The Twisted World of Marge Simpson facts for kids

"The Twisted World of Marge Simpson" is the eleventh episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 19, 1997. It was written by Jennifer Crittenden and directed by Chuck Sheetz. The episode guest stars Jack Lemmon as Frank Ormand and Joe Mantegna as Fat Tony. In the episode, Marge starts her own pretzels business.

Plot

The Springfield Investorettes — Maude Flanders, Helen Lovejoy, Agnes Skinner, Luann Van Houten and Edna Krabappel — expel Marge from their investment group because she is wary of high-risk ventures. The group returns Marge's $500 initial investment and Lisa convinces her to use the money to buy her own franchise. To compete with the Investorettes' Fleet-A-Pita franchise, Marge buys a Pretzel Wagon, franchised by its owner, Frank Ormand.

Marge parks her Pretzel Wagon outside the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and Homer persuades his coworkers to patronize it. The Investorettes' Fleet-A-Pita van parks nearby and lures away Marge's customers. To drum up business, the Pretzel Wagon sponsors Free Pretzel Day at the Springfield Isotopes baseball stadium. Before fans can consume their pretzels, they learn that Mr. Burns has won a 1997 Pontiac Astro Wagon when an announcement blares from a loudspeaker. The fans react angrily to the news and bombard the field with pretzels, knocking out Whitey Ford who tries to quell the crowd's anger. Marge's efforts end in vain again and she becomes deeply depressed, so Homer searches for someone who can help her.

After discovering that Frank Ormand has died in a car accident along with the executor of his estate, Homer asks Fat Tony, the Springfield Mafia don, to help Marge with her business by establishing a secret business agreement with him. The next day, Marge receives a large order of 300 pretzels, reinvigorating the Pretzel Wagon. The mob drives several of Marge's competitors out of business through intimidation, eventually destroying the Investorettes' Fleet-A-Pita van with a car bomb.

Soon, Marge receives an order to be delivered to a remote location on the outskirts of town, where she is approached by Fat Tony and his gang. He informs her of the deal he made with Homer and claims that he is entitled to a 100% stake of Marge's profits. Marge confronts Homer and he explains that he was only trying to help. She then refuses to pay Fat Tony and continues making pretzels.

As the mob advances on Marge, the Investorettes arrive with the Japanese yakuza to counter Marge's alliance with Fat Tony. The rival gangs get into a brutal fight and the Simpsons retreat into their house. Marge forgives Homer for meddling and making the situation worse, and instructs the kids to go back to bed when they overhear the racket caused by the gangs.

Production

The main plot of the episode concerning the two rival snack food franchises was selected because at the time of production, pita bread and pretzels were "becoming popular". Josh Weinstein expressed his wish that the ideas had been changed to something more "fun", as both snacks have since "gone out of fashion". The Fleet-A-Pita chef was an early version of the "Khlav-Kalash" man from "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson". At the Expo, many of the franchises were based on real franchises and get-rich-quick schemes. In the scene where Homer is inspecting pretzels, there was originally a shot where he gave a thumbs down to Maggie's pretzel.

The episode was written by Jennifer Crittenden who wrote four other episodes. Homer's line "Yeah, Homer's right" during the scene where the pretzel wagon arrives was ad-libbed by Dan Castellaneta. In another scene, Cletus calls for his many children to come out of the house; the names of which were all "trendy names from the nineties". The 1997 Pontiac Astrowagon that Mr. Burns wins was designed to accurately resemble the GM minivans on sale at the time. The episode's final scene, the mob war, was conceived by Matt Groening as no one else could come up with an ending.

See also

In Spanish: The Twisted World of Marge Simpson para niños