Recap / The Simpsons S2 E18 "Brush with Greatness"

Original air date: 4/11/1991

Production code: 7F18

Homer puts himself on a diet after getting stuck on a water slide ride and making the news. Meanwhile, Marge realizes her lost dream of painting after Homer finds her old Ringo Starr portraits.

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Tropes:

• Actually Pretty Funny: It's subtle, but Marge can be seen quietly smiling to herself at Bart and Lisa pestering Homer day and night to take them to Mount Splashmore.
• Alas, Poor Villain: In a way, with Burns. Not because of being exposed, but because of what is exposed: his fragility and weakness behind his evil. It says a lot that it made everyone like Burns' painting, even Burns compliments Marge for a job well done.
• Annoyingly Repetitive Child: Bart and Lisa weaponise this by asking "Will you take us to Mount Splashmore?" over and over and over again until Homer finally agrees.
• Artistic License – University Admissions: Marge applied at a Community College and needed her portfolio to be reviewed by the art professor before being allowed to enroll. This is something associated with a specialized art school as no such thing is required at a Community College. However, as noted in the episode, Marge was applying to be in an advanced art course, normally someone would have to take the beginning art courses as a requirement to get into the advance courses or the teacher/department head would have to approve of skipping the requirements.
• As Himself: Ringo Starr, the first of the (then-) three surviving Beatles to appear on the show.
• Assurance Backfire: When Homer finds out Marge has to make a painting for Burns, he begs her to make sure to make him look beautiful. Marge says that is no problem, she only has to see Burns' inner beauty. This just worries Homer more, knowing he has none.
• Berserk Button: Krusty really, really hates it when people bring up his brand of mayonnaise, which was apparently so tainted it had to be recalled. When Kent Brockman asks him about it, Krusty angrily says that question's out of bounds and refuses to say anything else to the media.
• Beyond Redemption: This occurs in Marge's point of view when Mr. Burns insults Homer's weight-loss efforts by calling him "the fattest thing he's ever seen." The incident incenses Marge to the point that she nearly gives up painting him entirely.
  Marge: I used to think there was good in everybody until I met him!
• Bratty Half-Pint: Bart and Lisa nag Homer to take them to Mt. Splashmore all day and night until well after bedtime until he finally gives in and takes them there.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Professor Lombardo is a very supportive teacher to all the students showing how to improve. Although he is eccentric and even too supportive, like complimenting the maintenance guy for painting a guardrail and the sign promoting the art show.
• Butt-Monkey: Homer getting stuck in the waterslide, and Krusty's Celebrity Endorsement of Mount Splashmore leading to him getting grilled by the media after Homer gets stuck.
• Celeb Crush: As a schoolgirl, Marge had one for Ringo Starr which was why she painted so many portraits of him. One of them included Ringo and Marge on an altar getting married.
• Celebrity Endorsement: Krusty the Clown endorses the Mount Splashmore waterpark, which starts the plot by making Bart and Lisa want to go there. This comes back to bite Krusty later in the episode when Homer gets stuck in the slide and Krusty is confronted by reporters asking whether the waterpark is dangerous.
• Characterisation Click Moment:
  • Smithers was depicted as a Yes-Man to Mr. Burns from his first appearance, but it's this episode where his role as a sympathetic, conflicted sycophant is cemented. He very passionately expresses his sincere love and devotion to Burns as a person in a conversation with Marge—in spite of simultaneously getting kicked around by him—and he's later spotted assisting Burns in the Simpsons' shower. Burns even compares Smithers to a doctor in the way he helps him. Later, he faints at Marge's nude painting of Burns, establishing his attraction to his boss as more than just romantic.
  • This is the first episode where Krusty uses his celebrity status to sell cheap goods and services, and then attempt to dodge the ensuing scandals.
• Compliment Backfire: When Marge tries to compliment Professor Lombardo on his supportive nature and how every teacher should be like him, he gets angry and states he doesn't take praise very well.
• Compressed Hair: Marge manages to squeeze her tall hair into a swimming cap, with a little straining.
