To Cur, with Love

"To Cur, with Love" is the eighth episode of Season 24. It originally aired on December 16, 2012. The episode is the least watched episode of The Simpsons ever, only attracting 3.77 million viewers. This is mainly due to its pre-emption in some eastern markets for live coverage of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre memorial service, featuring a speech by President Obama.

Synopsis
When fire at the retirement home forces Grampa to move home with the Simpsons, Homer throws out his back on moving day and decides to stay home to recover. While enjoying his time alone, Homer gets distracted by "Villageville" - a super-addictive tablet game in which he is able to create his own virtual village, but loses the family dog, Santa's Little Helper. When the family finds the dog, Grampa tells a story of Homer's former dog, Bongo.

Plot
The retirement home is set on fire after one of Professor Frink's new machines, so Grandpa moves in with the Simpsons to the family's disappointment. On the day they pick up Grandpa, Homer throws out his back trying to get Grandpa's belonging's due to him not wearing his lifting-belt and his belt-lifting-belt. Because of this Homer stay's at the house. Homer than comes across a tablet game called "VillageVille" and starts to play it and while he plays it, he completely forgets and ignores Santa's Little Helper. When the family comes home, Bart notices the disappearance of Santa's Little Helper so he and the family but Homer looks for the dog.

When they find Santa's Little Helper in a kitchen drawer, Homer explains that he accidentally got him inside due to being distracted by VillageVille. The family then shows love to the dog but Bart then thinks that Homer dislikes Santa's Little Helper when Homer doesn't show love and when the dog barks at him viciously. Homer claims to not be a dog person and weeps bitterly when Grandpa mentions Bongo. The rest of the family do not know Bongo and ask Grandpa to tell them. Grandpa then tells them that Bongo was Homer's former dog.

Bongo and Homer were incredibly close and was with Homer the time when Grandpa was divorced. When Homer went to a display of Mr. Burns, Bongo bit him after Mr. Burns nearly hurt Homer making Mr. Burns want to kill Bongo. After Chief Wiggum (who was a dog catcher at the time) nearly captured Homer and Bongo, Grandpa decided to give Bongo to his former neighbor Miss Viola, a lesbian woman who moved to the country so she could own as many pets as she wanted and gives Bongo an Itchy and Scratchy Show sweater that was owned by Homer. Grandpa told Mr. Burns that he gave the dog away and Grandpa repays Mr. Burns by working for him for 1 year and Grandpa's relationship with Homer never patched up, finishing the story.

Homer tells his version of the story saying Grandpa hated Bongo and sold him to witches (Miss Viola) so he could be friends with rich dogs and kidnap Santa Claus. Homer then realizes that his story doesn't make any sense and reveals that after a few months, he went to rescue Bongo but then sees that Bongo is happier with Miss Viola than him. Grandpa then gives Homer a Christmas card he received from Miss Viola showing Bongo sleeping with Homer's Itchy and Scratchy Show sweater and realizes that Bongo still loves him. Grandpa and Homer hug, and then the family goes to bed. In the middle of the night, Bart tries to find Santa's Little Helper but sees him in Homer's arms sleeping as Homer dreams of him with Santa's Little Helper, a young him with Bongo, Mr. Burns with his hounds, Miss Viola and her many pets, and Krusty with his former monkey/gorilla.

Before the credits, It shows Mr. Burns being upset due to Mitt Romney losing the president election bid. He and Smithers explain to the viewer about the upcoming fiscal cliff. Mr. Burns then explains they should change their welcome to immigrants only to be told by Smithers that he's just digging deeper. Mr. Burns then says in "Marco Rubio es un pañuelo rosa" only to be told by Smithers that he made things worse as he said "Mark Blonde is a pink handkerchief" in Spanish, and Mr. Burns then finishes the public announcement.