Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore

Infobox Simpsons episode
episode_name = Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore
episode_no = 373
prod_code = HABF10
airdate = April 9, 2006
writer = Dan Castellaneta and Deb Lacusta
director = Mark Kirkland
couch_gag = A pair of cartoon hands deal out a royal flush, consisting of the jack of diamonds (Bart), the queen of diamonds (Marge), the king of diamonds (Homer), the ace of diamonds (Lisa), and the joker (Maggie). "(unlike the version shown in The Italian Bob, Homer can be heard yelling, "Whoo-hoo!" after the cards are dealt)".
guest_star = Richard Dean Anderson


image_caption = Homer as a god
season = 17

“Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore” is the seventeenth episode of the seventeenth season of "The Simpsons", and is the fourth (and, so far, last) episode written by Simpsons voice actor Dan Castellaneta and his wife Deb Lacusta. The episode originally aired on April 9, 2006. Richard Dean Anderson was the guest star.

Plot

On movie night at the nuclear plant, Homer learns that the nuclear power plant is being shut down and outsourced to India. After Homer is sent to train the new employees, he becomes power-hungry. Meanwhile, Selma and Patty meet their Hollywood heartthrob, Richard Dean Anderson, who plays MacGyver, only to find that he is totally uninterested in "MacGyver" and only did it for the pay.

Meanwhile, Homer realizes to his horror that he has come to India (which he has mistaken for Indiana, among other misconceptions). After a brief standoff with a sacred cow, Homer looks for a relative of Apu named Kavi, who should be around somewhere. After randomly asking people, he (“"Finally!"”) gets the right man on the second try.

Back in Springfield, Patty and Selma kidnap Richard Dean Anderson from his "Stargate SG-1" convention and tie him to a chair. From there, he manages to escape...only to discover that he loves escaping, and starts having Patty and Selma put him through increasingly complex "MacGyver"-esque kidnapping trials.

In India, Homer is coming to love the concept of outsourcing. With “help” from a book Marge gave him to read on the plane trip, "The Cereal Is the Prize", Homer is able to spur the "natives" into a working frenzy. Or so it appears; actually they assume that if they cheer, they will be allowed to go back to work. Homer, Smithers, and Mr. Burns get a positive (if inaccurate) impression from this, and Homer is put in total charge of the power plant while Mr. Burns takes time off to have fun floating down the Ganges with corpses he has befriended. Homer, left in charge of a slightly-overgrown nuclear power plant on a river in the middle of nowhere, appraises the Hindu deities and decides he might be a god himself.

About a week later, Lenny and Carl come to the India plant, invited by a card claiming that Homer is to become a god. (His cell phone number will, however, stay the same.)

Soon, the rest of the Simpson family, worried about Homer, travel to India and, with Mr. Burns, journey upriver on a PBR boat in an "Apocalypse Now" manner, and find that Homer is ruling the plant like a god. Horrified, Marge and the kids tell the plant workers that Homer is not a god. They cheerfully explain that they know, and are worshiping him instead for the American workplace routines he has instituted, like coffee breaks. It is revealed that Homer is treating the workers as good human beings, much to Marge’s relief. Mr. Burns calls this “madness” and decides to close down the plant and move it to an area 'where the people are more stupid and desperate for work...Springfield'. Burns then fires all the workers: however, this makes the workers delighted due to the various firing clauses Homer has written into their contracts ("Golden parachutes for all!"). The episode ends with the Simpsons, Lenny, Carl, Patty, Selma, Richard Dean Anderson, and Mr. Smithers joining in a Bollywood style dance at the plant, for which the audio continues into the credits.

Cultural references

* The title is a spoof of the 2005 film "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang".
* When the video zooms out, the airport Homer flies into is in roughly the same location as Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh which does have an international airport.
* The Taj Mahal as shown in the background is misleading. As Bangalore is in the South and the Taj Mahal is in Agra, Uttar Pradesh which is in northern India.
* Homer pretends a cardboard cutout of Mac Tonight is a thermostat repairman and also leaves it to look after the kids.
* Homer is dressed like the character Mola Ram from "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (played by the late Amrish Puri) when the Simpsons and Mr. Burns find him in India. [cite web | title = The Simpsons | publisher = TheRaider.net | url = http://www.theraider.net/information/influences/the_simpsons.php | accessdate=2008-01-17] Homer dressed as Mola Ram would later appear in the YouTube video view of Homer's life as he plunges off the bridge in the season 19 episode "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind".
* The conversation about choosing a door which may contain a tiger references the short story "The Lady or the Tiger", in which a young man must choose a door, knowing it will either house a beautiful lady who is "not" the woman he fell in love with, or a man-eating tiger.
* Patty and Selma eventually drive away Richard Dean Anderson by showing him slides of their trip to the [http://www.remingtoncarriagemuseum.com/ Remington Carriage Museum] in Cardston, Alberta. The museum was actually quite honored by the reference, even though it was in the context of "boring summer vacations". In an interview, "The Simpsons" producer Al Jean said the idea to use the museum came from writer Matt Selman, who is, according to Jean, "a big fan of carriage museums". [cite news |title=Alberta Museum Immortalized by "The Simpsons" |url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060411/atla_museum_060411/20060411?hub=Entertainment |work= |publisher=CTV |date=April 11, 2006 |accessdate=2007-10-26 ]
* The five carriages Patty mentions are the Phaeton, Landau, Buckboard, Post-chaise, and Surrey (the latter, more than once).
* Homer says that God has a white beard and invented The Da Vinci Code.
* Homer Simpson view the Hindu Gods where one is blue and has a white beard and called him Papa Smurf.

Songs

The song that plays as the Simpsons sail through India is "The End" by The Doors, which was also used in the film "Apocalypse Now". It was previously used in "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder", when Homer contemplates suicide after everyone becomes sick of him being famous for bowling a 300 game. The song that plays at the end of the episode is "Pal Bhar Ke Liye" composed by Kalyanji-Anandji, and performed by Kishore Kumar, a famous Indian playback singer. The track is from the 1970 Hindi movie "Johny Mera Naam" starring Dev Anand and Hema Malini.

References