Marge gets an extremely stressful job at a ghost kitchen, and starts a union after being tricked out of overtime pay.
Looking at a gig website, Marge sees a job at GimmeChow, a new food delivery app. They're only hiring for evening shifts, meaning Marge can't make dinner for the family. With some encouraging, Homer promises that he, Bart and Lisa will do the cooking together.
Marge is hired, as well as Ruth Powers, Dewey Largo, Old Jewish Man, the Squeaky-Voiced Teen, Sanjay Nahasapeemapetilon, Julio, Mrs. Muntz, Kirk Van Houten, Barney Gumble, and Cletus Spuckler. An introductory video is shown of the CEO of GimmeChow, a disruptor named Finn Bon Idée, who aims to disrupt the restaurant business by eliminating restaurants from the equation. GimmeChow will provide the food of twenty restaurants from a single kitchen, overseen by their shift manager, "Jill Junderson". Marge asks Gil how much they'll be paid, and everyone is about to leave after he said "minimum wage", but most stuck around after he said "plus overtime". The first shift begins, and the orders are piling on immediately. Everyone is overwhelmed, and Marge gets a nasty cut to the arm from Mrs. Muntz's wayward knife, but continues to work, even after slipping on a mayonnaise spill. With a long bleep mistaken for a call for pho, it's clear this is a kitchen from hell.
Two months pass, and Marge wakes up from another kitchen nightmare, having slept in for most of her half-day off. Homer says the kids have been having fun cooking as a family, but after Marge leaves for another evening shift, Homer and Bart get out their smartphones and order from GimmeChow. Lisa feels guilty for doing this for two months, but Homer is able to ward off her telling Marge the truth with some tofu tika masala.
Ol' Gil is presenting a present from management, smartwatches… and by smartwatches, he means ankle monitors that keep them motivated. Marge asks Gil about overtime, and Gil answers that since their hours go past midnight, they count as being part of a new day, so they don't get overtime. Marge is shocked by this news and by her ankle monitor's anti-rest zaps. Gil excuses this theft by claiming GimmeChow is just a start-up, but watching a finances show that night, it becomes clear they have more than enough money because Finn Bon Idée is the world's newest billionaire. Marge throws her Duff at the TV before breaking down in tears. Lisa overhears Marge's crying, and feels guilty that she started all of this, but Marge assures her that they'll take care of the "Chicken Fixin' Fund", which doesn't seem to be getting any higher despite all the work Marge does. Hearing Finn's empty pleasantries about family and unity, Lisa gets an idea: unionize. Marge is unsure, but after hearing the CEO's plans to go to space, she wants to take him down, down to Earth.
Marge meets with her fellow GimmeChow chefs and the drivers (now including Brandine Spuckler, Kearney, Principal Skinner, Otto, and Luigi) to discuss unionizing. Luigi is all in, because GimmeChow ran him out of business and ripped him off with "Louie G's Pizza". Unfortunately, their ankle monitors overheard the whole thing. Gil says that management wanted to show an educational video for no reason. The video is a cheap anti-union propaganda cartoon. Mr. Largo is disgusted that they spend their money on this cartoon instead of fair wages, and signs his union card. The kitchen is unionized. Management won't let this stand, but they can't fire Marge for starting a union, so they've made her a delivery driver. She's got 60 minutes to deliver 40 orders, or she's fired for a justifiable cause.
With a drop of Mrs. Muntz's checkerboard panties, the race is on. Marge has no time to stop, and throws her orders from the car to the customer. The first two orders are for Apu and Snake, in the midst of a classic Kwik-E-Mart robbery. Hans Moleman gets a Gridiron Grinder to the groin. Comic Book Guy's pizza is thrown through the window. Krusty gets hit by the car before getting his banana cream pie. Marge jumps a bridge to throw the Sea Captain his order. One minute left, one order left, and it's a big one, too big to throw. She gets out of the car to hand deliver this one, but she trips at the last second, and is fired. And that last order that ruined it all was Homer's. She's been lied to, and she's been fired. Marge is furious.
Marge helps herself to the whole dinner order, and she chews her family out for ordering expensive food on the app instead of cooking for themselves, and lying about it. Her union family wouldn't betray her like that, but right after she bemoans that she's been separated from them, there's a ring at the door. The union is there, on strike, and they can't strike without her, she's their leader. And word caught on, the workers for every other food delivery app in Springfield is on strike too.
Homer has become addicted to food delivery apps, and hasn't eaten since the strike started, turning down food from the nuclear plant cafeteria because it's not delivery. While venting to Lenny and Carl, an alarm sounds. Homer was leaning on a switch that could send out an EMP if left activated, which could fry every electronic device in town. Homer has gone without delivery for so long that he says "mmm... fried electronic device" despite how inedible that is. He'd do anything to get GimmeChow back. Homer gets a phone call...
