Lady Bouvier's Lover

Season 5, Episode 21, Aired
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Episode Summary

It is Maggie's birthday, so the whole family gathers to celebrate. Abe seems especially pathetic and lonely and Marge decides to set him up with her mother, who has the same problem. They hit it off, or so Abe thinks. Bart decides to order a souvenir from "Itchy & Scratchy," so he steals Homer's wallet but the item turns out to be a waste of $350. Abe soon falls in love. He wants to impress Marge's mother by taking her out on the town, but when he does, she falls for Mr. Burns. Abe is heartbroken. When Mr. Burns come over to the Simpsons' house to pick her up for a date we learn that Marge is against her mother's new love interest. Bart gets $350 out of Mr. Burns which he uses to pay Homer back. Mr. Burns asks for his love's hand in marriage, but when the wedding date arrives, Abe breaks up the ceremony. Marge's mother leaves with him, although she is not in love with Abe OR Mr. Burns. We get a loose, yet obvious, homage to "The Graduate", complete with a Simon & Garfunkel parody.moreless
8.4
out of 10
EPISODE RATING: Great
192 votes
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Fan Episode Reviews (9)

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  • this was a good ep

    8.5
    "Great"
    By cube2k8, May 18, 2010 Report Abuse
    in this ep of the simpsons show marges mother comes and is wooed by both homers father and by mr burns she starts to go on dates with mr burns and she nearly falls for him mean while homers father is trying to win her over from the billionair mr burns. and he tries to get her to know that he loves her . and he nearly falls for mr burns when she final sees the evil he reall has in him. and so she decides to run off with grampa simpson this was a great ep ithought it had its momentsmoreless

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  • Classic

    10
    "Perfect"
    By futuramarama, Nov 15, 2009 Report Abuse
    Grampa Simpson falls for Jacqueline Bouvier, Marge's mother. But soon Burns also falls for her. Burns plans on marrying her. So Grampa tries to win her heart. Which guy will she end up choosing?

    This was a pretty good episode from a pretty good season. It had a lot of good laughs, a weird plot but a good one, and the ending has got to be one of my favorite endings from the entire show. Don't know why, but I have always like the ending to this one. So, a perfect score from one of the show's all-time best seasonsmoreless

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  • The Simpsons have no flaws in this season, and with only one episode left it seems pretty likely that this season will be flawless...

    9.3
    "Superb"
    By Iverson82094, Jan 23, 2008 Report Abuse
    Having already fallen hard for Marge, Mr. Burns now finds himself smitten with Marge's mother, Jacqueline Bouvier. Competing for the old lady's affection is Grandpa Simpson, who also thinks that she's the bee's arthritic knees. Burns is the more dashing suitor and proposes to Mrs. Bouvier, who surprises everyone and accepts. In a scene straight out The Graduate, Grandpa crashes the wedding just before Mrs. Bouvier becomes Mrs. Burns and whisks her away and onto a bus where they awkwardly face their future together. A twisted story, but yet the Simpsons so far can not make a flaw in this season at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!moreless

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  • This just might be my favorite episode.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By simpsonian100, Aug 24, 2007 Report Abuse
    "Lady Bouvier's Lover" is one of my favorite episodes from possibly my favorite season of the show. This episode has two of my favorite all-time quotes. It has my favorite Mr. Burns moment where Marge's mom says "I swear Monty, you're the devil himself!" and Mr. Burns responds with in a worried and angry tone "Who told you?" I doubt Mr. Burns is the devil himself, even on that show, but that was a good spur-of-the-moment joke. It also has one of my favorite Abe quotes. I can't remember exactly how it goes, but it's something like: "You remind me of a place I've never been to, and a song that may have never existed" and some other stuff with that. I might have to watch this episode on DVD again tonight. See you around.moreless

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  • Not affiliated with the planet Venus

    7.0
    "Good"
    By amazingwebhead, Sep 07, 2006 Report Abuse
    After a family dinner, Marge decides to set up her mother and Grandpa Simpson on a date in order for them to have company. Trouble ensues however when Mr. Burns steps in and steals Abe's girl. Meanwhile Bart can't resist buying an original animation cell from cartoon Itchy & Scratchy, even if it is $350.

