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"Hurricane Neddy" |
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| “ | Why me, Lord? Where have I gone wrong? I've always been nice to people. I don't drink or dance or swear. I've even kept kosher just to be on the safe side. I've done everything the Bible says, even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff. What more could I do? I feel like I'm coming apart here. I want to yell out, but I just can't dang-diddily-do-dang, do-dang-diddily-darn do it. | „ |
| ~ Ned Flanders, foreshadowing his intense outburst in front of everybody for their failure of rebuilding his destroyed house. |
"Hurricane Neddy" is the eighth episode of Season 8.
Synopsis[]
After a hurricane blows through Springfield and only destroys the Flanders' home, Ned snaps after his friends and neighbors, including Homer, rebuild his house poorly. Ned checks himself into an asylum to discover the source of his sudden uncontrollable rage ever since his childhood.
Full Story[]
The calm before the storm
While Homer takes a mid-afternoon nap in the backyard, the winds pick up. Lisa consults her weather instruments and a question-and-answer book and finds out a hurricane will soon strike Springfield. She alerts Homer that a hurricane is coming. Panicked residents gather supplies and food at the Kwik-E-Mart and even secure their houses, but Ned remains calm as the main storm approaches, having fitted his home with a large tarpaulin to keep it hunkered down.
As Hurricane Barbara hits the town, the Simpsons do their best at family bonding in the basement. They even struggle to get back inside when they get caught by winds surrounding the hurricane's eye. The storm finally passes, and everyone is overjoyed and surprised that the hurricane caused absolutely no damage to their home or anyone else's, except for the Flanders family next door, whose house has been leveled, making it the only structure in Springfield to be destroyed by the hurricane. Ned and his family emerge from the rubble, clothes torn and hair disheveled.
The Flanders family, alive but homeless
Ned is glad that his family survived but they are now homeless since they lack homeowner's insurance (Ned having considered insurance as a form gambling) and all that remains are their tombstones, the only possessions that are still intact. The Flanders family take refuge in the church's basement, with Rod and Todd getting new clothes from the donation bin. Maude reminds Ned that while today has been hard for them, she reassures him that they'll be okay since the Leftorium will still be in business once things clear up. Unfortunately, a news report accounts of the storm's aftermath, showing that the Leftorium has been cleaned out by frantic looters, to Ned's dismay.
After seeking unhelpful answers from Reverend Lovejoy, who dismisses Ned's analogy of himself to Job (primarily because the latter is right-handed) and bluntly confirms that God is punishing him, Ned tries to find solace in the Bible, but all he gets is a paper cut. He tries asking God directly why he is being punished when he has done everything said in the Bible, even the contradictory ones. He also mentions that he has always been nice to people, doesn't drink, dance, or swear, and even kept kosher just to be safe. He ends his rant saying he's coming apart and that he wants to yell out but can't do it.
Ned and Apu after passing by the poorly-insulated power room.
The following day, in an attempt to show the town's solidarity, Marge commissions everyone in Springfield to rebuild the Flanders' home. Marge takes Ned and his family to their newly rebuilt house. The job is completed in record time, the house appearing like it used to be. Ned is overjoyed...but upon entering, he notices that the interior's workmanship is horribly shoddy. Visible flaws include:
- A painted dirt floor (Moe noting an insufficient number of tiles)
- Electrical buildup in the power room (stemming from inadequate insulation, as Apu stated), which causes everyone's hair to stand up
- Loose nails sticking out of the walls
- A toilet bowl in the kitchen (Chief Wiggum admitting the difficulty of lugging a toilet up the stairs)
- A load-bearing Krusty the Clown poster in Rod and Todd's bedroom (Bart suggesting to not remove it to keep the walls from collapsing), and
- A tapering hallway to the master bedroom, which had a cat-sized door that Barney is somehow able to squeeze through.
Ned tells Homer that he has seen enough and exits the house. As Homer asks how much Ned likes the house that love built, he taps on the front door and the entire structure collapses again.
Overwhelmed and dismayed, Ned tries to clean his glasses but they break, which proves to be the last straw. Driven over the edge and finally pushed too far, Ned initially tries to calm himself down, knowing that everybody had done their best, albeit terribly. Unfortunately, he is unable to control his emotions after trying to stay nice and his temper finally explodes, furiously screaming in front of everybody about their failures, shocking the entire crowd (as they felt his outburst was the last thing Ned would say). He proceeds to have an angry meltdown, calling out and ridiculing several people for their flaws and issues he has with them:
- Marge: She nervously informs Ned that they meant well and everybody had done their best to rebuild his house. Ned uses her own defense of good intentions against her, showing the hypocrisy of her family's behavior, especially her misguided faith and lack of foresight, even brutally saying the honest statement that he and his family can't live in good intentions alone.
