1x03 Homer's Odyssey

Ignoring the first aired episode (the Christmas special) and bearing in mind that the series ought to be started off with what ended to be episode 13, Homer's Odyssey is the first episode that enlarges the Simpsons universe. We not only get new characters introduced (such as the twins Sherri and Terri, Chief Wiggum or Otto Man, the school bus driver), but with the class field trip we also visit the power plant the first time, Blinky can be seen and we learn that Bart really want's a tattoo (which he actually got in the eight first episode). Also interesting: In this episode Smithers is black for the first and only time.*

Besides this, after the last one being Bart-centric, this one's Homer-centric, and not only shows the heights but also the depths that Homer can go through (e.g. by stealing Barts piggy-bank or trying to kill himself).

Even though I like the general idea of the episode, overall I didn't have too much fun with that episode. The jokes are rather dull and uninspired, who hasn't seen jokes like someone on the way to kill himself complaining about something else that could have killed him on the way? And in the end I really disliked the spinelessness with which Homer is shown at the end of the episode, knowing the disappointment he will cause. While the message is still clear and valid (i.e. most peoples integrity has a price tag), I just felt that in this episode it was a bit to dully conveyed.

So in the end, waying in positives and negatives, again I have to say that this episode holds the balance, ending up with 5/10 points.

*) PS: Again some trivia fact: If you ever wondered why: The coloring wasn't decided by the creators and story tellers, but the coloring department could decide themselves and did so randomly when it came to skin color. They felt like Smithers being black; however, character-wise it was clear that Smithers would have an psychopathic personality with an homoerotic component towards Mr. Burns; and they not only felt that the color choice in this case would not only ruin the personality they've planed for Smithers but also be a bit to much that was unloaded on Smithers. Thus the change.

[7.2/10] There’s a scene in season 20’s “No Loan Again, Naturally” where, in a one-off gag, a distraught Homer tries to hang himself in front of his children, only to have his support tree break under his prodigious weight and wreck the family sedan. It’s a testament to the utterly misguided comedy of latter day Simpsons, where something that dark is trotted out, played for ill-conceived slapstick, and just as quickly forgotten.

You could accuse “Homer’s Odyssey” of the same sort of problems. As I’ve noted before, early season Simpsons just feels a little off for longtime viewers. The show’s usual rhythms and tone weren’t set yet. That means bits like Homer planning to commit suicide, which vary from the show’s usual vibe, are more common in those first few episodes, before the tenor of the series was really set yet.

And yet the thing about Homer’s near suicide attempt in only the third episode of the series is that it’s not a throwaway bit of humor. It’s a reflection of genuine despondency, a major turning point in the plot and, of all things, the funniest stretch in the episode.

The humor of The Simpsons in this era is dryer and quieter, but can be just as potent. When Homer’s suicide note includes the advice to “never give up,” or he oils a squeaky garden gate on his way to kill himself, or when he finds a rock at the local bridge just as good as the one he lugged all the way home to weigh him down and remarks “live and learn,” it’s not the kind of uptempo absurdism the show would be known for. It’s the kind of wry, black comedy of a character from Mad Men botching their own suicide attempt when trying his hand at carbon monoxide poisoning and the fancy har his firm is advertising won’t work properly. There’s this sense of grim, almost prosaic irony to the whole thing, something that elicits a knowing chuckle more than a hearty guffaw.

I don’t want to call The Simpsons more cerebral or conceptual in its early going. It’s still a show where Bart sings “John Henry Was a Steel-Drivin’” man after being kissed by Sherri and Terri and getting in trouble. It’s still a show where Homer falls off a balcony and somehow is caught and cheered by an adoring crowd. It’s still a show where the series’ long-running spinning newspaper gag started here.

But it’s also a show where Homer loses his self-respect after he loses his job in front of his son and regains it after his lowest moment. It’s also a show where the show plays up the comic but also cosmic irony of the man who caused more accidents at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant finds a new purpose, and eventually gainful employment at his old workplace, through becoming a champion of safety. And it’s a show where this pitiable dope can have to choose between that hard-earned respect and his newfound principals, and the ability to support the family whose safety and security spurred his change-of-heart.

In short, there’s a lot going on under the hood of this silly little, rough-looking cartoon, even in just its third outing ever.

That’s what I like about “Homer’s Odyssey”. Sure, it’s a little rough around the edges, with shakier animation and a more garish pallette. (Seriously, look at some of the designs of the characters in crowd scenes -- the animators straight up stopped trying.) And yes, the first act is a fairly wacky “Bart’s antics get Homer fired” type of sitcom setup. But from there, it has the sort of wry commentary that was the trademark of Matt Groening’s Life in Hell comic strip. The worldview represented is a little less in your face than what the show would eventually become, but has a charm and a piercing quality all its own.

You can see that in the fact that Homer is watching the “loaf channel”, a T.V. network specifically for the unemployed, which strikes the middle ground between sad and hilarious. The same goes for the ensuing ad for Duff that promises those without gainful work that a six pack of the bland pilsner makes the day “fly by.” And you can even see it in just how much time we spend with Homer feeling worthless.

It’s not the sort of thing that even The Simpsons’ golden years had time for. While Homer’s suicide attempt may be jarring for longtime viewers revisiting the show, In contrast to that season 20 episode, “Homer’s Odyssey” convincingly builds to it. It shows Homer embarrassing himself in front of his son. It shows him losing face as a provider, and seeing closed doors at every turn when he tries to find gainful employment once more. It shows him hitting rock bottom, in a well-staged scene where his shadow lurks over Bart as he pilfers from his own son’s piggy bank in search of a liquid escape.

But in the end he finds purpose. That seems a little grandiose, but it’s a testament to the soundness of the script from longtime Simpsons scribes Jay Kogen and Wally Wolodarsky. There’s a clear trajectory here, with the irony of Homer trying to impress his kid leading to his ultimate humiliation, of his attempt to kill himself giving him a reason to life and a revelation about safety, and of the most dangerous man to ever set foot in a nuclear power plant being rehired as its safety inspector.

That’s the funny thing about The Simpsons, even in its earliest episodes. As anti-authority as it was from the start, part of its brand of cynicism is that the house always wins. There’s more of the first season’s subtle but knowing commentary when Mr. Burns effectively buys Homer off with a new job and a big raise to thwart the threat of public outrage to his going concern. For all of Homer’s protectionist awakening, financial necessity means getting coopted by the system for him like it does for the rest of Springfield and the “nuts” who follow him.

But the heart is there too. At the end of the day, Homer takes his job, but hangs onto his principles, drawing the line at declaring the nuclear plant safe. Instead, he makes a heartfelt speech to his acolytes, to rousing cheers, about how he plans to turn the place around with his eye toward a safe operation. That oratory is punctuated with another dose of irony, as that safety-focused crusader accidentally takes the plunge he meant to take off a bridge, only to be caught by a horde of adoring friends and family.

Homer aiming to kill himself is never going to fit naturally into what we think of as The Simpsons, whether you’re talking about episode three or episode four hundred thirty-three. Still, as odd as it feels three decades later, “Homer’s Odyssey” makes that bleak moment an organic, and even blackly comic part of a complete story and a well-rounded character arc. The dark humor and grim desperation in the middle of the episode culminates in Homer becoming his most competent, and maybe even his most loved self. That’s a lot to put on a dodgy-looking early installment with an extended vomit joke, but it’s there, and these bright spots prior to the show’s heydey far outshine what the series would regurgitate after it.