Episode Recap: Walking Big and Tall

How’s it going my friends.  Wookiee popping by for another episode re-cap.  My apologies for the delay but between school and assorted other stuff, it took me a little to type and polish my thoughts.  I actually watched “Walking Big and Tall” (S26:E13) five different times before finishing the post.  Good news is I actually enjoyed it every time.  I kept with stream-of-consciousness style and here we go….

• Simpsons as sushi floating in a restaurant… Homer eaten by a carp
• 30 years ago… all the adults are young, Springograd (Springfield’s sister city) has disappeared and Moleman is the mayor. Gotta love seeing all the adult characters young.
• Springfield sings their new song as we see them age in a montage until Moe arrives to ruin it all. Turns out Tuscaloosa, Austin, Oakland, Calgary, Provo, a mongol village and Area 51 also have the same town song.  Everyone is pissed.  Largo demolishes the piano, the Van Houtens overturn the punch cooler (wonder if it was orange drink?) and the Rich Texan can’t even fire his guns in anger… too funny when he says they’re only for celebrating.

• “We’ve been singing this song like it only belonged to us when every city in America’s had its lips on it… even Des Moines (spits)”
• Moleman bought the song from a salesman selling it to half the towns in the country. But what’s Willy to do?  He had the lyrics tattooed on his chest.  I laughed my butt off when he complained he couldn’t be buried in a Jewish cemetery
• The town sends Moleman away via horse into the desert which materialized by the Town Hall (love Springfield’s wandering geography)
• Pharell Williams shows up and offers to write a song but Quimby remarks Lisa beat him to it… away by horse he’s sent as Pharell hilariously says “Shelbyville rules, Springfield drools.” Gotta say that this is the perfect way to use a guest star.  Real quick… funny jokes and then back to the story… sorry Elon.

• Lisa and Bart end up being a great songwriting duo. Bart can rhyme hilariously and mentions writing Lisa her birthday song “with that mental patient who thought he was Michael Jackson.”  Why would Homer and Marge let a crazy man spend the night in his bedroom?  Simpler times.

• The songwriting process includes a hand in warm water while sleeping with an inked on mustache and cat food in the ear
• The best way to celebrate writing an awesome song? Fist bump through a towel.
• This was a super catchy song which has been stuck in my head since we showed the clip on Saturday… I’ve seriously been singing it all over (well… that and the Pirates of the Caribbean theme… I’m weird like that). Also gotta love that among the things not trending in is #tappedoutworkingperfectly

• Homer can’t get out of his seat and the resulting carnage is hilarious. Stop laughing at me!  Stop fearing me!  Love Squeaky Voiced Teen getting trap-doored by Burns’ seat… occupied lol
• The Springfield Shopper headline describing the night? “Blimp Disaster… Historic theater Red-Tagged”
• Marge is tired of Homer saying airplanes are getting smaller and that two U.S. Presidents were fatter than him. Homer’s idea is a year long juice cleanse with morning colonics and sleeping in a sauna every night.  Marge’s supportive idea… not to do it alone and go to Over-feeders Anonymous: Quit Looking Like an Average American
• Homer heads to the Community Center for his support meeting. I totally laughed and thought about TSTO Anonymous as he walked by Alcoholics Anonymous (smoking cigarettes), Smokers Anonymous (drinking coffee) and Coffee Addicts Anonymous (drinking).  Homer thinks he’s found the Over-feeders but ends up at Big Is Beautiful… they don’t cower in the shadows, they make the shadows.  Judge Snyder, Comic Book Guy, Lunchlady Dora and Luigi are all members.
• Food there: “ice cream hoagies, deep-fried sugar bags, Dorsnickos, Snickeritos, Milky Snicks, Porksicles and of course, Diet Soda.”
• Posters on wall: The Periodic Table of Dipping Sauces, ROUND: It’s Good Enough For Earth, A parody of the Gadsden Flag saying Put Bread On Me, a cupcake with the words “from my cold dead fingers…”, and a food pyramid that’s just a solid triangle saying It’s All Good

COMMERCIAL

• Homer tries to leave but is stopped by Albert, the group’s founder. He sits in an electric scooter and has many remotes/gadgets: door opener, window opener, knob turner, foot waker upper, dink finder, donut locator and a belt extender.
• Albert tries to confirm Homer’s happiness about being fat. Homer’s always wanted to blindly follow somebody and experiences a turning point in his life.  He’s off to tell his beautiful wife how it changed his life and Marge gives up online scrapbooking too early because the message Homer got is not what she was hoping for.  Albert taught Homer not to buy into the lies taught by Big Nutrition.  Homer makes amends with the bathroom scale hilariously and is off to apologize to the broken porch swing.

