"Homer the Whopper" Recap

Welcome to Season 21 of The Simpsons! I'm so excited that I/we will be seeing new episodes The Simpsons every Sunday. But how bout I start with the recap for this episode....

But first, the IO Cable Episode Summary: Comic book guy casts Homer as the lead in a feature film.

Well, this was quite an episode. A nice opening for the 21st season. It was definitely creative and its funny moments. I cannot say that it was moving, but it is definitely a typical commentary on current lifestyles that the show has been examining lately. But enough of that lets get to the details.

Coach Gag: The Simpson family is waiting at a the 1239 subway station. The train arrives with their couch as the seat and they all enter and take a seat.

The episode starts with Bart telling Milhouse that he will show him how to make a loser go crazy. So they enter the comic book store and Bart begins making preposterous statements in the presence of Comic Book Guy. First, Bart acts surprised by the fact that Spiderman was actually a comic book before it became a movie and goes on to ask to buy the original Amazing Spiderman Comic for its advertised 12 cents. And as Bart predicted, it drives Comic Book Guy nuts and he stumbles into a pile of extra Hulk Hands (left only...it's crazy because I got one for free at school many months after the movie came out).

As Comic Book Guy finds his way out of the extra Hulk hands, Bart and Milhouse find an Everyman comic. It is about a UPS delivery guy named Avery Mann who transforms into Everyman and is able to absorb the power of other super heroes by touching their comic book. In this comic, he uses the powers of Superman, Iron Man, and Plastic Man to stop a robbery. Surprisingly, Bart and Milhouse enjoy it ("who knew a troubled person could be creative") and Comic Book Guy decides to publish the hundreds of comics he has already written. The Everyman Comics are an instant hit among the children at Springfield elementary and even astronauts are reading them in space.

The movie producers are immediately trying to buy the rights to the film, but Ginormous is the lucky company that gets the rights to produce the film. All they need is an the everyday man (who Comic Book Guy describes as unappealing and dumpy) to play the lead actor.

After some failed auditions, Homer enters the room looking for change...and a dollar and Comic Book Guy decides to cast him as the Everyman. Homer offers to take off his clothes to which the producers respond that there is no nudity in the movie and Homer simply asks "what movie?" The usual good stuff from Homer.

Once at home, Homer asks everyone in the family to describe one great thing that happened to them that day. Not one to listen to others, Homer quickly lets them know that he is the lead in the Everyman film.

In a meeting, the producers inform Homer that he should slim down for the part. Homer is worried because he is a yo-yo dieter ("yo hotdog man, yo pizza guy!"). So, they get Homer a trainer named Lyle McCarthy (Seth Rogen). One of the producers worries about messing up Comic Book Guys original vision, but the other responds that he has gone Hollywood. They then show Comic Book Guy in a hollywood mansion with a Cambodian child. So typical hollywood. When Comic Book Guy tries to get involved in the film later security throws him the trash with unwanted studio heads.

So they skip ahead one month and Homer is in great shape. Marge is surprised to find her other hand when she hugs him. Lyle, on the other hand, is getting annoying calls from Tobey Maguire who he describes as a "total wuss." They are obviously trying to say this is the same trainer that got Tobey in shape for Spiderman. So Homer starts filming the movie, but once Lyle leaves for another gig (by gliding off a roof to abus stop) and Homer starts to binge eat again. In order to lose weight to please the studio execs, Homer goes to the Kwikee Mart in search of something that will make him throw up (Homer is officially bulimic LoL). Apu finds some milk from 1961. He warns Homer not to chew the chunks, but Homer does and spews chunks all over the store.

Homer continues filming the movie in his heavy state. Consequently at the movie premiere, many of the audience members (including a reptilian form Doctor Connors from Spiderman) complain about continuity errors (one second Homer is muscular and the next second he is as heavy as ever). Lyle asks Home-alone/Homerun/Homer what happened and Homer explains it is because he left him, but Lyle cannot promise that he won't leave again (he's helping Turtle from Entourage). The movie producers ask Comic Book Guy to hype the film anyway and offer to allow him to direct the second movie in exchange. Comic Book Guy goes home on his blog and describes the movie as essentially the "Worst Movie Ever." I guess he won't be directing the second.

Okay I cut out some moments, but I got to the important points. Overally Seth Rogen was okay, but the episode was missing the heart they were struggling to put in last seasons episodes. Still I can't wait to see it again. Well, I hope you got the jist of the episode and that you check out the episode on hulu.com or fox.com. What did you think of episode?