The Sweetest Apu
| "The Sweetest Apu" | |
|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 13 |
| Directed by | Matthew Nastuk |
| Written by | John Swartzwelder |
| Original air dates | May 5, 2002 |
| Episode features | |
| Chalkboard gag | "I will never lie about being cancelled again" |
| Couch gag | Just as the Simpsons enter the living room, movers take away the couch. Homer starts crying, Marge looks around lost, and the children settle on the floor and watch the TV. |
"The Sweetest Apu" is the nineteenth episode of The Simpsons' thirteenth season.
Synopsis
Template:Spoiler Apu gives Homer a beer keg for the American Civil War reenactment of the Battle of Springfield. At the reenactment, Principal Skinner watches as Springfielders disobey him and hold a rather inaccurate battle. After the battle, Homer brings the empty, dented keg back to Apu at the Kwik-E-Mart in an attempt to get a refund. There, he hears noise coming from a closet and finds Apu making love with the woman who delivers Squishees to Kwik-E-Mart. He then walks backwards in shock all the way home.
Marge figures out what Homer saw from the movements of his pupil. They then confront Apu and he says he will break up with the Squishee Lady. However, he cannot help it, as it gets his mind off the octuplets. Later, Manjula watches the surveillance footage of Apu cheating. To help get them together, Homer and Marge invite them both, but do not tell them that the other one is coming. Manjula then demands a divorce.
Kicked out, Apu moves into the apartment complex where Kirk Van Houten lives. The octuplets then have their first words, which put together, say "Mommy, will you let daddy come back...cookie!". Marge, and Manjula go to Apu's and arrive in time to prevent him from hanging himself. Apu is then subjected to several tasks to redeem himself, though Manjula says it will take time for everything to get back to normal. In bed, with Manjula finally a tad satisfied with what he's done, kisses Apu, while Homer watches from the window, on a ladder. The couple continues, and Homer, traumatized, hops backwards on the ladder all the way home.
Cultural references
- Catch-22 - Homer refers to the punctured keg of beer as being "so cold... so cold." These are the words Snowden uses when hit and bleeding.
- Wild Wild West - Professor Frink's giant mechanical spider.
- The title is a pun on the Sade song, "The Sweetest Taboo".
- When Marge is watching the video of Apu's wedding, Homer gets up with the band and tries to sing the same song from the wedding scene in The Godfather.
- Apu's cartoon appears in The New Yorker, which Homer says he purchased only for the photos of Richard Avedon, featuring Lenny.
- Apu and his octuplets reenact My Fair Lady as part of Manjula's list.
