The Fat Blue Line

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"The Fat Blue Line"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 31
Episode 3
Directed byMike Frank Polcino
Written by Bill Odenkirk
Featured music"Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey
Production codeYABF22
Original air dateOctober 13, 2019 (2019-10-13)
Guest appearances
Episode features
Couch gag The Simpson family arrives on stage on a recreation of Live Aid: Homer is Freddie Mercury, Lisa is John Deacon, Marge is Brian May, Bart is Roger Taylor and Maggie is the camera woman. Homer shouts "Day-oh!", the public shouts back, and then does a split and his pants rips apart, to which he D'ohes, and the public D'ohes back.
Episode chronology
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"The Fat Blue Line" is the third episode of the thirty-first season of the American animated television series The Simpsons , and the 665th episode overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on October 13, 2019. The episode was directed by Mike Frank Polcino and written by Bill Odenkirk. The title is a pun of the law enforcement phrase The Thin Blue Line.

Contents

In this episode, Chief Wiggum helps Fat Tony prove his innocence when he is accused of robbing people. Bob Odenkirk guest starred as Fat Tony's lawyer. Actor Jason Momoa appeared as himself. The episode received positive reviews.

Plot

The Simpson family goes to the San Castellaneta street festival, dedicated to the Italian culture, while Fat Tony meets with his uncle. Mayor Quimby introduces Jason Momoa who tells the story of Ignatius Castellaneta.

At the gathering of money for Jesus, the people at the festival were robbed. At the Police Station, Lenora Carter takes the case in hand, diminishing Chief Wiggum's job. As bait for the robber, Homer is taken, due to this big butt being the biggest in town, setting a wallet with a tracking device in his pocket.

After Homer is pickpocketed in the underground, the police follow the device to storage full of wallets when a door opens and Fat Tony and his uncle get framed being the culprit while Wiggum is depressed due to being put aside on the case.

At the Springfield Penitentiary (Sideshow Bob escapes from it but gets hit by a rake truck), Fat Tony prays to God to help him out of it while Wiggum on the other side prays to God to help him in his own situation, and Homer prays him to bring back plastic straws.

Louie brings in his lawyer, who constantly gets him out of guilty crimes, But upon hearing he's innocent, he leaves while Wiggum watches an interview with Tony saying he'll never commit the pickpocket crime, so he goes to his jail and says to Tony he'll get him out if he convinces him he's innocent.

Tony shows him what he does every day at the time of the crime, singing in his room alone. Tony agrees to put on a wire and goes to Luigi's to find out who framed him. Frankie the Squealer reveals to him it was Johnny Tightlips who betrayed him and become the Springfield Mafia boss. Homer enters the room by mistake when police intervene on the scene and is hit by a bullet in the butt. Wiggum sucks it out. At the Springfield General Hospital, Homer wakes up safe. At the station, Wiggum regains his confidence.

In the end, Fat Tony, Homer, and Wiggum share a toast on the successful operation at Giuseppe's.

Production

The couch gag is a recreation of the performance of the band Queen at Live Aid featuring Homer as Freddie Mercury. [1]

In July 2019, it was reported that Bob Odenkirk would guest star as a mob lawyer in an episode written by his brother Bill. The character would wear a pinkie ring as a nod to his Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul character, Saul Goodman. [2] The same month, it was reported that Jason Mamoa would appear in the same episode as himself. [3]

Cultural references

The scene of the confrontation between Johnny Tightlips and Fat Tony is a parody of the final scene of the television series The Sopranos . Similarities include the Simpsons being in a restaurant similar to the one in the final scene, Maggie struggling to parallel park as Meadow Soprano did, the song "Don't Stop Believin'" by the band Journey playing in the background, and the cut to black. [4]

Among the pictures of Chief Wiggum's mistakes is a photo of Pancho Billa, a Buffalo Bills fan whose real name is Ezra Castro, who died in May 2019 of pancreatic cancer. [5] [6]

Reception

Viewing figures

The episode earned a 0.8 rating with a 4 share and was watched by 2.13 million viewers, which was the most watched show on Fox that night. [7]

Critical response

Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B− stating, "Now, 'The Fat Blue Line' isn't one of those rare gems, sadly, but it's certainly possessed of some unalloyed warmth and affection for the characters and the subject matter thanks to one of the Simpsons vets whose name in the credits can at least guarantee an episode a decent shot, Bill Odenkirk. Odenkirk's scripts, as a rule eschew gimmickry and deadening self-referential exhaustion in favor of a stubborn professionalism. If this particular tale of Fat Tony being framed as Springfield's number one pickpocket (as opposed to being definitely guilty of being Springfield’s number one every other kind of crook) never rises above a sort of cozy familiarity, it at least earns its place as a Simpsons episode that seems to remember that The Simpsons is worth remembering." [8]

Tony Sokol of Den of Geek rated this episode 4 out of 5 stars. He felt the episode was almost perfect and praised the humor. He also highlighted the music in the episode. [9]

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References

  1. ↑ Lash, Jolie (October 13, 2019). "12 Best Rock Star Cameos on The Simpsons". Spin . Archived from the original on July 15, 2024. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
  2. ↑ Snierson, Dan (July 15, 2019). "Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk to play lawyer on The Simpsons". Entertainment Weekly . Archived from the original on December 12, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  3. ↑ Snierson, Dan (July 17, 2019). "Game of Thrones alum Jason Momoa to guest on The Simpsons: First look". Entertainment Weekly . Archived from the original on July 23, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  4. ↑ Kuperinsky, Amy (October 14, 2019). "'The Simpsons' pays homage to 'The Sopranos' with Fat Tony episode". NJ.com . Archived from the original on July 30, 2024. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
  5. ↑ Greenwood, Marcia (October 14, 2019). "'Simpsons' show some love to Buffalo Bills superfan Pancho Billa". Democrat and Chronicle . Archived from the original on July 30, 2024. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
  6. ↑ "Buffalo Bills superfan Pancho Billa spotted on 'The Simpsons'". WGRZ . October 14, 2019. Archived from the original on August 4, 2024. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
  7. ↑ Welch, Alex (October 15, 2019). "'Kids Say the Darndest Things, 'Sunday Night Football' adjust up, 'Shark Tank' adjusts down: Sunday final ratings". TV by the Numbers . Archived from the original on October 15, 2019. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  8. ↑ Perkins, Dennis (October 13, 2019). "Old pros have a decent day, as Fat Tony and Chief Wiggum are gifted a Simpsons from Bill Odenkirk". The A.V. Club . Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  9. ↑ Sokol, Tony (October 14, 2019). "The Simpsons Season 31 Episode 3 Review: The Fat Blue Line". Den of Geek . Archived from the original on August 30, 2020. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
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