The 25 Days of Christmas Episodes – Day 25 – The Simpsons “Marge Be Not Proud”
Unfortunately, Marge shoots that down because the game is too expensive. A depressed Bart tries to rent the game, only it’s out. His best friend Milhouse has a copy, but in a rare show of spine, Milhouse doesn’t want to share. (Classic moment here, when Milhouse enters his names as “Thrillhouse”, the game cuts him off at “Thrillho”. Thirteen years later, that’s still funny. In fact, that’s the name of my band on “Guitar Hero”.)
Finally, Bart decides to go to the Try-N-Save megastore. He thinks that if he stands next to the game looking sad, somebody will buy it for him. (I love when Bart actually thinks like a little kid.) As he waits, he runs into school bullies Jimbo and Nelson, who are shoplifting. Jimbo with a football under his cap and Nelson hiding a vest underneath his vest. Nelson lacks in imagination, I guess. Thus inspired, and goaded by various videogame characters, Bart steals the game.
He gets caught by Don Brodka, the store security manager. After showing him a video about shoplifting, Brodka lets Bart go with a warning to never come back to the Try-N-Save. This works out for exactly one day, until Marge and Homer take the family to get their pictures taken at, you guessed it, the Try-N-Save. Brodka catches him and exposes him as a thief, breaking poor Marge’s heart. (The family portrait is taken at the moment that Brodka grabs him.)
What follows is a really sad sequence where Marge decides to stop treating Bart like her little boy. Like Bart says “I think this may be one of those forever things.” Finally, with Bart feeling alone and hating his new reputation, he strides right into the Try-N-Save to prove a point. It isn’t until he comes home with something under his coat that he find out exactly what he did. Marge chases him down, thinking he stole something again, only to find his gift – a picture of Bart with a receipt attached. And that moment, when Marge adds the picture of Bart to the family portrait and confirms everything she ever hoped about him, is one of the most purely emotional moments in the entire run of the series. One of the great Christmas episodes of all time.
Best Line – Don Brodka: “Sure, now he’s just a little boy stealing little toys. But before you know it, he’ll be a grown man, stealing stadiums and quarries.”
Christmas Tropes:
Santa Claus – The Try-N-Save Santa Claus shows up briefly, just long enough to pulverize a candy cane in anger. Santa hates shoplifting! And of course, there’s the hyper-testosterone Santa in the “Bonestorm” TV commercial.
Gifts – In Bart’s fantasy of juvenile hall, Jimbo gets a March 8 newspaper, Nelson gets a book of carpet samples, and Bart receives a soiled wig. Marge gets an ironing board cover from Homer. Bart gives Marge a picture of himself to fit into the ruined family picture, and Marge gives Bart a copy of “Lee Carvallo’s Putting Challenge”.
Trimming the tree – Marge and Lisa cover the tree with so much fake snow that Lisa gets dizzy from the fumes. “Just a little more – there’s still some green left!”
Celebrity guests – Don Brodka is voiced by tough-guy legend Lawrence Tierney. There’s also an appearance by the late, great Phil Hartman as Troy McClure.
Learning a lesson – Shoplifting is wrong, even if you don’t get caught. And the cup and ball? More fun than you might think.
Cheer-o-meter Score: This is such a solid episode, with a great emotional foundation and some classic moments. Thrillho, “Only 30 noggy days, and then the government takes it away from us”, “If I wanted smoke blown up my ass, I’d be at home with a pack of cigarettes and a short length of hose”, Sonic the Hedgehog taunting Bart, the origin of shoplifting… This episode is very near perfect. It’s funny and it hits all the right notes. I couldn’t ask for anything more, so let’s give it the 10 it so richly deserves.
And Happy Holidays from all of us at spunkybean!
With regard to the best line: “Sure, now he’s just a little boy stealing little toys. But before you know it, he’ll be a grown man, stealing stadiums and quarries.”
Did anybody notice this was a blatant reference to the early Carmen Sandiego games? In them, Carmen’s hoodlums frequently stole ridiculous things, like stadiums…and quarries.