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Hurricane Neddy |
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- āWhy 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!ā
- ―Sounds of Ned's shaken faith
"Hurricane Neddy" is the eighth episode of Season 8 and it aired on December 29, 1996. The episode was written by Steve Young and directed by Bob Anderson. Jon Lovitz guest stars as Jay Sherman.
Synopsis
After a hurricane blows through Springfield and destroys only Ned Flanders' home, Ned snaps after his friends and neighbors, including Homer, did their best to rebuild his house when it was crudely rebuilt. He is checked into an asylum to discover the source of his sudden uncontrollable rage ever since his childhood.
Full Story
Homer lazily enjoys his latest mid-afternoon nap outside, when the winds begin to pick up. Lisa consults her weather instruments and a question-and-answer book and finds out a hurricane will soon strike Springfield. Panicked residents quickly gather supplies and food at the Kwik-E-Mart, but Ned remains calm as the main storm approaches, having fitted his home with a large tent like guard to keep it hunkered down.
As the bad weather hits, and various hurricane-related gags play out throughout Springfield, the Simpsons do their best at family bonding in the basement. The storm finally passes, and everyone is overjoyed that the hurricane caused absolutely no damage to their home, or seemingly anyone else's. However, next door to the Simpson house, the Flanders family has gone through serious trouble; Ned's house is the only one that has been totally destroyed as Ned and his family emerged from the rubble.
Ned is relieved that his family escaped serious injury, but that's of little solace since he does not have homeowner's insurance (having considered insurance "gambling") and all they have left are their tombstones. The Flanders family is forced to move into the church basement. There, he watches news accounts of the storm's aftermath, and is further discouraged when footage is shown of the Leftorium, cleaned out by looters after Maude tells Ned it has been a hard day for him, but the Leftorium will still be in business. Seeking answers from God, Maude and Rev. Lovejoy attempt to reassure Ned things will work out fine. He tries to find solace in the Bible, but all he gets is a paper cut. He tries asking God directly why he's being punished when he's done everything the bible said (even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff) and also mentions that he has always been nice to people and he doesn't drink, dance or swear, but gets no answer.
The next day after the hurricane, in an attempt to show their community spirit and friendship, Marge commissions everyone in Springfield to rebuild the Flanders' home as Marge takes Ned and his family to the newly-rebuilt Flanders' house. The job is completed in record time, and Ned is overjoyed - that is, until he inspects their workmanship, which turns out to be (at best) shoddy; for example, some of the floor is made of dirt, the toilet's in the kitchen, and the door to the main bedroom is too small and it is only large enough to accommodate a cat at best and even Barney is able to fit in the main bedroom with the small door and Ned tells Homer that he has seen enough and Homer and Ned leave the rebuilt Flanders' house as Homer responds to Ned what does he think about the new house that love built. Unfortunately, the makeshift house soon crumbles, and Ned, who knows that everyone including Homer tried their best, tries containing his anger by trying to calm himself down by telling himself they did their best shoddily and that he needs to follow his philosophy of being nice to others along with his constant trademark jabber.
But his jabber gets only more and more constant as his tone gets more and more filled with anger, which causes it to be released as he is unable to contain his emotions and as a result, his temper explodes. He angrily speaks his mind about everyone's efforts, shocking the entire crowd. When certain members of the crowd speak out against him or catch his attention, Ned turns his anger upon them specifically: -
- Marge - Marge criticises him, saying that everyone did their best and had good intentions. Ned, however, states that this isn't enough, pointing out his family can't just live in "good intentions". He also points out that she never accepts the negative side of things because of her overly positive outlook that she uses as a shield and a crutch. His attitude causes Marge to cringe away from him in fear.
- Bart - Bart stands up for Marge and yells at Ned to back off, causing Ned to turn his anger upon him for being the local trouble maker and fire brand by calling him "Dude" and "Man" in a mocking way, before stating that Bart better learn a new catchphrase for his adult years ("Hey buddy, got a quarter?"), effectively telling Bart that the way he is going he will end up as a beggar, which shocks the entire crowd again. Bart is left "shocked and appalled" to himself, which makes him cringe away in fear.