The investment show is having a debate between "Communist Psycho" Marge Simpson and GimmeChow's new brand ambassador, "Capitalist Ally" Homer Simpson. Homer is being paid in gift cards to be an anti-union shill, willing to defend human misery if it means convenience. Marge crashes Homer's broadcast from the bathroom to deliver a message of pro-unionization.
The next day, the pro-union protesters have an encounter with a crowd of slogan-chanters who seem to understand their plight, but really just want food. Homer has gathered many of Springfield's portlier citizens into a group, Selfish Entitled Lovers of Food. After a very short conversation, the union and S.E.L.F. are about to get into a brawl, but Finn Bon Idée's helicopter gets in the way of the crowds. He's ending the strike, not by meeting their demands, but by automating everything and firing everyone. The kitchens are manned by robots, the deliveries are done by drones. Marge is defeated, and Homer feels bad for betraying Marge. Not even fried food delivered by an electronic drone can cheer him up. That's when he gets an idea, recalling his bizarre use of his "mmm..." catchphrase from earlier. Homer pulls the switch, and the malfunctioning drones drop their orders and all out of the sky. It's raining food all over Springfield. GimmeChow's disruptive automation plans have been disrupted, and their stock is tanking. And Finn gets crushed by a tank prop from the non-unionized Demented Dollars prop crew.
Marge knows only Homer can make a mess like this one, and with a passionate kiss, they make amends. Closing narration from the wise guy tells that Finn Bon Idée (who survived getting run over by the tank prop) was forced to hire unionized workers that are paid fairly, including overtime. Homer uses his gift cards to fill the Chicken Fixin' Fund, and while Marge forgave Homer, she will be using this incident as ammunition in every argument from that point on.
Tropes:
- Animation Bump: The Demented Dollars show scene is animated in a way more fluid and expressive style than the rest of the episode.
- Art Shift: The anti-union video Gil makes the employees watch is done in a more simplistic art style.
- Atomic F-Bomb: Marge lets out a long bleeped F-bomb after slipping on a mayonnaise spill. Kirk responds by giving Marge beef stock for pho.
- Big "NO!": Homer's reaction to all the food delivery apps going on strike. This comes right after...
- Big "YES!": ...Marge's reaction to all the food delivery apps going on strike.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: After Bart explains what GimmeChow is, there's a fake ad in the corner for "Cafeteria Nightmares - Every night forever on FOX - Reality is all we got!"
- Blatant Lies: The anti-union propaganda is so obviously false it's what finally convinces Marge's coworkers to follow her lead.
- The Bus Came Back:
- This episode features Apu's first non-background appearance since Season 29's "No Good Read Goes Unpunished", six years minus a day prior. Apu appears in a non-speaking role as one of Marge's delivery customers. For a related non-sentient example, this is also the Kwik-E-Mart's first appearance since "The Marge-ian Chronicles" two seasons before that.
- The veterinarian who operated on Santa's Little Helper returns after his last non-background appearance being "Who Shot Mr. Burns (Part One)", all the way back in Season 6.
- Truth-Anne, the girl who was introduced in the previous season's episode "Game Done Changed", returns in this episode, where she owns a chicken named Gwenyth Poultry as her emotional support pet.
- Call-Back: Hans Moleman's order for a Gridiron Grinder hits him in the groin, just like the football in his film.
- Chekhov's Gun: When Homer is hungry and wants food delivered, he accidentally leans over a switch that Lenny and Carl warn him could have accidentally fried the city's electronics. He mumbles, "Mmm... fried electronic devices" before admonishing himself for that not making sense. Later, he gets the epiphany to shut down all the GimmeChow drones with this exact same switch.
- Continuity Cavalcade: After Marge announces she's gonna get a job, Bart lists off several former jobs she's had: Cop, realtor, gym owner, erotic cake baker, and weed sommelier.
- Continuity Snarl: After Marge tells Bart the former jobs Bart brought up were jobs she took for personal reasons, she says it's not personal this time since she needs the money. They don't seem to remember she once got a job to help paying a foundation repairman.
- Didn't Think This Through: Homer, Bart and Lisa keep ordering vast amounts of food through GimmeChow when they're supposed to be saving up to pay off an expensive medical bill. They also didn't consider that Marge might be delivering one of their orders.
- Emergency Multifaith Prayer: When the first shift begins, after mishearing Marge's cries of "Cheeses!", the Old Jewish Man replies "Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Hashem, we need 'em all, chef!"
- EMP: Homer resolves the plot by flipping a switch in his power plant workstation to fry the GimmeChow drones.
- False Reassurance: Lisa desperately admits that she'll pay off one of her Malibu Stacy dollhouses to pay for the chicken's vet bills. Homer tells her she won't need to sell her toys, then whispers to Marge that the price of her saxophone will cover it.
