"You have joined the Sacred Order of the Stonecutters, who, since ancient times, have split the rocks of ignorance that obscure the light of knowledge and truth. Now let's all get drunk and play ping-pong!"
"Homer the Great" is the twelfth episode of Season 6.
Synopsis[]
After noticing that his buddies Lenny and Carl are privy to a lot of perks, Homer spies on them — and discovers that they're part of a Freemasons-esque secret society called "The Stonecutters."
Full Story[]
When Homer notices that Lenny and Carl are enjoying unexplained privileges at the nuclear plant, he investigates and discovers that they are part of an ancient secret society known as the Stonecutters. When he tries to join, he learns that one must either be the son of a Stonecutter or save the life of a Stonecutter in order to gain membership. While extolling the Stonecutters at the dinner table, he discovers that his father is a member, and is admitted.
After the painful and humiliating initiations required to join the Stonecutters, Homer takes great pleasure in the Society's secret privileges, such as an underground byway past Springfield's traffic jams, and the Society's drinking bouts. Unfortunately, during a celebratory rib dinner with his fellow Stonecutters, he unwittingly uses the society's Hallowed Sacred Parchment as a napkin, tissue, and ear cleaner, destroying it. He is stripped of his Stonecutter robes, which include official underwear, as part of his punishment. It is discovered that Homer has a birthmark in the shape of the Stonecutter emblem identifying him as “The Chosen One” who, it was foretold, would lead the Stonecutters to greatness. He and the other Stonecutters sing their signature song, "We Do."
Homer is crowned in a scene that parodies The Last Emperor, and is, perhaps quite fittingly, reminiscent of the film adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's “The Man Who Would Be King”. However, Lisa moans at Homer to use his power to help people in the community but he ignores her and gets Bart to hand gag her and drag her away. However Homer eventually listens when his power brings him no happiness. When he tries to help the community though it ultimately drives away the other Stonecutters, who form a new society, The Ancient Mystic Society of No Homers, headquartered in an abandoned Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlor. As one might expect, Homer is not allowed to join. (Another man named Homer — Homer Glumplich — does join, but note that the society's name refers to Homers [plural]; as such, they are allowed one.)
Distraught over losing his club, Homer is despondent and takes matters to his own hands by replacing the members with monkeys. They get drunk and reenact Civil War battles. Visiting him at the now abandoned Stonecutters hall, Marge consoles Homer by reminding him that he does belong to an "exclusive" club, the Simpson family and that himself and Marge wear special wedding rings to show loyalty. The Simpsons then subject him to some extreme hazing and paddling as a faux initiation, possibly their way of paying Homer back for neglecting them.