Episode Recap: Yellow Badge of Cowardge

Hey there Hoppereenos, it is time for the last episode of Season 25. I know these probably resemble more a complete story line than a recap, but there is good reason. For our readers on the other side of the pond or that can’t see the episodes, I am trying to create the scenes for them too so they can feel like they watched it with the rest of us.

So without further ado…

Yellow Badge of Cowardge…

(Lisa is narrating in the background in between scenes.)

It is the last day of school in Springfield and Bart is anxious to awake the entire household. (I wonder if they are actually going to move up a grade next Fall. We will see. Lol.) No one wants to get out of bad. Due to the town is broke, it looks like the 4th of July is going to be cancelled. Even the Fire Department is trying to raise money by delivering pizzas. Well Homer won’t stand for it, he HAS to have his fireworks. It’s the one time of year their city puts on its high heels and tube top and leans into America’s car window.

At the Elementary, looks like it is Field Day. (How many of you remember Field Day?) The kids are running a 3 legged race. The winner, an ACTUAL 3 legged kid who just so happens to be a Spuckler. AND his name is Tripod. Lol. Cletus points out he won fair and square, just like his conjoined twins Wheel and Barrow. The Egg Toss seems to not be working out just as Skinner wanted as the kids keep just tossing them at him. Chalmer’s is struggling to get the kids to put down their cell phones and actually have a Tug-Of-War contest. Ralphie is enjoying the pony ride, especially the playdoh that comes out the back. Lol. (Awww the lil pony is Macaroni). Willie puts the pony back in its shed until next June. The end is almost near as the final “Race Around The School” is about to start. All the kids are stretching out. Bart and Milhouse included. Milhouse tells Bart that he has been secretly training for the race and no one knows. He is wearing a dummy tummy which he pulls of to reveal a SIX PACK??!! He claims he is going to win the race and it will change his life. Martin overhears and places bets on Milhouse to win.

The race begins (after Skinner is arrested for having a gun on school property…that he was trying to start the race with. Lol.) Milhouse looks like he is leading the pack. The bullies can’t let him win, they will lose a fortune as his odds are 1000 to 1. So they collaborate to punch him when the race reaches the wooded area. Nelson greets Milhouse in the woods and promptly punches him after giving him a glass of water. Bart just then happens to appear to see Nelson roughing up Milhouse (and Lisa narrates Bart’s dilemma in trying to decide what to do.)

Bart shamefully runs off and leaves his buddy behind to Nelson. Bart wins the race.

Milhouse stumbles out of the woods as Bart is being pinned with the 1st place blue ribbon. Bart is worried what he is going to say, but Milhouse claims he doesn’t remember. Traumatic amnesia per Dr. Hibbert. He may never remember. (He runs off to treat some ice cream headaches in a very M.A.S.H. inspired scene. Complete with a copter carrying off a “victim”. Well, a copter kiddie ride anyway. Lol.)

Back at the Simpson home that night, Bart is really struggling with what happened. It is giving him nightmares as he recalls the beating he witnessed and walked away from even though Milhouse begged for help. He awakes to find Maggie next to his bed. She hands him a chicken feather, which he translates to mean she is calling him a chicken. She also sucks on her binky which he also translates…to he sucks. Lol.

Homer is in the Kitchen pondering. If the town won’t put on a fireworks show, then he will. (This just sounds like trouble to me.) He has mapped out just what he plans to do. (Looks like Spider Pigs hoof prints are still around too. Lol.)

Marge isn’t so happy with the idea. She would prefer to just light off some sparklers in the backyard, but Homer has not had luck with them in the past. (Has he had luck with anything? At all?)

(Lisa starts narrating again…) Homer’s love of fireworks went deep. Deep into his past. It was the one night of every year that he couldn’t hear his parents argue. He thought it was due to their love of fireworks too. Mainly, it was just that the sound of the booms of the fireworks were so loud that they drowned out his Mom and Dad’s arguing. Eventually, his Mom was gone. He needed a hero, and the hero he zeroed in on was the magical guy behind the controls of all those fireworks. Homer even asked him if he was God. The man gives Homer his card and tells him don’t forget to treasure it.

So off Homer goes in the closet looking through pairs of his jeans to see if he can locate the card from the fireworks man (that somehow he has kept since childhood. Looks like a pair for every year to me.) Of course he finds it. “Giuseppe Granfinali. Never Had A Dud.” Homer goes in search of him…and finds him at the Wrinkled Arms Apartments. He tells Giuseppe he wants him to come out of retirement. If the Expendables has taught Homer anything, it is that people do their best work after they are old and forgotten. Since he is younger than Sylvester Stallone, he agrees to do it. Lol.

Meanwhile at the Van Houten’s, Bart is trying to make amends to his buddy Milhouse bu bringing him a cake that says “Remember Nothing”. It doesn’t help that Milhouse calls him his “Truest Friend”.

