History YMMV / TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy

* DracoInLeatherPants: Homer, many, many Simpsons Fans and Youtubers have produced countless eassays arguing why Homer is largley innocent at the whole situation. Often claiming that Homer did try to make friends with Grimes and asked him if he was okay during his breakdown. According to ''WebVideo/TheRealJims'' how Homer is a "giant Teddy Bear" in the second half of the Episode who is nothing but lovable and tries to improve... what all these fans completly ignore is that Homer continues to call Frank "Grimey" a nickname that is not only insulting but also Grimes specifically said he didn't want to be called that. Something Homer ignores time and time again, even during his final "are you okay, Grimey?". Showing that Homer to the end was still heavily antagonistic/insulting towards Grimes and directly contributed to his death. Something that is only underlined by his behavior during Grimes funeral (when on several other funerals on the show he actually behaved himself).

* DracoInLeatherPants: Homer, many, many Simpsons Fans and Youtubers have produced countless eassays arguing why Homer is largley innocent at the whole situation. Often claiming that Homer did try to make friends with Grimes and asked him if he was okay during his breakdown. According to ''WebVideo/TheRealJims'' how is a "giant Teddy Bear" in the second half of the Episode who is nothing but lovable and tries to improve... what all these fans completly ignore is that Homer continues to call Frank "Grimey" a nickname that is not only insulting but also Grimes specifically said he didn't want to be called that. Something Homer ignores time and time again, even during his final "are you okay, Grimey?". Showing that Homer to the end was still heavily antagonistic/insulting towards Grimes and directly contributed to his death. Something that is only underlined by his behavior during Grimes funeral (when on several other funerals on the show he actually behaved himself).

* TheWoobie: Frank "Grimey" Grimes. Many fans also felt sorry for him: his own parents abandoned him when he was four, he had a difficult childhood and a lot of bad luck in his life. However, he lashes out at Homer, the one person who ''does'' feel bad about hurting him, and does everything he can to ruin the man. His failure drives him to insanity and self-electrocution, but due to Homer's antics, everyone laughs when he's buried.

** "Don't let resentment and envy consume you and prevent you from accepting apologies from people who genuinely want to befriend you".

** "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' 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 as well as learning how to maximize his own potential to create similar opportunities.

** Don't work somewhere that makes you miserable or disrespects 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 revoking Grimes' promotion in favor of hiring a dog to be an executive. Frank would have been much happier just leaving Springfield in his rear view mirror and going somewhere his talents would be appreciated.
* AlternateAesopInterpretation:

** If Homer is a {{Jerkass}} or not in this episode. Even if he's never intentionally mean towards Grimes (just overly idiotic and obnoxious), some see this episode as one of the early signs of "Jerkass Homer". Some other people consider Homer to be fine in this episode for the reason said above. It also helps Homer's case that he does attempt to offer an olive branch to Grimes when he realizes he hates him and is the only one to show concern for his well-being after he goes off the deep end.

** Is Homer's incompetence at his job entirely due to stupidity, or does he have a [[ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}} Dilbert-esque]] awareness of his job situation? Homer giving Grimes advice about the security cameras and Lenny and Carl's similarly blasé atittudes suggest this, and in this episode alone, Mr. Burns shows himself to be a particularly callous PointyHairedBoss, acting on whims and unable to distinguish a hard worker from a [[TheSlacker slacker]].

** Grimes. Depending on who you ask, he's a {{Jerkass}} or TheWoobie (but not a JerkassWoobie). This also determined whether you found his death and Homer's final line funny or cruel.
** Homer. Depending on who you ask, he's either a {{Jerkass}} who caused Frank's death or a KindheartedSimpleton who was just a victim of Frank's anger.
* BrokenBase: Brilliant deconstruction of the show's absurdity, or painfully and humorlessly dark? The only thing fans agree on is that the episode is only accessible to long-time viewers.
* CrossesTheLineTwice:
** If Frank Grimes' death itself doesn't do the job, Homer mumbling "change the channel, Marge" while half-asleep at Grimes' funeral does.
** Reverend Lovejoy saying that Frank liked to be called "Grimey" (the nickname he actually hated, invented by the person he hated the most, the same person who [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom drove him crazy]] and caused his AccidentalSuicide) at his funeral. Very dark, but it's one of the most quoted lines from this episode.

** Homer. According to ''Planet Simpson'', the audience is supposed to be "pleased" by Homer emerging "victorious" over Frank. The problem is that Homer actually never did 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 essentially the driving of an innocent man to insanity, early death, and mockery at his own funeral.

** We are supposed to see Homer as an awful person that doesn't deserve his good life. To some degree, Homer 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. However, Homer 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 was the only employee who seemed genuinely concerned about Grimes when he starts to go crazy.
** 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 {{Call Back}}s 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.

