Smoke on the Daughter
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"Smoke on the Daughter" is the fifteenth episode of the nineteenth season of the American animated television series '' The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 30, 2008, and was written by
Billy Kimball Billy Kimball (born July 8, 1959) is an American writer and producer. He was a co-executive producer on the acclaimed HBO series ''Veep''. Personal life He was born in New York City, attended Trinity School, and graduated from Harvard College w ...
(the only sole writing credit he has received for the show to date), and directed by
Lance Kramer Lance Kramer is an animation director on ''The Simpsons'' and ''Futurama''. He was as an additional sequence director for ''The Simpsons Movie''. He also worked as an assistant animator on '' Tom and Jerry: The Movie'' and served as a storyboard a ...
. Lisa becomes a ballerina at an academy and discovers her natural talent is enhanced by second hand cigarette smoke. Meanwhile, Homer shows Bart his secret room where he has secretly been making beef jerky and is torn when a family of raccoons steal it. During the first broadcast, the episode was watched by 7.1 million people.Simpsons Channel , Your Source For Simpsons News


Plot

The episode starts when Homer, dressed as a dragon, tries waking up Bart to go with him, Lisa, Marge and Maggie to the midnight sale of the last book in the Angelica Button series. The whole family then goes to stand in line (together with most of Springfield residents). At midnight Homer cannot wait; he bursts into the bookshop, followed by the rest of the people in the line. In the car on their way back home Lisa reads the book, announces there is a happy ending, and then the Simpsons throw the book away from the car. When they get back home, they decide to watch TV. While watching TV,
Marge Marge is a feminine given name, a shortened form of Marjorie, Margot or Margaret (name), Margaret. Notable Marges include: People *Marge (cartoonist) (1904–1993), pen name of Marjorie Henderson Buell, American cartoonist *Marge Anderson (1932†...
sees a commercial for the Chazz Busby Ballet Academy, and reveals to Lisa that she had always wanted to become a ballet dancer. Lisa tells Marge that she can still achieve her dream as an adult, and encourages her to audition for the ballet academy. While Marge does stumble at first during her audition, she is able to prove herself as a talented dancer, and Busby lets her become a student at his school. Meanwhile, Homer takes Bart to the basement and introduces him to a secret room in which Homer has been making beef jerky. When Marge suffers a leg cramp during her dance routine, Busby throws her out. When Lisa argues with Busby about his decision, he notices that Lisa has naturally perfect posture, and asks her to join his academy, and Marge accepts the offer on Lisa's behalf. However, no matter how hard she practices, Lisa soon turns out to be a poor ballet student. While on break, Lisa accidentally inhales smoke from the other students'
cigarettes A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the oppo ...
. When the break is over, Lisa enters the studio and performs better than ever, and deduces that second hand smoke is what makes her excel. Meanwhile, Homer and Bart offer to sell
Apu APU or Apu may refer to: Film and television * ''The Apu Trilogy'', a series of three Bengali films, directed by Satyajit Ray, with the fictional character Apu Roy, comprising: ** ''Pather Panchali'' (''Song of the Little Road'') (1955), the first ...
their beef jerky to increase
Kwik-E-Mart The Kwik-E-Mart (spelled "Quick-E-Mart" in " Bart the General") is a convenience store in the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It is a parody of American convenience stores, such as 7-Eleven and Cumberland Farms, and depicts many of t ...
revenues despite Apu's Hinduism — but it is a lost cause, as Homer and Bart discover their beef jerky room is completely empty, and Apu leaves in frustration, refusing to do such business with them ever again. Homer discovers that a family of raccoons has made off with their jerky. That night, Lisa hallucinates of a cigarette-smoked shaped older version of herself, who convinces her to continue smoking. Lisa doubts the veracity of such a vision, until she is convinced by her feminist heroines by also seeing visions of them, all of whom were smokers. While driving Lisa to ballet practice, Marge — who is proud to have a ballerina as a daughter — starts glowing about how she sees herself in Lisa (even mistaking Lisa ''for'' herself), and Lisa starts suspecting that her mother's living her dream of being a ballerina through her. Homer follows one of the raccoons into the family's home under a tree stump and prepares to take them out, despite Bart warning him that he always loses fights with animals, as his battle with the earthworms proved — but Homer claims that that was phased withdrawal, but after seeing that their family is basically the raccoon version of his family, Homer cannot bring himself to do it. During a windy break, Lisa cannot inhale any smoke. She realizes her only alternative is to actually ''smoke'' a cigarette, and picks one up. Right as she is about to smoke it, Homer arrives and takes it away, throws it on the ground, squishes it with his foot, and then shoots it with his gun several times. Appalled at his daughter's smoking, he goes to tell Marge that Lisa needs to be taken out of the ballet academy, but discovers how proud she is of Lisa; Homer cannot bear to destroy Marge's happiness. He does, however, order Lisa to quit smoking — including second hand — and has Bart keep an eye on her. When Bart informs Homer that Lisa is still addicted to cigarette smoke, Homer creates a plan involving one of the raccoons. On the night of Lisa's ballet recital, which is '' Sleeping Beauty'', the raccoon breaks into the changing room and steals all the cigarettes and money. On stage, all the ballerinas soon go out of control, and Lisa tells the annoyed audience that ballet is something
America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
has forced onto children, and quits (although she implied that she was going to talk about smoking, which was the main message of this episode, she states that she takes full responsibility for her decision to smoke instead of the usual "blame tobacco companies"), prompting Busby to also quit. Lisa finally manages to overcome her smoke addiction using children's 'Hello Kitty'
nicotine Nicotine is a naturally produced alkaloid in the nightshade family of plants (most predominantly in tobacco and ''Duboisia hopwoodii'') and is widely used recreationally as a stimulant and anxiolytic. As a pharmaceutical drug, it is used fo ...
patches. Marge also learns her lesson: parents should not try to achieve their dreams through their children, but Homer proves that he has yet to learn that moral, as he is forcing Bart to become a Mexican wrestler called El Guapo, which means "good looking" in Spanish.


