Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind
Encyclopedia
"Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" is the ninth episode of The Simpsons
' nineteenth season
, and was first broadcast on December 16, 2007 on Fox
. The episode averaged 10.15 million viewers, winning in its time slot and receiving a 12 percent audience share. The episode follows Homer
's attempts to recall a deliberately forgotten memory from the previous night. At the 2008
Primetime Emmy Awards, the episode won the award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)
. The episode received positive reviews from critics, who often cited it as the best of the season.
wakes up in a pile of snow and does not remember the events of the previous day, commenting that he must have drunk heavily the night before. Homer goes home and finds his family absent. Santa's Little Helper
attacks him. Homer travels to Moe’s, where Moe
informs him that he was there the previous night and wanted to forget an unpleasant memory. Moe explains he gave Homer a "Forget-Me-Shot", which wiped out the last 24 hours of his memory; the ingredients of which include Jägermeister
, sloe gin
, triple and quadruple sec, gunk from a dog's eye, Absolut Pickle, the red stripe from Aquafresh
toothpaste and the venom of the Louisiana
loboto-moth then stirred with a home pregnancy test. Moe also gives a dose of his drink to Krusty who has just become a "Mel Gibson to Mexicans!" (the Hispanic people of Springfield later decided to use Krusty's prejudice against himself by beaten him up as a piñata
, despite Krusty protests that this only reinforces the stereotype). Chief Wiggum tells Homer that there was a domestic disturbance at his house last night, which was reported by Ned Flanders
. Homer instantly receives a flashback
to the night before showing Wiggum questioning Marge about a black eye she had received, to which Marge nervously replies that she walked into a door.
A still confused Homer goes home, where a picture of Marge causes a flashback of her pleading Homer to stop, and then rubbing her eye in pain. Horrified, Homer goes to Grampa Simpson for help. Grampa tells Homer about Professor Frink
's new machine that helps people sort through their memories. With the help of this technology, Homer sees himself walking in on Marge and Duffman. In the flashback, Marge tells Homer that she did not want him to find out about it, and Homer assumes that Marge was cheating on him and that Homer gave Marge a black eye in anger.
Homer now considers his life to be worthless and decides to commit suicide
by jumping off a bridge. He begins to reconsider, but is pushed off by his "guardian angels," Patty and Selma. While falling, Homer's life flashes before his eyes in the form of a YouTube
video. At the end of the video a link to a musical cat is shown. He then also sees the full memory of the preceding night - Marge was planning a surprise party for Homer finishing his community service, and did not want Homer to find out about it. Duffman, who was hired by Marge to entertain at the party, brings out a bottle of Duff
Champagne. Overjoyed, Homer tries to open the bottle, while Marge pleads with Homer to stop, as she wants to save it for the party. The cork flies off and hits Marge in the eye. The flashback ends and, instead of falling to his death, Homer lands on a moon bounce, which is at the surprise party on board a ship.
When Homer asks Marge why she lied to Chief Wiggum, she claims that she did not want him at the party, because he would bring Sarah Wiggum, of whom Marge is not very fond. Lenny and Carl appear and cause a flashback which shows Homer telling his bar buddies that he felt very guilty for finding out about the party that Marge worked so hard on. When Moe offers the Forget-Me-Shot (which Moe spat in), Homer predicts exactly what is going to happen, and tells Lenny to make sure there is a moon bounce at the party. Finally, it is revealed that the dog attacked Homer because he does not take care of him.
. Homer's life appears in the form of a YouTube
video, which is a spoof of Noah Kalina's "Noah Takes a Photo of Himself Every Day for 6 Years", which features the like-titled piano music of Carly Comando. Scrat, the squirrel from Ice Age
, makes an appearance trying to catch an acorn off a tree, but is beaten and swatted away by Groundskeeper Willie
. Krusty states that he did a "Mel Gibson
" about Mexicans, referencing the incident when Gibson complained about the Jewish people. The episode also vaguely references the film The Game
at various points in the episode, especially during the scene when Homer attempts take his own life.
enjoyed the episode, saying it "did both very well by putting Homer in his own head as he tried to recall the events that transpired the previous day. Smart, funny and visually engaging, this episode was an absolute pleasure to watch." He gave it an 8.8/10 rating, and cited it as the season's high point. TV Squad's Richard Keller wrote that "by far, this was the most interesting episode of [the nineteenth season], incorporating humor, romance, and a little bit of science fiction into a tidy little plot. [...] True, it was another Homer-centric episode — one of too many this season, but the writers gave the show enough of a twist to keep it intriguing for the viewer." In another IGN article, Robert Canning, Eric Goldman, Dan Iverson, and Brian Zoromski named "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" the best episode of the season, with the rationale that "it's the episode's fantastic visuals that truly make this a memorable episode."
