Recap / The Simpsons S 34 E 20 The Very Hungry Caterpillars

A plague of caterpillars forces Springfield into lockdown.

Full Recap

The episode begins on a relatively ordinary morning for the Simpson household, except Maggie is in a phase where she refuses to eat anything without ranch dressing. After Marge tries and fails to curb this habit, every computer, smartphone, and smart device in the house is sounding an alarm. Kent Brockman delivers an emergency report, an environmental catastrophe has come to Springfield in the form of a gigantic swarm of caterpillars. Mayor Quimby attempts to deliver an address for his citizens to remain calm, but due to the antics of a panicking Miss Springfield making him appear foolish, he declares the closure of all schools, businesses, and roads. Springfield is in lockdown.

DAY 1

While Homer and Bart are overjoyed by not having to go to work or school, Lisa is already freaking out due to the social media reactions as well as two other "once-in-a-millennium" catastrophes that happened recently. The rest of the family shows concern, and Marge recommends they do a family activity to keep their mind off the lockdown. They sit down to binge-watch the game show "Steak, Cake or Fake?", but due to Homer fumbling with the remote and Bart and Lisa trying to take the remote from him, they end up logged out of their Binge+ account, and Homer doesn't remember the password.

DAY 2

Kirk Van Houten protests outside of city hall that the lockdown must end, the streets are safe, only to be run over by a car with caterpillars nearly completely covering the windows. Springfield Elementary shifts into online learning thanks to a video conferencing app that Skinner must read ads for periodically. Bart gets distracted by one of the ads and spends the entire school day watching New Zealand rugby on a sports betting website. Class has concluded, everyone is off the chat program. Everyone but Skinner that is, allowing for Bart to spy on the Skinner household as Agnes dotes on her nephew, Seymour's cousin Peter. Bart begins inviting others back onto the chat program to watch Skinner's misery as Peter charms Agnes.

The house has ran out of ranch dressing, and Maggie still refuses to accept to eat anything without it. Marge asks Homer to ask Ned Flanders for some, and Marge tosses him a butane torch to burn a bug-free path to the Flanders residence. Being as devoted a Christian as he is, Ned is well-prepared for a potential rapture scenario, and is seeing these caterpillars as a sign of the end of days, with barely hidden enthusiasm. Homer takes a small amount of Ned's doomsday supplies before getting to the condiments, wanting just a sandwich bag full of ranch dressing. But Ned remembers all the times Homer has "borrowed" from him before, and angered, Ned only allows Homer one squirt of ranch, and absolutely nothing more. Marge figures they could ration it out, but Lisa busts in claiming the lockdown has been extended, to months, or forever, or even longer, and Maggie slurps down the single squirt of ranch dressing. As the caterpillars outside swarm upwards and completely cover the windows on the house's ground floor, it's clear that things are about to turn for the worse.

DAY 3

The caterpillar swarm now resembles a flood, and Lisa's anxiety is getting worse and worse with each AnxietyFeed article she sees. Marge has to get her offline, so she encourages Homer to give her a big Christmas present early, a fancy Malibu Stacy mall playset. Lisa has been distracted.

Bart, Milhouse, Jimbo, Martin, Sherri and Terri continue spying on the Skinner household as Agnes gives a prized quilt of every disappointing Skinner son to Cousin Peter instead of her own disappointing son, breaking an old promise.

Lisa is playing with her dolls, but then she sees the dolls are talking to her, admonishing her for playing as the world falls apart. Fearing that this could be the new normal, Lisa ducks under the covers.

DAY 4

Homer is trying to get Maggie to try mayonnaise instead of ranch, hoping that a different taste and a different label will fool her, which it doesn't. With Marge bitterly looking as Ned shares celery sticks with ranch dressing with Rod and Todd as the sound of Maggie's tantrum grows louder and louder, she's decided enough is enough, they're gonna rob Flanders' doomsday cellar.

Ralph and Lewis join the viewing party as Skinner questions why his mother would give his promised quilt to his scheming cousin. As a forlorn Skinner looks at a picture, he turns his shoulder to the camera so his students would unknowingly look at the picture. A baby Seymour holding that quilt. Realizing that quilt was his security blanket, everyone except Bart and Martin begins to cry, with Martin shaking his head at Bart in disapproval. Bart decides they're gonna help their principal get his blankie back.

Lisa sees that her dolls are using severed wires to melt down the balls accessories into a barricade to protect themselves from the caterpillars. And that they shrunk her down to join them. Lisa is aware this is a delusion, admitting she's not handling this lockdown well.

Homer and Marge break into Flanders' cellar and start stealing his ranch dressing as Ned and his sons joyfully sing about the upcoming rapture, and about how they're gonna go to Heaven while the sinners are about to experience eternal punishment. But the singing stops as Homer accidentally knocks over a can of pecans. Flanders knows someone is in his basement, and with a croquet mallet in hand, he's ready to reschedule his intruders' eternal torment.

