Why Homers Enemy Is One Of The Best Episodes Of Television Ever
However, I love the OLD Simpsons. Granted, some of the newer seasons do have their highpoints, but after 20 or so years, NOTHING will be as good as it once was, and there's a few things going into this season and this episode that made it what it was.
First off, this episode aired in one of the two best seasons of the shows history, when the showrunners were Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. These guys were-in my opinion-the best showrunners. David Mirken was a bit too silly for my taste and Al Jean and Mike Reiss were wonderful, but I prefer the real heart to heart that Oakley and Weinstein brought in as opposed to the almost seemingly forced heart to heart that Jean & Reiss seemed to cram into their shows. Their realism seemed forced, where as Oakley & Weinstein just seemed real.
Seasons 7 & 8-and I know tons of folks will disagree with me-are the best seasons of the shows history, hands down.
So, in that best season run, they had a lot of the best episodes in the series. But one of those episodes was written by the legendary John Swartzwelder, the creator of what I like to refer to as the "anti joke". Swartzwelder is interesting in the idea that he doesn't write jokes. He writes jokes ABOUT jokes. Therefore, his writing is extremely existential and meta, and very very odd. To the point where (he now writes novellas) every time I read one of his books, I can only read about 15 pages at a time before getting a splitting headache because his writing just messed with your mind that much. His writing is amazing because every single line...is a joke. Every single line in his books, are jokes. It's incredible. So you combine the best Simpsons writer ever with the best showrunners and the best seasons, and you end up with an episode that I consider to be the best episode, although when it originally aired, it was not that well received.
The episodes plot centers on the Springfield Nuclear Power Plants hiring a new employee named Frank Grimes. Despite Homers attempts to befriend him, Grimes is angered by Homers laziness and incompetence despite leading a comfortable lifestyle. He eventually declares himself Homers enemy.
A simple enough sitcom idea, right? But simple turns into downright odd when a pinch of Swartzwelder is added and stirred gently for 30 minutes on high. Not only is the episode littered with amazing one liners, such as Grimes saying:
"I live on top of a bowling alley...underneath another...bowling alley!"
But you have to look at what the episode did to gain its fame. The reason this episode is famous-especially now as opposed to when it came out-is because now its type of humor is understood. At the time, a lot of people didn't like it because they didn't get it. Or, if they got it, they hated what it did. And what did it do? Well, it took a normal guy from real life and dropped into Simpsons land on television. When you do that, you're going to see that man react negatively to the things that are happening, in a way any realistic person would. Let's be honest, Homer should NOT have the job he has, he should NOT have the wife he has, he should NOT live where he does...and yet, somehow, despite all odds, Homer is incredibly successful as a upper middle lowerclass citizen. He does well enough to get by. But in the real world, a man like Homer would either be in prison, be institutionalized or be homeless. Or be President. Shit, the real world IS just as stupid and crazy as television.
So when a man like Frank Grimes shows up, a man who does work hard and considers himself a smart, decent, hardworking person, and sees that someone like Homer is way more successful he is despite his intelligence and lack of interest in his own job, it throws Grimes off the deep end. This episode mirrors reality in the sense that often times, people like Homer SHOULD not be this successful, but they ARE. The dumbest, least hard working people are often the ones who get the most respect and admiration. Just look at anyone in Hollywood. We worship and idolize the dumbest, most selfish, laziest people and hold them up as pillars or strength and inspiration. They SHOULDN'T be. We SHOULDN'T do that. But they are and we do. Grimes is the every man. He's the guy who realizes how wrong this is, and how he's a victim. Not because he says he's a victim because he's whining about it, but because he IS a victim. If Homer were actually intelligent and still as successful, then Grimes whining would just be Grimes being a dick. But here, it's justified.
So when Grimes finally decides to just be more like Homer, it ultimately leads to...well...this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOgS8gTATv8
(For those of you who don't want to watch the video, it's Grimes going absolutely insane, touching electrical wiring without safety gloves, dying and everyone laughing at his funeral while Homer snores and speaks in his sleep. Pretty dark shit.)
Is Grimes an ass? Well, kind of, but can you blame him? Look at what he has to deal with. When reality is brought into our escapism entertainment-such as movies like Young Adult or Jeff, Who Lives At Home-people react negatively because they're seeing real life portrayed on a screen that generally romantacizes real life and makes it more fun to watch. People don't want to see real life in their movies or tv shows. That's why they partake in them. But I think episodes like this are important reminders that no, this is the world we live in, and sometimes you just have to deal with that. Not to mention that the Simpsons is already pretty insane but when you force someone like Swartzwelder-someone who writes the most insane jokes ever-to write something more based in reality, you end up with Homers Enemy.
Homers Enemy is not only the best episode of The Simpsons, but I consider it to be one of the best episodes of television ever. It's certainly one of my personal favorites.
If only the show could've retained this level of perfection, but alas, it didn't. Oh well, we still have Futurama.
Go and buy Swartzwelders books if you haven't already. They are available at Amazon or on his own website at www.kennydalebooks.com
