Back in 1980's to 1990's television, most TV shows about families are extremely positive. By that I mean it is your typical sitcom about a perfect family. The father is always morally correct and can read the kids' minds. The parents are always giving the best advices and life lessons possible to their kids, and the kids always have Lisa's brains and behaved the exact opposite of Bart. If the kids were to have made any mistakes, the parents instantly forgives them and gives them a big hug and instills upon them some moral lessons.
So when the Simpsons came around, the status-quo completely shifted. The father is much of an unsafe idiot, the mother is not always giving the right advices, the daughter is more of an emotional wreck as we will see later on, and the son behaves like a freaking serial killer (not literally of course). The Simpsons were the one and the only, left alone in the woods to take on tons of other different but recognised TV shows which took on a completely different perspective to the American family. At the end, like a martial artist beating up a bunch of bad guys, the Simpsons triumphed and destroyed all those TV shows. After all, it is the Simpsons you still see every Sunday at 8pm PST on Fox, not the Cosby Show.
If we take everything into perspective, we have got to give the Simpsons' creators some respect for creating this show. The Simpsons is not an easy thing to do, and to go against every other TV show out there at the time is like wearing pajamas one day to a school full of judgemental kids and bullies. In its early years, the Simpsons dared to tread water where no one has tread before, and it's got balls.
Homer's Odyssey is one of those episodes that really reflect this bravery the Simpsons carried. This is only the third episode in and the creators didn't even know if the Simpsons will last through season one. But the episode had the balls to make one of its most important characters, Homer Simpson, steal from his son's piggy bank and attempt to commit suicide. It is a very fine line. If anything is not perfect, your show is in danger of falling into the black hole where nobody watches and cares about and gets cancelled by episode six. But if done correctly, your show is setup to be one of the most innovative and daring TV shows in the 20th century.
This episode didn't begin ballsy though. It began merely as a normal class trip of Bart's class to the Nuclear Plant. Along the way we see more of the mischievous Bart, always trying to create a scene and being hyperactive. After a long bus ride accompanied by Bart's singing, we take our first look at the Nuclear Plant. From the three eyed fish in the river, to four gates indicating how radioactive and dangerous the inside of the Plant is and the irony of bringing kids unprotected inside, it is just a bunch of subtle satires of the Plant. However, everything turns sour when Homer is fired because he crashed right into and broke a gas pipe and is fired promptly by the Sherri and Terri's father, and worst of it all, Bart saw everything.
Homer wasn't depressed at first about losing his job. With the encouragement of his family, he searches for any job in Springfield. From applying to be a mechanic at a lube shop to becoming a salesperson, every single door is slammed on him. Eventually, Homer loses hope and searches for a temporary solution. He finds it in a Duff commercial which prompts him to smash Bart's piggy bank open in a desperate attempt to collect money for a beer, and completely ignores a touching cake the children made to him. When Homer realises what he has done, he leaves a note to his family and decides to commit suicide at the bridge.
At this point, it is important to realise Homer's intentions are still good and for his family. While it is true that he has broke Bart's piggy bank and plans to leave Marge a single parent with the burden of raising the children, Homer's intentions are still to provide for his family. Homer broke Bart's piggy bank because he is desperate to find a temporary solution to lessen the guilt of not being able to provide for his family. He plans to suicide because he feels that his sole purpose in life is to provide for his family and now that that's gone, he has no point in continue living. It is essential to realise that Homer is far from perfect and that at best he is mediocre. He merely didn't really think far enough to realise the cost of his suicide to his family and what breaking the piggy bank will mean to Bart. Homer is impulsive, but never were his actions driven by malice. He is merely a guy who does what he can for his family and responding to whatever situations he is in by using whatever little brainpower he can muster up.
Before Homer commits suicide though, he saves his family from getting run over by a car, and apparently believes that the street corner is not safe and decides to promote safety. And a few days later, Homer somehow becomes the most recognised safety promoter in Springfield. It is this part that I find questionable about this episode. I don't really understand why would Homer all of a sudden switch from attempting to provide for his family into promoting safety. If Homer is driven by mere impulse, I would feel better if Homer stopped after he successfully petitioned to put a stop sign at the street corner. It is just that it doesn't really make sense. While it is true that at the end Homer's safety crusade lands him his job back and even lands him a promotion, Homer didn't know that when he first decided to promote safety. I really think that the character motivation in this part of the episode is questionable. While it can be said that the safety crusade is to protect his family, it ultimately doesn't solve the problem that there won't be any income and that there is not going to be food on the table. The whole episode is motivated by Homer finding a way to provide for his family, and Homer can't possibly know that getting into a safety crusade will solve that problem. I just really feel that this is a major plot problem that characterises so many later era episodes.
Either way, Homer becomes a safety hero. It is also here that I feel that we are not shown enough how Homer is able to garner so much of Springfield's sympathy for him to put so many safety signs up and even antagonise Mr. Burns. Remember Homer is not a smart man, or any kind of a leader material. To ask me to believe that Homer is capable of leading a crowd against Mr. Burns would require more than just showing me how Homer is able to put up a stop sign at a street corner. I just feel that there is not enough explanation. Nevertheless, Homer is able to rally up a huge crowd in front of the Power Plant, and pressure Mr. Burns into negotiation. When given the choice of giving up his safety crusade for his job back with raise, Homer chooses to give up his moral safety crusade in being able to provide food for his family. While Homer may be ambitious and passionate about safety, he also realises that there are three mouths at home waiting to be fed and he can't burden Marge with raising three kids. This is the classical realistic Simpsons that we all expect. At the end, Homer doesn't say anything about whether the plant is safe, but is able to charm the crowd into chanting his name, and says the true and immortal line: "There is a bit of Homer Simpson in all of us." Ah how true.
When looking at it from a purely storytelling perspective, Homer's Odyssey barely makes it into classical era standards. Don't get me wrong, it is nowhere near the disaster that makes up the modern Simpsons, but there are plot holes and questionable character motivation within the episodes. As a result, the episode doesn't really meet the Classical era standards that demands perfection in every single aspect. However, this episode should be respected in that the writers dared. The episode dared to put Homer in such a negative light by showing him almost as a horrible father and husband, but still managed to portray him as just as any other father who is desperate in trying to provide for his family. What Homer's Odyssey lacked in the storytelling department, it certainly got my respect in that the story can go to such extreme extents to almost destroying their main character, and yet still garner enough sympathy from me to stand by Homer's side.
Characterisation: 4.5/5
Plot: 2.5/3
Subjective: 2/2
Overall: 9/10
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