Meanwhile, Moe attempts to burn down the caterpillars in his bar by dousing them with booze and lighting a match, but due to his watering down of his drinks, this proves quite ineffective.

Wanting to save Marge, Homer gets Ned's attention, and a brawl begins. Marge takes the opportunity to run. Ned gets the upper hand in the battle, and opens up the giant ranch dressing bottle and forces Homer's head inside, with the intent to drown him.

Bart mobilizes his classmates to get Skinner his blankie back. Nelson distracts Peter by inquiring about a post on a bedspread trading website, pretending to be interested in buying an antique handmade quilt. Nelson's mom interrupts the call, seemingly ruining the charade, until Peter admits he's been "conning it out of that awful woman". Bart says "Ha! Got him!" and taps a key, revealing that Skinner and Agnes have been watching that call the whole time thanks to that "half-computer"/tablet that Seymour gave his mother as a formerly unappreciated gift. Now proud of her son, the quilt is taken back, and Peter is tossed out into the caterpillar swarm, and he soon finds himself completely buried and with multiple orifices invaded. Skinner thanks his anonymous helper, "SkinnerSucks42" as the children cheer.

Marge returns to the Flanders basement and stops the fight. Marge asks Ned what this lockdown has done to them, and looking at the wreckage of the fight, Ned lets go from his attempt to drown Homer. Flanders lets Marge keep the ranch and apologizes to Homer.

Lisa is in process of melting down Malibu Kevin to add to the mall's barricade, but a relatively giant caterpillar has entered the mall! Lisa realizes that all the caterpillars want is food, and encourages the dolls to "chill". She's tired of all the bad news that floods in at the slightest sign of any optimism. She doesn't want to play with them anymore. As Homer mows down the caterpillars while Marge and Ned roll over the giant squirt bottle of ranch dressing, and as Skinner cuddles with the quilt, Lisa delivers a speech about the importance of empathy and telling others it's gonna be okay. Lisa is seen at full size again, talking as her dolls, but Lisa's still sure the lockdown will last forever.

DAY 5

The army of caterpillars have cocooned, their chrysalises plastering the walls, roofs, and trees of Springfield. The crisis is over, the people of Springfield can go wherever they want. They made it, and Lisa claims "I always knew we would". Then the cocoons start to open, and Springfield is menaced by an airborne plague of butterflies. Fortunately, Homer got Ned's streaming password, but for a Christian streaming service instead.

Tropes:

