Labor Pains (The Simpsons)

Last updated

"Labor Pains"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 25
Episode 5
Directed by Matthew Faughnan
Written byMitch Glazer
Don Payne
Production codeRABF19
Original air dateNovember 17, 2013 (2013-11-17)
Guest appearance
Episode features
Chalkboard gag "Rocktober is not followed by Blowvember"
Couch gag A Simpsons take on the First Thanksgiving where the Simpsons (as Pilgrims) escape persecution by boarding the Mayflower (which looks like the simplistic sailboat that Marge painted for Homer) and sailing to Plymouth Couch, where an Indian (Apu) offers them Thanksgiving dinner for $19.95 a person.
Episode chronology
← Previous
"YOLO"		Next →
"The Kid Is All Right"
The Simpsons season 25
List of episodes

"Labor Pains" is the fifth episode of the twenty-fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons and the 535th episode of the series. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 17, 2013. [1] It was written by Mitch Glazer and Don Payne and directed by Matthew Faughnan.

Contents

In the episode, after a night of playing poker with Moe, Lenny, and Carl, Homer finds himself in an elevator with a young mother named Gretchen, who is in labor and needs someone to help her keep calm. Meanwhile, Lisa helps the local football cheerleading team unionize and negotiate for better wages and working conditions. Elisabeth Moss guest starred as Gretchen. The episode watched by 4.08 million people and received mixed reviews.

Plot

While playing poker one night with Moe, Barney, Lenny and Carl, Homer has a run of good luck and decides to leave the game with his winnings. A pregnant woman, Gretchen, enters the elevator with him to ride down to street level, but it gets stuck between floors, and she goes into labor. Based on what he can recall of the childbirth classes he took with Marge, Homer manages to deliver the baby himself, a healthy son. Later, after another poker night, Homer comes across Gretchen again and learns that she named her child after him. He begins to spend time with her, bringing baby items that he and Marge never used for their children, instead of going to the poker game.

Marge, thinking that Homer has sneaked out of work in favor of the game, discovers that he is in Gretchen's apartment and thinks at first that he is being unfaithful to her. However, she eventually learns the whole truth, and Homer takes his children and Homer Jr. to the zoo. Homer Jr. keeps eating Maggie's ice cream, so she smacks him out of the stroller. In a fit of anger, Homer Jr. pushes Maggie's stroller toward a prairie dog exhibit, but she manages to stop herself before she can roll into it. Marge forbids Homer to see Gretchen ever again, and he takes Homer Jr. back to the apartment, where he returns the baby to Gretchen and her husband - recently returned from a military deployment overseas. A dejected Homer returns home, where Maggie gives him a doll to nurture and quickly forgives him for not paying attention to her, and Homer Jr. surprises his father with his ability (learned from Homer) to open and pour a beer.

Meanwhile, Lisa taunts Bart with the fact that Milhouse has invited her to a Springfield Atoms football game. During the halftime show, the team's cheerleaders, the Atomettes, invite Lisa onto the field to take part in one of their routines. Lisa enjoys herself, but after the game, she discovers that the Atomettes are poorly paid. She persuades them to go on strike in order to force the team owner to grant them a better contract; the strategy succeeds, but in the meantime they begin to endorse many bizarre products and services, to Lisa's surprise and dismay. As the credits begin, several Atomette-sponsored items are shown.

Production

In April 2013, Vulture reported that Elisabeth Moss would guest star as a pregnant woman. Executive producer Al Jean said she would give birth in an elevator and name the baby Homer Jr. [2] Moss felt insecure recording her lines because it was fast-paced, and she relied on the director and writers for her performance. [3] [4]

Reception

Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a C, saying "In the end, there’s no payoff to this storyline at all, except that Maggie seems to forgive Homer for neglecting her in favor of his new elevator family. (Her apparently customary daydream that Flanders is her dad changes to Homer while they hug.) It’s the sort of sweet emotional payoff a good Simpsons episode pulls off after building the story on a solid character foundation along the way. Maybe next week it'll be better." [5]

Tony Sokol of Den of Geek gave the episode 4 out of 5 stars. He highlighted the situation of Homer helping someone give birth but forgetting to tell Marge about it. He also noted Maggie's jealousy of Homer Jr. [6]

The episode received a 1.8 rating and was watched by a total of 4.08 million people, making it the second most watched show on Animation Domination that night. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie Simpson</span> Fictional character from The Simpsons franchise

Margaret Lenny "Maggie" Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the youngest member of the Simpson family. She first appeared on television in the Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Maggie was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks' office. She received her first name from Groening's youngest sister. After appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show for three years, the Simpson family was given their own series on the Fox Broadcasting Company which debuted December 17, 1989.

"The Call of the Simpsons" is the seventh episode of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on February 18, 1990. It was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Wesley Archer. Albert Brooks made his first of ten guest appearances on The Simpsons franchise in this episode as the voice of Cowboy Bob.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa's First Word</span> 10th episode of the 4th season of The Simpsons

"Lisa's First Word" is the tenth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It was first broadcast on Fox in the United States on December 3, 1992. In the episode, as the Simpson family gathers around Maggie and tries to encourage her to say her first word, Marge reminisces and tells the story of Lisa's first word. Maggie's first word is voiced by Elizabeth Taylor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simpson family</span> Family of five fictional characters in animation series The Simpsons

The Simpson family are the main fictional characters featured in the animated television series The Simpsons. The Simpsons are a nuclear family consisting of married couple Homer and Marge and their three children, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. They live at 742 Evergreen Terrace in the fictional town of Springfield, United States, and they were created by cartoonist Matt Groening, who conceived the characters after his own family members, substituting "Bart" for his own name. The family debuted on Fox on April 19, 1987, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" and were later spun off into their own series, which debuted on Fox in the U.S. on December 17, 1989, and started airing in Winter 1990.

