A Milhouse Divided

A Milhouse Divided
Production Code	4F04
Original Airdate	December 1, 1996
Couch Gag	The family sits down, but now Bart is green. Homer fiddles with the TV and Bart changes to red. Homer then returns to the couch, and smacks Bart upside the head in order to return him to his normal color.
Written By	Steve Tompkins
Directed By	Steven Dean Moore

"A Milhouse Divided" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons' eighth season, first aired by the Fox network on December 1, 1996.

Plot

Marge decides to throw a dinner party to escape from the doldrums of everyday life at the Simpson house. She invites the Flanders, the Lovejoys, the Hibberts and the Van Houtens. The parents enjoy dinner except for the Van Houtens who nitpick at each other all night as Milhouse plays upstairs with Bart and the other kids. Kirk and Luann get more quarrelsome as the party progresses and finally, despite Marge trying to divert the party away from the fighting pair, the two get into a fight and Luann demands a divorce.

Kirk moves out of the Van Houten house and despite his drab new surroundings, he keeps a cheery attitude toward it all, until he is fired from his job at the cracker factory. Meanwhile, Luann quickly readjusts to singles life and starts a new relationship with Chase, an American Gladiator. Kirk also tries to have a new relationship, but is unsuccessful. While at Moe's, Kirk mentions that he never saw the divorce coming and Homer begins to fear that his and Marge's marriage might be next.

Homer enlists the aid of Lisa to help him figure out how to save his marriage. He recalls his wedding reception, which was nothing more than him and Marge at a truck stop, which Marge found disappointing because she had been hoping that a group of their friends would jump out and yell surprise. Homer tries to perform selfless gestures for Marge, such as making "soothing" ocean noises to lull her to sleep, however, Marge acts indifferent toward these gestures.

Deciding that their marriage is finished, Homer secretly files for a divorce from Marge. As Marge returns home later that night, Homer surprises her by hiding all their friends in the living room and declares that he wants to be remarried, this time with a perfect wedding. The two are remarried and inspired by Homer and Marge, Kirk decides to try to get back together with Luann by singing a song he wrote. This fails when Luann says no and Kirk is escorted out of the Simpsons house.

Production

"A Milhouse Divided" is the only episode written entirely by Steve Tompkins, although he had been a part of the writing staff for several years. The writers wanted to do an episode that involved a couple getting divorced. They had wanted to break the sitcom convention that characters who look like they will divorce get back together and have two characters remain divorced even after the episode. The Van Houtens were chosen because the writers felt that they were the most developed couple next to Marge and Homer and the Lovejoys. Originally, the episode also focused on the divorce's effects on Milhouse and there was a subplot that involved Bart being jealous of Milhouse and wishing that Marge and Homer would also separate. Several scenes were written and animated for the episode, but ultimately they were cut because the script was very long. The third act of the episode shifts the focus from the Van Houtens to Homer and Marge because the writers felt that tertiary characters could not carry an audience's interest for an entire episode. Bill Oakley has said that he felt that the episode would have failed had they stuck with the Van Houtens for the third act and most of the other writers also feel that it was the right move. The idea for the dinner party came from Bill Oakley, who had wanted to have a party similar to the one in "The War of the Simpsons".

For the second half of the episode, Luann was redesigned to look more youthful and was given a whole new outfit. A big name singer was originally sought to sing "Can I Borrow a Feeling?" over the end credits. The writers wanted Sheryl Crow, but she declined and the concept was later dropped.

Reception

Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, called it "More drama than comedy, and very honest in its dealings with the van Houtens' divorce and its effects on Milhouse."

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