Marge in Chains

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"Marge in Chains"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 4
Episode 21
Directed byJim Reardon
Written byBill Oakley
Josh Weinstein
Production code9F20
Original air dateMay 6, 1993 (1993-05-06)
Guest appearances
Episode features
Couch gag
A miniature family climbs onto a normal-sized couch.
CommentaryMatt Groening
Al Jean
Bill Oakley
Josh Weinstein
Jim Reardon
Jeffrey Lynch
Episode chronology
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"Krusty Gets Kancelled"
The Simpsons season 4
List of episodes

"Marge in Chains" is the twenty-first and penultimate episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on May 6, 1993. In the episode, Marge is arrested for shoplifting after forgetting to pay for an item at the Kwik-E-Mart. The family hires attorney Lionel Hutz to defend her at trial, but she is found guilty and sentenced to 30 days in prison. Homer and the rest of the family have trouble coping without Marge.

The episode was written by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, and directed by Jim Reardon. After its initial airing on Fox, the episode was later included as part of a 1997 video release titled The Simpsons: Crime and Punishment. It was released again on the 2005 edition of the same set.

"Marge in Chains" received a positive reception from

The Daily Mirror and The Observer
.

Plot

Dr. Nick star in a TV advertisement for a juicer called the "Juice Loosener", which is manufactured in and shipped from Osaka, Japan. The advertisement persuades multiple Springfield
residents to buy Juice Looseners. However, one of the packers in Osaka has the flu and every package contains some of his germs. The "Osaka Flu" spreads through Springfield.

Every member of

the Simpson family catches the flu, except Marge, who quickly becomes exhausted by caring for four family members. On a trip to the Kwik-E-Mart, Marge's exhaustion causes her to forget to pay for a bottle of bourbon that Grampa requested, and she is soon charged with shoplifting. Mayor Quimby dramatically reveals Marge's shoplifting to the town in a public address. Marge's reputation is damaged and the townspeople no longer trust her. The Simpson family hires Lionel Hutz
to defend Marge, but due to Hutz's incompetence, Marge is convicted and sentenced to 30 days in prison.

Marge's absence is felt by the family and the house falls into disarray. The annual bake sale also suffers– without Marge's marshmallow squares, the Springfield Park Commission is short the money needed for a statue of Abraham Lincoln; they instead purchase a statue of Jimmy Carter. The townspeople are enraged by this (one person shouts, "He's history's greatest monster!") and riot. To save the town government's reputation, Quimby arranges for Marge to be released from jail early. When Marge arrives home, several townspeople are gathered in her front yard. Quimby unveils the Carter statue again, but it now has Marge's hairstyle, and the inscription has been changed from "Malaise Forever" to "Marge Forever". The statue is then converted into a tetherball post, which Bart and Lisa play with.

Production

A portrait of a man with black hair looking at the viewer
Bill Oakley (2008), one of the writers of the episode

"Marge in Chains" was the first episode that

Embassy of India in Washington to get them to translate. The Embassy was not "interested or happy" but still did it.[1]

In the episode, Jimmy Carter is referred to as "history's greatest monster".[2] In the 2004 Season 4 DVD commentary for this episode, show runners Mike Reiss and Al Jean said that they did not like Carter, although they would vote for him ahead of George W. Bush.[2] Kwik-E-Mart operator Apu testifies in a courtroom scene in the episode that he is able to recite pi to 40,000 decimal places, correctly noting that the 40,000th digit is the number one.[3] The episode's writers prepared for this scene by asking David H. Bailey of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (now at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) for the number of the 40,000th decimal place of pi. Bailey sent them back a printout of the first 40,000 digits.[3][4] The Troy McClure movie title P is for Psycho is Mike Reiss' favorite joke he ever wrote for The Simpsons.[5]

"Marge in Chains" originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 6, 1993.[6] The episode was selected for release in a 1997 video collection of selected episodes titled: The Simpsons: Crime and Punishment.[7] Other episodes included in the set were "Homer the Vigilante", "Bart the Fink", and "You Only Move Twice".[7] It was included again in the 2005 DVD release of the Crime and Punishment set.[8] "Marge in Chains" is also featured on The Simpsons' season 4 DVD set, The Simpsons – The Complete Fourth Season, which was released on June 15, 2004.[9]

Cultural references

The episode's title is a reference to the Seattle grunge band

I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", which was used in Coca-Cola advertisements, but they could not get the rights to it. Instead, they used a similar instrumental theme.[2] Homer complains that "I'll miss Sheriff Lobo". Maude asks why God has forsaken the Flanders, and Ned recalls that he laughed at an off-color joke on the Fox sitcom Married... with Children. He laments: “Oh, the network slogan is true! Watch Fox and be damned for all eternity!” The inscription on the Carter statue, "Malaise Forever", is a reference to Carter's "Crisis of Confidence" speech, often referred to as the "malaise" speech, although Carter never used the word.[12][13]

COVID-19 "predictions"

During the

Internet trolls were using the episode for "nefarious purposes", including creating memes replacing "Osaka flu" with "coronavirus."[17][18] Oakley stated his reference for the "Osaka" plot device was the 1968 flu pandemic, which began in British Hong Kong, stating it was "just supposed to be a quick joke about how the flu got here."[17] When speaking on "predictions" from The Simpsons in general, Oakley continued "It's mainly just coincidence because the episodes are so old that history repeats itself."[17]

Comparisons to the episode experienced a resurgence in May 2020, following advisories by

better source needed
]

