"The Last Temptation of Homer" is the ninth episode of the
fifth season of the American animated television series ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
''. It originally aired on the
Fox network
The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations ...
in the United States on December 9, 1993.
In the episode, a female employee named Mindy is hired at the
nuclear power plant.
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
and Mindy find themselves attracted to each other after bonding over their shared interests of beer, donuts and television. Although Homer is tempted to sleep with Mindy, he remains faithful to his wife
Marge. Meanwhile,
Bart
Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc.
Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Bartho ...
becomes an outcast after medical treatments make him look like a
nerd
A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly tec ...
.
The episode was written by
Frank Mula and directed by Carlos Baeza. It features cultural references to films such as ''
The Wizard of Oz'', ''
It's A Wonderful Life
''It's a Wonderful Life'' is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story and booklet ''The Greatest Gift'', which Philip Van Doren Stern self-published in 1943 and is in turn loos ...
'', and ''
A Christmas Carol''. It did not get the usual amount of laughs at the
test screening
A test screening is a preview screening of a movie or television show before its general release to gauge audience reaction. Preview audiences are selected from a cross-section of the population and are usually asked to complete a questionnaire or ...
s, which made the staff worry the show was not as funny as they expected.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics; guest star
Michelle Pfeiffer was especially praised for her performance as Mindy, which was highlighted on ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
''
's list of the 16 best guest appearances on ''The Simpsons''. It acquired a
Nielsen rating
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...
of 12.7, and was the highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
Plot
After
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
and his coworkers barely escape from a gas leak at the nuclear power plant, Homer's coworker is fired when he asks
Mr. Burns to put in a real emergency exit after the one they had turned out to be painted on the wall. When Burns breaks numerous labor laws in hiring a replacement — such as hiring
undocumented workers
Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwar ...
and ducks — the
United States Department of Labor
The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemploy ...
demands that he hire at least one female worker. A beautiful woman, Mindy Simmons, is hired and Homer falls in love with her.
Barney advises Homer to talk to Mindy because they will most likely have nothing in common. To his horror, Homer finds they have exactly the same interests.
Marge gets sick with a bad cold, which makes her unattractive to Homer.
After playing a prank on the teachers where he paints white lines outside the school to make parking spaces 1 foot narrower than supposed to be, resulting in the teachers not being able to get out of their cars,
Bart
Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc.
Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Bartho ...
is told that for the rest of the semester that he will be asked to answer every question made first. Bart's first task is to pronounce the word "photosynthesis", but he is unable to pronounce it due to his blurry vision. He is sent to an eye doctor, who finds Bart has a lazy eye and fits him with thick glasses he must wear for two weeks. A dermatologist treats Bart's dry scalp by matting his hair down with a medicated salve, parting his hair to both sides. He receives a pair of oversized shoes from the
podiatrist
A podiatrist ( ) is a medical professional devoted to the treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle, and related structures of the leg. The term originated in North America but has now become the accepted term in the English-speaking world for ...
to help his posture, and the
otolaryngologist
Otorhinolaryngology ( , abbreviated ORL and also known as otolaryngology, otolaryngology–head and neck surgery (ORL–H&N or OHNS), or ear, nose, and throat (ENT)) is a surgical subspeciality within medicine that deals with the surgical a ...
sprays his throat, making him sound like
Jerry Lewis from ''
The Nutty Professor''. These changes make Bart look and sound like a
nerd
A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly tec ...
, causing school bullies to pick on him. Bart eventually returns to school in his normal guise after his treatments end, but the bullies pummel him anyway.
Homer decides to tell Mindy they should avoid each other because of their mutual attraction. However, they are chosen to represent the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant at the National Energy Convention in Capital City. After a romantic dinner as an award for winning the convention, Homer and Mindy return to their hotel room. Mindy tells Homer how she feels about him, but assures him that he can decide how far their relationship will go. Although he is very tempted by her, Homer declares his faithfulness to Marge. Mindy accepts his decision and leaves after they share a kiss. Later, Marge and Homer share a romantic evening together in the same room, where Homer discovers a turkey he and Mindy left behind the bed after ordering room service. However, they are suddenly interrupted by a hotel worker who enters the room and makes suggestive noises at them. Homer silences him by punching him in the eye.