At the 2008
Primetime Emmy Awards, the episode won the award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)
. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly
regarding the renewel of the show in season 23
, showrunner Al Jean
discusses what episodes that have previously aired might serve well as a series finale. He regards "Behind the Laughter
" and "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" as the strongest candidates, and further elaborates: "I don’t think we’re a serialized show and I don’t think we’re going to have a Lost finale where we reveal some truth about the world that nobody ever suspected. Whenever we do a last episode, we just hope that it would be sweet, true to the characters, funny, and give you a nice feeling for where the Simpsons would be headed."
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
The Simpsons (season 19)
The Simpsons nineteenth season originally aired on the Fox network between September 23, 2007 and May 18, 2008.-Production:The nineteenth season of The Simpsons is the first one produced after the movie and contained seven hold-over episodes from season 18's JABF production line...
, and was first broadcast on December 16, 2007 on Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
. The episode averaged 10.15 million viewers, winning in its time slot and receiving a 12 percent audience share. The episode follows Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
's attempts to recall a deliberately forgotten memory from the previous night. At the 2008
60th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards was held on Sunday, September 21, 2008, at the newly opened Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Jeff Probst, and Ryan Seacrest and televised in the United States on ABC.The Creative Arts Awards...
Primetime Emmy Awards, the episode won the award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour)
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program is a Creative Arts Emmy Award which is given annually to an animated series which is judged to have been the best...
. The episode received positive reviews from critics, who often cited it as the best of the season.
Plot
During winter, HomerHomer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
wakes up in a pile of snow and does not remember the events of the previous day, commenting that he must have drunk heavily the night before. Homer goes home and finds his family absent. Santa's Little Helper
Santa's Little Helper
Santa's Little Helper is a recurring character in the American animated television series The Simpsons. He is the pet greyhound of the Simpson family. The dog was introduced in the first episode of the show, the 1989 Christmas special "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", in which his owner abandons...
attacks him. Homer travels to Moe’s, where Moe
Moe Szyslak
Momar / Morris "Moe" Szyslak is a fictional character in the American animated television series, The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"...
informs him that he was there the previous night and wanted to forget an unpleasant memory. Moe explains he gave Homer a "Forget-Me-Shot", which wiped out the last 24 hours of his memory; the ingredients of which include Jägermeister
Jägermeister
Jägermeister is a German 70-proof digestif made with 56 different herbs and spices. It is the flagship product of Mast-Jägermeister SE, headquartered in Wolfenbüttel, south of Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Germany.- History :...
, sloe gin
Sloe gin
Sloe gin is a red liqueur flavoured with sloe berries, which are a small fruit relative of the plum. Sloe gin has an alcohol content between 15 and 30 percent by volume. The traditional way of making sloe gin is to infuse gin with the berries. Sugar is required to ensure the sloe juices are...
, triple and quadruple sec, gunk from a dog's eye, Absolut Pickle, the red stripe from Aquafresh
Aquafresh
Aquafresh is a brand of toothpaste that has been on sale since 1973. It is manufactured by consumer healthcare product maker GlaxoSmithKline...
toothpaste and the venom of the Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
loboto-moth then stirred with a home pregnancy test. Moe also gives a dose of his drink to Krusty who has just become a "Mel Gibson to Mexicans!" (the Hispanic people of Springfield later decided to use Krusty's prejudice against himself by beaten him up as a piñata
Piñata
A piñata is a papier-mâché or other type of container that is decorated, filled with toys and or candy and then broken as part of a ceremony or celebration. Piñatas are most commonly associated with Mexico, but its origins are considered to be in China...
, despite Krusty protests that this only reinforces the stereotype). Chief Wiggum tells Homer that there was a domestic disturbance at his house last night, which was reported by Ned Flanders
Ned Flanders
Nedward "Ned" Flanders, Jr. is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the next door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally...
. Homer instantly receives a flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
to the night before showing Wiggum questioning Marge about a black eye she had received, to which Marge nervously replies that she walked into a door.
A still confused Homer goes home, where a picture of Marge causes a flashback of her pleading Homer to stop, and then rubbing her eye in pain. Horrified, Homer goes to Grampa Simpson for help. Grampa tells Homer about Professor Frink
Professor Frink
Professor John Nerdelbaum Frink, Jr., or simply Professor Frink, is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria, and first appeared in the 1991 episode "Old Money". Frink is Springfield's nerdy scientist and professor and is extremely...
's new machine that helps people sort through their memories. With the help of this technology, Homer sees himself walking in on Marge and Duffman. In the flashback, Marge tells Homer that she did not want him to find out about it, and Homer assumes that Marge was cheating on him and that Homer gave Marge a black eye in anger.
Homer now considers his life to be worthless and decides to commit suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by jumping off a bridge. He begins to reconsider, but is pushed off by his "guardian angels," Patty and Selma. While falling, Homer's life flashes before his eyes in the form of a YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
video. At the end of the video a link to a musical cat is shown. He then also sees the full memory of the preceding night - Marge was planning a surprise party for Homer finishing his community service, and did not want Homer to find out about it. Duffman, who was hired by Marge to entertain at the party, brings out a bottle of Duff
Duff Beer
Daleside is an independent brewery founded in 1988 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England.-Products:Daleside produce a wide range of beers, including Morocco Ale, a traditional spiced beer based on an Elizabethan recipe; Old Legover, a low abv Old Ale ; Monkey Wrench, a stronger Old Ale; Ripon...