• Contrived Coincidence: Ringo Starr's response to Marge just happens to arrive shortly after she mentions having sent him a portrait years ago. It also comes at a time when she needs a morale boost.
• Cool Teacher: Marge's painting teacher Professor Lombardo is very supporting and encouraging. He warmly praises all his students' work and even praises the college custodian's work painting banisters and posters. He's also disgusted when he hears how Marge's high school art teacher Mr. Schindler insulted her work, considering the man a fool. His "Lombardo Method"—the act of visualizing a complex figure as an assortment of simple geometric shapes during the setup stage of an illustration—is instrumental in helping Marge create her portrait of Homer.
• Couch Gag: Homer tips the couch over on its side with everyone on it, except Maggie, who falls onto the couch cushion.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Homer and Bart first learn about Marge's painting hobby when they find her paintings of Ringo Starr in the Simpsons' attic. Homer is not pleased when he sees how many paintings Marge did of Ringo, including one where she marries him, even though Marge painted them all (and then gave up on painting) before she ever met Homer.
• Crocodile Tears: Weaponised by Bart and Lisa to skip the line for a waterside. Lisa starts crying and screaming "I want my mommy!" while Bart acts like the concerned big brother, pushing past everyone with Lisa close behind.
• Darkest Hour: Marge falls into this when she thinks she can't paint a good portrait of Mr. Burns. Just then, Ringo Starr's reply to her original letter arrives, telling Marge how much he loved her painting of him. This encourages her to take one last try at painting Mr. Burns.
• Determinator: Ringo Starr is determined to personally answer each and every piece of fan mail he's ever gotten, which is why it took so long for him to answer Marge about her portrait of him.
• Didn't Think This Through: Homer gets stuck in the H2WHOA! slide, and the management decides to send more kids down to dislodge the blockage, thinking it's too big to be human. This makes the problem worse because the kids end up crashing into Homer and the part of the slide with him stuck in it has to be removed in order to get him out.
• Diet Episode: The first for Homer. Played more realistically than most in that Homer's weight loss isn't dramatic or significant enough to alter his appearance much, he simply loses enough to reach a healthier weight (and because he was humiliated on the news).
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • Homer caring deeply about his weight is something that would certainly never happen in later seasons, given how gluttonous and carefree he is when it comes to food and beer. While he has gotten into shape in later episodes, he loses it by the next episode. In the case of "Kamp Krusty," Homer gains the weight back at once when he finds out what Bart had done to the camp.
  • Lisa willingly helps Bart in committing mischief—specifically, joining him in chanting "Can we go to Mount Splashmore" to pester Homer and pretending to be a lost girl to get first in line for a ride. In later seasons, she typically decries Bart's antics and abstains from participating in them.
  • Krusty can remove the white make-up from his face (cf. the part where he gets mad over Kent Brockman asking about the Krusty Brand mayonnaise recall and shouting "This interview is over!" while wiping his face). On the season four episode "Homer's Triple Bypass," it's implied that Krusty's white face, balding green head, and red nose are from some serious health issues (mostly his drinking and smoking).
  • There are several Springfieldians at Mount Splashmore with hair the same color as their skin. After the third season only Bart, Lisa, Maggie and Abe have this “hair” style.
  • Ringo's facial features are cartoonishly exaggerated, moreso than those of any celebrity guest to follow.
  • Kent Brockman isn’t the main anchor on the news. The family watch two other newscasters on rival channels before he appears.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Marge's art is highly regarded because she can see the inner beauty in even a slob like Homer and bring it to the light. However, after trying with all her might, she's forced to conclude that there is no such beauty to be found in Burns.
• Everyone Has Standards: Professor Lombardo likes practically every painting he sees and that includes a painted sign but even he is squicked by the naked picture of Mr. Burns.
• Fan Disservice:
  • Seeing Mr. Burns naked in all his skeletal glory. Everyone who sees the nude portrait of him is seriously Squicked by it. Even Smithers faints in shock.
  • Subverted when Marge paints a picture of Homer sleeping on the couch in his underwear titled "Bald Adonis". While a picture of Homer in his unmentionables would logically be fan disservice, "Bald Adonis" not only wins Marge praise from Professor Lombardo but also wins first prize in a local art contest.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Krusty uses the Yiddish expression "plotzed", foreshadowing The Reveal the following season that he's Jewish.