Cultural references

*The couch gag is a parody of the 1949-1966 Warner Bros.
Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons, first appearing in 1949 in the theatrical cartoon short ''Fast and Furry-ous''. In each episode ...
cartoons directed by
Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...
. *The opening Angelica Button segment is a parody of the fanfare surrounding the Harry Potter series. It is stated that this is the final Angelica Button book, whereas the final book, ''
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the seventh and final novel of the main ''Harry Potter'' series. It was released on 21 July 2007 in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Publi ...
'', was released in 2007. *Chazz Busby is designed to resemble the character Joe Gideon (a choreographer) played by Roy Scheider in the film '' All That Jazz'' (1979), and his name is taken from
Chazz Young Charles "Chazz" Young (born November 8, 1932) is an American choreographer and teacher of tap dance. Early life and education Young was born to father Frankie Manning, a dancer during the swing era, and mother Dorothy Young. In 1943, at the age ...
and Busby Berkeley, both choreographers. *When Bart emerges from the dumpster, eavesdropping on Lisa to see if she's smoking, his face is camouflaged and " The End" by The Doors plays in the background. This is a parody of the scene in '' Apocalypse Now'' in which Willard emerges from the water camouflaged, about to kill Colonel Kurtz, with the same music playing. *The title itself is a reference to the song " Smoke on the Water" by
Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...
.


Reception

The episode was watched by 7.10 million people; the number is not considered to be accurate, as the episode was broadcast on a special time (according to commercials). Richard Keller of TV Squad stated that he enjoyed the week's episode, but commented that it "wasn't as strong as the previous two." Robert Canning of
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
thought that the episode was good and that it "started off very, very strongly" but commented that it seemed to lose its comedic pace as it progressed. He particularly enjoyed the episode's couch gag, stating that "It was a great reminder of the early, innocent days of cartoon comedy but with a modern ''Simpsons'' twist". He gave the episode a 7.2/10.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smoke On The Daughter The Simpsons (season 19) episodes 2008 American television episodes