- Lisa - when Lisa points out that Bart hadn't done anything wrong, Ned insults her for constantly butting in and forcing her opinions upon others when they do not ask for them, making her cringe away from him in fear.
- Chief Wiggum - Wiggum laughs when Ned insults Lisa, causing Ned to turn upon him. Wiggling Wiggum's belly around, Ned cites his incompetence as a police officer by calling him "the long flabby arm of the law" and tells him that the last case he got the bottom of, was a case of Mallomars, making him cringe away from him in fear.
- Krusty - the clown is taking notes for his act when Ned insults Wiggum, causing Ned to note that he is the only person in Springfield that Ned does not find funny. Unlike everybody else, Krusty ignores him.
- Lenny - Ned just points at Lenny (who he does not know him) and assumes he is just a jerk. Lenny however, becomes confused and confesses he had only been there a few minutes and had no idea about what was going on.
- Moe - Ned then targets Moe calling him an "ugly, hate-filled man" right to his face. Unlike everybody else (excluding Krusty), Moe tries to stand up to Ned confessing that he may be ugly and hate-filled, but then his attempt falls short as he has forgotten what else Ned has said.
- Milhouse - Ned shouts at him for staring at him after passing by Milhouse, causing Milhouse to timidly remark that Ned wears glasses too (as Ned called him four eyes). Note: this is a deleted scene, which is not featured in the main episode.
- Homer - Ned advances on his neighbor, Homer, as everybody else nearby backs away from him fearfully. Homer stands timidly in front of the ruined house and smiles sheepishly as Ned glares hatefully at him. In a quiet, hate filled voice as opposed to his loud, hate filled voice, Ned declares "Homer, you are the worst human being I have ever met." before leaving. With that, Homer says "Hey, I got off pretty easy." Unlike everybody else (excluding Krusty and Moe), Homer doesn't cringe away in fear.
Ned then storms off and drives away as the townspeople of Springfield, including the rest of the Simpsons and his family except for Homer and Krusty stare after him in shock.
Fearing he has lost his mind and on the verge of a mental breakdown, Ned checks himself into the Calmwood Mental Hospital to seek therapy for help. There, a nurse who is shocked he is there, calls his childhood counselor Dr. Foster, who reminds Ned that ā because his beatnik parents did not believe in discipline ā he was a rambunctious, out-of-control child in need of psychiatric counseling. That therapy, called the University of Minnesota Spankalogical Protocol, involved eight months of continuous spanking. (There is a goof, however, since Dr. Foster says that the therapy happened around "30 years ago", but since Ned is now 60, he should have been around 30 at the time. Though likely that the writers and editors forgot that they made the "30 years" statement when they revealed Ned to be a 60 year old senior citizen.) Although it reformed Ned from 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 insults at the townspeople, including his neighbor, Homer.
Now having seen that his earlier therapy was 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 just as much as Homer hates Ned. Homer arrives at Calmwood and Foster begins the therapy with several prewritten cards he wrote. After several flubbed tries Homer makes that results in failure and Ned retaining his nonsensical speech, a doctor assisting Foster suggests he try 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 doctor convinces him to let Homer use his own approach when he noticed its failure. He believes that Flanders won't make any progress with the pre-written scripted cards Foster wrote unless they let him try it and help trigger the real source of Ned's anger. Homer takes this to heart and tries his own approach by claiming Ned is afraid to be human because humans hate things, but he likes everything. He disagrees and admits to Homer that he doesn't like everything. Ned mentions that he had been frustrated over the post office's lack of customer services all the time and ends it with admitting that he hates his beatnik parents for the lack of discipline he got from them over the years. Suddenly, he feels like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders and Dr. Foster eventually declares him cured.
Shortly thereafter, the newly cured Ned is finally released from Calmwood and the townspeople of Springfield, including the rest of the Simpsons and his family greet him again, and Ned tells everyone, including Homer that he is all better and he'll try harder at expressing his feelings and letting them know when he is upset, such as when he's really angry, "I'm gonna run you down with my car." as long as they will hear about it. Everything then returns to normal and Ned winks. Feeling a new sense of camaraderie with Ned, Homer calls him crazy and the men laugh.