Production
![Davidmirkin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Davidmirkin.jpg)
The episode was written by
Frank Mula and directed by Carlos Baeza.
The idea was conceived by the then-
show runner
A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...
David Mirkin
David Mirkin (born ) is an American feature film and television director, writer and producer. Mirkin grew up in Philadelphia and intended to become an electrical engineer, but abandoned this career path in favor of studying film at Loyola Mar ...
. When he was hired to work on ''The Simpsons'', one of his goals was to study the aspect of Homer's character if he was "really tempted away" from Marge. Mirkin wanted to find out what would happen in a situation where Homer finds himself attracted to another woman. ''The Simpsons'' creator
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip ''Life in Hell'' (1977–2012) and the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), ''Fut ...
had previously written an episode for the show's
third season, called "
Colonel Homer
"Colonel Homer" is the twentieth episode of the third season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 26, 1992. In the episode, Homer and Marge quarrel afte ...
", where Homer finds himself attracted to a country singer named
Lurleen Lumpkin. In that episode, Lurleen immediately had a "crush" on Homer, but Homer was not aware of it until later on. With this episode, Mirkin wanted Homer to immediately know he was attracted to Mindy. Mirkin thought it was a "great exploration" to see what happened to Homer in this particular case.
The episode did not get the usual amount of laughs at the
animatic test screening
A test screening is a preview screening of a movie or television show before its general release to gauge audience reaction. Preview audiences are selected from a cross-section of the population and are usually asked to complete a questionnaire or ...
, which made the staff worry it was not as funny as they expected. Mirkin said it had to do with the fact that because there were very "subtle" performances in the episode, the animation had to be "exactly right" for it to be funny. Baeza and
David Silverman, another animation director on the show, worked "hard" on the episode. Mirkin said from the very beginning it was a "huge group effort" from both the writing and the animation staff.
Many scenes in the animatic portrayed Mindy as flirty. Mirkin did not like this because the secret of the episode was Homer and Mindy are two good people who are thrown into the situation and "can't help that their
libidos are going crazy upon seeing each other". He added that the two characters have "so much in common" that it is "not just a physical relationship, but a mental connection as well", and that Mindy is not a seductress but rather a woman just as nervous as Homer. Mirkin also pointed out that while Homer is being tempted by a "seemingly perfect" woman at work, his wife could not be more "imperfect" since she has got a cold and looks sick. "He's trying to connect with his family, but with Marge looking sick and Bart looking like a nerd, everything is just not working," Mirkin said.
![Michelle Pfeiffer 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Michelle_Pfeiffer_01.jpg)
American actress
Michelle Pfeiffer provided the voice of Mindy Simmons in the episode. All the writers showed up at the recording studio in
West Los Angeles
West Los Angeles is an area within the city of Los Angeles, California. The residential and commercial neighborhood is divided by the Interstate 405 freeway, and each side is sometimes treated as a distinct neighborhood, mapped differently by di ...
to see her record her lines. When Pfeiffer entered the room with her daughter, Pfeiffer was "mobbed" by the energy of the writers and directors, who were excited to see her. Mirkin, who directed Pfeiffer in the studio, was nervous because he thought she was a beautiful woman who was on a "completely different level" than the other actors and actresses he had directed on the show. Pfeiffer was also nervous because she had never voiced an animated character. Mirkin told her: "You're gonna love this more than anything you have ever done because it's calm and pleasant, and we have so much time to play and experiment." This helped her calm down and by the end of the session, she was "really relaxed" and they had a "fantastic" time.
Silverman told Pfeiffer to not sound too flirty, and that she should just act herself. In one scene in the episode, Mindy
drool
Drooling, or slobbering, is the flow of saliva outside the mouth. Drooling can be caused by excess production of saliva, inability to retain saliva within the mouth (incontinence of saliva), or problems with swallowing (dysphagia or odynophagia) ...
s as she eats doughnuts, much like Homer does. To get the right drool sound, Pfeiffer put
broccoli
Broccoli (''Brassica oleracea'' var. ''italica'') is an edible green plant in the cabbage family (family Brassicaceae, genus ''Brassica'') whose large flowering head, stalk and small associated leaves are eaten as a vegetable. Broccoli is cla ...
and water in her mouth.
