|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||
|
Homer the Heretic |
|
| “ | Mr. Simpson, please pay for your purchases and get out and come again! | „ |
| ~ Apu Nahasapeemapetilon |
"Homer the Heretic" is the third episode of Season 4, and the first episode of that season produced.
Synopsis[]
Homer skips church for a Sunday due to the cold weather and has such a great time, he decides to forgo mainstream religion in favor of his own self-invented theistic religion, which doesn't sit well with Marge.
Full Story[]
On a very cold Sunday morning in a blizzard, Marge tries to get Homer out of bed (interrupting his dream of swimming around in his mother's womb until her amniotic fluid drained and a hand reached inside her to get Homer out) as she is gathering the family to go to church, but Homer refuses and goes back to his warm bed after ripping his pants. Marge takes the kids to church in the freezing cold, when Bart asks where their Dad is Marge just states he's resting (although Bart asks her to be specific, because "resting" to Bart either means "Homer is hungover" or "Homer is too depressed to go anywhere because he got fired"). After sleeping extra-late, he finally gets up to go use the bathroom and has fun with the house all to himself. He whizzes with the door open, curses in the shower, cranks up the heat, dances to The Royal Teens' "Who Wears Short-Shorts?" in his underwear, makes his Patented Space-Age Out of this World Moon Waffles, wins a radio trivia contest, watches an episode of The Three Stooges, followed by a boring roundtable talk show that gets preempted for an action-packed football game, and finds a penny under the couch (all of which are his new "best day of [his] life," next to marrying Marge and an unspecified time where he happily ran under a fountain of beer from an overturned tanker truck).
Meanwhile Marge, the kids, and the rest of the congregation shiver their way through the service and a rambling sermon due to the furnace not working, only to find themselves trapped at the end because the door is frozen shut. To make matters worse, even after they leave Marge is unable to start the car due to the cold weather.
Homer enjoying himself at home
They finally get home cold, and Homer tells Marge he's had the best day of his life, all thanks to skipping church. Marge is shocked to hear this and tries to insist to the children that Homer is just kidding. Homer says he means it and declares he's no longer going to church which she is horrified to hear. While trying to clean the waffle iron Marge is very angry with Homer for giving up on his faith by no longer going to church. Homer gives her his reasons (e.g. "What if we picked the wrong religion? Every week we're just making God madder and madder."), which Bart agrees on and encourages, which does not please Marge at all. Later that evening, Marge prays for God to talk with Homer. Homer, meanwhile, falls asleep and has a dream where God appears to him. God is initially angry with Homer; once He has calmed, Homer asks Him what's the big deal of going to church when he's not a bad person and that he can worship in his own way ("I work hard and I love my kids... so why should I spend half my Sunday hearing about how I'm going to hell?") God sees Homer's points and agrees, ending the dream.
Marge, Reverend Lovejoy, and the Flanders family all try to win Homer back to Christianity and fail. Marge invites Reverend Lovejoy over for dinner hoping he'll talk sense into Homer. Homer explains to Lovejoy that God appeared in a dream allowing Homer to worship Him in his own way which meant it must be a sign despite Marge calling it crazy. Homer soon takes advantage of his new religion by taking a day off from work for the feast of maximum occupancy, he invites Moe to join the religion but he declines. Soon the Flanders clan try to win Homer back with a song but he refuses, eventually Homer tries to escape and after a brief car chase evades Flanders and ends up on a garbage barge.
The next Sunday morning, Marge tells everyone to get ready for church although Bart does question why their dad gets to stay home. She tells Homer that they need to raise their kids right or she'll have to tell them their father is bad, Homer tries to insist their is someone like him who is good, Marge tells the kids they'll be in the car soon. Marge insists to Homer to not make her choose between him and God but Homer claims she's just siding with someone else again, like how she sides with Flanders and one time, the water company. She does ask him once more if Homer will go to church with her and the kids and he declines. At church, Lovejoy berates people like Homer and tells everyone to keep the Sabbath Day holy, while Homer is once again at home while everyone else is at church. He smokes a cigar while reading Playdude magazine (skipping an interview with Lorne Michaels for an installment of "The Unabashed Dictionary"). Homer eventually falls asleep, and the lighted cigar he was smoking at the time falls on one of the magazines; the hot ash ignites the paper, and it isn't long before the house is engulfed in flames.
Ned saves Homer
Homer wakes up to find the house in flames, panics and succumbs to the thick smoke. Apu spots the blaze and takes up his duties as part of Springfield's volunteer fire department, but not before putting his nephew, Jamshed, in charge of the Kwik-E-Mart (who wields a shotgun to show that he is more of a threat to shoplifters than Dolph, Jimbo, and Kearney realize). Meanwhile, the Christian Ned tries to rescue Homer, the gesture of which Homer is touched by, despite that, if the roles were reversed, Homer would be in a hammock, laughing at Flanders as he screams for help in his burning house. After the fire department has extinguished the blaze, Homer fears that God was showing vengeance, but Reverend Lovejoy points out that God was actually working in the hearts of Homer's friends, despite their different faiths: Ned being Christian, Krusty the Clown being Jewish, and Apu being Hindu (though Reverend Lovejoy dismisses this as "miscellaneous"). Homer apologizes to those he was rude to and thanks them for saving his life when they could have let him burn. Lovejoy convinces Homer to give church another try which agrees to. Homer is at church next Sunday, but sleeps through the service. God appears in his dreams again and consoles Homer on the failure of his religion and what the meaning of life really is.
Broadcast History[]
United States[]
| Broadcast date(s) | Channel aired |
|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Behind the Laughter[]
Production[]
This is the first episode to be animated by Film Roman.