History YMMV / TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy

** Don't work somewhere that makes you miserable or respects your opinion. While Grimes does have good reasons to dislike Homer, most of the problems at the plant stem from how it is ''run''. Homer's own co-workers are apathetic to his antics while Burns is the one who punishes Grimes while also making dumb decisions like keeping acid in a break room and hiring a dog to be an executive.

** Double subverted. We are supposed to see Homer as an awful person that doesn't deserve his good life. It's mainly subverted because Homer really ''is'' an awful employee that endangers the whole city with his wild antics and has a better life than the sane and hard working Grimes. The Double Subversion comes from the fact that Homer was ''the only employee that actually cared for Grimes' opinion'' and tried to make amends when he realized how upset Frank was with him, but Frank didn't care for any of it. It doesn't help that most of the mayhem caused by Homer [[HanlonsRazor is more out of stupidity than malice]]. To drive it all home, Homer's literally the only employee who seems genuinely concerned about Grimes when he starts to go crazy.

* IdiotPlot: Had Grimes made even the slightest effort at any point to communicate with Homer, he might not have gotten so frustrated with him.

** On the other side of things, there's also a moral of "actually being someone's friend requires give and take on both sides and you need to be willing to adapt to them as well as expecting them to adapt to you". While Frank Grimes' resentment towards Homer growing into bitter and petty vindictiveness is a choice he himself makes, it's also made clear that Homer's continued obliviousness to exactly how his behaviour is affecting Grimes' life and emotional state contributes greatly to Grimes' increasingly fragile mental state throughout the episode, with each new instance of Homer attempting to be friendly just coming across as rubbing Grimes' nose in his failures while Homer gets to (obliviously) brag about having a nice home and family while not appearing to have done anything to deserve it. Ultimately, Homer doesn't really do ''anything'' to endear himself to a man who is very clearly from a very different source of life and holds different values to him and all his attempts to reach out to Frank revolve around the expectation that Frank will change his outlook on life and work and adapt to ''him''; he simply expects Frank to treat him with the same blasé attitude that everyone else does and thinks that merely insisting the two of them are friends will translate to Frank Grimes genuinely liking him. While it's very likely that Frank and Homer were completely incompatible as genuine ''friends'' to the degree Homer wished them to be, had Homer actually bothered to pay the slightest bit of attention to Frank's attitude towards life and his much more rigid work ethic and had he adapted his own behaviour accordingly, there's an argument to be made that they might have at least been able to tolerate each other.

** The entire episode can be interpreted as a repudiation of the HardWorkFallacy. Grimes makes a big deal about how little reward he has reaped from his lifetime of hard work, but doesn't grok that there are more factors to success than just hard work. Homer was successful because he valued the people in his life, was sociable enough to make fast friends with anyone (from local drunks to politicians and celebrities), and was nice enough to sincerely try making amends with Grimes by inviting him to dinner. While Grimes is overwhelmed with envy and tries to humiliate the man out of raw spite.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: As the DesignatedHero and DesignatedVillain entries show, this is apparent in both Frank and Homer depending on which opposing side your on. Some viewers, meanwhile, would see that [[TakeAThirdOption both]] are this due to both sides being hard to root for.

* FourthWallMyopia: The reason why people root for Homer instead of Frank Grimes is that the audience knew Homer longer than Frank and knows the full story behind his achievements and knows that Homer wants to make peace with Frank. To Frank Grimes though, Homer earned his ire because he stole his food and got him in trouble with Mr Burns. He gets invited to dinner but misinterprets this gesture of friendship as snubbing and bragging. If Frank was in a better state of mind, he could have been more receptive to it, but the Simpson family are instead collateral damage in Frank's stressful day.

** Combined with the RantInducingSlight at Homer's house, and his own ButtMonkey role in most other episodes (see below) one could also interpret it as not obsessing over things from face value. After all, the GrassIsGreener on the other side.

** Many people have noted that Grimes shows textbook incel behavior, blaming everyone but himself for his problems and taking his anger out on people more successful than him.

* CriticalResearchFailure: Frank Grimes' claim that Homer would have starved to death in any other country for his sloth. This ignores the fact that the USA has arguably the worst worker protections and welfare safety net systems in the entire industrialized world, and most international viewers will recognize that claim as myopic and obviously coming from someone who's never travelled outside the US.

