500 Keys
| "500 Keys" | |
|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 22 Episode 21 |
| Directed by | Bob Anderson |
| Written by | John Frink |
| Production code | NABF14 |
| Original air date | May 15, 2011 |
| Guest appearance | |
| |
| Episode features | |
Couch gag | Everyone and everything is represented as a word cloud. |
"500 Keys" is the twenty-first and penultimate episode of the twenty-second season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 15, 2011. It was written by John Frink and directed by Bob Anderson.[1]
Plot
After returning from a shop that sells returned wedding cakes,
Meanwhile, Bart tries causing mayhem with the keys but accidentally does good deeds with them, and ends up with the key to the city. Marge and Maggie find a key for a wind-up toy train called "The Pooter Toot Express," which makes farting noises when it moves. The toy gets away from them and they chase it throughout the city. Homer uses a key to get into the Duff brewery with Barney and goes joyriding in the Duff blimp.
To get more information about Bus 23, Lisa and Bart ask
Chalmers and Skinner try to flee to Bolivia, but are stopped by Bart, who has Skinner's car key and forces them to explain everything. Years earlier, the school had received a large grant for the purpose of improving its classrooms. Skinner cashed the check but accidentally left the money in his pants pocket, and his mother inadvertently destroyed it when she washed his laundry. With the help of Groundskeeper Willie, Chalmers and Skinner built a fake classroom and photographed it to keep the feds from coming after them, using rented mannequins to pose as students. They put the mannequins on Bus 23 to have Otto return them by five o'clock before being charged for the extra day and they did not prorate, but the ice bridge gave out and the bus went into the lake. Chalmers and Skinner apologize to Otto for letting him believe he killed a busload of students, and all is forgiven. No further mention of the rental money is made, though Skinner says that they anticipated the wedding cakes but not Maggie locking herself in the car, and Chalmers chastises him for not anticipating her birth.
The epilogue ends with Otto driving his bus across an icy bridge, believing that his complement is full of mannequins, when he is actually transporting real children. As his bus is close to tipping off the bridge, he comments that perhaps they will fall off slowly as in Inception; he is wrong and his bus falls into the river. The episode ends with the sound of Otto searching for his keys to let the children off the bus to swim to shore.
Production
The episode features a cameo from Albert Brooks as Hank Scorpio, a one-time character from the eighth season episode, "You Only Move Twice."[2] The chalkboard gag was written to correct the error from the previous episode "Homer Scissorhands" where guest star Kristen Schaal's surname was spelled incorrectly as "Schall" in the credits.[3] Schaal eventually thanked the producers for the name correction through Twitter.[3] The blackboard gag "It's 'Schaal', not 'Schall'" was only seen in the televised version; the version that was streamed on Hulu.com, Disney+, and seen in televised reruns used the blackboard gag, "Guinea pigs should not be used as guinea pigs."
During the closing credits, the jingling of a set of keys is heard, followed by a solo violin rendition of the show's theme.
Reception
In its original American broadcast on May 15, 2011, "500 Keys" was viewed by an estimated 6 million households and received a 2.5 rating/7 share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49.[4] This means that it was seen by 2.5% of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 7% of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. The episode stayed even in the rating from the previous episode, "Homer Scissorhands."[4][5]
Rowan Kaiser of The A.V. Club commented that while the episode was "amusing" it "never comes near great stuff" and also called the episode "disposable."[2] He ultimately gave the episode a B.[2]
Eric Hochberger of TV Fanatic gave the episode 4 out of 5 stars. He highlighted Lisa's and Homer's key stories, but felt Marge's and Bart's key stories were not as interesting.[6]
References
- ^ Seidman, Robert (April 20, 2011). "Prepare for an A-May-Zing May on Fox - Ratings | TVbytheNumbers". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on April 23, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
- ^ a b c Kaiser, Rowan (May 16, 2011). ""Flirting With Disaster"/"500 Keys"/"Lobsterfest"/"Foreign Affairs"/"Hot Cocoa Bang Bang"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
- ^ a b Itzkoff, Dave (May 16, 2011). "Credit Where It's Due: A Spelling Lesson for 'The Simpsons'". The New York Times. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
- ^ a b Seidman, Robert (May 13, 2011). "TV Ratings Sunday: 'Survivor' Finale Trumps 'Desperate Housewives' Finale, Trump and Everything Else - Ratings | TVbytheNumbers". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 18, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
- ^ Gorman, Bill (May 9, 2011). "TV Ratings Sunday: Finales Of 'Brothers & Sisters,' 'CSI:Miami' Up; 'The Amazing Race' Hits Low - Ratings | TVbytheNumbers". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 12, 2011. Retrieved May 9, 2011.
- ^ Hochberger, Eric (May 16, 2011). "The Simpsons Review: "500 Keys"". TV Fanatic. Retrieved August 19, 2023.
External links
- "500 Keys" at IMDb
- "500 Keys" Archived 2018-12-29 at the Wayback Machine at theSimpsons.com
