwhile, Mr. Burns attempts to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a superhero, Fruit Bat Man.
Guest starring: Janet Reno and Maggy Reno Hurchalla
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525 - 17
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"What Animated Women Want"
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April 14, 2013
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Steven Dean Moore
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J. Stewart Burns
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RABF08[27]
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Wanda Sykes and George Takei guest voice as a couple experiencing marital differences. Once again, Homer must save his marriage when Marge gets fed up with his behavior. Meanwhile, after watching "A Streetcar Named Desire," Milhouse takes on a Marlon Brando-inspired bad-boy persona to attract Lisa.
Guest starring: George Takei and Wanda Sykes
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526 - 18
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"Pulpit Friction"
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April 28, 2013
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Chris Clements
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Bill Odenkirk
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RABF11
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| When the town is infested with bedbugs thanks to the Simpsons' lounge becoming broken, Lovejoy can’t cope that nobody will listen to him in the middle of this panic. But then, the most lovable minister visits Springfield and he is much more popular than Reverend Lovejoy, even recruiteing Homer to be a church deacon. But after Lovejoy becomes really upset and becomes a hot tub salesman,[29] Bart asks Flanders to help him track down their former pastor and try to figure out how to get Lovejoy back, when Homer starts to embrace the faith a little too seriously. Meanwhile, Marge finds out her dry cleaners mistakenly swapped her wedding dress with one of Krusty's costumes.
Guest starring: Edward Norton
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527 - 19
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"Whiskey Business"
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May 5, 2013
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Matthew Nastuk
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Valentina L. Garza
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RABF13
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Sonny Rollins appears as a hologram to Lisa when she takes exception to a "Tupac-at-Cochella"-style hologram of blues icon Bleeding Gums Murphy and starts a letter writing campaign to stop this holographic exploitation.[30] Grampa injures himself while babysitting Bart, and quickly discovers he prefers being cared for by his grandson than the staff at the nursing home and Moe finds a new lease on life when rich venture capitalists take an interest in his homemade bourbon after Marge and Homer help him.
Guest starring: Sonny Rollins
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528 - 20
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"The Fabulous Faker Boy"[19]
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May 12, 2013
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Bob Anderson
Couch Gag: Tom Root
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Brian McConnachie
Couch Gag:John Harvatine IV, Eric Towner
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RABF12
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Marge encourages Bart to explore his creative side and take music lessons and Bart develops a crush on his beautiful piano teacher, Zhenya. To pay for Bart's music lessons, Marge agrees to be Slava's driving instructor. Homer is shocked when he loses the last two remaining hairs on his head and Patrick Stewart teaches Homer how to live with his newfound baldness.
Guest starring: Justin Bieber,[31] Jane Krakowski, Bill Hader, Patrick Stewart
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529 - 21
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"The Saga of Carl"
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May 19, 2013
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Chuck Sheetz
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Eric Kaplan[32]
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RABF14
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Homer, Moe, Lenny and Carl win $200,000 in the Springfield Lottery. But when Carl takes off to Iceland - his homeland - with all the winnings, the guys embark on a Nordic adventure to get the cash back.
Guest starring: Sigur Rós as themselves.
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530 - 22
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"Dangers on a Train"
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May 19, 2013[34]
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Steven Dean Moore
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Michael Price
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RABF17
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| Marge mistakes a swinging Ashley Madison-type website for a Dolly Madison-type cupcake site, not realizing it's a destination for married people seeking liaisons. On the site, she meets the charming "Ben", who pursues her after they learn they share a love for a "Downton Abbey"-type TV series.[35]
Guest starring: Seth MacFarlane as Ben and Lisa Lampanelli as Ben's wife.
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