- Bart: He stands up for Marge and angrily tells Ned to back off, but Ned completely destroys Bart's identity as a rebellious youth by repeating his two catchphrases ("Dude" and "Don't have a cow, man") exaggeratedly and mockingly, even predicting his future as a pathetic panhandler: "Here's a catchphrase you'd better learn for your adult years: Hey, buddy, got a quarter?!", which shocks the crowd even more. As he walks away, Bart admits he's shocked and appalled.
- Lisa: She emerges from the crowd and informs Ned that Bart did nothing wrong, but Ned dismisses her by calling her "Springfield's answer to a question no one asked" for constantly butting in and forcing her opinions on other people when they don't ask for or want them.
- Chief Wiggum: He laughs at Ned's insult at Lisa, but Ned delivers a scathing punchline about him being the "long flabby arm of the law" while grabbing and wiggling his massive belly and declares that the last case he got to the bottom of, was "a case of Mallomars", a perfect jab at Wiggum's ineptitude as a police chief and law enforcer. Unlike Marge, Bart and Lisa, Wiggum become is neither frightened nor offended, and he doesn't even bother to arrest Ned for assaulting him. Instead, he looks at him in surprise.
- Krusty: The clown is taking note of Ned's Mallomars insult, planning to use it for his act. Ned, despite having no prior grudge against Krusty, calls him the only one of the buffoons in Springfield that doesn't make him laugh. Like Wiggum, Krusty isn't frightened or offended. Instead, he ignores Ned, thinking he doesn't appreciate comedy, and continues taking notes for his act.
- Lenny: Ned just points randomly at him, and admits he doesn't know him, but assumes the worst of him. Like Krusty and Wiggum, Lenny isn't frightened or offended. Instead, he's confused because he only arrived at the site a few minutes ago and has no idea what's going on.
- Moe: Ned angrily calls him an ugly hate-filled man right to his face before storming off. Moe tries to defend himself by saying he may be ugly and hate-filled, but doesn't remember the third thing Ned called him (man), which showcases his self-aware, yet dimwitted misery.
- Milhouse: Ned furiously shouts at him for staring nervously at him as he passes, hypocritically calling him "four-eyes" (as Ned wears glasses, too). (Note: This is a deleted scene, only shown on the Season 8 DVD set.)
- Homer: Ned finishes his tirade and calls him the worst human being he has ever met, which Homer believes he got off pretty easy, either because doesn't realize that this was an understatement of Ned's worst insult due to his low IQ, or he does realize it and is just relieved that he wasn't yelled at.
After that, Ned storms off and drives away as the townspeople of Springfield stare at him and whisper to one another in shock. Leaving his family behind with Maude becoming worried and horrified by her husband's violent and uncharacteristic rage at everybody, Ned turns on the radio (which plays Aloha 'Oe by Elvis Presley) as he blissfully drives himself to Calmwood Mental Hospital, ramming through the gate upon entry.
Ned making fun of Chief Wiggum's weight.
While there, Ned calls his childhood counselor Dr. Foster, who reminds Ned that because his beatnik parents didn't believe in discipline, he was a rambunctious and disobedient child in need of psychiatric counseling. The therapy used on him, called the University of Minnesota Spankalogical Protocol, involved eight months of continuous spanking. Although it cured Ned of his bratty behavior, it worked so well that it rendered him unable to express his anger at all and resulted in his trademark nonsensical jabbering at moments when he was particularly close to losing his temper. This caused Ned to unknowingly repress his anger, until it built up inside him and erupted in the form of his uncontrollable tirade of berating at the townspeople for not rebuilding his house properly.
Now having seen that his earlier therapy was extreme and inappropriate, Dr. Foster enlists Homer to help Ned learn to appropriately express his emotions, as Homer is the person who Flanders harbors the most resentful feelings towards. Homer arrives at Calmwood with his family accompanying him and Foster begins the therapy with several cards he wrote.
After failed attempts to help Ned vent out his anger copiously, Homer observes that Ned still retains his nonsensical speech and jovial facade. Dr. Foster's assistant suggests trying out a new and unorthodox way to get Flanders to open up to his anger by letting Homer use his own approach. Dr. Foster is against testing it and wants to continue using his cards. The assistant convinces him to let Homer use his own approach when he notices its failure. Homer claims Ned is afraid to be human since the latter thought anger and hatred aren't in his nature. Ned disagrees and admits to Homer that he doesn't like everything. Ned mentions that he has been frustrated over the post office's lack of customer services all the time and that he hates his beatnik parents for the lack of discipline he got from them over the years resulting in them turning to someone else to do it for them. Suddenly, he feels like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders and Dr. Foster declares he is cured.
The newly cured Ned is finally released from Calmwood and the townspeople of Springfield, including the other Simpsons and Ned's family greet him. Ned happily tells everyone that he is all better now and will express his feelings and acknowledge when he is upset with Dr. Foster telling Ned he's being healthy. He says in a jokingly ominous tone that when he is positively hurt, he'll "run you down with my car" to be sure people hear about it. Feeling a new sense of camaraderie with Ned, Homer calls him crazy and laughs before Ned winks.