** "Dwelling on self-pity and envy will ruin your life, not make it better. Appreciate what you have and take the opportunity when it's offered to you, not wait for the next one." Grimes's envy blinded him to his own accomplishments, he broke through every wave of struggle and achieved a lot in life despite his awful childhood but he couldn't appreciate any of them because he felt Homer was given far better opportunities than he deserved. Grimes was so honed in on Homer's accomplishments and validating his own hard work that he refused to learn how Homer got these opportunities in the first place or how they truly affected his life [[note]] he only knew Gerald Ford because he was his neighbour, not because he knew him as a close personal friend. Having 3 kids isn't as easy or glamorous as Grimes thinks and since they were unplanned pregnancies, it forced Homer to give up his dreams for the sake of his family. Bart's factory was only bought for one dollar and he doesn't run it like a business. Homer's relationship with Marge wasn't handed to him on a silver plate and she fell for him because he was genuinely a nice guy who wanted the best for her.[[/note]].

** Is Grimes's anger to Homer warranted, or is Frank just an judgmental asshole who finds it easier to bully Homer than voice his concerns to the person (Mr. Burns) actually responsible for putting Homer in a position he's clearly unqualified to fill?

* CriticalResearchFailure: Frank Grimes' claim that Homer would have starved to death in any other country for his sloth. This ignores the fact that the USA has arguably the worst worker protections and welfare safety net systems in the entire industralized world, and most international viewers will recognize that claim as myopic and obviously coming from someone who's never travelled outside the US.

* WhatAnIdiot: The entire premise is a "What an Idiot" trope as seen from the eyes of a newcomer employee, Frank Grimes, and his encounters with Homer. Repeatedly, Grimes tries to point out to Mr. Burns and others that Homer is a poor employee, ill-suited to the job and that his lack of qualifications, skills, ethics and attention to the job make him not only a danger to himself and his fellow employees but to Springfield (and possibly a wider region). Many situations abound:\\
'''Early on:''' Homer is at his work console when he absentmindedly grabs a flask of radioactive acid and brings the lip up to his mouth, as if to drink it. Grimes is walking by, sees what is about to happen, and slaps it away; the substance spills onto the wall, causing it to become damaged, just as Mr. Burns is making his rounds.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Burns -- who has supposedly hired Grimes for his skills and accomplishments -- to realize that Homer was about to drink a radioactive liquid, which would possibly seriously sicken or kill him; also, for Burns to finally realize that Homer is incompetent and to fire him.\\
'''You'd Also Expect:''' Burns to reward Grimes for saving Homer's life.\\
'''Instead''' of recognizing Homer's incompetence, Burns is more concerned with the damage to the wall and the loose of the acid. He reprimands Grimes, demotes him and docks his pay.\\
'''To be Fair''' Homer realizes that he was being a dick towards Grimes, and tried to make amends by inviting him to a dinner in his house, apologize for his idiocy and ask for a second chance.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Grimes realizes that Homer, for all his faults, is a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold decent man at the core]], and after the dinner, tries to reason with Homer by instructing him over what he should do and ''how'' to do his job, or more realistically, convince Homer to quit his job for the safety of all Springfield (including his family), or whatever, act like an adult and resolve his feud with Homer.\\
'''You might even expect''': that if Grimes still feels uncomfortable around Homer then maybe Grimes himself would just resign from the power plant and get a different job. \\
'''Instead''': Grimes gets jealous over Homer's (relatively) luxurious life and only increases his anger towards him, and walks away in disgust.\\
'''At the same time''': A jealous Grimes venting [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech at Homer that he doesn't deserve any of his successes]] in front of his wife and kids.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Marge and the kids would defend Homer that he's only sharing his happiness with Grimes and [[WhatTheHellHero call out on him for his jealousy.]]\\
'''Instead''': They just stood there and did nothing!\\
'''Later:''' Grimes schemes to publicly expose Homer as a fraud by having him enter a nuclear power plant design contest... for children (doing so by giving him a flyer that has all of the references to it being a children's contest deleted). Homer takes the bait.\\
'''On contest day:''' The contestants bring in their models to be judged ... along with Homer.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' For Burns (or, more realistically, Smithers), who is a contest judge, to immediately realize that Homer is not a child and disqualify him. Or in the very least, for Burns to instantly recognize the other children's models as superior to Homer's simplistic design. (Although Homer showed more technical expertise (for him) in describing how his model works.)\\
'''Instead''': Homer is praised by Mr. Burns, before the others agree and applaud him. Homer wins first place.\\
'''The end result''' causes Grimes to snap and run amok through the plant, complaining that Homer gets away with everything and wins everything, but he (Grimes) has nothing to show for his hard work and superior ethic and skills. At one point, he sees [[spoiler:some high-voltage electric wires.]]\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Even in his blind rage, for Grimes to at least show reason and know that [[spoiler:touching the wires will result in electrocution and possible death.]]\\
'''Or:''' For one of the bystanders to [[spoiler:push Grimes away from the wires]].\\
'''Alternatively:''' You'd expect someone to alert Chief Wiggum, who happens to be in the vicinity at the time, that there is an insane man running wild in an extremely dangerous environment, posing a threat to himself and, potentially, others.\\
'''Instead''': [[BystanderSyndrome Nobody bothers to help Frank Grimes out]] and... [[spoiler:"Well, I don't need safety gloves because I'm Homer [[KilledMidSentence Simp—]]" '''[[KilledMidSentence ZAP!]] ''([[SmashCut cut to Grimes' funeral]])'']]'''

