S23Ep16 Summary
Marge finds out that if she and the kids die in Homer's dream, they die in real life, and all panic. Death begins to panic, then realizes he cannot die. A large, angry death figure appears beside him and growls, and death sheepishly says "Mommy," and deploys his parachute.
Lisa tells the family that they should fall asleep in this dream in order to buy time, because a few hours in their dream will only be a few minutes in this one. Bart exclaims, "Dreams have rules?", to which Lisa replies, "Everything has rules, Bart." Bart begins dancing, and then the family falls asleep again, using the invention.
In this dream, the family is animated more crudely and have more sloping foreheads and protruding features, like cavemen. They are sitting in a waiting room. Bart burps and Homer angrily tells him to bring him a bologna sandwich. Bart refuses and makes an ugly face at Lisa. The two begins fighting and yelling. Homer tells them both to bring him a bologna sandwich and joins in the fight. Marge, with Maggie on her lap, tells them to stop, before joining in the fight herself. The whole family is one chaotic, fighting mass when a man walks out and calls for the Simpson family, looking bored and unphased by their antics. The fighting mass rolls into the next room, and it becomes clear that they are in a therapist's office.
In the office, the coffin sits in the middle of the floor. The therapist says that in order to solve Homer's problem, he must face what is inside the coffin. Homer says no, and that it is his marriage in there. Bart says, "Marriage, schmarriage. What's in the box, man?", and opens it. The coffin begins pouring out fish, and the fish start to fill the room. Homer scolds Bart for opening the coffin, saying, "See what your monkey-shines have done?" Bart tells Homer that the fish still smell better than Homer's gym socks, and Homer begins choking Bart again. Lisa pulls out the invention and the family falls asleep, this time into Lisa's dream.
The family is on a stage dressed in Medieval garb, performing a play. Bart immediately uses the invention again to change to a different dream.
The family washes up on a beach next to a row of buildings, all made of food and beer. Homer says he recognizes this dream, and that this is the place of his innermost thoughts and desires. A beer keg with blue beehive hair and high heels on appears and says, "Welcome back, handsome." Homer looks sheepish and introduces his friend, "Keggy" to Marge, while it licks his ear with a pizza-tongue. Marge angrily pulls him away by his other ear.
They wander through Homer's food-and-beer filled town. The ground is at right angles, so that the family is sometimes walking on a vertical surface. They are suddenly very small. Homer runs into a giant quick-e mart, where a giant, bobble-headed Apu tells him that in this fantasy quick-e mart he can have his change in bacon. Homer walks out of Moe's bar, and Marge sees that there is a Moe's bar at every corner. All the Moes walk out and say, "In this place, mother's of four drunk drive." and women stand in the street with picket signs reading "Booze it or lose it" and other such things chant "Chug!" Bart asks Homer why Flanders is in Homer's fantasy, and then a lawn mower runs over Flanders and chops him into pieces, and the pieces say, "Where's my God now?" Marge comes to Homer and says that they must get to the bottom of the bed-wetting problem. She says that they know there's a marriage in trouble, and it has something to do with fish. Homer refuses and says that they are staying in this fantasy dream forever. He runs away and jumps on a rollercoaster.
At this point, the sheriff knocks over the real-life dream invention, and the dream begins to crumble. Homer and the family remain in the dream world, but now Homer's city is falling apart. Rivers of beer flood the streets, and the family floats towards a set of gears. They try to jam up the gears using all the many Moes that are drifting past.
Death flies in with a jetpack and rescues the family, taking them to the top of a building. Homer says, "Oh death, you're a lifesaver."
Death says, "I am not Death" and rips off a mask to reveal that she is Homer's mother. The children rush to hug her. Marge asks if she is alive, and she says, "No, but I live on in Homer's dreams." Homer says, "Just like my hair" and his hair begins to grow long and blonde. Marge says, "That's Jennifer Aniston's hair from Friends," to which Homer replies that Marge is being exactly like Chandler and criticizing. His hair shrinks back into his head. Homer's mother says she has something that might help Homer, and leads the family into a giant movie theater.
They watch a movie of Homer's childhood. His mother offers to go grocery shopping while Homer and his father fish. Homer hears his father say, "No need. We'll bring you back a pile of fish." Bart laughs at little Homer and calls him a loser, and the movie theater seat grows arms and chokes Bart. In the movie, Homer tells his father that he heard his parents yelling again last night. Homer's father tells him that it was just a tv show that he heard, and to just concentrate on catching a fish. Homer gets excited when his father hooks one, and jumps up and down, accidentally flipping the boat. As they watch Homer and his father drift back to the dock late at night, his mother explains, "You got home hours late with no fish. It was only a few weeks later that I left your father." Homer replies, "You left him because I tipped the boat over and ruined the vacation?" Homer realizes that he still feels guilty for this, and that when he took Bart fishing earlier in real life, this memory came back.
Homer's mother stops them from leaving after this, and tells Homer that he has nothing to feel guilty about, and tells Cletus to roll a new film. Cletus appears in the projection room and mocks her quietly, saying "Roll the film, Cletus. Kiss me, Cletus. Whatever you say, boss lady." This film shows Homer's father bringing a sleeping Homer back from fishing and apologizing to his mother for being so late. His mother says that it's alright that they didn't catch any fish, because he brought back Homer, the only treasure she cares about. As they watch this, Homer's mother explains that when she left Homer and his father, she knew that Homer was in good hands. Homer exclaims that he is cured, and the dream begins to crumble away. Homer's mother tells him to remember that the family will always be together in his memories, right next to the movie trivia. Actors and Directors then pop in front of Homer's mother, father, and younger self, giving facts about movies. Hands reach out and shove them away. Homer says goodbye to his mother and the family wakes up from each of the dreams.
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