In this episode,

U.S. Virgin Islands during a time when Americans were facing problems at home, such as problems stemming from the impact of a major snow blizzard.[24][25]

Reception

In its original broadcast, "Marge in Chains" finished 31st in ratings for the week of May 3–9, 1993, with a

Nielsen rating of 11.1, equivalent to approximately 10.3 million viewing households. It was the second highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following Beverly Hills, 90210.[26]

In a review of the episode in The Observer, Caroline Boucher wrote: "My domestic Simpsons correspondent, Simon, reports a particularly fine episode, Marge in Chains to the extent that he watched the tape twice."[27] Karl French of Financial Times characterized the plot of the episode as a "modern version" of It's a Wonderful Life.[28] Dusty Lane of The News Tribune cited a quote from Lionel Hutz in the episode among his list of "Eight Great 'Simpsons' Quotes" – "Well, he's kind of had it in for me since I kinda ran over his dog. Well, replace the word 'kinda' with the word 'repeatedly,' and the word 'dog' with 'son'."[29]

Jessica Mellor of

The Daily Mirror highlighted the episode in a review of The Simpsons season four DVD release, along with "Kamp Krusty", "New Kid on the Block", and "I Love Lisa", commenting: "Springfield's finest prove once again why they are the cleverest thing on telly."[30] In a section on the episode in their book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood wrote: "We like Bart's plan to rescue Marge from prison by becoming the glamorous Bartina, and Lionel Hutz is supremely inept".[31]

See also

References

  1. ^ Oakley, Bill. (2004). DVD Commentary for "Marge in Chains", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fourth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  2. ^ a b c d Jean, Al. (2004). DVD Commentary for "Marge in Chains", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fourth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  3. ^ a b Wolff, Josephine (March 14, 2008). "Have your pi and eat it too". The Daily Princetonian. Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  4. ISBN 978-0062748034
    .
  5. ISBN 978-0062748034
    .
  6. ^
    Allmovie. Macrovision Corporation. Archived from the original
    on April 26, 2006. Retrieved September 3, 2008.
  7. ^ a b Mellor, Jessica (December 28, 1997). "It's a crime not to laugh! – Video View". News of the World. p. 54.
  8. ^ Agnew, Margaret (August 3, 2005). "DVD of the Week". The Christchurch Press. p. 1.
  9. ^ The Simpsons – The Complete Fourth Season (1992). 20th Century Fox. June 15, 2004. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  10. ^ Rabin, Nathan. "The Simpsons (Classic): "Marge in Chains"". Archived from the original on December 8, 2023. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  11. The Sunday Herald. Archived from the original
    on February 24, 2016. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  12. ^ Carter, Jimmy (July 15, 1979), Crisis of Confidence, archived from the original on December 24, 2023, retrieved December 9, 2023
  13. ^ Mattson, Kevin (July 12, 2009). "Examining Carter's 'Malaise Speech', 30 Years Later". National Public Radio. Archived from the original on December 9, 2023. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
  14. ^ Chilton, Louis. "Coronavirus: The Simpsons (almost) predicted the outbreak in 1993". The Independent. Archived from the original on March 17, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  15. Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Retrieved March 10, 2020.[permanent dead link
    ]
  16. ^ "Partly false claim: a 1993 Simpsons episode predicted the new coronavirus outbreak". Reuters. March 14, 2020. Archived from the original on March 17, 2020. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  17. ^ a b c Parker, Ryan. "'Simpsons' Writer Calls Perversion of Classic Episode During Coronavirus Outbreak "Gross"". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 16, 2022. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  18. ^ Carras, Christi. "This 'Simpsons' writer is fed up with 'nefarious' coronavirus conspiracy theories". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 17, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  19. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived
    from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  20. ^ Burton, Bonnie. "How The Simpsons predicted 'murder hornets' and the coronavirus pandemic". CNET. Archived from the original on May 8, 2020. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  21. ^ Frishberg, Hannah (May 6, 2020). "'Simpsons' episode predicted coronavirus — and murder hornets". New York Post. Archived from the original on May 7, 2020. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  22. ^ Haring, Bruce (February 18, 2021). "'The Simpsons' Hit A Little Too Close To Home For One Fan, AKA Ted Cruz". Deadline. Archived from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  23. ^ Bradley, Laura (February 22, 2018). "A Brief History of Ted Cruz's One-Sided Obsession with The Simpsons". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on May 18, 2022. Retrieved April 29, 2022.
  24. ^ Salvatore, John (December 28, 2022). "Biden vacations in Virgin Islands as Americans face problems at home". Fox News. Archived from the original on December 27, 2022. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  25. ^ Turan, Rabia Iclal (December 28, 2022). "Biden vacations in Virgin Islands as US faces deadly winter storm". Anadolu Agency. Archived from the original on December 28, 2022. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
  26. ^ "This week, it's ABC on top". Sun-Sentinel. Associated Press. May 13, 1993. p. 4E.
  27. ^ Boucher, Caroline (August 2, 1998). "Television: Thursday 6 August". The Observer. Guardian Newspapers Limited. p. 56.
  28. ^ French, Karl (August 6, 1998). "Television & Radio: Television preview". Financial Times. p. 23.
  29. ^ Lane, Dusty (July 27, 2007). "Diehard fans won't be disappointed". The News Tribune. p. E1.
  30. The Daily Mirror
    .
  31. ISBN 0-7535-0495-2. Archived
    from the original on October 4, 2003. Retrieved December 23, 2019.

Further reading

External links

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