* FanonDiscontinuity: Another popular contender for the title of 'Actual Series Finale'. The reasoning being that the show was originally created as a response to 1980s shows like ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' and after ten years it finally had an episode that was spoofing the foundations of its own premise.
* FranchiseOriginalSin: This episode is often considered by fans as "the start of Jerkass Homer", with many people mentioning it as the ultimate example of Homer being a horrible jerk. This is hardly true (the earliest depictions of Homer with his more blatant HairTriggerTemper come to mind), and despite being unintentionally rude in the beginning, Homer is not particularly mean in this episode (he's InnocentlyInsensitive in the first half, and a KindheartedSimpleton in the second half). Justified, since this is a darker episode where Homer's reckless behavior drives another character to insanity and eventually death, and he gets away with it, and all these things are associated with the worst and most flanderized characterization of Homer, so "Jerkass Homer".
* HarsherInHindsight: The episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS14E6TheGreatLouseDetective The Great Louse Detective]]" showcases that Frank Grimes has a grown-up son, Frank Grimes Jr., who [[{{Handwave}} explains Homer's question of how Grimes could have a son if he was not married]] with an angry "he liked hookers, okay?!". Any potential theories that this {{Retcon}} tosses on the table only further place Grimes into the "UnintentionallyUnsympathetic" territory.

* JerkassWoobie: Frank Grimes was supposed to be TheWoobie, but really comes off more like this. He's had a god-awful life after being abandoned by his parents, was such a NoRespectGuy that everyone laughed at his funeral, and [[TooDumbToLive has had to work with Homer's stupid antics.]] These would all make him sympathetic, except in general he's a very bitter and jaded man, and he is deeply hateful and jealous of Homer for reasons that are ultimately beyond his control while Homer genuinely wants to be his friend. [[JerkassHasAPoint It just doesn't stop him from being otherwise correct about]] [[ThisIsReality what would have normally happened.]]

** Grimes is horrified to find out that Homer's job is the safety inspector. Lenny and Carl tell him it's best not to question it. This line is PlayedForLaughs, however, if Grimes had listened instead of continuously questioning Homer's incompetence, he most likely wouldn't have ended up undergoing SanitySlippage and dying.
** One of the major reasons this episode is so divisive is that Frank, as the strawman, isn't wrong in his reasoning to hate Homer (at least in general -- Homer ''is'' horrible at his job, and Chernobyl and Three-Mile Island are perfect examples of what happens when someone like Homer is at the wheel of a nuclear power plant). It's him taking in other things out of context as proof that his hatred is righteous and deciding to try to sabotage Homer that takes it too far.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Josh Weinstein regretted killing Frank off after only one episode, given his tragic life and disdain for Homer both have comic potential beyond this one episode.

* ValuesDissonance: Audiences watching in the TheNewTens and TheNewTwenties are less likely to agree with Frank Grimes's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about what a LazyBum Homer is, in particular the line "If you lived in any other country in the world, you'd have starved to death long ago", as it's become apparent that American workers are actually among the world's most ''overworked'' people, lacking basic benefits that exist in other prosperous nations, like paid time off.
* {{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. 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.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: This is a story featuring Homer having an envious co-worker...that also is an interesting critique of society and how it seems to reward the undeserving while ignoring the hardworking.
* TheWoobie: Frank "Grimey" Grimes. A good portion of fans also felt sorry for him: he was abandoned by his own parents when he was four, had a difficult childhood, had a lot of bad luck in his life. However, he lashed out at Homer, the one person who ''did'' feel bad about hurting him, and did anything he could to ruin the man. His failure resulted in him going crazy and electrocuting himself in anger, but due to Homer's antics, everyone laughed when he was lowered in the casket.

** ''WebVideo/RenegadeCut'' makes the case for an unintentional [[CapitalismIsBad anti-capitalism]] message; instead of Grimes realizing that his problems are InherentInTheSystem and then working towards changing the system, he directs all his ire at ''Homer'' for [[{{Scapegoat}} things he has absolutely no control over]], because he's an easier target than Mr. Burns.
** 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 understand 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.
** "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' 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.

** Don't work somewhere that makes you miserable or disrespects 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 revoking Grimes' promotion in favor of hiring a dog to be an executive.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: This episode is often considered by fans as "the start of Jerkass Homer", with many people mentioning it as the ultimate example of Homer being a horrible jerk. This is hardly true, and despite being unintentionally rude in the beginning, Homer is not particularly mean in this episode (he's InnocentlyInsensitive in the first half, and a KindheartedSimpleton in the second half). Justified, since this is a darker episode where Homer's reckless behavior drives another character to insanity and eventually death, and he gets away with it, and all these things are associated with the worst and most flanderized characterization of Homer, so "Jerkass Homer".

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Josh Weinstein regretted killing Frank off after only one episode.

** Homer. Depending on who you ask, he's either a {{Jerkass}} who caused Frank's death or a KindheartedSimpleton who was just a victim of Frank's IrrationalHatred.