Joseph Stewart Burns, better known as J. Stewart Burns or simply just Stewart Burns is a television writer and producer most notable for his work on The Simpsons, Futurama, and Unhappily Ever After.

"And Maggie Makes Three" is the thirteenth episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on January 22, 1995. In the episode, Homer recounts the story of Maggie's birth when Bart and Lisa ask why there are no photos of her in the family album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Married Marge</span> 11th episode of the 3rd season of The Simpsons

"I Married Marge" is the twelfth episode of the third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on December 26, 1991. In the episode, Marge worries that she may be pregnant again and visits Dr. Hibbert's office. While anxiously waiting at home, Homer tells Bart, Lisa, and Maggie the story of his and Marge's marriage and Bart's birth. The episode was written by Jeff Martin and directed by Jeffrey Lynch.

"Homer Alone" is the fourteenth episode of the third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the fiftieth episode overall. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on February 6, 1992. In the episode, stress from household chores and her family's demands causes Marge to suffer from a nervous breakdown, so she vacations alone at a spa. She leaves Bart and Lisa with Patty and Selma; Maggie stays at home with Homer but leaves home looking for her mother, causing Homer to frantically search for her.

<i>The Simpsons</i> opening sequence Opening sequence of the TV series The Simpsons

The Simpsonsopening sequence is the title sequence of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It is accompanied by "The Simpsons Theme". The first episode to use this introduction was the series' second episode "Bart the Genius".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marge Gamer</span> 17th episode of the 18th season of The Simpsons

"Marge Gamer" is the seventeenth episode of the eighteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 22, 2007. The episode was written by J. Stewart Burns and directed by Bob Anderson.

"Smart & Smarter" is the thirteenth episode of the fifteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 22, 2004. The episode was written by Carolyn Omine and directed by Steven Dean Moore.

"Four Great Women and a Manicure" is the twentieth and penultimate episode of the twentieth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. First broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on May 10, 2009, it is the second Simpsons episode to have four acts instead of the usual three. The episode tells four tales of famous women featuring Simpsons characters in various roles: Selma as Queen Elizabeth I, Lisa as Snow White, Marge as Lady Macbeth and Maggie as Howard Roark from Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead.

"Lisa Simpson, This Isn't Your Life" is the fifth episode of the twenty-second season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 14, 2010. In this episode, when Lisa discovers that Marge was also a model student, she tries to find out where everything changed so that she doesn't repeat her mistakes. Meanwhile, a series of chance accidents cause Bart to replace Nelson as school bully.

"Gone Abie Gone" is the fourth episode of the twenty-fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons and the 512th episode overall. The episode was directed by Matthew Nastuk and written by Joel H. Cohen. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 11, 2012.

"Adventures in Baby-Getting" is the third episode of the twenty-fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. The episode was directed by Rob Oliver and written by Bill Odenkirk. It aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 4, 2012.

"How Lisa Got Her Marge Back" is the eighteenth episode of the twenty-seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 592nd episode of the series overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on April 10, 2016.

"Springfield Splendor" is the second episode of the twenty-ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 620th episode of the series overall. The episode was directed by Matthew Faughnan and written by Tim Long and Miranda Thompson. It aired in the United States on Fox on October 8, 2017.

"Mr. Lisa's Opus" is the eighth episode of the twenty-ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 626th episode of the series overall. The episode was directed by Steven Dean Moore and written by Al Jean. It aired in the United States on Fox on December 3, 2017. The title is a spoof of the film Mr. Holland's Opus.

"Screenless" is the 15th episode of the thirty-first season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 677th episode overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on March 8, 2020. The episode was written by J. Stewart Burns and was directed by Michael Polcino.

References

  1. ↑ "The Simpsons Episode Guide 2013 Season 25 - Labor Pains, Episode 5". TVGuide . Archived from the original on August 13, 2014. Retrieved November 19, 2013.
  2. ↑ Adalian, Josef (April 17, 2013). "Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss Will Guest-Star on The Simpsons Next Fall". Vulture . Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  3. ↑ Snierson, Dan (November 11, 2013). "Elisabeth Moss on 'Simpsons,' 'Mad Men'". Entertainment Weekly . Archived from the original on July 4, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  4. ↑ Roots, Kimberly (November 11, 2013). "Elisabeth Moss Reveals Why Upcoming Simpsons Guest Gig Wasn't on Her Bucket List". TVLine . Archived from the original on July 28, 2024. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  5. ↑ Perkins, Dennis (November 18, 2013). "The Simpsons: "Labor Pains"". The A.V. Club . Archived from the original on February 7, 2021. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  6. ↑ Sokol, Tony (November 18, 2013). "The Simpsons: Labor Pains Review". Den of Geek . Archived from the original on July 4, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  7. ↑ Kondolojy, Amanda (November 19, 2013). "Sunday Final Ratings: 'The Mentalist' Adjusted Up; No Adjustment for 'Once Upon a Time' or 'Almost Human' - Ratings | TVbytheNumbers". TV by the Numbers . Archived from the original on November 22, 2013. Retrieved November 19, 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.