14 Days of Simpsons

#1: Cape Feare
Season 5
PLOT SUMMARY
The mail comes and Bart gets a threatening letter written in blood and he suspects everyone he knows. Marge goes to the police and we soon find out that Sideshow Bob has been writing the threats in prison. Sideshow Bob is up for parole, which is then granted and he soon meets the Simpson family by happenstance in a movie theater. They look into security systems and hired goons to get rid of him. When that fails, they go into an FBI witness protection program. Homer wants to be John Elway, but instead they become the "Thompsons" of Terror Lake. They move onto a houseboat and wear Witness Relocation Program T-shirts and hats. In the process, they abandon their old lives, including Grandpa. Sideshow Bob stows away under their car and goes with them to Terror Lake. He meets up with Bart and vows to get his revenge. Bob later ties up the rest of the Thompson family that night and sets his sight on Bart. Bart asks him to sing the entire score from the "HMS Pinafore" before he kills him. The stalling tactic works when he sings for so long that the boat drifts back to Springfield. Right after he finishes, the Springfield police apprehend Sideshow Bob and the "Thompsons" can return home.

WHY I LIKE IT
As I mentioned in the previous post, I think that the most important, and in many ways the best, Simpson’s episode ever created is Homer the Heretic. However, the episode that is my favorite, that never fails to make me laugh, and keeps me entertained from start to finish is, without question, Cape Feare. The humor in this episode ranges from the truly sophomoric (Sideshow Bob stepping on all the rakes), to the just plain weird (squirrels down the pants), to the esoteric (the HMS Pinafore), the Homer is stupid joke (“I think he’s talking to you.”), and the foreign language jokes (“It’s German for ‘The Bart, The’”), to the throwaway (“It’s a good thing you floated by this brothel.”). I can’t think of a single scene in this episode that doesn’t work, a joke that falls flat, or a reference that doesn’t fit. Released in the generally accepted “Golden Age” of The Simpsons, I believe that this is their most complete episode. Besides, who hasn’t wanted to kill Bart at one time or another?

WATCH IT YOURSELF