Milhouse asks Bart to watch Cassidy the Crocodile with him, it’s a kids show but it’s all he can handle now. The Crocodile starts to talk about how friends help friends in trouble and Bart freaks out and begs him to turn it off. Bart ends up running away full of guilt.

Homer is now at the Spuckler farm with Giuseppe acquiring some fireworks for his little show he wants to put on. (This part does make me giggle a lot. Lol.)

In town, there is a convention for LiveNice. They have decided to invite Bart to join their Good Doing Dream Team.  Bart takes the opportunity to not talk about himself, but instead his friend Milhouse. Everyone is freaking out trying to figure out what is going on. Bart explains he wants to set things straight. He explains what REALLY happened…or maybe not. He explains that Milhouse is a hero for NOT trying to remember what really happened to him that day. The group then tosses out rubber bracelets, cause what is an athletic group without rubber bracelets? Lol. Of course the bullies use them as rubberbands instead. Kearney hits Milhouse hard in the head with it, triggering his memories and a flashback.

He yells at Bart. He now remembers very clearly that Bart ran off while he was getting beat up. The crowd now boos Bart. Calling him a coward, a liar, Dederick Tatum even makes them stop the tattoo of Bart he was getting on his arm.

The crowd is becoming more and more infuriated. Bart runs off. (Lisa narrating again.) As he ran, everywhere he looked reflected what he was thinking. “Chicken…Spineless Wonder…Grow A Pear…” He ends up at the Retirement Castle and seeks out his Grampa. He is upset everyone is calling him a coward. Grampa explains that anyone that makes it to old age is part coward. He goes on to explain how he survived D-Day, by hanging on to the boat. Bart is confused, don’t people hate cowards? Grampa, Jasper, and the old Jewish Man go on to explain of course, but they outlived all the brave ones and they were left with the heroes widows. Lol.

That night Bart awakes from another dream. He tries to hug Santa’s Lil Helper, but even the dog is shunning him. Bart was in hell…so Lisa narrates.

Homer meanwhile is in fireworks heaven. His car is piled high with some gun powder. (Nothing at all could go wrong here. Not. At. All.) He is heading very carefully to Giuseppe’s workshop…in the cobblestone district…over a rickety bridge…and through the gas lamp district…and a flaming parade (hey…aren’t those people supposed to be on the boardwalk?) They arrive and head inside…but not before Homer tosses his lit cigar on top of the pile of gun powder barrels. Got to love the music sequence Homer put together, “Stars and Stripes Forever…God Bless America…Sometimes When We Touch…” Homer is loving this. He even pitches some ideas like…BOOOM DA BOOOM DA BOW BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM BOW BA DA BOOOOOOOOOOM! Lol.

Everyone is gathering on the lawn now to watch the show. Of course “Sometimes When We Touch” is now playing in the background. Apu has his Squishee cart…errr…Kwik-E-Kart. One of the kids shows up in a costume from It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown to which Nelson promptly points out, “Wrong holiday Charlie Brown!” Even Snake shows up to snag Lindsey Naegle’s purse. The cops are on it…kinda…with their turn of the ages muskets…that they have to load…tediously slow.

Homer and Giuseppe are geared up and ready to go out on the lake, but Homer sees Bart is having a bad night. He wants to hurry up and get the fireworks going to cheer him up, but it’s not the right time just yet. Homer begs him to just start. He can’t stand to see his family unhappy on “America’s Holiest Day.” Giuseppe explains that the holiday is actually the 2nd. Homer tells “Super Mario” to not tell him about America. To which…yup…fight ensues. The barge is tossed on its side from the fighting and the fireworks head towards the water.

The townspeople are watching in horror from the shore. Bart sees this as his chance to really make amends for all he did wrong. He tells Milhouse to get on the Retirement Castle bus and he will explain on the way. Homer and Giuseppe are hanging by a …firework. As long as the show doesn’t start, they will be ok. The bullies just HAD to be given those bracelets. Now they are aiming for Homer and Giuseppe…but Kearney didn’t factor in the wind and instead hits the sequence trigger. Uh Oh.

Sometimes When We Touch plays on…Giuseppe prays…and they abandon ship as all the fireworks head straight to the shore line and all the townsfolk. Just as they are about to be bombarded in fireworks, Bart pulls up the Retirement Van. The fireworks crash to a halt into the side of it. Everyone is in shock. Who just saved them all? Milhouse emerges from the van to gasps. They cheer him on. Milhouse is the hero. He is picked up and hauled of. (Lisa narrates a bit more.) Bart slept well that night.

Or did he…Bart is in the bathroom and sees Maggie in the mirror. She hands him another feather…and another. Bart finally realizes the feathers are coming from her teddy bear. Bart uses his 1st place blue ribbon to tack up the tear and hand it back to her. Maggie then spits out her binky and starts to wiggle and make chicken wings as she “Bock Bock Bocks” at Bart. HAHAHAHAHA!!!

What a silly lil end to the Season.  What did YOU think of the episode? Any favorite parts? Any lil moments you liked the most? Sound off in the comments below.

Til Next Time…

~Bunny

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