The Mook, the Chef, the Wife, and Her Homer Episode Recap

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Synopsis

At school, Lisa befriends a boy named Michael, who happens to be the son of mob boss, Fat Tony. Fat Tony is put out of commission by a rival family, and Homer and Bart get involved with the mob, when Michael, who is nothing like his father, is not interested in the “family business.”

Full Recap

Opening Credits: Blackboard joke: None Couch Gag: The Simpson family runs into the living room and plays musical chairs; Homer is the loser.

Act One: Otto pulls up in front of the Simpson home and Bart and Lisa get on the bus for school. There is only one empty seat left and when Bart sits down and reserves the spot next to him for his skateboard, Lisa walks up to Otto to complain. Instead of dealing with Lisa’s problem, Otto decides instead, to put his headphones on and rock out to some Grand Funk Railroad. In an effort to get Otto’s attention back, Lisa tugs on the cord connecting his headphones to his cassette player; when she does, the cord pops out of the player and it slips off his belt, smashing on the floor. Otto is brought back to reality and starts wigging out, when he begins to hear the sounds of nature outside. From the back of the bus, Bart tells Otto not to worry, and that he will provide some music for the bus ride. Bart’s attempts at song just get on Otto’s nerves and Otto is forced to use the radio to try and drown the kids out.

Suddenly, Otto slams on the brakes when he sees Metallica stranded on the side of the road, after their tour bus has broken down. Otto gets off the bus, approaches the band and offers them a lift, but they point out the fact that Otto’s bus is now being driven away by Bart. A bummed Otto settles on the idea of splitting a cab with Metallica. But before he can suggest the idea to them, Hans Moleman has already stopped by in a pickup truck and pulls away with Metallica and their gear in the truck bed.

Bart delivers the students safely to school and when he gets off the bus, a seething Otto is waiting for him. Otto grabs the wisecracking Bart, bends him over his knee and begins spanking him for all the trouble he has caused that morning. Principal Skinner happens upon the corporal punishment and suspends Otto from bus driving, with pay.

The next morning, Marge is forced to car pool Bart, Lisa and some of their friends to school. Marge picks up Milhouse, who brings his own car seat, Nelson, Sherri and Terri. The last student she has to pick up is Michael, who waits on the sidewalk in front of his house and who, according to Sherri and Terri, is a gross weird kid who never says anything. As soon as Michael climbs into the car the twins change their tune and are pleasant to him. But, Nelson orders the shy Michael to move out of his shadow. Michael scoots out of Nelson’s shadow and spills the contents of his backpack. As Michael puts his books back in his pack, he realizes that he forgot his math book. Marge tells him not to worry, as she drives back up Michael’s long driveway. Everyone is in awe to see that Michael lives in a large mansion, however, the mood changes quickly when mob boss Fat Tony, delivers Michael’s math book out to the car. As Marge pulls away from the house and heads to school, Nelson is suddenly pleasant with Michael and stutters nervously, while apologizing for his actions earlier.

Act Two: At school, word has quickly spread about Michael’s roots and as he shyly walks through the halls, everyone clears out of his way. Even Groundskeeper Willie, who is mopping up a pile of puke, he lies down on the pile so Michael can walk over him. In band class, the music teacher, Mr. Largo, stops the students in the middle of a song, to find out who is playing terribly on the clarinet. When he realizes it is Michael struggling with the clarinet, he nervously promotes Michael to first chair and rushes out of the room. Lisa takes notice of Michael and feels sorry for him. At lunch, Michael sits alone and Lisa decides to sit next to him. Michael is grateful that Lisa is not afraid of her, and they both comment and how they are not like they’re respective fathers. While eating her macaroni and cheese, Lisa finds a triple-A battery mixed in with her food. She shoves her lunch tray away in disgust and Michael, who happens to cook a little himself, offers to make her something else for lunch. Outside in the schoolyard, Michael picks some fresh dill, dandelion greens, and some blackberries and makes a delicious salad for Lisa, who is impressed with its taste.

After school, Lisa and Michael wait for their car pool and Lisa encourages Michael to follow his cooking talent and become a chef someday. But Michael sighs and confesses that his dad would like him to be in the family business of “waste management” someday instead. Just then Fat Tony pulls up in a black SUV with tinted windows and informs the kids that he will becar pooling them home. On the way home, some of Fat Tony’s arch enemies in “waste management,” the Calabresis, quickly drive up alongside Fat Tony’s SUV and try to run him off the road. Fat Tony successfully stalls their efforts by taking one of Milhouse’s 3-ring binders, opening up the rings in the middle and throwing it out the window as tire spike for the Calabresis’ car. The Calabresis blow a tire and crash into a van full of baking soda, which causes a vinegar truck to crash into their accident and then finally a TNT truck plows into the rubble, blowing them all to bits. Fat Tony drops off Bart and Lisa safely at home and Michael asks Fat Tony if Lisa and the rest of her family can come over for dinner. Fat Tony likes the idea and Marge accepts the invitation.

