The Monkey Suit

"The Monkey Suit" is the twenty-first episode of Season 17.

Pressured by Ned Flanders and Reverand Lovejoy, Mayor Quimby is forced to allow the teaching of creationism in schools. Lisa is outraged and demands that the school only teach one theory of life, and unfortunately they choose creationism and outlaw the theory of evolution. Lisa tries to hold secret meetings to keep the theory alive in town, only to have the police arrest her. When she asks why she's being arrested for such a petty crime, Chief Wiggum, embarrassed, tells her they are only able to enforce the last three laws passed.

At her trial it is clear that the odds are stacked against Lisa as she is assigned a hated New York lawyer opposed to the overweight beloved southern man promoting creationism and denouncing science. Marge, to better understand her daughters point of view finds her copy of the origon of species and becomes engrossed in it, finding herself in agreement with her daughter she comes up with a plan. At the trial, Marge gives Homer a bottle of beer. Homer is estatic but becomes increasingly agitated when he can't open it, eventually acting like a monkey. Homer’s antics cause Ned to crack under pressure and call Homer a 'Monkey faced Gorilla' in front of everyone which Lisa's lawyer capitalises on by forcing Ned to admit under oath that Homer does indeed look like the missing link that the prosecutors were basing their argument and the case falls apart.

In the end Lisa comforts a dejected Ned by saying that she respects his beliefs but that science and religion should stay separate, that she wouldn't want a scientist to teach religion anymore than a priest should teach science. Something which Ned can agree with. After that Todd reveals himself to really to be Nelson in diguse, and once again the screen slowly fades to black.