Mirkin said he did not have to give much direction during the recording of Homer and Mindy's final scene together, in which Mindy tells Homer how she feels about him. Pfeiffer "hit it really well" and they did it several times to get it "more and more real". Mirkin also thought that Pfeiffer completely understood the part and played it perfectly. He described her as "one of those actresses that you don't even have to see to know they're great, instead you can hear from her voice what a brilliant actress she is."
Dan Castellaneta
Daniel Louis Castellaneta (; born October 29, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series ''The Simpsons'' (as well as other characters on the show such as Abraham "Grampa" ...
was also praised by Mirkin for his performance as Homer. Castellaneta struggled to be "sweet" and "moving" in his performance.
When Homer calls a marriage counseling hotline in the episode, he accidentally knocks himself unconscious in the
phone booth
A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; usually the user steps into the booth and closes the booth ...
. In a dream, he is approached by his
guardian angel
A guardian angel is a type of angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group or nation. Belief in tutelary beings can be traced throughout all antiquity. The idea of angels that guard over people played a major role in A ...
. The angel initially takes the form of
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a " natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...
, but since Homer has no idea who that is, instead takes the form of
Colonel Klink, then shows Homer what his life would be like without Marge (in the style of ''
It's A Wonderful Life
''It's a Wonderful Life'' is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story and booklet ''The Greatest Gift'', which Philip Van Doren Stern self-published in 1943 and is in turn loos ...
''). Colonel Klink is a character on the American television series ''
Hogan's Heroes''. Klink's actor in ''Hogan's Heroes'',
Werner Klemperer
Werner Klemperer (March 22, 1920 – December 6, 2000) was an American actor. He was known for playing Colonel Wilhelm Klink on the CBS television sitcom ''Hogan's Heroes'', for which he twice won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in ...
, provided the voice of Klink in this episode. Mirkin said Klemperer was a "fantastic sport" to do the character. Since ''Hogan's Heroes'' had gone off the air in 1971, he had forgotten how to play Klink. Mirkin therefore had to do an impression of Klink that Klemperer could imitate to get it right.
This cameo was Klemperer's last credited role before his death in 2000.
Cultural references
The title is a reference to the 1988 film "The Last Temptation of Christ". When Homer first meets Mindy, he imagines her as
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...
in
Sandro Botticelli
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), known as Sandro Botticelli (, ), was an Italian Renaissance painting, Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th cent ...
's painting ''
The Birth of Venus
''The Birth of Venus'' ( it, Nascita di Venere ) is a painting by the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli, probably executed in the mid 1480s. It depicts the goddess Venus arriving at the shore after her birth, when she had emerged from the sea ...
''.
To deal with Homer and Mindy charging
room service
Room service or in-room dining is a hotel service enabling guests to choose items of food and drink for delivery to their hotel room for consumption. Room service is organized as a subdivision within the food and beverage department of high-end ...
to the company, Mr. Burns unleashes
flying monkeys in the manner of the
Wicked Witch of the West
The Wicked Witch of the West is a fictional character who appears in the classic children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900), created by American author L. Frank Baum. In Baum's subsequent ''Oz'' novels, it is the Nome King who is ...
, as seen in the 1939 film ''
The Wizard of Oz''. However, the attempt fails as the monkeys all fall to their deaths.
The scene where Homer meets his
guardian angel
A guardian angel is a type of angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group or nation. Belief in tutelary beings can be traced throughout all antiquity. The idea of angels that guard over people played a major role in A ...
in the guise of
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a " natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...
(who changes into
Colonel Klink from ''
Hogan's Heroes'' because Homer has no idea who Newton is), wondering what his life would have been like if he married Mindy and not Marge, draws from the films ''
It's A Wonderful Life
''It's a Wonderful Life'' is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story and booklet ''The Greatest Gift'', which Philip Van Doren Stern self-published in 1943 and is in turn loos ...
'' and ''
A Christmas Carol''.
When Homer meets Mindy in the elevator, he thinks "unsexy thoughts" to avoid being seduced by her. He imagines
Barney in a bikini and humming the theme tune to the American sitcom ''
I Dream of Jeannie''.
