Simpson and Delilah

This episode is one that I think most people not only forget about in terms of its greatness in season 2 but in the entire series's cannon. It was written by one of if not the best writer Jon Vitti. It is obviously Vitti's work because of the way Homer is so realistically portrayed and how down to earth the conflict and characters are.

The episode starts where lots of people in this western world will end up (particularilly men) searching for a cure to baldness. Homer is immediately engrossed by this miracle break through in hair loss in Domoxinil. But as Homer soon finds out he is unable to afford such a lavish product. So Lenny gives him the idea to charge the power plant for the Domoxinil. In typical Simpsons fashion Homer's head the next day if full of hair. The morning Homer wakes up with the hair he runs through the town a la It's a Wonderful Life. But the real benefits of this new head of hair comes at work. The plant is at a point where they must make one promotion and Burns sees Homer's new hair and thinks he is some new young go getter so he is promoted. Once promoted he has to find an assistant to help him and this is where the episode really takes off.

Homer hires a suave man by the name of Karl. Karl is in my mind one of the more intriguing guest stars the show has ever had. He is portrayed brilliantly by Fierstein. The voice alone is pretty memorable to me but I love the way they used one of the first homosexual characters on prime time TV and he is used in such a subtle way it's great. He is used in a way that isn't patronizing and Karl and Homer's interactions are the first of what I would call "classic" Homer. Homer is often down on himself and Karl within the first few minutes of meeting Homer is able to bring him up saying Homer deserves what he has and getting Homer to declare that he is one of god's finest creations. Karl helps reshape Homer's life by getting him a new look, the confidence to speak his mind at the board meeting with Burns and even remembering Homer and Marge's anniversary when Homer forgot. However Homer is becoming to close to Mr. Burns in Smither's eyes and he must be stopped. Smithers of course finds out that Homer milked the company for the 1000 dollars for the Dimoxinil and gets Burns to try to fire him. But when Smithers is given the okay to fire Homer Karl takes the fall for him and is fired. The scene with the umbrella is moving just because of the way of the characters are drawn and the fact that Karl even after all he has done for Homer gives Homer his umbrella while he has none. Karl is the living proof that altruism lives within all of us.

The last act of this episode is one where it uses a really subtle season 2 esque satire of the workplace. I say this because Homer loses his Dimoxinil because Bart spills all of it and with it he loses his confidence. But Homer's confidence is regained when he sees that the speech he is to give to Burns was written by Karl. Karl returns just as Homer is reading the letter Karl left him. Karl is disappointed to see that Homer has lost the confidence he had given him. Karl gives him a moving speech and a kiss(the first real man on man kiss 10 years prior to Dawson's creek). homer is ready to tackle this board meeting but is not taken seriously(despite his great ideas)because of lack of hair. This aspect of the episode itself is a satire on the way we all treat looks of a person in the workplace. The scene after this is a great Homer and Burns interaction. It somewhat reminded me of Burns in Homer's Night Out because Burns seems so real he doesn't seem like the villain he is known to be rather just another male who suffered from baldness. That is classic Simpsons for you. Making these animated characters and making them so lifelike Burns could be any one's grandfather, Homer any one's father and we all know the trouble they go through because of their baldness and how society reacts to baldness. The end scene of this episode is yet another classic Simpsons ending. Everything seems to be going horribly no saved money, Homer having anxiety about the kids not loving him and Homer worried Marge won't find him sexually/emotionally attractive without his hair. But Marge is able to make everything okay for Homer and together they sing "You are so beautiful to me" a nice callback to earlier in the episode.

One thing I think this episode carried over from Bart gets an F is the superb animation. While Bart gets and F has the snow scene and the history scene this episode had the really nicely done It's a Wonderful Life parody and some lovely scene transitions. Particularly the scene of the plant at night. The dark blue and yellow hue work really nice together to create a dark tone to the end of the episode. Lastly just the character designs of this episode are beautiful. Karl is a well drawn guest star and the way Homer's hair changes every scene is hysterical. This is the show at its finest. Hilarious, beautifully drawn and a nice character driven emotional story.

Grade:A-