Marge's Son Poisoning

"Marge's Son Poisoning"
The Simpsons episode
Marge and Bart's new bike.
Episode no.	361
Prod. code	GABF20
Orig. airdate	November 13, 2005
Show runner(s)	Al Jean
Written by	Daniel Chun
Directed by	Mike B. Anderson
Couch gag	The Simpsons go to sit on the couch, but the couch grows fangs and snarls at the family. The Simpsons run out into the street, where everyone's chairs, sofas and loungers are rising up and attacking their masters. Sherri and Terri (the purple-haired twins) are swallowed by their beanbag chairs, Officers Eddie and Lou are trapped in their police car as the couches rock it back and forth, Professor Frink is attacked by his futuristic couch, and Moe fights back against his bar stools by blasting them with his shotgun. Homer hides out from the rampaging seats in a store called "Couch World", but isn't safe there as all the couches pile on top of Homer and crush him.
Season 17 September 11, 2005 – May 21, 2006 "Bonfire of the Manatees" "The Girl Who Slept Too Little" "Milhouse of Sand and Fog" "Treehouse of Horror XVI" "Marge's Son Poisoning" "See Homer Run" "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas" "The Italian Bob" "Simpsons Christmas Stories" "Homer's Paternity Coot" "We're on the Road to D'ohwhere" "My Fair Laddy" "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story" "Bart Has Two Mommies" "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife" "Million Dollar Abie" "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore" "The Wettest Stories Ever Told" "Girls Just Want to Have Sums" "Regarding Margie" "The Monkey Suit" "Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play" List of all The Simpsons episodes
Seasons 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23

"Marge's Son Poisoning" is the fifth episode of the seventeenth season of The Simpsons.

Plot

The family is at Paradise Pier, the Ferris wheel of which Marge has been looking forward all her life to riding, only to find out that it is being dismantled with some of its equipment being sold. Homer purchases a dumbbell while Marge gets a tandem bicycle. When Marge wants to take the bike for a ride, she finds Homer, Bart and Maggie unwilling to join her.

She tries it on her own and repeatedly falls. Realizing that his mother might actually be lonely, Bart offers to go for a ride with her. They ride into an unincorporated part of the county and come upon a small village that features a tea house. Later, the tea house closes forever due to poor sanitation, causing Bart to invite his mother to his treehouse for tea.

Marge redecorates the treehouse and the pair goes off to get a new tea service; Bart gets a Krusty Teapot. Outside the store, the bullies Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney accuse Bart of being a mama's boy, which causes Bart to rebel on Marge. Marge goes into a depression and eventually sells the bike to Chief Wiggum, Eddie and Lou.

Feeling bad, Bart offers to team with her in a karaoke contest. While seeing Principal Skinner and his mother perform, Marge has visions of a terrible future for Bart, and she stops the show to let Bart know that he can find his own way of life and that he should not worry about her because it is her job to worry about him. To make things better, she gives him a fire extinguisher to spray in front of the audience, including the bullies that teased him.

Meanwhile, at Moe's, Homer shows off the strength in one of his arms he has gained from working with the dumbbell, and Moe has an idea on how to capitalize on it. Moe takes Homer to the arm-wrestling championships, where Homer readily wins the grand prize—a refund on his $50 admission fee—but finds that he really misses his wife.

Cultural references

• Marge and Bart sing "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd with alternate lyrics while riding the tandem bicycle, and Marge and Homer also sings the chorus of the song at the end of the episode.
• Marge and Bart go shopping at a store called The China Syndrome, a possible reference to the movie by that name.
• The melody from the film Midnight Cowboy plays when Margie is sad after being turned down by Bart.
• Principal Skinner and his mother sing "Ebony and Ivory," originally by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder.
• In the ending Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney are singing "My Sharona" by The Knack.
• At the karaoke, Apu was singing "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" by Paula Cole.

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