The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer

The Mook, The Chef, The Wife and Her Homer is the first episode of The Simpsons' eighteenth season.

Plot
While driving the bus, Otto sees Metallica, whose tour bus appears to have broken down. At first he thought it wasn't real and he was on drugs. Then a little dragon appears and tells him they were really there. He stops to pick them up. Bart hijacks the bus and drives to school, and he misses his chance to rock with Metallica when the band hitches a ride with Hans Moleman who says he used to sleep with Lars's grandmother. A fuming Otto arrives to school and spanks Bart. Principal Skinner notices this act of corporal punishment and suspends Otto from driving the school bus. Because of this, the parents have to carpool the kids to school, now including an introverted kid named Michael. However, when Marge drives back to Michael's house, who forgot his math book, it is revealed his father is Fat Tony.

News of Michael's "family" spreads, and everyone tries to keep their distance from him. Lisa joins a lonely Michael at lunch, and they become friends. She comes to find Michael is a talented cook, which he claims to be his dream, rather than go into the family business. After school, Fat Tony drives the kids home, but on the way, goons working for the Calabrese family, Fat Tony's rivals, attack them. He manages to slip them, and when they arrive at the Simpson house, Michael invites the family over for dinner. At Fat Tony's mansion, the Calabreses show up unexpectedly for a sit-down during dinner. Fat Tony advises the Calabreses against killing him as his son, Michael, would then take his place and exact a brutal vengeance. Michael, meanwhile, serves souffles to the Simpsons. He then serves them to the mobsters, who love it, but are surprised when they find out he made them. The Calabreses laugh at Tony and leave. Fat Tony admonishes Michael for making him look weak in front of his enemies. Suddenly, an attack helicopter (piloted by the Calabreses) appears at the window and guns Fat Tony down.

At the hospital, Fat Tony lies unconscious, and Johnny Tightlips explains to the other mobsters that, with the boss down, the Calabreses would be trying to finish the job. He tells Michael that he should step up, but when he resists, Homer volunteers to take his place as mob boss. He and Bart proceed to do mafia dirty work, shaking down money from Moe and Krusty. However, Michael notices how this amount of power is turning the two more maniacal, and seeks to put an end to it. One night, he invites the Calabreses to the Simpson's for dinner, where he informs them that they have won and that he is out of the family business. They applaud his decision, but end up choking and dying over their own meals. Marge discovers the food had been poisoned, and although Michael appears remorseful, Lisa finds out it was intentional. At Fat Tony's mansion, Fat Tony congratulates Michael for defeating their enemies. Outside, Lisa asks Michael why didn't he tell Fat Tony it was all an accident, though she suspects it was not quite so. Michael tells her, à la Michael Corleone, never to question his business. He walks into the next room and is joined by Jimbo Jones, Dolph and Kearney, who shut the door on Lisa a la Godfather. Lisa opens up again to reveal Michael playing with his hot wheels.

Cultural references

 * In The Seven-Beer Snitch Fat Tony says Marge sometimes drives his son home from school and Marge says he must be Michael's dad
 * Otto's exclamation "Real songs are about deals with the devil, far-off lands, and where you'd find smoke in relation to water." are allusions to the songs "Devil went down to Georgia" by Charlie Daniels Band, "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin &amp; "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple.
 * The song Metallica plays as they ride away in the back of Hans Moleman's truck is the title track from their 1986 album "Master of Puppets".
 * Krusty the Clown, owner of the chain of Krusty Burger restaurants, pays the mafia to keep McDonalds and Burger King out of Springfield.
 * When Fat Tony is driving his Lincoln Navigator in the carpool, The Sopranos theme song is heard. Additionally, several Sopranos actors (including Joe Pantoliano and Michael Imperioli) voice mob characters in this episode, note that they had their real faces in this episode.
 * Nelson says in this episode that "There is no Mafia" which is another reference to The Sopranos, where Anthony Soprano Sr. says this to his daughter Meadow.
 * Fat Tony works, as he says, in "Waste Management", which is the official job of Anthony Soprano Sr.
 * Fat Tony asks Milhouse for one of his binders to use as a trap. Fat Tony chooses the Garfield binder rather than the Love Is... binder. "I prefer the cat, he hates Mondays, and we can all relate."
 * The house of Fat Tony also strongly resembles that of Tony Montana from the movie Scarface.
 * Fat Tony's son, Michael, is named in honor of Michael Corleone, son of Don Vito Corleone, in Mario Puzo's The Godfather Trilogy. His hairstyle is also extremely similar to Al Pacino's around the time of the film.
 * At the end of the episode Michael says to Lisa: "Don't ever ask me about my business", a quotation from The Godfather. The room where this takes place is very similar to the location in the original movie.
 * Homer claims Shark Tale to be the best gangster movie ever.
 * Fat Tony asks "Who wants to sleep with the fishes?.. Because I brought this Finding Nemo bedspread!" "Sleeping with the fishes" is a gang language quote for dumping a dead body into the river. This is also referenced in  The Simpsons Movie  where Fat Tony tries to dump his "yard trimmings" into the Springfield river.
 * The episode title is a reference to the film The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, which also involves a crime boss and food.
 * When Fat Tony arrives for the carpool, he says "We are going for a ride!.... By which I mean the carpool" Much of Fat Tony's quotes is related to gang language.
 * After Johnny Tightlips says to Michael that he has to stand up as mob boss, Louie says that he wants to drop by the Lexus dealership to test drive their new hybrid. Tightlips replies to him that he's a hybrid, half-idiot and half-moron. This is a joke on the hybrid motor setup of an electric motor and a gas engine.
 * The promotional image for this episode is based off of promotional material for the HBO original series The Sopranos