Lemon of Troy vs. Marge on the Lam

[stip]

Lemon of Troy

Marge lectures Bart on the importance of town pride, who realizes how wonderful it is living in Springfield. However, Bart also becomes upset with anti-Springfield sentiments coming from the neighboring town of Shelbyville. Grampa explains that this rivalry can be traced back to the establishment of the two towns. This occurred when the founders Jebediah Springfield and Shelbyville Manhattan discovered they had irreconcilable differences regarding their visions for a perfect town, Springfield favoring promotion of chastity and Shelbyville advocating incestuous marriages between cousins.

The next day, Springfield's lemon tree is stolen by a gang of boys from Shelbyville. Taking his town pride to heart and swearing to keep it, Bart leads Milhouse, Nelson, Martin, Todd, and Database into Shelbyville to search for the tree and bring it back to Springfield. The group splits up. Bart goes undercover and infiltrates the children of Shelbyville that stole the tree by disguising himself. However, he is unable to obtain any information. Eventually, the Springfield children track down the tree to an impound lot where the leader of the boys that stole the tree lives.

Back in Springfield, Homer, using Ned Flanders' RV, leads the men to find the boys. When the two groups meet, the boys tell their fathers of the tree being stolen. At the impound lot, the men demand the return of the tree, while the owner of the impound lot refuses and taunts them. Using a plan similar to the Trojan Horse, Bart steers the RV to the outside of the hospital. The RV is taken to the impound lot after it is found parked outside the hospital. When night falls, the Springfield boys and their fathers get out of the RV and tie the tree to the top. They are caught in the middle of this act by the owner but manage to escape. The tree, though considerably damaged during the escape, is returned to Springfield. The children of Springfield celebrate with lemonade, while those in Shelbyville drink turnip juice, much to their disgust, having made up a story about the tree being haunted to cover the embarrassment of losing to their Springfield rivals.

Marge on the Lam

After donating money to public television, Marge receives complimentary ballet tickets. She asks Homer to accompany her, and much to Marge's surprise he agrees, confusing ballet with a circus. On the day of the ballet, however, he inadvertently gets his arm stuck in a vending machine while trying to steal a can of soda from it and then gets his other arm stuck in a candy machine, and so is unable to attend the ballet as a result. In disbelief about Homer's story, Marge invites her neighbor, Ruth Powers to attend with her. They both enjoy themselves and arrange to go out again the next night. Marge and Ruth's friendship annoys Homer, who feels Marge should be spending time with him instead. However, ignoring Homer's protests, Marge and Ruth visit bars and clubs in Springfield, and Ruth later shows Marge how to use a pistol.

Homer, attempting to prove to himself he can have a good time without Marge, leaves Bart, Lisa and Maggie under the supervision of Lionel Hutz and goes out by himself. Finding Moe's Tavern more depressing than usual, Homer visits the hilltop where he and Marge used to come to on dates before they got married. Ironically, Marge has also taken Ruth there to finish the night, but they leave just before Homer arrives. Chief Wiggum finds Homer depressed and offers him a ride home, which Homer accepts. As Ruth and Marge are driving home, Chief Wiggum, with Homer as a passenger in his patrol car, spots Ruth's car and claims that one tail light is slightly smaller than the other. He decides to pull them over. Reluctant to stop, Ruth reveals to Marge that the car she's driving actually belongs to her ex-husband, and that she had stolen it as revenge for stiffing her on child support (although Marge points out that Ruth could've just reported him to child services). Ruth leads the police on a high-speed chase rather than turning herself in. Homer realizes it is Marge in the car, and believes she is leaving him after discovering that she can have a better time without him. Ruth successfully evades Wiggum by turning off her headlights, which leads him to believe her car is a ghost car.

After seeing Marge and Ruth again while cooking breakfast on his car engine, Wiggum continues his chase of the two, aided by other Springfield Police vehicles. After noticing a cliff ahead, Homer believes that Marge and Ruth are attempting suicide because of him and, using a megaphone, apologizes to Marge for all the mistakes he has made in their marriage and urges them not to drive into the chasm. Ruth, who had not noticed the chasm, slams on the brakes and stops in time; however, Homer and Wiggum fail to stop and fly over the edge of the cliff only to crash into a landfill. The episodes ends with a description of the fates of each of the characters involved in the episode.

[tragabigzanda]

Lemon of Troy is one of the best episodes ever, and I wouldn't be upset if it won this whole thing.

[stip]

these are both excellent. probably lemon of troy but the wiggum/homer stuff in marge on the lam is fantastic

[tragabigzanda]

these are both excellent. probably lemon of troy but the wiggum/homer stuff in marge on the lam is fantastic

Quiet! I can't hear the eggs.

[LoathedVermin72]

Lemon of Troy is one of the best episodes ever, and I wouldn't be upset if it won this whole thing.

[Chris_H_2]

Lemon of Troy gets it:

[stip]

Shake harder, boy!

[Norah]

I need to watch both of these before voting.

[Simple Torture]