    'Lady Bouvier's Lover' is an episode that has many memorable charms but also has it's weaknesses. First off we have the rather over-the-top plot where Marge actually goes to the extremity of setting up her mother and Homer's father together. You can tell it's been made just to use the two characters (one of which we've hardly seen up until this point) and feels entirely contrived. On the other hand however it kind of works, not as an interesting storyline per se, but as a great insight into both Grandpa and Mrs. Bouvier. There's also a lot of gags and great music that works its way into the episode thanks to the plot so I shouldn't be too harsh on it. Speaking of music, did you see that Grandpa/Homer scene where they're playing it cool? Well, it doesn't get much cooler than that does it? It's definitely a classic moment and so original in terms of The Simpsons, with a great performance by Dan (although he could have done better with Sideshow Mel's Homer-like screaming) and animation. Animation however wasn't perfect throughout and there were quite a few moments where I felt like I was watching a season 3 episode. Performances too weren't perfect either, although Dan done a great job of Grandpa for the episode, sometimes the acting just felt a little weak and lacking in enthusiasm, which is actually quite a rare thing for the show. Overall, it's not the best produced of season five episodes but it still holds it ground thanks to some really memorable moments, great character development and the odd hilarious gag.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • The Itchy & Scratchy cell that Bart buys is limited edition of 800,000. Edit
    • Troy McClure appears on IBN, the Impulse Buying Network. Edit
    • The animation cell rolled in cardboard has DO NOT ROLL stamped on it. Edit

  • Notes

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    • Blackboard Joke: I will not re-transmit without the express permission of Major League Baseball. Couch Gag: The family runs into the room, running into each other. They all explode like they were made of glass. Santa's Little Helper walks in and inspects the rubble. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Troy McClure: Hello! I'm Troy McClure. You may remember me from such films as The Boatjacking of Supership 79 and Hydro: the Man With the Hydraulic Arms. Edit
    • Patty: Hello, everyone except Homer. Edit
    • Bart and Lisa: (Singing dull) Hot dogs, Armour Hot Dogs. Grampa: Sing it like you mean it! (Grampa plays harmonica and the kids sing it with style.) Bart and Lisa: What kind of kids eat Armour Hot Dogs? Bart: Fat kids. Lisa: Skinny kids. Bart: Kids who climb on rocks. Lisa: Tough kids. Bart: Sissy kids. Milhouse: (Sticks head from the window.) Even kids with chicken pox love-- Family: Hot dogs, Armour Hot Dogs. (Grampa stops playing harmonica.) The dogs kids love to bite! Lisa: Doesn't this family know any songs that aren't commercials? (Everyone except Lisa starts singing the "Chicken Tonight" jingle.) Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • The Gold Rush The scene where Abe sticks forks into potatoes to make "legs" to dance with is borrowed from Charlie Chaplin, specifically the scene where he dances them to the "Oceana Roll" in his 1925 film The Gold Rush. Edit
    • Grampa: Goodnight Mrs. Bouvier, wherever you are. Jimmy Durante always closed his TV show (in the 1950's) with the line "Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are." as he left the stage thru a series of spotlights on the floor. That's why the lawyers "representing the estate of the late Jimmy Durante" appear and tell him to stop. Edit
    • Jackie: Boys all paid attention to me and it drove my friends crazy. Grampa: Who were your friends? Jackie: Oh, Zelda Fitzgerald, Frances Farmer, and little Sylvia Plath. All of Jackie Bouvier's friends actually were crazy in real life. Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of the famous F. Scott Fitzgerald was institutionalized and died when said building burned down. Frances Farmer was a 1930's & 40's actress who was also institutionalized and eventually recieved a lobotomy. Sylvia Plath was a famous poet with a series of suicide attempt, and was finally sucessful in 1963. Edit

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