Champagne. Overjoyed, Homer tries to open the bottle, while Marge pleads with Homer to stop, as she wants to save it for the party. The cork flies off and hits Marge in the eye. The flashback ends and, instead of falling to his death, Homer lands on a moon bounce, which is at the surprise party on board a ship.
When Homer asks Marge why she lied to Chief Wiggum, she claims that she did not want him at the party, because he would bring Sarah Wiggum, of whom Marge is not very fond. Lenny and Carl appear and cause a flashback which shows Homer telling his bar buddies that he felt very guilty for finding out about the party that Marge worked so hard on. When Moe offers the Forget-Me-Shot (which Moe spat in), Homer predicts exactly what is going to happen, and tells Lenny to make sure there is a moon bounce at the party. Finally, it is revealed that the dog attacked Homer because he does not take care of him.
Cultural references
The episode's title and the plot of Homer trying to forget an unpleasant memory refers to the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless MindEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a 2004 American romantic science fiction film about an estranged couple who have each other erased from their memories, scripted by Charlie Kaufman and directed by the French director, Michel Gondry. The film uses elements of science fiction, psychological...
. Homer's life appears in the form of a YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
video, which is a spoof of Noah Kalina's "Noah Takes a Photo of Himself Every Day for 6 Years", which features the like-titled piano music of Carly Comando. Scrat, the squirrel from Ice Age
Ice Age (film)
Ice Age is a 2002 American computer-animated film created by Blue Sky Studios and released by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Carlos Saldanha and Chris Wedge from a story by Michael J. Wilson. The story follows three Paleolithical mammals attempting to return a lost human baby to its parents...
, makes an appearance trying to catch an acorn off a tree, but is beaten and swatted away by Groundskeeper Willie
Groundskeeper Willie
William McDougal, usually referred to as Groundskeeper Willie, is a recurring character on The Simpsons, voiced by Dan Castellaneta. He is head groundskeeper at Springfield Elementary School. Willie is a Scottish immigrant, almost feral in nature and immensely proud of his homeland...
. Krusty states that he did a "Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
" about Mexicans, referencing the incident when Gibson complained about the Jewish people. The episode also vaguely references the film The Game
The Game (film)
The Game is a 1997 neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by David Fincher, starring Michael Douglas and Sean Penn, and produced by Polygram. It tells the story of an investment banker who is given a mysterious gift: participation in a game that integrates in strange ways with his life...
at various points in the episode, especially during the scene when Homer attempts take his own life.
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" was viewed by an estimated 10.15 million households, won in its time slot, and received a 4.8 rating/12% audience share. Robert Canning of IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
enjoyed the episode, saying it "did both very well by putting Homer in his own head as he tried to recall the events that transpired the previous day. Smart, funny and visually engaging, this episode was an absolute pleasure to watch." He gave it an 8.8/10 rating, and cited it as the season's high point. TV Squad's Richard Keller wrote that "by far, this was the most interesting episode of [the nineteenth season], incorporating humor, romance, and a little bit of science fiction into a tidy little plot. [...] True, it was another Homer-centric episode — one of too many this season, but the writers gave the show enough of a twist to keep it intriguing for the viewer." In another IGN article, Robert Canning, Eric Goldman, Dan Iverson, and Brian Zoromski named "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" the best episode of the season, with the rationale that "it's the episode's fantastic visuals that truly make this a memorable episode."
At the 2008
60th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards was held on Sunday, September 21, 2008, at the newly opened Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Jeff Probst, and Ryan Seacrest and televised in the United States on ABC.The Creative Arts Awards...
Primetime Emmy Awards, the episode won the award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour)
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program is a Creative Arts Emmy Award which is given annually to an animated series which is judged to have been the best...
. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
regarding the renewel of the show in season 23
The Simpsons (season 23)
The Simpsons twenty-third season is the current season of The Simpsons. It premiered on September 25, 2011. It will include the 500th episode which is expected to air February 19, 2012. Due to financial difficulties, the network was unable to produce the show under its current contract and unless...
, showrunner Al Jean
Al Jean
Al Jean is an award-winning American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on The Simpsons. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum Mike Reiss...
discusses what episodes that have previously aired might serve well as a series finale. He regards "Behind the Laughter
Behind the Laughter
"Behind the Laughter" is the twenty-second episode of The Simpsons eleventh season. It first aired in the United States on the Fox network on May 21, 2000. In the episode, which is a parody of the VH1 series Behind the Music, the Simpson family are portrayed as actors on a sitcom, and their...
" and "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" as the strongest candidates, and further elaborates: "I don’t think we’re a serialized show and I don’t think we’re going to have a Lost finale where we reveal some truth about the world that nobody ever suspected. Whenever we do a last episode, we just hope that it would be sweet, true to the characters, funny, and give you a nice feeling for where the Simpsons would be headed."