  • Early in the episode, several signs of Homer needing to lose weight show up, such as his swimming trunks' smiley face turning into a frowny one and his stomach honking the horn. Later on, he gets stuck in the slide, with eyewitnesses estimating his weight at somewhere between 400 and 500 pounds.
• Given Name Reveal: Subverted. Apu's first name is revealed in this episode.
• Halfway Plot Switch: What eventually turns out to be the 'A' plot of the episode - Marge painting Mr. Burns - doesn't begin until halfway through, and even the broader element of Marge having artistic talent only comes up about a third of the way in. The 'B' plot - Homer trying to lose weight - begins a little earlier but fades into the background once Marge begins painting again, only to provide Marge's Despair Event Horizon for the episode when Homer's pride in his success gets cruelly dashed by Burns, nearly causing him to relapse and convincing her that she can't possibly paint a beautiful picture of anyone with such an ugly character.
• Help, I'm Stuck!: Homer gets stuck in a water slide. The lifeguards send kids down the slide, but they don't dislodge him. The section where he's located is eventually removed from the ride.
• Homoerotic Subtext: Marge accidentally walks in on Smithers helping Mr. Burns shower and change for a board meeting. She immediately leaves, and Smithers asks Burns if he wants him to leave too. Burns says no, saying that Smithers is "like a doctor." Needless to say, Smithers isn't the least bit offended.
• Humiliation Conga: Besides getting trapped in the slide, Homer is booed by the other parkgoers when emergency workers try to get him out of the slide and humiliated when the fiasco makes the evening news. Notably, eyewitnesses estimated his weight at between 400 and 500 pounds.
• I Am Big Boned: Averted when Homer tells Marge, "No-one gains 30 pounds of bone!" after weighing himself and Marge tries to make him feel better by invoking this trope.
• I Heard That: Upon seeing Burns in the shower:
  Bart: Hey Mom, did he have those spots all over his body?
  Burns: I heard that!
• Incompetence, Inc.: It's one thing for the Mt. Splashmore management to do something about one of their slides getting jammed...but why they thought risking multiple paying customers by sending them to dislodge it was a good idea defies explanation.
• Insult Backfire: Burns at the very least thanks Marge for not mocking his genitals. Out of earshot, Marge tells Homer she thought she had.
• Jerkass:
  • Marge's high school art teacher harshly criticized her painting of Ringo Starr. He even has the nerve to rip the painting off of Marge's canvas and throw it in the garbage.
  • Marge discovers that Mr. Burns has absolutely no redeeming qualities, making it difficult for her to make a good painting of him. She tries to tell him she can't paint a positive picture of him due to his behavior, but Mr. Burns cuts her off by saying he needs the painting done on time and tells her to shut up and paint.
• Kent Brockman News: The news anchors crack jokes about Homer's weight while on the air and also when they grill at Krusty about the slides supposed safety, with Kent persistently bringing up Krusty's brand of mayonnaise being tainted.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Burns makes fun of Homer's attempt at losing weight, driving Homer to binge on food again until Marge stops him. It is also the final straw for Marge realizing Burns has no redeeming qualities and pretty much tells him to get out.
    Burns: Oh, thank goodness. Another day in this suburban nightmare and I would have needed half a white Valium. Thank you for your gracious hospitality. See you at the unveiling.
  • There's also the scene where Mr. Burns splashes scalding hot tea onto Smithers. And this was just after Smithers tells Marge that he considers Mr. Burns his best friend.
  • In fact, Mr. Burns' time at the house is just a nonstop parade of dog-kicking, from shaking a clinging Maggie off his leg in undisguised alarm and disgust to yelling at Lisa for practicing her saxophone in the room.
• Let Me Get This Straight...: Burns insults Homer's weight:
  Burns: Let me get this straight - you're pleased with your current appearance? [chuckles] Ah, why, my good man, you're the fattest thing I've ever seen, and I've been on safari!
