Large Marge

Plot

Lisa and Homer make a bet on who won the 1948 presidential election. Lisa wins and she gets to choose the activity for Daddy-Daughter Day. Her activity is taking part in building homes for a Habitat for Humanity alongside Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George H. W. Bush, whose relationship mirrors that of the Three Stooges. While painting, Homer takes off his wedding ring (which actually is a Band-Aid with tin foil wrapped around it, as Homer's real wedding band was swallowed by a turtle) in order not to get paint on it, and Lindsay Naegle and Cookie Kwan mistakenly think Homer is a bachelor. Marge, driving by with Maggie, sees Homer appearing to flirt with the women by flexing his muscles (though he is actually acting out Marge going into labor when she was pregnant with Bart). She worries that Homer has lost interest in her, so she decides to get liposuction, on the advice of Manjula. Unfortunately, a mix-up causes her to get breast implants, which were intended for one of Mayor Quimby's female interns. The doctor says that Marge must wait for 48 hours before the implants can be removed.

Meanwhile, Bart and Milhouse watch an old episode of Batman, featuring Krusty as a villain named Clownface, who threatens Batman with a rapidly spinning carousel of death. Bart and Milhouse like the idea, inspiring them to recreate the stunt, with Bart putting Milhouse on a merry-go-round in school. Otto uses the bus to kick-start the merry-go-round, spinning it at an incredible speed. The bolts give way and the merry-go-round goes flying through the air, knocking over the school flag. Milhouse vomits on the flag while Iwo Jima veterans are visiting the school. As Principal Skinner catches Bart for it, Bart confessed that he and Milhouse saw Krusty do the stunt on television. In response, Skinner leads a group protesting against Krusty, who is now seen as a dangerous influence to children. Krusty's show is revamped to exclude anything considered dangerous and likely to be imitated by impressionable viewers (to the point that Krusty's monkey sidekick, Mr. Teeny, has to be sent back to the wild).

After coming home from her surgery, Marge realizes that her very large breasts are making her life difficult in doing even the simplest tasks. Marge tries to hide her breasts from her family, but Homer and the children find out Marge's secret after a few short hours. Homer, Marge and the children go out for dinner to the local Italian restaurant. Luigi, who had just rejected Ned Flanders and his family, immediately admits the Simpson family. Kiki Highsmith, a trade show executive, approaches Marge and offers her a modeling job. Marge accepts and initially enjoys the experience, but is soon plagued by backaches and many men in Springfield sexually harassing her.

At the Springfield Shoe Expo, Marge is further humiliated and objectified by lustful men while promoting shoe horns. At the same time, Bart helps Krusty to win back his popularity, using Milhouse and Stampy, Bart's old pet elephant, in a stunt. The stunt quickly goes out of control when Stampy stuffs Milhouse and Bart in his mouth. Homer tries to save them, but get stuffed into Stampy's mouth too. Krusty forgets the word that was supposed to make Stampy submit and lie down. The police decide to shoot at Stampy, which would endanger Homer, Bart and Milhouse. Marge appears on the scene, and after unsuccessfully trying to dissuade the police shooting (as Chief Wiggum claims that they do not negogiate with elephants), distracts the police by flashing her huge breasts to the assembled crowd. Krusty, still hated by residents of Springfield, saves the day by accidentally saying Stampy's safety word "Magumbo" while ogling Marge. Stampy releases Bart, Milhouse, and Homer, and Krusty is hailed as a hero and his popularity is restored with the town (though the story of how Krusty saved the kids is relegated to only a paragraph in the local paper while the story of Marge flashing the crowd at the shoe expo received 25 pages with photos). In the end, Marge has the implants removed, and Homer suggests that the family goes out for fried chicken.

Production

"Large Marge" was written by Ian Maxtone-Graham and directed by Jim Reardon as part of the fourteenth season of The Simpsons (2002–03). In an Associated Press news report about the episode, it was cited as satirizing "plastic surgery and images of beauty in popular culture." Actors Adam West and Burt Ward, who starred in the television series Batman as Batman and Robin, respectively, guest starred in "Large Marge" as those characters. Junkanoo band Baha Men, known for their single "Who Let the Dogs Out?", recorded a parody of that song for this episode titled "Who Let Her Jugs Out?". It plays over the closing credits.

Release

The episode originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 24, 2002. On February 7, 2006, "Large Marge" was released in the United States on a DVD collection titled The Simpsons Kiss and Tell: The Story of Their Love, along with the season nine episode "Natural Born Kissers", the season fourteen episode "Three Gays of the Condo", and the season fifteen episode "The Way We Weren't". All four episodes revolve around the romance between Homer and Marge. On December 6, 2011, "Large Marge" was released on Blu-ray and DVD as part of the box set The Simpsons – The Complete Fourteenth Season. Staff members Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Matt Selman, Tom Gammill, Matt Warburton, David Silverman, and Mike B. Anderson, as well as cast member Nancy Cartwright, participated in the DVD audio commentary for the episode. Deleted scenes from the episode were also included in the box set.

In his review of the DVD Kiss and Tell, IGN's Jeff Otto commented that while he thought "Natural Born Kissers" was the only "great" episode in the compilation, "All four episodes are good Simpsons episodes." He added: "I can't figure why, if Fox was going to put together a set of this theme, they couldn't have included some of the more classic episodes about Marge and Homer's romance. Still, even the lesser Simpsons episodes are entertaining, so you could certainly do worse." A writer for HorrorNews.net called it one of the highlights of the season, and Aaron Peck of High-Def Digest described it as "memorable". DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson commented that though "the plot of 'Large' screams 'high concept', it actually works pretty well. It uses the silliness attached to Marge’s chest to good comic effect, and the secondary plot with Bart and Krusty ties into things in a fun manner. It presents a lot of funny bits and turns into a strong episode. It’s also hard to knock a show that reunites the voices of Adam West and Burt Ward." While reviewing the fourteenth season of The Simpsons, Victor Valdivia of DVD Verdict wrote: "To be sure, there are some real clinkers this season. Both 'Large Marge' and 'Strong Arm of the Ma' prove that writing good episodes about Marge seem to be out of the question by this point. [...] By normal TV standards these are not unwatchable, but by Simpsons standards, these are the episodes you probably won't watch over and over again." Corey Deiterman of the Houston Press listed the Baha Men as number three of the top five worst musical guests in Simpsons history for their end credits performance of "Who Let Her Jugs Out," a parody song of their pop hit "Who Let the Dogs Out."