The Bonfire of the Manatees

"I'm gonna take you home and fix you up. 'Cause you're the real endangered species, a devoted husband. [purrs and kisses Homer]"

- Marge

The Bonfire of the Manatees is the first episode of The Simpsons ' seventeenth season. It was the first episode to air in September and first non-Halloween episode to start out the season since season 11's "Beyond Blunderdome".

Synopsis
When Homer falls for a football betting scam and owes money to Fat Tony, who chooses to let Homer pay off the debt by letting him shoot a porno film in the house. When Marge finds out, she drives off, and while she is calling Homer, the phone booth she is in is attacked by a manatee, which is driven off by a marine biologist specializing in them (right down to his "I love manatees" tattoo). Marge becomes fascinated by the manatees, which doesn't escape Homer's notice, so when a pack of them are attacked by jet-skiers, it is up to Homer to save the day, the manatees, and then himself.

Full Story
Homer is watching a football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos. Upon viewing the Broncos win, Homer complains about not listening to the advice given to him from "Professor Pigskin". Lisa is reading a book nearby and asks Homer who Professor Pigskin is. Homer then reveals a gambling book and tells her that he gives out the winners in advance and he had picked up every issue for the past few weeks and each prediction had been correct. Lisa then sighs, rolls her eyes and explains that there are actually two books sent out each week half picking one of the playing teams half picking the other and after a short period of time a group of people will have only received the correct predictions and assume that the books will be always right and then purchase an expensive subscription from the company. Homer doesn't pick up on the fact that it is a scam and gives the company his credit card details. One week later, Homer is watching another game after listening to the pamphlets advice and loses his bet. For this game he had the choice between the Oakland Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Following the advice he was given, he bet on the Raiders. Unfortunately, all of the star players were down with the flu, so in an act of desperation, the managers merely nabbed drunks from local pubs and sloppily put equipment on them. Lisa hesitantly asks how much money did Homer bet on the game, to which Homer revealed that he didn't bet any of their own money and had borrowed from Fat Tony, who is standing at their window who claims they can "hammer out a payment plan". Which they do, literally, by kidnapping Homer, restraining him and beating his hands with a hammer. After a few solid whacks, it is proposed that to repay his debt to Tony, Homer will let the mafia use the Simpson home as a set for an adult film, Lemony Lick-It's A Series of Horny Events. Left with no other option then to comply, Homer agrees. Unfortunately, Homer makes the mistake of assuming that the film will be gay and is whacked simultaneously by every member in the room.

Homer tells Moe about the situation, so to help, Moe gives him tickets to Santa's Village to get his family out of the way. When giving the proposal to the rest of his family, Marge is suspicious since it was the middle of August. But after some comments from Bart (about how "Santa" teased him by giving him a PlayStation box that only had socks inside) and some quick thinking by Homer, she agrees. During production, Lenny and Carl enter the house to borrow a board game and stumble upon the production of the film. Homer attempts to get them out of the house, but then after Carl asks how he got Marge to go along with this, Homer bribes them with letting them be in the movie if they don't tell Marge about what is going on. Lenny proposes running the sound board and Carl says he will perform in the sex scenes.



Marge and the children leave Santa's Village early due to it being a relatively terrible experience. When they get home, they discover what is happening. Marge storms off. Homer tries to stop her from leaving by giving an explanation as to why. But just manages to make Marge even more furious by starting off with "I owed some money to the mob..." She then smashes her car against his four times while saying goodbye to the kids and mentioning that that day was the expiration date for the yogurt and then drives off with a dented front and smashed headlights.

Homer sits by the phone and desperately awaits a call from Marge and eventually receives one in which he desperately tries to apologize. But Marge isn't too sure about just putting it behind them. While talking, the phone booth Marge is in is attacked by a hungry manatee who is lured away by Dr. Caleb Thorn, a good-looking scientist dedicated to saving the Florida manatee. Marge strikes up a conversation with Thorn and asks if she could possibly assist in aiding the manatees, and he agrees.

Homer takes the Bart and Lisa and goes looking for Marge. After driving for miles, eating at multiple secret fast food joints and sleeping for a few nights in the car, Lisa and Bart finally start to complain about the circumstances their in. Homer tells them that he has cousins living in the area and that they can stay with. While looking through binoculars from the tree house in the backyard, Lisa spots Marge on the back of a manatee.

Homer meets up with her on the beach, and Caleb helps Marge realize that is the same man she fell in love - the only problem is that she still expects him to change.

While he and the kids visit his cousins, Homer tries to win Marge back by saving a herd of manatees from a group of sadistic jet-skiers. Right after the bullies leave, they hear Homer call them "rubes". They turn around to attack Homer. Homer orders the manatees, "Defend!" Then they flee. The hoods get to Homer and start beating him up. Fortunately, Homer's cousin shows up on a speed boat and shows the hooligans a court order requiring them to vacate the waters. Marge is impressed by Homer's actions and agrees to return home. As Marge and Homer walk off, Caleb talks to the manatee he just rescued that he should probably find a wife as well. But instead of heading home, Homer says they can stay for a little while longer since he got a "replacement" to take care of business at work. It is then shown that the replacement is a manatee that Homer slapped a pair of jeans and shirt onto. Mr. Burns takes a liking to the manatee and claims that he thinks it is the start of a great friendship when the manatee licks his cheek. Only for Smithers to tell him that the manatee is actually licking him because he is about to die of dehydration. The episode finishes with Burns and Smithers rehydrating the manatee with sponges and hoses to the Rose Royce song "Working at the Carwash".

Production
Al Jean originally pitched the idea of an episode based around the Simpsons rescuing manatees in 2003 during the writers' retreat sessions for The Simpsons Movie. Although not used in the movie, the idea eventually became an episode in its own right.

Reception

 * On May 11, 2008, Entertainment Weekly named Alec Baldwin's role as Caleb Thorn as the first of 16 great guest stars on The Simpsons.