Black Widower

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P-code: 8F20
Episode Index: 03×21
Writers: Thomas Chastain, Jon Vitti, Sam Simon
Directors: David Silverman
Airdate: 9th April, 1992
Guest stars: Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob

Average Fan Rating: 3.7 (165 ratings, 13 reviews)

Plot Guide

  Selma's new pen pal is a convict. When he is released, she brings him to the Simpsons home for dinner, where it is revealed to be Sideshow Bob. He impresses the family, but not Bart, who thinks he is still a criminal.
  Bob asks Selma to marry him, and she accepts. Selma decides to give up smoking for her new love - except for after MacGyver. Bart thinks that Bob is up to something. Later Bart figures out that Sideshow Bob will turn the gas on and after MacGyver Selma will light her cigarette, blowing up the hotel room.
  Bart explains to the family that Bob will try and kill Selma. They get there just in the nick of time, Bob is caught in the act and is sent back to prison.

Memorable Quotes

Dad Dinosaur: Would you turn off that rock-and-rock music?
Boy Dinosaur: Hey, don't have a stegosaurus, man!

Sideshow Bob: Ah, Mr. Simpson, you're forgetting the first two noble truths of the Buddha.
Homer: I am not!

Homer: Gee, if some snot-nosed little kid sent me to prison, the first thing out, I'd find out where he lives, and tear him a new belly button!

Sideshow Bob: Selma, would you mind if I did something bold and shocking in front of your family?
Selma: All right. But no tongues.
Sideshow Bob: Although kissing you would be like kissing some divine ashtray, that's not what I had in mind. Selma, will you marry me?
Bart: Don't be a fool, Aunt Selma! That man is scum!
Selma: Then call me Mrs. Scum!

Bart: Chief Wiggum, you've been around. You don't trust Sideshow Bob, do you?
Wiggum: Ah, lighten up, son. If he was going to commit a crime, would he have invited the number one cop in town? Now where did I put my gun?

Krusty: This guy walks into a bar and takes out a tiny piano and a twelve-inch pianist. Oh no, wait! I can't tell that one!

Sideshow Bob: Bart, I must know. How did you untangle my web?
Wiggum: Yeah, Bart, pull us in!
Bart: Well, I'd hate to tell the number one cop in town how to do his job.
Wiggum: No no, please. It's the only way I'll learn.

Did You Spot...

• Sideshow Bob's lip balm is passed around the cell as he reads his letter.
• Wendell is one of the motion sickness sufferers at Krusty's telethon.
• Blinky can be seen outside the power plant.
• The license plates that Bob makes in prison include: RIP BART, DIE BART, BART DOA and IH8 BART.

References/Parodies

• The episode title and general plot follow Black Widow.
• The family watch the Dinosaurs TV show.
• Sideshow Bob's prison number is 24601, the same as Jean Valjean's prisoner number in Les Miserables.
• The reunion of Krusty & sideshow Bob on the Motion Sickness Telethon parodies Jerry Lewis & Dean Martin's on Jerry Lewis' Telethon for Muscular Dystrophy.
• When Bob returns to the blown up room, he turns the chair around expecting to see Selma's corpse, but Bart is there, startling Bob, who hits the lightbulb. This parodies on of the final scenes from the film Psycho.
• Bart's explanation of how he figured out the crime at the end of the episode is what happens in the Scooby Doo cartoons.

Season 3 quick links

1. Stark Raving Dad
2. Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington
3. When Flanders Failed
4. Bart the Murderer
5. Homer Defined
6. Like Father, Like Clown
7. Treehouse of Horror II
8. Lisa's Pony
9. Saturdays of Thunder
10. Flaming Moe's
11. Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk
12. I Married Marge
13. Radio Bart
14. Lisa the Greek
15. Homer Alone
16. Bart the Lover
17. Homer at the Bat
18. Separate Vocations
19. Dog of Death
20. Colonel Homer
21. Black Widower
22. The Otto Show
23. Bart's Friend Falls in Love
24. Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?