Trash of the Titans [S9 E22] (dir. Jim Reardon)
Bless Steve Martin, he does great work as Patterson but the episode is just awful. One line sticks out during this scene, “Sorry I’m late, everyone. Somebody tampered with my brakes.” to which Homer jokes: “then, you should have been early”. Homer tampering with Patterson’s breaks shows a marked change in Homer’s behavior. He’s caused accidents before, plenty, but those accidents have two things in common: One, there always played for laughs. Two, there often a result of Homer being impulsive. On this occasion Homer goes out of his way to cut Patterson’s breaks in order to stop him turning up. He knows the dangers it poses to Patterson but he doesn’t care, that’s how desperate he is to win. Yes it’s a throwaway line but through the episode we also watch Homer abuse civil servants, cause a public nuisance, commit animal abuse, impersonate the potato man (aka identity theft and trespassing), commit common assault, commit slander, commit a different kind of slander, lie through song (aka make false promises), waste taxpayer money, dump trash illegally, cause an environmental disaster and it’s implied he beats Bart. This exaggerated, aggressive Homer is no longer the loving, blue collar family man of seasons past.