• We next see Homer at Moe’s to tell his barfly buddies all the fat names they can’t use: “Chubby, chunky, blobbo, slobbo, fat bastard, Michelin Man, Stay Puft, Chumbawamba, It is balloon!, Papa Grande, Augustus Gloop, beached whale, big-boned, Wisconsin skinny, butterball, dump truck, Jelly Belly, pudgy-wudgy, lard-ass, blubberino, Buddha belly, Hurry Eat Tubman, one-ton soup, Blob Saget, Chub Hub, Calvin Cool Whip, Manfred Mannboobs, 21 Lump Street, walking ‘before’ picture, fatso, Harvey Milk Chocolate, Obese Want Cannoli, Mahatma Gumbo, Salvador Deli, Elmer Pantry, KFC and the Sponge Cake Band, Snacki Onassis, the Foody Blues, Hoagie Carmichael and wide load.”
• Mr. Two Belts is off limits too. Moe takes the opportunity to let the guys know that calling him gargoyle, troll and homunculus all kinda hurt his feelings.  “Who knew goblins had feelings?”
• Homer departs the bar to join his fat brethren in a protest of “Forever 21 Waist”. They are against unattainable body images and the thinsanty.  Julio works there and has this to say.  “Every girl should look like a sexy preying mantis from Milan whose hips are narrower than an Italian parliamentary majority.”  Wiggum and the cops come to break it up but Wiggum is one of them and arrests himself?
• Marge comes to bail Homer out but he decides to stay with the Big is Beautiful crowd. In Homer’s defense, they did all look delicious as junk food and Marge as celery isn’t that appealing.

COMMERCIAL

• Marge is bummed. Maybe Bart and Lisa can write a song to make everything better like they did before even if Bart just offers to write one to get out of the bummed out atmosphere?  Writing hit songs turns out to not be easy.

• Wide Pride rally… Lisa and Bart turn out to be one-hit wonders like Charles M. Schultz. Marge wants to say something the way a woman does… subtly through someone else… she gives up.  Homer doesn’t fault Marge for losing against a superior being like Albert.  When Marge mentions Albert can’t even get out of his chair, Homer remarks he’s just like America’s most famuous wartime wheelchair-bound president… Professor X.
• Great Jurassic Park joke with Albert standing to prove he can, roaring and promptly croaking. “Stick a forklift in him… he’s dead.”
• Markup Brothers Funeral Home… hilarious collection of eight urns and overflow ashes for Albert’s cremains. Homer tries to give a moving eulogy but finding out Albert was only 23… he’s off the Wide Pride bandwagon
• Kumiko makes an appearance and would love CBG much more if he lost weight
• Warm fuzzy moment for the end: Marge stays with Homer because everything he loves, he loves so much…. Awwww
• Homer promises to not stop yoyo dieting until he gets it right… which is way in the future… we see many different Homers: skinnier, fit, more fat than before, even fitter, fat head like Ozzy in “Team Homer”, Dumbo ears, big booty, buff, hunchbacked, moomoo Homer and finally in nice shape at an old age having reached emotional maturity… we also see Bart who looks like Robocop

COMMERCIAL

• Bet you forgot Moleman on the horse but we see him on the horse in the desert. He says whoa and the horse stops and deposits him to the ground.  He sure wishes he’d said that earlier.  Think Pharell said it quicker?

So that’s the episode.  I really love this one.  The long opening may have just been a set-up for all the chubby jokes but I dug it.  Just the “Why Springfield? Why not?” song makes this my favorite of the season thus far.  Add to that a bunch of references to older episodes for long-time fans and it’s even cooler.  Just my humble opinion.  What did you think of it?  Love it?  Hate it?  Got a favorite moment I didn’t mention?  This recap was originally much longer but I pared it down a bit for ease of reading.  Sound off below and stay classy my friends.

TTFN… Wookiee out!  #springfield rules