WARNING! This article contains a controversy. We absolutely take no responsibility for any controversial topics (including this page). Read at your own risk should you continue. The reason given is: While critics gave mixed reviews, this episode is considered to be one of the worst by many fans due to how the episode ended, as well as criticism towards guest star Kid Rock.
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Okay, non-smoker, add eight years, so according to this I'll live to be ... forty-two? Ohhh, that's horrible! I won't even live to see my children die!
The Simpsons are going on spring break in Florida to hopefully cure Homer of his insomnia-induced insanity and fear of dying caused by answering a magazine quiz...but find themselves on the run from the law for running down the town's mascot, Captain Jack.
Full Story[]
Homer gets a magazine in the mail that is loaded with personality tests, and he relentlessly quizzes his friends and family with them. Later on, he takes his own test (in the middle of the night), which determines how long he has left to live. Unfortunately, Homer's less than stellar health and eating habits add up to only three more years to live. Marge suggests a few lifestyle changes to make that number go up. Naturally, Homer is against that and has a mental breakdown, developing insomnia and losing his sanity. One evening while watching Charlie Rose he thinks he hears Charlie Rose say that he wants Homer dead. He almost causes the Power Plant to be closed down when he asks the safety inspector to hide him, wearing nothing but a burlap sack and holding a toy baby.
The plant's counselor recommends Homer go on a long vacation for quiet recuperation, so the family head off to a town in Florida. Unfortunately, when they arrive it is Spring Break, one of the loudest weeks of the year. Although Homer is cured of his death paranoia, he now has a new problem: running off to a Kid Rock concert on the beach when he should be resting. While Marge ties him to bed Homer manages to escape and head to the beach but becomes a nuisance at the party, annoying the audience, Joe C. and Kid Rock. Meanwhile Marge and the kids take a boat tour of the area and enjoy themselves. Marge soon learns about Homer's escape but he drops on the couch which she is pleased by. Homer wakes up the next day, with his insomnia gone, he rushes outside ready to party but spring break is over: The students are returning back to their studies. Homer tries to keep the party going, dragging the family along with him. He rents an airboat and they go through the swamp, while Homer is having fun, the kids are not enthusiastic. While riding Homer ends up running over the town's most famous resident, an alligator named Captain Jack. Since the sheriff is actually cruel outside of spring break, despite the fact that Homer is the sole guilty culprit, the entire family is arrested for allegedly killing the alligator, since they were all on the boat.
They flee from the sheriff and head for a railroad crossing just as a freight train is going by. Although Homer is able to dodge the train, their car is hit by an Amtrak train traveling in the opposite direction and pushed several miles down the tracks. The Simpsons end up being pushed down the track the whole night; after getting the family some breakfast from the dining car, Homer tells everyone the train is going to get them off the track. Seconds later, they are pushed off and roll down the hill, totaling their car. Marge is furious that they are now fugitives from the law, have no car and Homer alone is the reason why. The Simpsons walk down the road to a secluded diner and decide work there until the heat is off, with them eventually moving into a trailer. They soon begin to enjoy their life in Florida and Homer even says, "Killing that Gator was the best thing that could have happened to us!" and the whole family agrees. Unfortunately, the family is soon tracked down and towed into custody by the sheriff. Thanks to Homer’s foolish attempt to defend himself in court (where he refers to the jury as "drunken hicks"), the whole family is sentenced to life imprisonment as well as forced labor. One night, when they are forced to serve at a judge’s party in front of the capitol, they attempt to escape, but fail. Before the family can face further punishment, Captain Jack appears - He wasn’t dead at all, he had only been stunned by the boat's impact. The family is acquitted, but are banned from ever entering Florida again. The episode ends with the family trying to plan their next vacation, despite the fact that they've been banned from nearly every state in the United States.
Behind the Laughter[]
Reception[]
This episode was met with universally negative reception due to Kid Rock's guest appearance, Homer's behavior, the family tolerating Homer's behavior, and the nonsensical ending of the Simpsons being banned from every state in the United States (which could never happen in real life and would limit many future plots if it became a permanent continuity change). Because the Simpsons travel to other U.S. locations in future episodes (i.e. New Orleans in "Lisa Gets the Blues"), it is possible that either the bans were lifted off-screen, the Simpsons are breaking the law and no one is doing anything about it, or this episode is considered non-canon (though the third reason is mostly from fans who don't want to recognize it as a canon episode due to the negative reception).
"Kill the Alligator and Run" currently remains near-universally panned, joining such episodes as "The Principal and the Pauper" (for screwing up Principal Skinner's backstory), "The Boys of Bummer" (for depicting the town as cruel enough to drive Bart to suicide), "Lisa Goes Gaga" (for being a flimsy excuse for Lady Gaga to overtake the show), "Homer vs. Dignity" (for its crude and disgusting humor, most infamously, the scene of Homer getting sexually assaulted by a panda at the zoo), "Saddlesore Galactica" (for recycling the plot to "Lisa's Pony" and including fantasy elements that are out of character for the show, though some fans do like that this episode made fun of itself for how ridiculous it is), "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge" (for Marge acting uncharacteristically mean to Otto's ex-fiancee and the ending where Marge gets a dart in her neck from Homer, which one critic described as the beginning of the show's slide into cartoonishness and the end of the heartwarming endings the show used to have), "Gump Roast" (for being a clip show episode, which led to the show's crew not doing them anymore), "Bart to the Future" (for being a poor sequel to "Lisa's Wedding," though the episode has now become popular due to the episode "predicting" that Donald Trump would be President, starting the "Simpsons Predicts the Future" meme), "Every Man's Dream" (for showing Homer cheating on Marge and disregarding the story as a dream), "The Star of the Backstage" (for meanspirited humor and out-of-date pop culture references), "Bart vs. Itchy & Scratchy" (for its depictions of woke feminism), and "The Musk Who Fell to Earth" (for glorifying Elon Musk, who has become a controversial figure as of late).