** Homer. According to ''Planet Simpson'', the audience is supposed to be "pleased" by Homer emerging "victorious" over Frank. The problem with this is that Homer actually never does anything to deserve victory, other than being [[{{Flanderization}} a lot more stupid]] than he had ever been up to that point, and the rest of Springfield, if not the whole universe being also stupid and unwittingly conspiring to land that victory on Homer's lap. Then there is the can of worms that is calling a "victory" what is actually the driving of an innocent man to insanity, early death, and mockery while he is being buried.

* DracoInLeatherPants: A lot of interpretations of this episode rest on the idea that Homer was completely well-meaning and Frank just overreacted, but Frank had numerous reasons to dislike Homer: he not only ate his lunch and chewed all his pencils, but snitched Frank up to Mr. Burns moments after Frank ''saved his life''. However, ''did'' try and make amends with Grimes. Some see the diner scene as the moment where Frank Grimes becomes the villain, Homer made an effort to make amends and talk things out with him but Grimes was too hateful and envious to give him a benefit of a doubt.

** The episode also tries to imply that Homer has had an absolutely perfect life up to this point, partly by displaying his past accomplishments and partly by making Grimes' life ludicrously terrible by comparison. Homer's childhood was actually almost as bad as Grimes', and his life was a sequence of constant failures. Even as Grimes has the determination to make his life better, he lacks the heart (and the screen time) that Homer had when it came to crucial decisions in his life, including putting his ass on the line just for even the smallest moment of one's personal happiness. The [[CallBack CallBacks]] to previous episodes that Grimes fumes over also have many of their unpleasant aspects whitewashed; Homer did get to go up into space, but he was snubbed for recognition by an inanimate object, twice.

** "Dwelling on self-pity and envy will ruin your life, not make it better. Appreciate what you have and take the opportunity when it's offered to you, not wait for the next one." Grimes's envy blinded him to his own accomplishments, he broke through every wave of struggle and achieved a lot in life despite his awful childhood but he couldn't appreciate any of them because he felt Homer was given far better opportunities than he deserved. Grimes was so honed in on Homer's accomplishments and validating his own hard work that he refused to learn how Homer got these opportunities in the first place or how they truly affected his life [[note]] he only knew Gerald Ford because he was his neighbour, not because he knew him as a close personal friend. Having 3 kids isn't as easy or glamorous as Grimes thinks and since they were unplanned pregnancies, it forced Homer to give up his dreams for the sake of his family. Bart's factory was only bought for one dollar and he doesn't run it like a business. Homer's relationship with Marge wasn't handed to him on a silver plate and she fell for him because he was genuinely a nice guy who wanted the best for her.[[/note]]. .

