The Springfield Connection

Infobox Simpsons episode
episode_name = The Springfield Connection


image_caption = Homer in the middle of a battle between Herman and Marge.
episode_no = 126
prod_code = 2F21
airdate = May 7, 1995
show runner = David Mirkin
writer =
Jonathan Collier
director =
Mark Kirkland
blackboard = "I will not mock Mrs. Dumbface."cite book|last=Richmond |first=Ray|coauthors=Antonia Coffman|title= |year=1997 |publisher=Harper Collins Publishers|id=ISBN 0-00-638898-1|pages=p. 174]
couch_gag = Homer enters as James Bond while the theme plays, spoofing the James Bond Gunbarrel Sequence.cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season6/page23.shtml|title=The Springfield Connection
accessdate=2008-03-27|author=Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian |date=2000|publisher=BBC]
guest_star =
Phil Hartman as Lionel Hutz
commentary = Matt Groening
David Mirkin
Jonathan Collier
Dan Castellaneta
Yeardley Smith
Mark Kirkland
season = 6 "The Springfield Connection" is the 23rd episode of the sixth season of "The Simpsons", and original aired May 7 1995. It was written by Jonathan Collier and directed by Mark Kirkland. The title is a satirical reference to the 1971 movie "The French Connection".

Plot

Homer and Marge, on the way back from an orchestra performance, pass through a seedy part of town. Homer cautions Marge, but gets enticed by Snake's Three-card Monte game. Snake cheats Homer out of $20, which makes Marge mad. When she exposes the con, Snake takes off. Marge, not wanting to let a crook run away and not getting any help, chases after him, with Homer following laboriously. Marge runs faster than Snake who becomes trapped in a dead end. He tries to attack Marge with a knife, but a panicked Marge manages to knock him out using a garbage can lid. She begins to feel that the whole (mis)adventure has given her a sense of exhilaration.

Soon, she begins to find that her everyday routine is dull and boring. In the grocery store, she starts rolling around on her shopping cart until it crashes, exciting her more. Instead of regular ham, she buys deviled ham. She begins to lose interest in her previous magazines (Sponge and Vacuum), and checks out the Death Sports section. She decides to spice up her life by joining the Springfield Police Force, much to the amusement of Chief Wiggum, although he agrees after a while.

Homer, however, is less than enthused about his wife being a cop, but she assures him that he will remain "man of the house". Marge reports for police recruit training. She does well in the obstacle course (but she gets negative comments from Chief Wiggum, as she tries to climb a wall, instead of going through a door), pretty well in the shooting range (although according to Chief Wiggum, Marge forgot to shoot cardboard cutouts depicting a mother and her baby and a blind man with a seeing-eye dog, both of which weren't armed or posing a threat to Marge), and nails the high-speed driving test -- although Wiggum asks her to redo it, as he was distracted by a Magic Eye picture in a book. Finally she goes home to her family, and announces herself to be a cop.

The next day, after a breakfast of donuts and coffee, a cop's necessary sustenance, Marge reports to the station for work. Wiggum, after assigning some cops to stake out a donut place and some cops to sleep in, sends inexperienced and vulnerable Marge to Junkyville and Bumtown for her beat.

On her beat, after encountering Lionel Hutz rummaging in a dumpster, she goes to the Kwik-E-Mart, where Apu, who knows the drill, tries to bribe her. They both turn their backs as Marge will not take the money, and Apu leaves it on the table; they are both satisfied when the money is gone, as Mr. Burns takes it. She then settles a domestic disturbance in the Skinner residence.

On her day off, she orders Bart to wear safety gear when skateboarding, which gets him beaten up by the bullies. She goes to the beauty salon, where the people there are a little skittish around her. Lisa tries to encourage her mom to "attack the roots of social problems" but fails when Marge does not understand what she means and changes the subject with a McGriff the Crime Dog hand puppet.

That night, Homer and his friends (Lenny, Carl, Moe, Barney, and Herman) are playing cards. Herman excuses himself to get some fresh air. Homer fires up a Cuban cigar. Marge comes in and finds them gambling, which is illegal. Homer's friends beat a hasty retreat while Homer himself is a little mad at her for not being home more often.

The next day, she seems rather unenthusiastic, as everyone seems to be breaking the law -- especially Homer, who has parked illegally and is buying liquor for the underage bullies. She tells him to move his car, which he refuses to do, leading her to write him a ticket. He gets even more obnoxious, teasing Marge and stealing her hat, which prompts her to arrest him. Later, he is released (after eating Hans Moleman's last meal) but he is pretty mad at Marge.

When he gets home, he finds a jean-counterfeiting operation going on in his own garage (or "Car-hole," according to Moe) and his friend, Herman, is involved. As Herman and his cronies are about to tune him up, Marge busts in to save the day. As she is cuffing the rest of the crooks, Herman takes Homer as a hostage and runs to Bart's tree house, with Marge in hot pursuit. She manages to evade getting shot, by coming in through the secret entrance. Herman tries to escape using a pair of knock-off jeans to slide down a rope, but the stitching on the jeans is shoddy and they tear, causing Herman to fall to the ground.

Later, Wiggum informs Marge that they can not hold him due to lack of evidence. Homer retorts saying that there is a garage full of counterfeit jeans. However, Wiggum says that they have "mysteriously disappeared" -- true, considering all the cops are wearing them now. Marge gets mad and says that there is too much corruption on the force and she quits. After a hearty laugh, Wiggum accepts her resignation.

Cultural references

The title, as well as Herman's illegal activities, are references to the 1971 film "The French Connection", and the couch gag is a parody of the "James Bond" series. Several references are made to the 1980s police drama "Hill Street Blues": the briefing scene at the police station is similar and the background and end credits music, are parodies of the show's theme. Marge appears on an episode of "COPS", and McGriff the dog is a reference to "McGruff the Crime Dog", the US police public relations figure. Additionally, Marge's training sequences features homages to "Police Academy" and "Speed". The Springfield Pops play the theme to the "Star Wars" films, and Homer mistakenly believes that its composer John Williams is dead. [cite news|url=http://www.starwars.com/community/news/media/f20070724/indexp3.html|title=I Bent My Wookiee! Celebrating the Star Wars/Simpsons Connection|accessdate=2008-04-22|date=2007-07-24|author=Scott Chernoff|publisher=Star Wars.com]

References

External links

*Snpp capsule|2F21