At home, Homer watches a TV show about the 'secret affairs' of
Kennedy,
Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
,
Bush and
Clinton. Homer attempts to read the notes for Mindy that he wrote on his hand, but they have smeared out because of sweat. In his attempt, Homer unknowingly babbles the ''
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo'', a
Japanese Buddhist
Buddhism has been practiced in Japan since about the 6th century CE. Japanese Buddhism () created many new Buddhist schools, and some schools are original to Japan and some are derived from Chinese Buddhist schools. Japanese Buddhism has had ...
chant in
Nichiren Buddhism
Nichiren Buddhism ( ja, 日蓮仏教), also known as Hokkeshū ( ja, 法華宗, meaning ''Lotus Sect'') is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) and is one o ...
and
Soka Gakkai. This is a reference to an ''
Akbar and Jeff'' cartoon, written by Matt Groening, in which the same mantra is used.
[ When Homer notices the sweat, he says he is "sweating like ilm critic Roger Ebert".] In the bathroom, Homer sings a rough version of the song " Mandy" by Barry Manilow, replacing "Mandy" with "Mindy"; when Homer panics upon realizing Lisa heard him singing and tries to cover the song up, Lisa glumly says "It sounds like you're infatuated with a woman named Mindy. (pause) Or a man named Andy." Homer refers to comic strip ''Ziggy
Ziggy is a masculine given name, often a diminutive form (hypocorism) of Zigmunt and other names. It is also a nickname. Notable people with the name include:
Nickname or hypocorism
* Ezekiel Ansah (born 1989), National Football League pla ...
'' when he wonders if Mindy agrees the title character has become "too preachy". Barry White
Barry Eugene Carter (September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003), better known by his stage name Barry White, was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came ...
's song " Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" is played in the episode's final scene where Homer and Marge make out at the hotel room.
Reception
Critical reception
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics.
In 2003, it was placed tenth on ''Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'''s top 25 ''The Simpsons'' episode list, and ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' characterized the episode as one of "The 10 Best Simpsons Television Episodes".
Nancy Basile of About.com
Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, ...
named it one of her top twenty favorite episodes of the show, and said Michelle Pfeiffer "is so elegant and beautiful, that the irony of her playing a burping love interest for Homer Simpson is funny enough." She added "the thorny issue of adultery is tackled in a way only ''The Simpsons'' could," and "though Homer is contemplating cheating, he's a sympathetic and almost innocent character."
During a review of the 2008 episode " Dangerous Curves", Robert Canning of IGN called the episode "smart, touching and funny", and said "it did a great job showing Homer's struggle to deal with the flirtations of a co-worker."
The authors of the book ''I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide'', Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called it a "wonderfully scripted episode".
DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson said, "Given Homer’s utter devotion to Marge, it may seem off-character for him to fall for Mindy, but the show makes it fit, as his obsession doesn’t come across as inconsistent." He added the plot with Bart becoming a nerd is the "funnier one" of the two.
Bill Gibron of DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman.
History
Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...
called it a "jest fest loaded with insight into the human heart and hilarious over-the-top goofiness."
TV DVD Reviews's Kay Daly called it the season's finest episode with the "greatest foray into emotional resonance". Matt Groening thought it was an amazing episode with "a lot of fun" in it. David Mirkin said Frank Mula's script was great.
In a 2008 article, ''Entertainment Weekly'' named Pfeiffer's role as Mindy one of the 16 best guest appearances on ''The Simpsons''. She also appeared on AOL's list of their top favorite guest stars on the show. Brett Buckalew of Metromix Indianapolis wrote that Pfeiffer "gives arguably the best celebrity guest-vocal performance in series history." ''Total Film
''Total Film'' is a British film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly and a summer issue is added every year since issue 91, 2004, which is published between July and August issue) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched ...
s Nathan Ditum ranked her performance as the 15th best guest appearance in the show's history.
When the inspectors visit the plant, they mention finding an entire Brazilian soccer team working there, and Burns says that they have to because their plane crashed on his property. This scene was mentioned by various media outlets after the 2016 disaster that killed most players on the Brazilian team Chapecoense.
Ratings
In its original American broadcast, "The Last Temptation of Homer" finished 24th (tied with '' The Fresh Prince of Bel Air'') in the ratings for the week of December 6–12, 1993. It acquired a Nielsen rating
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...
of 12.7.[ Retrieved on January 8, 2009.] The episode was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week.[
]
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Temptation Of Homer, The
The Simpsons (season 5) episodes
1993 American television episodes
Television episodes about adultery
Cultural depictions of Isaac Newton