** "Dwelling on self-pity and envy will ruin your life, not make it better. Appreciate what you have and take the opportunity when it's offered to you, not wait for the next one." Grimes's envy blinded him to his own accomplishments, he broke through every wave of struggle and achieved a lot in life despite his awful childhood but he couldn't appreciate any of them because he felt Homer was given far better opportunities than he deserved. Grimes was so honed in on Homer's accomplishments and validating his own hard work that he refused to learn how Homer got these opportunities in the first place or how they truly affected his life [[note]] he only knew Gerald Ford because he was his neighbour, not because he knew him as a close personal friend. Having 3 kids isn't as easy or glamorous as Grimes thinks and since they were unplanned pregnancies, it forced Homer to give up his dreams for the sake of his family. Bart's factory was only bought for one dollar and he doesn't run it like a business. Homer's relationship with Marge wasn't handed to him on a silver plate and she fell for him because he was genuinely a nice guy who wanted the best for her.[[/note]]. Grimes was too busy dwelling on self-pity and what he felt life owed him that he missed the point on why Homer was more successful than him. While Grimes sat alone and let his grievances fester in an attempt to get revenge on his enemy, Homer built relationships and bonded with his coworkers. Which resulted in them refusing to make fun of him for entering a children's competition, while Grimes was shunned instead for making a scene over nothing because he never bothered to bond with his coworkers as he didn't see them as his equals. Rather than learn something from the experience or try to see how his problems were largely his own fault, Grimes perceived this as life hitting him with another injustice that he didn't deserve and he kills himself in a fit of insanity.
* AlternateAesopInterpretation: Even though Frank Grimes has worked extremely hard in his life, he also comes off as a myopic pedant and a hard worker working for all the wrong reasons--considering how he attempts to work and function in a society that is possibly morally and ethically broken beyond repair and is just asking for it, and how he looks at what Homer and his family have as "normal", and is pure straight out jealous of him, he also reeks of EpilepticTrees of self-entitled, self-pitying, and uninsightful idiots that believe that playing the same IdiotBall game of materialistic society will make them the kings of the Idiot Ball, instead of saying [[ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules "Screw the money, I have standards."]] Plus it also doesn't help that Springfield was mentioned and is constantly shown in infamous light in all of America, episodes PRIOR to his employment in "America's Crudbucket." Even though Homer is portrayed as stupid, Grimes' brand of stupidity got him what he deserved. It's also worth noting that the episode's plot is similar to ''Film/{{Amadeus}}'', which was the TropeCodifier for DrivenByEnvy. It's not hard to see Frank and Homer as analogous to Salieri and Mozart.

** The episode also suffered from focusing on a character that was basically this trope defined. Grimes' life was portrayed as being difficult from the get-go, being abandoned by his parents, surviving an explosion and working every day of his life to achieve what little he has today. The fact that Grimes was supposed to be seen as a regular, real-life person thrown into the insane world of ''The Simpsons'' failed precisely because he did not come across as a regular person. It also didn't help that Frank himself came off as a pompous, uptight jerk long before he ever met Homer, making him unlikable to begin with. To make matters worse, Homer tries to reconcile with Frank by inviting him to his house for dinner, only for Frank to scream at Homer in a jealous rage.

** The episode also tries to imply that Homer has had an absolutely perfect life up to this point, partly by displaying his past accomplishments and partly by making Grimes' life ludicrously terrible by comparison. Homer's childhood was actually almost as bad as Grimes'--his father was a bitter, emotionally abusive, and deadbeat alcoholic who once told a young Homer that he hopes he gets kidnapped someday, and his mother was always too wrapped up in her activism to be involved in his life. Soon into his coed years, after flunking out of high school and making his living as a free spirit but thrill-seeking flake because of this, Homer was forced to scrape by on his hands and knees just to raise Bart and support Marge as a father and husband after having accidentally impregnated her, including suffering humiliation and harsh reality when he had all of his new bought paternity stuff repossessed in front of his hated sister in laws and beloved wife. This isn't even including sacrificing his dream job at the local bowling alley when he accidentally had Maggie and was sent groveling back to Mr. Burns to support her. That Safety Inspector job that Grimes envies and loathes Homer over? It's not even a job Homer considers worth doing, nor is it meaningful in his life for that matter. The few instances that redeem him in the face of this, including his stupidity, ignorance, and future seasons that rev up his tense marriage to Marge, is his reason to not ever take out his anger on Marge, Lisa (Bart being the sole exception as the repeated recipient of Homer's strangulations), nor Maggie, and to do the right thing deep down, even when he has sunk to the bottom of the barrel with the rest of the world. Even as Grimes has the determination to make his life better, he lacks the heart (and the screen time) that Homer had when it came to crucial decisions in his life, including putting his ass on the line just for even the smallest moment of one's personal happiness. The [[CallBack CallBacks]] to previous episodes that Grimes fumes over also have many of their unpleasant aspects whitewashed; Homer did get to go up into space, but he was snubbed for recognition by an inanimate object, twice.

