The Seven-Beer Snitch
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"The Seven-Beer Snitch" is the fourteenth episode of the sixteenth 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 first 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 April 3, 2005.


Plot

The Simpsons go to Shelbyville to see a musical, which paints Springfielders as hicks and morons. An angry Marge goes to Springfield's Cultural Advisory Board to brainstorm a plan to make Springfield more sophisticated and gets the idea to hire architect Frank Gehry to build a concert hall. Opening night proves to be a bust, and the concert hall falls into shambles from disuse. Mr. Burns buys the hall and turns it into a state
prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...
.
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 ...
applies for a job as a
guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...
, but is rejected after
Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded f ...
switches his drug-laded urine sample with Homer's. Mr. Burns forces Chief Wiggum to reinstate old and forgotten laws to fill his prison with
convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as " prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former conv ...
s and make more money. Homer is convicted after getting caught kicking a can five times down the street (which constitutes "illegally transporting litter").
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 ...
and
Lisa Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer * Lisa Komine (born 1978), J ...
notice that
Snowball II A snowball is a spherical object made from snow, usually created by scooping snow with the hands, and pressing the snow together to compact it into a ball. Snowballs are often used in games such as snowball fights. A snowball may also be a large ...
has been gaining weight. Lisa follows her and discovers she has been visiting and eating food from another family, who believe she is theirs and named her "Smokey". Snowball prefers her second family to the Simpsons, to Lisa's dismay. Bart goes in to set the record straight, but instead the family fills him up with food and teaches him the same trick they taught Snowball. Homer is sent to work in the prison kitchen and becomes a prison snitch after unwittingly alerting the guards of Snake's escape attempt. Homer is rewarded with food, special treatment, and a new
plasma TV Plasma or plasm may refer to: Science * Plasma (physics), one of the four fundamental states of matter * Plasma (mineral), a green translucent silica mineral * Quark–gluon plasma, a state of matter in quantum chromodynamics Biology * Blood plas ...
. The other prisoners learn he is a snitch after Marge shouts it out in the visitation room. After using a fake claim of a prison break to lure out all the guards, the prisoners attack Homer. Using the key to the concert hall given to her as head of the Springfield Cultural Activities Board, Marge finds Homer in the kitchen with the other prisoners on his tail. They take refuge in the
gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or other animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History ...
, where Marge scolds Homer about being an informant. The guards come in with
tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ...
and riot gear. As they are released, Homer tells Governor Mary Bailey about the prison's deplorable conditions and food. Bailey tells the prisoners that since there is no room left in the prisons they were transferred from, they will be put on a garbage barge and bare-knuckle box until someone emerges as their king, a plan the convicts applaud. Homer is released, which pleases Marge, and heads out to Moe's after she falls asleep. He bumps into Snowball, who is overweight and also approaching the bar. He promises not to tell on her if she does not tell on him. Homer runs into the concert hall, claiming the building is a death trap, in response to a dream he had after watching ''
The Towering Inferno ''The Towering Inferno'' is a 1974 American disaster film directed by John Guillermin and produced by Irwin Allen, featuring an ensemble cast led by Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. It was adapted by Stirling Silliphant from the novels '' The Towe ...
''.


Production

Frank Gehry guest starred in the episode of himself, becoming the first architect to appear on ''The Simpsons''. According to Matt Chaban of ''
The New York Observer ''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainmen ...
'', "Because of his successful style, Frank Gehry sometimes comes under criticism for being a hack whose buildings all look the same—even if in their 50th iteration, those waving bands of metal still look amazing, fresh and different. This sensibility was, like so many other things, immortalized on ''The Simpsons''." The episode makes fun of Gehry's architectural style in a
throwaway gag In comedy, a throwaway line (also: throwaway joke or throwaway gag) is a joke delivered "in passing" without being the punch line to a comedy routine, part of the build up to another joke, or (in the context of drama) there to advance a story or de ...
, which sees Gehry becoming inspired for the design of the concert hall after crumpling up Marge's letter and hurling it to the ground. The crumpled letter becomes the model for the building. As a result of the scene, according to Gehry, many people believe this is how he actually received the inspiration for his real-life buildings, particularly the Walt Disney Concert Hall, though this is not the case. He told the public affairs show ''
Fareed Zakaria GPS ''Fareed Zakaria GPS'' is a weekly public affairs show hosted by journalist and author Fareed Zakaria on CNN and broadcast around the world by CNN International. The "GPS" in the show's title stands for "Global Public Square," a reference to t ...
'' on
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
in September 2011 the gag was just "a fun – fun thing. But it has – it has haunted me. People do – who've seen ''The Simpsons'' believe it." He also commented that "Clients come to me and say crumple a piece of paper, we'll give you $100 and then we'll build it."


Reception

In 2007, Simon Crerar of ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' listed Gehry's performance as one of the thirty-three funniest cameos in the history of the show.


Cultural references

Homer's tiny hat is a reference to the character
Simon Adebisi Simon Adebisi is a fictional character played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje on the HBO dramatic series '' Oz''. Initially a side character, Adebisi later serves as one of the main characters in the first four seasons, beginning with the fourth epi ...
from HBO's prison drama ''Oz''.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seven-Beer Snitch, The The Simpsons (season 16) episodes 2005 American television episodes Television episodes set in prisons