That night, the Simpsons dress up and head out to Fat Tony’s mansion for dinner. Homer and Marge are impressed at the elegance of Fat Tony’s home and soon they are ready to dine at the table, as Fat Tony leads a toast in Italian. Just then a car pulls up in the driveway, one of Fat Tony’s henchmen, Louie, pokes his head in the dining room and informs Fat Tony of his meeting with the Calabresi family. Fat Tony heads into the kitchen with Louie and Johnny Tightlips and blames his Palm Pilot for not reminding him of the meeting.

In Fat Tony’s den, Fat Tony, Johnny Tightlips and Louie sit down with the head of the Calabresi family and a few of his goons and discuss the attempted murder from earlier in the day. The Calabresis explain that they thought Fat Tony had gone soft after they saw him driving a car pool for kids. Fat Tony informs them that they would have been fools to kill him, because he son Michael would replace him and “wreak a terrible vengeance” on their family. Meanwhile, in the dining room, Michael presents the Simpsons with homemade chocolate soufflés. Everyone is impressed with Michael’s dessert and Lisa convinces Michael to show his father his talent. Back in the den, both “waste management” families have reached peace, when Michael and Lisa walk in and interrupt the meeting. Lisa gives Michael a nudge of confidence and Michael offers up a tray of chocolate soufflés to all the mobsters. They are all also impressed with the dessert, but when Michael proudly informs them that he made the soufflés himself, Fat Tony is embarrassed and the Calabresis laugh as they realize that the have nothing to fear in Fat Tony’s chef of a son. The Calabresis walk out of the meeting laughing and Fat Tony is not pleased with Michael, who has now made him appear weak. The Calabresis waste no time in trying to kill Fat Tony, as they hover in a machine gun equipped helicopter just outside Fat Tony’s window. Lisa and Michael dive for cover, but Fat Tony collapses after the Calabresis let fly a hail of bullets through the window.

Act Three: At the hospital, Dr Hibbert informs the Simpson family, Michael and Fat Tony’s henchmen that Fat Tony should be fully healthy again and healed from his gunshot wounds, in about 3 months. Johnny Tightlips informs Michael that he will have to fill in for Fat Tony while he is in the hospital. As Johnny Tightlips, Legs and Louie walk away; Homer consoles a downtrodden Michael and tells him that since Lisa caused this mess, he will run Fat Tony’s business until Fat Tony is healthy again.

Later that night, Homer, wearing some bling and a mobster style jogging suit, accompanies Legs and Louie to Moe’s Tavern to shake down Moe for some money he owes Fat Tony. Homer tells Legs and Louie he can handle the shakedown alone and heads inside Moe’s. Homer grabs Moe by the collar and demands the $50 he owes Fat Tony. Moe outsmarts Homer by forcing Homer to pay his own tab of $50 and then only gives Homer back $25 of the $50 he owes Fat Tony; a satisfied Homer leaves. The next day Bart accompanies Legs and Louie to Krusty Burger; Bart demands Krusty’s weekly payment to Fat Tony for helping to keep McDonalds and Burger King out of town. When Krusty can’t make the payment, instead offering $5 to keep Hardee’s out of town, Legs and Louie advance on Krusty and give him a beating.

That night, as Marge, Lisa and Michael arrive back at home from grocery shopping, Homer pulls up in a brand new pickup truck. A suspicious Marge demands to know where Homer got the truck and he sheepishly tells her it “fell” off a “truck-truck.” Just then Bart and Legs pull up to the house in a “truck-truck,” (car-hauler) in which Bart causally explains just “fell” off a “truck-truck-truck.” Later, Homer, Bart, Michael, Legs and Louie play poker in the garage, surrounded by plasma TV’s and new fancy watches. Ned Flanders happens by the garage and confronts Homer about Homer’s phone bill that was mistakenly delivered to his house. But, Ned quietly backs away when everyone but Michael draws a weapon and gives Ned a menacing look. Michael is appalled at what has become of Homer and Bart and he wants out of the mob life.

Michael calls a meeting with the Calabresi family at the Simpson home and offers all of his father’s territory to them, in exchange for the safety of his family and the safety of the Simpsons. The Calabresis accept the offer and Michael informs them that from now on his only business will be cooking. Michael cooks up spaghetti and meatballs for the Calabresis and soon after eating dinner the mobsters fall over in their chairs and perish, clutching their stomachs. Marge realizes that someone must have poisoned the food and Michael is shocked that the Calabresis are dead. He tears up his recipe card for the meatballs and announces that he will never use the recipe again. Lisa picks up the discarded recipe and gasps when she reads that the ingredients for the meatballs include: meat, spices, and poison.

Back at Fat Tony’s mansion, Lisa watches as Fat Tony rests in his bed and thanks Michael for taking down their enemies. Michael tells Fat Tony that he is just glad that he father is safe now. Michael walks out of Fat Tony’s room and past Lisa, who asks Michael, “Why didn’t you tell him it was an accident?” A sinister look comes over Michael’s face as he says, “Don’t ever ask me about my business, Lisa.” Michael walks into his own bedroom; music from The Godfather plays, as Lisa sees Dolph and Jimbo in hanging out in Michael’s room; a suited Kearney silently stares Lisa in the eye, as he closes Michael’s door in her face. Lisa opens the door anyway, and sees Michael playing with his toy cars. Kearney once again shuts the door and Lisa is left in the hallway, wondering what exactly has just taken place.

End Credits: Music from The Godfather continues to play, as the credits roll over a black background.