The Dad-Feelings Limited
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"The Dad-Feelings Limited"
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Episode Information
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"The Dad-Feelings Limited" is the eleventh episode of broadcast season 32 of The Simpsons and the six-hundred and ninety-fifth episode overall. It originally aired on January 3, 2021. The episode was written by Ryan Koh and directed by Chris Clements. It guest stars Dan Aykroyd as Postage Stamp Fellow and Bob Balaban as the narrator.
Synopsis[edit]
- After looking after the Simpson children, Comic Book Guy and Kumiko contemplate having a baby. Comic Book Guy goes back to his childhood home, where he confronts his feelings over his own absent father.
Plot[edit]
Comic Book Guy, his wife Kumiko, and the Simpson family are the protagonists of two stories. On one side, the couple enjoy their Sunday together while ignoring the family's requests at the Android's Dungeon for birthday presents.
Marge and Homer barely manage to get through the day after spending so much time around children and accidentally grab the wrong kid when picking up Bart, mistakenly taking home Leland Huebner III, a child who resembles him. They bring the kids home and trick Ned into babysitting them while they escape to a trivia night at Moe's.
At the trivia night, they join Comic Book Guy and Kumiko's team and win. After a messy dinner with their husbands, Marge invites Kumiko to her house and offers her advice for handling Comic Book Guy's lifestyle. When Maggie starts crying, Marge asks Kumiko to take care of her while she prepares a bottle.
Kumiko is unfamiliar with babies, but after handing Maggie the doll that fell from the crib, she holds her and sings a Japanese lullaby, soothing her. Marge comments on how natural she is with Maggie, and Kumiko decides to ask her husband to have a baby. However, after spending his life around children at the Android's Dungeon, he says he doesn't want any.
That night, Marge notices how affected Kumiko is through her Instasnap posts, and Homer agrees to help them "ruin their happy life without kids." At the Springfield Forever Cemetery, it's movie night, and Homer promises Bart and Lisa gift cards if they show Comic Book Guy and Kumiko how well-behaved they are. The film shown is Forward to the Past, but Comic Book Guy becomes angry when Bart and Lisa start watching videos on their phones, disappointing Kumiko.
Homer and Marge wander into a platinum crypt, where they start kissing but end up stuck inside. At the movie, Bart and Lisa express how much they love the ending, which warms Comic Book Guy's heart. However, when they search for Homer and Marge, the kids get scared by them trying to push open the crypt door while looking like zombies. Comic Book Guy panics and runs off instead of helping.
Raphael frees Homer and Marge, and the family reunites. Kumiko tells them Comic Book Guy has gone to a place without hope—his childhood home, where his father, Postage Stamp Fellow, lives. Frustrated, Kumiko convinces Homer and Marge to bring him back. They go to his childhood home, where his backstory is revealed.
Comic Book Guy grew up surrounded by childless relatives who focused on collecting rather than affection. Marge tries to convince him to return, but he declares he'll live there from now on. Marge grabs a framed picture of him on a baseball team.
The story continues with how he turned to baseball, though he never got to play. The day before the big game, the other pitchers were injured and he was called to pitch, but his father didn't show up to witness his moment. He failed, and his teammates threw him into the trash.
In the trash, he found discarded comics and began his passion, becoming Comic Book Guy. Marge confronts his father over his absence and lack of love.
Marge threatens to lick one of Postage Stamp Fellow's prized stamps, and he explains that he was buying a signed baseball from Sandy Koufax, believing that if his son lost, he wouldn't know how to comfort him, so he gave him a collectible instead.
The two reconcile and play catch with the encased ball, and the experience changes Comic Book Guy. He returns home, now ready to have a baby.
Gallery[edit]
Production[edit]
- Originally, Postage Stamp Fellow had a voice similar to Sideshow Bob, but after producer Brian Kaufman pointed it out, Dan Aykroyd changed it to a more nerdy voice.[1]
- A line was cut where Marge would have asked for ranch dressing for her ramen.[2]
- The cast wanted to animate the Wes Anderson sequence in stop-motion, but time constrictions didn't allow it.[3]
Reception[edit]
"The Dad-Feelings Limited" was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program in the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards. However, it lost to "Plague of Madness" from Primal.[4]
References[edit]
Promo videos[edit]
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Wikisimpsons has a collection of images related to "The Dad-Feelings Limited". |
