Double, Double, Boy in Trouble

"Double, Double, Boy in Trouble"
The Simpsons episode
Bart meets his double.
Episode no.	423
Prod. code	KABF14
Orig. airdate	October 19, 2008
Show runner(s)	Al Jean
Written by	Bill Odenkirk
Directed by	Michael Polcino
Chalkboard gag	There is no such month as "Rocktober".
Couch gag	In a parody of The Wizard of Oz, the family gets in a tornado accident and go from color to black and white in the Barnyard.
Guest star(s)	Joe Montana
Season 20 September 28, 2008 – May 17, 2009 "Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes" "Lost Verizon" "Double, Double, Boy in Trouble" "Treehouse of Horror XIX" "Dangerous Curves" "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words" "Mypods and Boomsticks" "The Burns and the Bees" "Lisa the Drama Queen" "Take My Life, Please" "How the Test Was Won" "No Loan Again, Naturally" "Gone Maggie Gone" "In the Name of the Grandfather" "Wedding for Disaster" "Eeny Teeny Maya Moe" "The Good, the Sad and the Drugly" "Father Knows Worst" "Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh" "Four Great Women and a Manicure" "Coming to Homerica" List of all The Simpsons episodes
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"Double, Double, Boy in Trouble" is the third episode of the The Simpsons' twentieth season, and first aired October 19, 2008.^[1] Bart meets the rich Simon Woosterfield, who happens to be Bart's exact look-alike. Because of this, the two decide to switch homes; Simon enjoys his time with the Simpsons while Bart discovers his rich new half-brother and sister are out to kill him, so they can inherit the vast Woosterfield family fortune. Former NFL football great Joe Montana guest stars as himself.^[1] In its original airing, the episode garnered a strong 8.09 million viewers.^[2]

Plot

The episode begins off with Maggie, Homer and Bart at the Kwik-E Mart. Apu tries to get Homer to buy the last lottery ticket claiming the last ticket is always lucky. When Homer is about to take money out to buy the ticket, Bart decides to jump off a shelf and land in Chief Wiggum's cart full of marshmallows. However Wiggum moves the cart and Homer must rescue him. When he is about to land Lenny comes and buys the ticket. Lenny wins $50,000 which Homer gets jealous of. Apu decides to put it in his book The Ironic Tales of the Kwik-E Mart. At Moe's Tavern Lenny announces he is going to spend his winnings on a giant party at Woosterfield Hotel. The family can't find Bart before leaving but Bart is actually upstairs in the attic with a water gun full of cat urine. When he is about to shoot it at Rod and Todd Flanders in a wagon below, Marge steps in and Bart accidentally sprays Marge. After that Marge must wear her "back up dress". Homer and Marge wonder why Bart cannot behave and come to conclusion when Marge had a small drop of beer when Mayor Quimbly broke a bottle full of beer against a ship. When Marge opened her mouth a small drop of alcohol went in traveling to the infant. When it finally did the baby got spiky hair and its eye became Bart as a chorus sings Bart's catchphrase. At Lenny's party Bart discovers that Lenny will give out vacuuming robots in gift bags. Bart activates all the bad settings on them secretly. When everyone finds out Marge takes away Bart's non dice board game privileges after Bart says she already took away his TV and video game privileges. In the bathroom Bart meets his look alike the rich Simon Woosterfield youngest child of the Woosterfields that are billionaires richer than Mr. Burns. They also meet an adult Bart who has a wife that looks like Milhouse.

The boys decide to secretly switch places and live each others lives for a while by trading their clothes in the bathroom. Bart likes his new life as a rich child however when he invites Milhouse over Simon's half siblings Devan and Quimbly put a spoon heated by a lighter in his mouth as he is blocking their full inheritance of the family fortune. Simon does not like his life as Marge cooked noodles with root beer and Cheetos he did not eat it. So Homer eats it and chews with his mouth open. When Simon is sent to bed without supper after calling Homer a spu-monkey for spitting food on him, Marge gives him pizza with no crusts and tucks him in. (This sequence would later provide the inspiration for "Postcards from the Wedge", as it introduces the key plot for that episode) The next day the Woosterfields hold a party for all the rich people. When Devan and Quimbly lock him in the Woosterfield mausoleum telling him that the bodies turn to candy, Mr. Burn's gets him out. He tells Bart he was once the youngest in a wealthy family and his siblings all murdered each other in order to get the entire fortune mostly by poisonous potatoes. Bart realizes that Devan and Quimbly want to murder him in order to get the fortune and Simon inheritance.

When Simon listens to Abraham's stories Lisa concludes that Simon is an imposter and Simon explains his story to the family and that Devan and Quimbly are taking Bart to Aspen where they'll try to kill him so they can get his inheritance. Bart begins to start packing to leave however Devan and Quimbly are taking him to Aspen in order to kill him. Before the Simpsons get to him Quimbly pushes Bart down a hill only for experienced skiers. When Devan says that they'll split Simon's inheritance Quimbly offers Devan an implied poisoned potato (Devan's faith remains unknown) believing Simon to be dead so she'll get the entire fortune. Homer manages to save Bart in time and Simon is returned to his family with a hot fudge sundae by his butler Chester. The episode ends with Bart in bed saying "This is the life."

Cultural references

The title is a reference to the Double, Double, Toil and Trouble scene in Macbeth. Early in the episode, Homer makes a reference to Dennis the Menace.^[3] The plot is a parody of Mark Twain's novel The Prince and the Pauper.^[4]

Reception

The episode had an approximate 8.09 million viewers, an improvement from the previous episode.^[2] Robert Canning of IGN said, "It was a far from groundbreaking episode, to be sure, but our familiarity of the characters and the fair amount of laughs made for yet another pleasurable viewing experience". He went on to say, "The story as a whole was interesting and the jokes were funny enough to elicit several audible guffaws" and rated the episode a 7.8 out of 10.^[3] Erich Asperschlager of TV Verdict said, "'Double Double' scores a solid B on the laugh-o-meter. While there weren't many guffaws, I chuckled more than a few times."^[4]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "SIMPSONS, THE on FOX". FoxFlash. 2008-09-25. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings.aspx?id=20080925fox18&date=10/19/08. Retrieved 2008-09-25. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Ratings: Double, Double, Boy in Trouble Simpsons Channel. Retrieved October 20, 2008.
3. ^ ^{a b} Robert Canning IGN: Double, Double, Boy in Trouble Review Retrieved October 20, 2008.
4. ^ ^{a b} Asperschlager, Erich. "The Simpsons 20.3: “Double, Double, Boy in Trouble”". DVD Verdict. http://www.tvverdict.com/2008/10/20/the-simpsons-203-double-double-boy-in-trouble/. Retrieved 2008-10-21. 

External links

The Simpsons portal

• "Double, Double, Boy in Trouble" at TV.com
• "Double, Double, Boy in Trouble" at the Internet Movie Database