Secrets of a Successful Marriage
"Secrets of a Successful Marriage" | |
---|---|
The Simpsons episode | |
Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 22 |
Directed by | Carlos Baeza |
Written by | Greg Daniels |
Production code | 1F20 |
Original air date | May 19, 1994 |
Guest appearance | |
Episode features | |
Couch gag | The members of the family run in, collide, and explode. Maggie's pacifier falls to the floor of the blackened living room. |
Commentary | David Mirkin Greg Daniels David Silverman |
"Secrets of a Successful Marriage" is the twenty-second and final episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 19, 1994. In the episode, Homer fears he may be a little slow, so he goes to the adult education center. While there, he decides to teach a class of his own on the secrets of a successful marriage, since that is the only class he is qualified to teach. However, to keep his students interested, he is forced to tell personal secrets about his wife Marge, which she dislikes, leading up to Homer getting kicked out of the house.
The episode was written by
.The episode has been analyzed in books such as Leaving Springfield and Education in Popular Culture. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics.
It acquired a
Plot
Homer is disheartened to learn that all of his peers, including his family, believe he is "slow". Marge advises Homer to take an adult education course. While looking at available courses, Homer decides to teach a class himself, and is soon hired to teach a class about how to build a successful marriage. On the first day of class, Homer is unable to help his students with their relationship problems. As the students begin leaving, Homer mentions his conversation with Marge in bed and the students, eager to hear gossip, decide to stay. To the students' delight, Homer begins telling them personal secrets about Marge.
After hearing Homer's students mention her personal secrets, Marge confronts Homer. He promises to stop revealing personal secrets in class, but relents after realizing his students are not interested in his other teaching material. To impress his pupils, Homer invites them to his house to observe the family having dinner, but when Moe mentions another personal secret, a furious Marge chases the students away and evicts Homer from the house, as she is no longer able to trust him in any matter.
With nowhere to go, Homer sleeps in Bart's treehouse. Bart and Lisa worry their parents will get divorced. Attempting to make amends, Homer returns to the house with flowers for Marge, but is disheartened to learn Moe has already given Marge flowers. As he turns to leave, Homer realizes he can only offer Marge one thing: complete and utter dependency. Marge is hesitant at first, but she and Homer reconcile when she realizes he makes her feel needed.
Production
![A seated man wearing a cap smiles as he looks into the distance. His hands are crossed.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/Davidmirkin.jpg/220px-Davidmirkin.jpg)
The episode was written by Greg Daniels and directed by Carlos Baeza. It was the second script Daniels wrote for the show. He thought the staff had previously done many episodes where Homer "wasn't good at anything", so he tried to figure out something Homer was really good at, and he came up with the idea of Homer being a good husband.[1] While Bart had been the star of the show during the early years, by Season 5, the focus had shifted to Homer. Writer/showrunner Al Jean stated that because Homer is an adult character, he has more depth to him and thus storyline possibilities. Showrunner David Mirkin commented: "Bart, to write him accurately as a child, he can only have so much depth at a certain age. With Homer, we try to explore all levels of adulthood. There are just more places to go. Writing Homer properly is the trick, he's our main rock of the whole series. Homer's IQ is fairly flexible, he won't necessarily understand how to open a door at some point, but he can name the Supreme Court justices. Finding that balance is key to making the show work and making it surprising and making it believable and emotionally grounded."[2] Mirkin was very fond of the fact that Homer and Marge have the biggest fight they have ever had on the show in the episode, and he thought it was a "really great" exploration of their marriage. He noticed that because Homer is thrown out of the house, the audience really worry about their relationship. Mirkin had been asked many times why Marge and Homer are still together, to which he replied that all people stay together even if they argue, "there's some sort of connection".[3]
Cultural references
Homer sings the end of the theme song to
Analysis
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/Tennessee_Williams_NYWTS.jpg/180px-Tennessee_Williams_NYWTS.jpg)
It was revealed in a flashback in the episode that Smithers was briefly married to a woman, but the two split up when he devoted too much time to his boss
In their book Education in Popular Culture, Alma Harris, Roy Fisher, Ann Harris, and Christine Jarvis analyzes the adult education aspects of this episode that portrays adult learners as "stupid and lazy". The show initially makes it seem like adult education tutors have a relatively high status in society. "However," the authors added, "Homer's pride is undercut for the audience by the awareness of how he came to be appointed and by the subsequent representation of the adult education center".[9]
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Secrets of a Successful Marriage" finished forty-third in the ratings for the week of May 16 to May 22, 1994, with a
Since airing, the episode has received positive reviews from television critics. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, thought it was a "confident finale" to the fifth season, which "had seen the series become progressively more surreal and self-aware."[4]
DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson wrote in December, 2004, that he thought the episode ended the season with a "high note", and that Homer’s insensitive gossiping about his relationship "presents lots of good bits. It completes this excellent year well." Jacobson's favorite line of the episode was "This is a place of learning, not a house of hearing about things!", which Homer tells his class after they demand him to reveal more secrets about him and Marge.[11] Also reviewing the season in December 2004, Bill Gibron of DVD Talk gave the episode a score of 4 out of 5.[12]
In his review of the Season 5 box set in early 2005, Patrick Bromley of DVD Verdict gave the episode a grade of A−, and commented that episodes focusing on the relationship between Homer and Marge can "never fail", and there are "numerous opportunities for some classic Homer-isms" in the episode.[13]
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly in March 2006, one-time Simpsons writer and comedian Ricky Gervais named "Secrets of a Successful Marriage" his fifth favorite episode of the show, and commented that Homer's line to Marge, "I know now what I can offer you that no one else can. Complete and utter dependence," is "so sweet, because he's right!"[14]
It ranked seventh on Today's top ten The Simpsons episodes list in July, 2007. They felt the episode embodied Homer's qualities of being "stupid, good-natured and mildly pathetic, [...] from his conversations with his brain [...] to his final proclamation that the one thing he can give Marge that no one else can is 'complete and utter dependence'."[15]
References
- ^ Daniels, Greg (2004). The Simpsons season 5 DVD commentary for the episode "Secrets of a Successful Marriage" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Tucker, Reed (July 22, 2007). "Ay, Caramba! We're old, man!". New York Post. p. 40. Archived from the original on January 16, 2022. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
- ^ Mirkin, David (2004). The Simpsons season 5 DVD commentary for the episode "Secrets of a Successful Marriage" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "Secrets of a Successful Marriage". BBC. Archived from the original on March 11, 2005. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
- ^ Richmond & Coffman 1997, p. 130.
- ^ Turner 2004, p. 296.
- ^ Carroll, Larry (July 26, 2007). "'Simpsons' Trivia, From Swearing Lisa To 'Burns-Sexual' Smithers". MTV. Archived from the original on December 20, 2007. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
- ISBN 0-8143-2849-0.
- ISBN 978-0-415-33242-2.
- Long Beach Press-Telegram. Associated Press. May 25, 1994. p. 4E.
- ^ Jacobson, Colin (December 21, 2004). "The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season (1993)". DVD Movie Guide. Archived from the original on April 20, 2009. Retrieved January 24, 2009.
- ^ Gibron, Bill (December 23, 2004). "The Simpsons — The Complete Fifth Season". DVD Talk. Archived from the original on January 22, 2009. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
- ^ Bromley, Patrick (February 23, 2005). "The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on April 20, 2009. Retrieved January 24, 2009.
- ^ Snierson, Dan (March 24, 2006). "Ricky Gervais rates The Simpsons". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on October 12, 2013. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
- Today.com. Archivedfrom the original on January 16, 2022. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
- Bibliography
External links
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