Flaming Moe's vs. Much Apu About Nothing

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Flaming Moe's

After Bart and Lisa's slumber party fighting drives him to distraction at home one night, Homer visits Moe's Tavern, where he finds Moe is struggling financially as fewer people are drinking in bars nowadays and he ran out of Duff Beer after neglecting to pay his distributor. Homer tells him about a drink recipe that he accidentally invented one night, called the "Flaming Homer". He explains that after Patty and Selma made the Simpson family watch slides from their latest vacation, he was unable to find a beer. He decided to mix together drops of liquor from near-empty bottles and accidentally included a bottle of Krusty Brand non-narcotic cough syrup. When Patty dropped cigarette ash in the drink and set it on fire, Homer discovered that fire greatly enhanced the taste of the drink.

Moe tries making Homer's drink, and gives it to a customer, who loves it. When the customer asks what the drink is called, Homer starts to respond, but Moe butts in and calls it a "Flaming Moe". Word of mouth spreads, and Moe sees his business boom because of the drink. To help out with the extra customers, he hires a waitress named Colette. Moe's Tavern, renamed "Flaming Moe's", soon becomes one of the trendiest nightspots in Springfield and Aerosmith's new hangout. Homer becomes angry with Moe and vows never to return to the tavern. He subsequently becomes obsessed with Moe and his betrayal, even having a hallucination where he sees Moe's face everywhere.

A restaurant chain becomes interested in purchasing the recipe for the drink, of which they have managed to identify all but the secret ingredient (cough syrup). A representative offers Moe $1,000,000, but he refuses. Colette quickly discovers that Moe stole the recipe from Homer and not only makes him promise to sell the drink, but also apologize to Homer and give half of the money to him in compensation. Later, as Moe is about to accept the deal — and share half of the money with Homer — Homer, unhinged by resentment, arrives at the tavern. He gets his revenge on Moe by revealing to everyone in the bar that the secret ingredient is "nothing but plain, ordinary, over the-counter children's cough syrup!" The representative quickly retracts the offer and leaves.

Within one week, nearly all restaurants in Springfield are serving "Flaming Moes", and Moe's business has gone back to the way it was before. Homer stops in, and he and Moe reconcile. Moe gives Homer a "Flaming Homer" free of charge.

Much Apu About Nothing

On an ordinary day, a brown bear strolls onto the streets of Springfield, frightening the town. The bear is eventually subdued by the police, who tranquilize it (despite the bear being relatively docile). Homer convinces Springfield that something needs to be done to protect them from bears, and the town takes their complaint to Mayor Quimby, who gives in easily. Soon, the Bear Patrol is created. Homer is then shocked to see taxes have been raised five dollars to maintain the patrol, and this warrants another visit by the town to the Mayor's office. To appease them, Mayor Quimby blames the high taxes on illegal immigrants. He then creates Proposition 24, which will require all illegal immigrants in Springfield to be deported.

Springfield starts to harass and hate all immigrants. At the Kwik-E-Mart, Apu confides in Homer that he is an illegal immigrant. Apu explains that if Proposition 24 passes, he will have to leave the United States, as his visa expired many years earlier. Apu is forced to go to Fat Tony to obtain a false United States citizenship, and on Fat Tony's advice, he starts acting American, by doing things like speaking with an American accent. However, feeling guilty and embarrassed about taking the fraudulent route and forging documents (Apu is shown remembering his parents bidding him farewell, telling him to "make us proud, son," as he set forth his journey to the USA, for his education and eventual Ph.D), he realizes he has disgraced his parents by turning his back on his Indian heritage, and tears up the fake passport.

After Homer sees how devastated was Apu about being deported, he changes his mind about the immigration proposition and vows that he and his family will help Apu. Lisa discovers that Apu will not have to leave if he can pass a United States citizenship test. Homer agrees to be Apu's tutor to help prepare for the exam. Apu demonstrates excellent knowledge of the United States, but Homer is a terrible tutor and replaces Apu's knowledge with false information. Apu falls asleep while studying Homer's notes, but forgets it all when he wakes up which Lisa says is good. Apu then goes to take the test, and because he originally knew a lot about the history of the United States, he passes the test and becomes a citizen of the United States. At a congratulatory party, Homer tells his guests how terrible it would be if immigrants were deported, explaining they make the United States thrive. He inspires them to vote no on Proposition 24, but it still passes, with 95% of voters voting yes. After the ballot is passed, the only person deported is Groundskeeper Willie.

[tragabigzanda]

Surprised to see Much Apu winning this one.

[LoathedVermin72]

Apu is a classic. It's a perfect episode. Funny, insightful, tight, heartfelt, absurd, frightening, truthful. It's one of the best episodes of TV ever.

[Norah]

Yeah Apu is top tier Simpsons.

[tragabigzanda]

I completely agree about Much Apu. But I think Flaming Moe's deserves the same esteem, and I guess I just assumed it would have it because it's the older episode.

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i was looking ahead and starting next round this tournament becomes impossible