• Artistic License – Biology: The caterpillars turn into butterflies on the same day they are cocooned. In reality, the process of a caterpillar growing into a butterfly takes weeks (usually around two weeks, unless the caterpillar enters pupation in late fall, to which it overwinters in the chrysalis and emerges as a butterfly in the spring).
• Beware the Nice Ones: Ned puts his foot down when Homer attempts to take advantage of him during the lockdown, and he straight up goes violent when he finds out someone has intruded his family's rations.
• By the Hair: When Ned and Homer begin their brawl, Homer grabs Ned by the mustache while Ned grabs Homer by the side-hair.
• Cabin Fever: The lockdown and social media did a number on Lisa's mental health, with her seeing her Malibu Stacy dolls are talking to her, acting of their own accord, and shrinking her down so she could join them.
  Lisa: Ohhh, I am not handling lockdown well.
• Can-Crushing Cranium: Maggie refuses to eat anything that isn't smothered in ranch dressing. When Homer angers Ned while attempting to beg a refill off him and comes home with nothing but a single plastic ramekin containing one pump of ranch that's supposed to last them the whole lockdown, Maggie shows her contempt for this proposition by drinking it dry in one gulp before crushing it against her forehead.
• Compressed Vice: With the entire town locked down and no access to the stores, Maggie picked the perfect moment to become a Picky Eater––and Ned picked an equally great moment to finally put his foot down and refuse to share with Homer.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: The caterpillar plague and ensuing lockdown are an obvious allegory to the COVID-19 Pandemic. To make it even more obvious, Professor Frink is referred to as the director of the CDC (Center for Disgusting Caterpillars), Homer brings up the common pandemic hobby of bread-making as a possible family activity, Kirk Van Houten is once again representing those who protest science, and Principal Skinner switches to online learning. At the end, the plague of caterpillars is seemingly gone, only for them to emerge from their cocoons as troublesome butterflies and force everyone back into their homes, an allegory for the real-life pandemic seemingly coming to an end, only for a new COVID variant to crop up, necessitating another lockdown.
• The Dog Bites Back: Remembering every time Homer has taken from him, Ned only offers up a single squirt of ranch dressing from his rapture supplies.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Jimbo and Nelson, while bullies, clearly think separating someone from their blankie is crossing the line.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: As Peter was being tossed out, for a few brief moments, the Screamapillar can be seen among the splash of caterpillars.
• For Doom the Bell Tolls: As soon as Ned finds out Homer has broken into his rapture vault, a church bell tolls in the background music, as befitting Ned's rapture-ready rage.
• Here We Go Again!: Soon after the caterpillar crisis reaches its conclusion, the episode ends with a butterfly crisis.
• Hopeless with Tech: Homer's attempt to select another episode on the family's streaming service ends with him accidentally signing out (despite Bart and Lisa begging for him to stop). Making matters much worse, Homer doesn't remember the password, so the family is stuck without television during the lockdown.
• If I Do Not Return: "If I don't make it, tell Maggie it was her fault!", yelled by Homer during his brawl with Ned.
• Improvised Weapon: Homer begins the brawl with Ned with a smack from a plastic bag full of ranch dressing, and later throws cans of "Apocalypse Chili" at Ned, to which Ned replies with glass jars of "Armageddon Pickles". Other weapons used include a rolled-up sleeping bag, a bag of hard pretzels, and Christmas decorations that read "Peace" and "Goodwill".
• Introduced Species Calamity: The caterpillars, the Dutch leaf-slurpers, have been brought into Springfield in such numbers that within days the city is nearly completely smothered by them.
• Kick the Dog: According to Bart's message history with Milhouse, he has repeatedly ignored Milhouse's messages to hang out.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Kirk Van Houten is protesting that the streets are safe, and gets run over by a car with the windows completely covered in caterpillars.
• Never My Fault: Homer only accidentally logs out of the family's streaming service when Bart and Lisa try to wrestle the remote control from him and yet Bart and Lisa act like Homer is the only one to blame.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The pressure of lockdown combined with Maggie's hankering for ranch dressing drives the normally even-tempered Marge to decide to rob Flanders' vault. And upon finding out someone is in his cellar, goodie-two-shoes Ned Flanders outright tries to kill Homer.
  Ned: To whoever's down here, stealing my supplies; the end of days is coming, but a little earlier for you.
• Only One Finds It Fun: While the rest of the Simpsons (and pretty much everyone else) are grossed out by the caterpillars, Bart finds them awesome.
• Ow, My Body Part!: When Seymour and Agnes throw Cousin Peter to the caterpillars, he shouts "My orifices! My precious orifices!"
• Pants-Free: Instead of wearing his whole suit while teaching online, Seymour is wearing rocket pajama bottoms below the waist.
• Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: Based on The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but in plural. Very much in plural.
• Pretty Butterflies: The family's reaction to the first butterfly to emerge is to remark how pretty (or, in Bart's case, cool) it is. Then came the rest of them.
• Pyromaniac: Homer lets out a maniacal laugh as he burns caterpillars with a butane torch.
• Rage Breaking Point: Maggie's tantrum demanding for ranch dressing enrages Marge enough that she declares she and Homer are going to infiltrate Ned's food cellar.
• Security Blanket: Skinner has one in the form of Mr. Nuk-Nuk, a quilt passed down through the Skinner line for generations.
• Shout-Out:
  • Lisa shrinking into her doll's playset where her dolls come alive?. Gee, that's sounds like something from out of a DreamWorks preeschool show from 2021.
  • The episode title is a nod to The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
  • In the photo of child Skinner with the family quilt, Mr. Nuk-Nuk, he is shown holding it while sucking his thumb in the same pose as Linus.
  • "Godflix" is made up of Christian-themed knock-off shows, such as Master of Nuns, Jesus, P.I., Kevin Can Save Himself, Blaming Eve, Breaking Bread, The Mary Virgin Moore Show, It's Always Sunny in Beit Shemesh, Prayer of Easttown, How I Met Your Savior, Better Call King Saul, The Real Manger-wives of Bethlahem, and Curb Your Agnosticism.
• Special Guest: Rob Lowe as Cousin Peter Skinner.
• The Swarm: The caterpillars cover all of Springfield like a red, crawling carpet. They're relatively harmless to humans, but they freak out regardless because they're really, really gross. When the caterpillars pupate and grow into butterflies, they once more swarm over Springfield and cover humans as they land on them.
• Take That!: According to Lisa, Twitter's conspiracy theorists are believing the memes made by sarcastic Twitter users are the truth.
• Taking You with Me: Moe attempts this by soaking the caterpillars and flooding his bar with booze and then lighting a match, but it didn't work due to it being watered down.
• Technologically Blind Elders: Agnes was gifted a tablet by Seymour, but can only complain that it lacks a keyboard.
• Tempting Fate: When Day 5 begins, Kent Brockman says the caterpillars have been cocooned "possibly forever". Before the day is up, they have become a swarm of butterflies.
• What Have I Become?: Both Marge and Ned go through this when they realize the lockdown took a lot from their mental health, the former resorting to stealing and the latter to violence.
• What Is This Feeling?: Bart is concerned that he's feeling... compassion for Skinner.