Four Great Women and a Manicure
"Four Great Women and a Manicure" | ||
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Couch gag | A French artist chisels the Simpsons out of a stone block, then turns the sculpture into a general statue. | |
"Four Great Women and a Manicure" is the twentieth and penultimate episode of the
Jodie Foster performs the voice of Maggie Simpson. The title is a reference to the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral. It is the only episode in the history of the show in which Bart Simpson is not seen nor mentioned (not counting the opening credits). It is also the second episode (after "Mona Leaves-a") to first air on Mother's Day and deal with women or mothers.
Plot
Marge takes Lisa to a salon for her first manicure, prompting a debate as to whether a woman can simultaneously be smart, powerful and beautiful.
Queen Elizabeth I
In the first tale, Marge tells the story of
Various royal suitors wish to win the hand of Queen Elizabeth, including a flamboyant King Julio of Spain. The Queen rejects his advances and Julio vows revenge on England, summoning the
Snow White
In the second tale, Lisa tells the story of Snow White, with herself in the title role. As the Blue-Haired Lawyer reminds Lisa that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has been copyrighted by Disney, she changes the characters to avoid being sued.
Lisa's version features the dwarves Crabby (
Lady Macbeth
In the third tale, Marge relates a story of ruthless ambition, embodied by Lady Macbeth.
Marge (parodying Lady Macbeth) is frustrated at having to clean the costumes worn by the other actors of a Springfield production of
While scrubbing the blood from the costumes, Marge is visited by the angry spirits of the murdered actors. She tries to blame her husband, but they don't believe her. They point out that Homer was a victim himself in her ambitions and devious plans and that she should have listened when she had the chance. In revenge for her actions, the angry spirits kill Marge by causing a fright-induced heart attack. In her memory (or rather, by her spirit force, since she apparently has learned nothing from the experience), Homer performs
Maggie Roark
In the final tale, Maggie is depicted as "Maggie Roark", representing Howard Roark from Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead.[2]
Maggie's architectural brilliance is squashed by an oppressive pre-school teacher (
Ending
The rest of the story is interrupted when Marge stops Maggie from painting Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night on the nail salon wall, scolding her for "soiling" the wall and not realizing the irony.
Reception
This episode was watched by 5.16 million viewers. It was the second most watched show of the night on Animation Domination, on the Fox network, after Family Guy.[3]
Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club graded the episode a "C−", stating "[...] tonight's classically themed outing didn't fare very well, starting with the story of one of the Bouvier sisters as Queen Elizabeth—an episode segment that clocked in at just over four minutes, far too short a time to do anything lasting... or funny. The longest stretch came near the end, in the form of an extended riff on MacBeth [sic] involving Homer killing a ton of people. But aside from the occasional random line or two, it was pretty much a boring retelling of the tale, with Simpsons characters subbing in for Shakespearean ones. So I guess the question is: How much pleasure is there to milk from seeing familiar yellow people reenact parts of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead? Given the show's shaky streak lately, not nearly enough."[4]
Screen Rant listed the episode as the seventeenth worst, remarking that "...it isn't really special or memorable as it doesn't do much other than rehash stories in real-life history like Selma as Queen Elizabeth I and Lisa as Snow White."[5]
Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a 6.2/10, ultimately saying "Four stories instead of three, but there was really one worth watching", "Snow White".[6]
See also
- MacHomer, a play by Rick Miller blending MacBeth and The Simpsons
References
- ^ a b "May is Massive on Fox". FoxFlash. Archived from the original on April 12, 2009. Retrieved April 8, 2009.
- ^ Leo, Alex (June 11, 2009). "Maggie Speaks! The Littlest Simpson Says Her First Sentence While Acting Out "The Fountainhead" (VIDEO)". HuffPost. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
- ^ "Ratings: Four Great Women and Another All Time Low!". May 11, 2009. Archived from the original on February 9, 2010.
- ^ Heisler, Steve (May 11, 2009). ""Back In Time"/"Four Great Women And A Manicure"/"Manger Baby Einstein"/"Three Kings"/"Daddy Queerest"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
- ^ "The Worst Episodes of the Simpsons, Ranked". Screen Rant. June 25, 2019.
- ^ Canning, Robert (May 11, 2009). "The Simpsons: "Four Great Women and a Manicure" Review". IGN. Retrieved November 28, 2016.