• Nice Guy: When Ringo Starr finally takes a look at Marge's painting of him, he loves it. His reply letter to Marge is very appreciative, and he makes a point of telling her how he hung up her painting. It's just another facet of his Determinator mission to answer all of his fanmail even though he's backed up over 20 years.
• Noodle Incident: When Krusty's Celebrity Endorsement of the Mount Splashmore waterpark leads to him getting grilled by the media after Homer gets stuck in the slide, Krusty insists that Homer getting stuck was an isolated incident and that the slides are safe. Kent Brockman then asks him whether that's exactly what he said before the recall of tainted Krusty Mayonnaise. It's not clear exactly what led the mayonnaise to be recalled, but judging by how angry Krusty gets at the question, it's nothing good.
  Krusty: You know that question is out of bound!
• Not Drawn to Scale: Homer is shown to be 260. He loses weight and goes down to 239. Either way, Homer's build looks bigger than his actual given weight.
• Oh, Crap!: After Homer goes on his diet, the donut delivery guy comes by the Nuclear Power Plant and asks why the donuts have been piling up. Lenny explains that Homer's been on a diet, which prompts the donut guy into freaking out as he just bought a boat. This implies Homer has made him quite wealthy and he's just lost a major source of income due to Homer's diet.
• The One Thing I Don't Hate About You: Marge's adult art teacher Professor Lombardo ridicules her high school art teacher for criticizing her paintings:
  Professor Lombardo: The man was a fool! But one must admire the strength of his conviction.
• One-Track-Minded Artist: Marge used to be a painter but only did portraits of Ringo Starr because she had a crush on him at the time. When an art teacher criticized her for this, she was so upset she quit painting for good.
  Lisa: Oh Mom, I can't believe you gave up painting because of a small-minded teacher.
• Out-of-Character Moment: Lisa pretending to cry so that she and Bart and move to the front of the line. It's one of the few times she's shown to willingly join in one of Bart's scams. Bart even compliments her for her act.
  Bart: Hey, Lis', nice work, babe.
• Pet the Dog: Marge attempts to invoke this while desperately searching for inner beauty in Burns, asking him if he had a dog that he loved as a child. She gets an actual instance later when he admits that he approves her painting of him, finding it to be bold and beautiful. It goes quite a way to show he is still a human (in spite of his evil nature), and he has enough self awareness to at least appreciate that. He even sincerely thanks Marge for not making fun of his genitals depicted in the painting, unaware of the fact that Marge tried to.
• Rhymes on a Dime: Apu's story is titled "Hands Off My Jerky, Turkey".
• Rousing Speech: Homer gives one to himself, resolving to go through with his diet.
  Homer: I'm going on a diet. From now on, there'll be no pork chop too succulent, no donut too tasty, no pizza too laden with delicious toppings to prevent me from reaching my ideal weight! As God as my witness, I'll always be hungry again! [stomach growls] D'oh! Shut up.
• Scenery Censor: It's used to censor a painting Marge had made of Mr. Burns. On the commentary, everyone talks about how much fun they had making those objects as small as possible. Lampshaded at the end of the episode, when Marge and Mr. Burns discuss her portrayal of his genitalia and it sounds like neither of them actually saw that bit of the painting (due to the obstructions).
• Special Guest: Jon Lovitz as Professor Lombardo and the donut guy.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Upon arriving at Mount Splashmore, Homer tells the rest of his family to stay together. When he turned around, he finds them already gone.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Despite Smithers being Burns's Yes-Man, Marge pities him for the abuse he puts up with, even directly questioning why he deals with the old man.
• Training Montage: A montage cuts between Homer exercising to lose weight and Marge practicing her painting. One sequence shows them together as Homer jumps rope while Marge paints him. The montage also uses a similar music score to "Gotta Fly Now" from the Rocky movies.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Marge's letter to Ringo was only addressed as "Springfield, U.S.A.".
• You Are Fat: Mr. Burns insults Homer's attempt at losing weight by calling him the "fattest thing he's ever seen", which completely shatters his self-confidence in one fell swoop. That's the point where Marge decides there's no inner beauty in Burns and kicks him out of the house.

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