* FourthWallMyopia: The reason why people root for Homer instead of Frank Grimes is that the audience knew Homer longer than Frank and knows the full story behind his achievements and knows that Homer wants to make peace with Frank. To Frank Grimes though, Homer earned his ire because he stole his food and got him in trouble with Mr Burns. After a long, hard day at work, he gets invited to dinner but misinterprets this gesture of friendship as snubbing and bragging. When Homer tells him that Bart owns a factory, Frank misread this as Bart being more successful than him. When the audience knows that Bart bought the factory for one dollar and he's using it as a playground, not a business. If Frank was in a better state of mind, he could have been more receptive it but the Simpson family are instead collateral damage in Frank's stressful day.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: As the DesignatedHero and DesignatedVillain entries show, this is apparant in both Frank and Homer depending on which opposing side your on.
** Some viewers, meanwhile, would see that [[TakeAThirdOption both]] are this due to both sides being hard to root for.
* {{Wangst}}: Frank's entire rant to Homer about how unfair life has been to him because Homer has so much while he has so little. As the many above entries should explain, Homer is nowhere near as successful or happy as Grimes thinks, while Grimes has numerous character flaws (self-pity and self-entitlement being two stand-out ones) and lacks perspective on the bigger picture of society. The result is the rant coming off as Grimes just whining about how much his (admittedly terrible) life sucks.

** The entire episode can be interpreted as a repudiation of the HardWorkFallacy. Grimes makes a big deal about how little reward he has reaped from his lifetime of hard work, but doesn't grok that there are more factors to success than just hard work. Homer was successful because he valued the people in his life and was nice enough to sincerely try making amends with Grimes by inviting him to dinner. While Grimes is overwhelmed with envy and tries to humiliate the man out of raw spite.

** The entire episode can be interpreted as a repudiation of the HardWorkFallacy. Grimes makes a big deal about how little reward he has reaped from his lifetime of hard work, but doesn't grok that there are more factors to success than just hard work.

* DracoInLeatherPants: A lot of interpretations of this episode rest on the idea that Homer was completely well-meaning and Frank just overreacted, but Frank had numerous reasons to dislike Homer: he not only ate his lunch and chewed all his pencils, but snitched Frank up to Mr. Burns moments after Frank ''saved his life''. However, ''did'' try and make amends with Grimes.

* DracoInLeatherPants: A lot of interpretations of this episode rest on the idea that Homer was completely well-meaning and Frank just overreacted, but Frank had numerous reasons to dislike Homer: he not only chewed all his pencils, but snitched Frank up to Mr. Burns moments after Frank ''saved his life''. However, ''did'' try and make amends with Grimes.

** Dwelling on self-pity and envy will ruin your life, not make it better. Appreciate what you have and take the opportunity when it's offered to you, not wait for the next one. Grimes's envy blinded him to his own accomplishments, he broke through every wave of struggle and achieved a lot in life despite his awful childhood but he couldn't appreciate any of them because he felt Homer was given far better opportunities than he deserved. Grimes was so honed in on Homer's accomplishments and his own misery that he refused to learn how Homer got these opportunities in the first place or how they truly affected his life [[note]] he only knew Gerald Ford because he was his neighbour, not because he knew him as a close personal friend. Having 3 kids isn't as easy or glamorous as Grimes thinks and since they were unplanned pregnancies, it forced Homer to give up his dreams for the sake of his family. Bart's factory was only bought for one dollar and he doesn't run it like a business. Homer's relationship with Marge wasn't handed to him on a silver plate and she fell for him because he was genuinely a nice guy who wanted the best for her.[[/note]]. Grimes was too busy dwelling on self-pity and what he felt life owed him that he missed the point on why Homer was more successful than him. While Grimes sat alone and let his grievances fester in an attempt to get revenge on his enemy, Homer built relationships and made an effort to bond with his coworkers. Which resulted in them refusing to make fun of him for entering a children's competition, while Grimes was shunned instead for making a scene over nothing because he never bothered to bond with his coworkers. Rather than learn something from the experience or try to see how his problems were largely his own fault, Grimes perceived this as life hitting him with another injustice that he didn't deserve and he kills himself in a fit of insanity.