- Family-Unfriendly Violence:
- Marge accidentally brushes against Mrs. Muntz's knife, leaving a bloody cut.
- Finn gets run over by a tank on-screen, but somehow survives.
- Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: A voiceover narration states that Marge forgave Homer for his betrayal but then brought it up in future arguments for the rest of their marriage.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: The other jobs on the job hunting website are Bolt Gun Operator, Graverobbers' Apprentice, Ride Share Driver, Shoe Shiner, and Fight Club Referee.
- Fun with Acronyms: Homer's group of people who want the GimmeChow app back is called the S.E.L.F.: Selfish Entitled Lovers of Food.
- Jerkass Ball: Homer brazenly demands service from GimmeChow in spite of how much his large orders increase Marge's workload, plus it reducing the funds for their debt that she's working at GimmeChow in the first place to pay off. He even goes so far as to openly union bust for the company when she organizes a union and counter protests when she organizes a strike.
- Jerkass Realization: Homer realizes the error of his ways when his actions get the entire GimmeChow kitchen staff fired in favor of automating the process, leaving Marge's unionizing efforts dejected.
- Job-Stealing Robot: Finn fires his works and employs robots and drones to make and deliver the food.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Lisa claims Snowball II is empathetic and harmless, right before Snowball II mauls an emotional support chicken.
- Internal Reveal: Marge learns that Homer had been ordering from GimmeChow instead of cooking when she's demoted to driver and his is the last order.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Finn, after all the misery he put his workers through, and firing them so he can replace them all with robots and drones, loses nearly all value in his stock when Homer shuts down his drones, and he is run over by a tank from the Demented Dollars prop crew. However, it is stated by the narrator that he survived getting run over, but was forced to hire fairly paid unionized workers.
- Loophole Abuse: GimmeChow cannot fire employees for convincing others to unionize so they instead assign Marge to delivery duty so they can fire her when she fails.
- Negative Continuity: In response to Marge claiming she's never had to get a job for the family before, Bart lists several of Marge's jobs in previous episodes, which Marge claims were for undertaken for her personal development rather than for the money. Her brief stint at the power plant to pay the family's home repair bills goes unmentioned.
- New Job Episode: Marge gets a job at a ghost kitchen. Like another episode this season, it's Lampshaded that this is far from the first time Marge got a job, though Marge claims all of those were for personal growth and not out of financial necessity.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Finn congratulating Homer for backstabbing Marge is what makes Homer realize how bad his actions were.
- The Oner: Most of the first shift is done with a continuous camera for over a minute, to homage The Bear's episode "Review" which is a full-length continuous shot.
- Pie in the Face: Subverted. Krusty's GimmeChow order for a banana cream pie isn't delivered in this manner despite Marge throwing the orders out of the window, instead hitting Krusty with her car and throwing the pie right in front of him, still in the box.
- Shout-Out:
- The chaotic scene at the GimmeChow kitchen spoofs The Bear.
- Demented Dollars is a parody of Mad Money, a finance show hosted by Jim Cramer on CNBC.
- Mrs. Muntz holding a crate lid reading "Onion" spoofs the
Signature Scene of Norma Rae. - Marge at one point carries a giant tub of Mayo Edebiri, also referencing The Bear.
- Special Guest: Jason Mantzoukas as Finn Bon Idée.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Gil is particularly unlikable in this episode, treating the kitchen staff under him poorly and appearing to revel in their suffering. Perhaps after so many failed careers where he was always the low man on the totem pole, when he finally got a position of power it went to his head.
- Uncatty Resemblance: The emotional support animals reflect their owners. For instance, Herman's emotional support animal is a dog that's missing one of its front legs, Chief Wiggum's emotional support animal is a pig, and Jasper's emotional support animal is a bearded goat.
- Wall Crawl: Julio walks on the ceiling during a rapid-fire sequence of chefs passing eachother by and announcing their location as to avoid a collision.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- After she kicks off the plot by mauling the chicken, Snowball II vanishes from the episode outright.
- Gil isn't heard from after firing Marge from GimmeChow, leaving it unclear if he was fired with the rest of the employees at the time of GimmeChow's automation.
- Villainous Breakdown: When Homer fries the food delivery drones to atone for betraying Marge for GimmieChow, Finn starts to really lose it as his stock drops before getting crushed by the prop tank from Demented Dollars.Finn: I can't get disrupted! I'm the disrupter! I'm the crusher of unions! I'm the- [Demented Dollars tank runs over him]
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: As mentioned above in Nice Job Fixing It, Villain, it was Finn congratulating Homer for stabbing his wife in the back that shames Homer into trying to and succeeding in correcting what he had done.
