In this week’s episode of The Simpsons, Marge becomes involved with a convict. Yes. Again. Will Marge end up regretting ever setting foot in the Springfield correctional system or will this relationship flourish?

Kredit Kookies: Chalkboard Gag: “I am not an FDIC-insured bank”. Couch Gag: The family plops down on the couch – we pan up to reveal that the scene is simply the interior of Maggie’s dollhouse. She replaces Homer with her pacifier.

We open at the Casa De Simpson, where Homer mocks Bart as he’s gussied up by Marge. He can’t remember WHY exactly Bart’s getting groomed, but it’s still funny. Marge sternly reminds Homer that the following evening Lisa’s going to be named “Student of the Millennium”. Homer’s going to attend – sober or else – because he’s missed out on too much of Lisa’s life already. Homer bargains Marge down to a .10 blood alcohol level (with a stomach full of bread) and agrees to attend. 

Vowing not to miss out on the day and thus disappoint Lisa and Marge *again*,  Homer gets up at an impossibly early hour and rushes to the auditorium, arriving an hour and fifty-four minutes early. He takes the extra time as a plum opportunity to work on his Superman novel.

Marge, meanwhile, is nowhere in sight because she’s being held up at the bank. That becomes a literal statement after the man in front of her, a recent acquaintance named Dwight David Diddlehopper, decides to rob the joint.

Back at Springfield Elementary, Lisa’s ceremony has started and Homer calls Marge’s cell phone to find out where she’s gone to. The ringtone spooks Dwight’s partner, causing him to fire his gun prematurely (and into the chest of newly-minted security guard Gil). Considering the robbery a wash, Dwight’s accomplice jumps through a plate glass window right in front of Chief Wiggum who, eventually, figured out the bank’s been robbed. Unfortunately, he has no idea how to negotiate a hostage crises and waits for backup.

Marge calls Homer back (Homer’s ringtone is Fur Elise?!) and informs him she’s being held hostage. He tells her to panic and be a hero; she tells him he can remarry anyone on the list tacked to the caulk board his closet (on the short list to be named “the next Missus Homer Simpson”: Lindsay Naegle, Boobarella and Blythe Danner. Also: Feed The Cat.).

Dwight locks all of his hostages (among them Agnes Skinner, Jasper, Krusty the Klown, Lenny and Dr. Hibbert) in the bank vault and informs them no one will be hurt, as long as they don’t try anything funny – Krusty assures him that he was voted ”America’s Least Funny Clown” by Laffways Magazine, ahead of guys like Scuzzo and Carlos Mencia. Dwight’s further attempts at escaping with his cash are felled by multiple exploding dye packs.

After perusing a DVD of “The Negotiator”, Chief Wiggum is finally ready to talk with Dwight – and by talk, he means train laser pointers on his forehead. Marge, feeling sorry for Dwight, tells him that he can get a lighter sentence by turning himself in. Dwight tells Marge he has nothing to live for…well, until those laser sights are focused on his forehead. He vows to turn himself in if Marge visits him in prison. She vows to do so, but is clearly uncomfortable at the idea.

Time passes by – Marge is unable to force herself to see Dwight on visiting day. Dwight’s been anxiously looking forward to seeing Marge – he’s come to see her as a mother figure. DWIGHT’S mother, meanwhile, abandoned him at an amusement park. Even Snake entertains his girlfriend, Gloria, increasing Dwight’s anger.

Marge, meanwhile, goes apple picking until visiting hours are over, then replaces the filaments in every light bulb in the house. Lisa suggests she’s trying to avoid someone, and that theory’s proven correct when she thrusts her phone down the garbage disposal. She tries to distract herself by watching TV, but encounters a movie entitled “A Kiss Before Frying”. Watching a man stuck on death row that refuses to be executed because he’s waiting for his mother to visit him, Marge is moved and feels guilty.

Poor Dwight, listening on the other end of the phone, is left listening to a recorded message from Ted Nugent urging him to vote no on Proposition 87. Dwight is beyond hurt. He escapes from jail with only Marge’s home address and the code to her home security alarm to guide him.

Marge and the kids are watching “Itchy And Scratchy” (“The Un-Natural”, in which a steroid-taking baseball-playing Itchy ends up exploding during a senate hearing) when Kent Brockman interrupts with a bulletin. He announced Dwight’s escape, and says that the convict left a note stating he’d be going back to jail after he “finishes one last piece of business.”

Cut to a montage (!) cut to Men at Work’s “Who Can It Be Now”, during which Dwight stalks Marge. He finally traps her alone in the Simpmobile and forced her to drive him at gunpoint to the amusement park where his mother had abandoned him. Dwight asks Marge to give him the day out that his mother denied him, then he promises to let her go. A guilt-ridden Marge agrees.

They’re spotted by Krusty and Dr. Hibbert (who happened to bump into each other to awkwardly discuss their hostage experience); they decide to call the police and quickly discover Chief Wiggum and his crew at the shooting gallery.

Dwight and Marge board the Viking ship, the actual spot where Dwight’s mother abandoned him previously. Wiggum, who’s caught up with Marge, tries to stop the ride but fails spectacularly. He tries jumping into the adjacent boat and falls between them, and any attempt by the ride attendant to stop the device only ends in it speeding up. Marge begs Dwight to help, and he throws himself between the gears, sparing Wiggum’s life and saving the day.

Wiggum soon receives word on Dwight’s condition – he’ll be “fine”, but is hospitalized.

Marge goes to visit Dwight in prison after his recovery, where he presents her with a dandelion he’s pressed and framed with a bar of soap. He’s inscribed the back with his plans for another prison break. She sadly tells him she cannot help him, and, disappointed though he is, Dwight lets her keep the flower. On this heartwarming note, we head to the credits.

Red Dress Press: A heartfelt episode, “I Don’t Wanna Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” exemplifies the theory that previously-explored subjects can be done again on this show, and done even better the second time. Resultantly, this episode improves on “Pokey Mom” greatly.

A lot of that improvement is in the writing; everything from Homer’s dogged determination to show up for Lisa’s award ceremony to Marge’s anxiety about meeting with Dwight again to the incredibly engaging decisions made about Dwight’s character makes sense and is either funny or somewhat touching.

Steve Buscemi’s voicework is superb; he really makes us care about Dwight, despite his tendency toward violence. Ted Nugent gets in a solid self-mocking cameo, and Julia Louis- Dreyfus puts in another funny bit appearance as Gloria, Snake’s paramour.

Generally, an excellent episode driven by a combination of decent jokes (the Itchy and Scratchy segment is a pretty pointed commentary on baseball’s steroid scandal). Even the Couch gag is one of the best of the season.

Did It Fail at Masonry: One of the best of the season, “I Don’t Wanna Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” is worth multiple viewings.

What The Screwballs Think: The episode garnered an 8.8, on par with Homer of Seville.
 
Springfield Shopper: This is the FINAL Krusty’s Klassik Rekap for Season Nineteen! Thanks for sticking with us, and be sure to catch the season premier of the Simpsons on September twenty-eighth, and to check back here on September twenty-ninth for a full recap!