The Simpsons/Cape Feare

Cape Feare
Season 5, Episode 2
Airdate	October 7, 1993
Production Number	9F22
Written by	Jon Vitti
Directed by	Rich Moore
← 5x01 Homer's Barbershop Quartet	5x03 → Homer Goes to College
The Simpsons — Season Five

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Cape Feare is the second episode of the fifth season of The Simpsons, and the eighty-third episode overall.

Sideshow Bob makes a return appearance and once again makes a threat on Bart's life. This time, after learning that Bob has convinced a parole board he is no threat to Bart (even though there is clear evidence he sent anonymous threats to the Simpsons), the family relocates to another town and changes their name. But when Bob finds and subdues them, Bart is left to his own devices to foil his nemesis.

Guest Stars:

Plot Overview

Bart receives an anonymous letter from somebody threatening to kill him.The letter writer uses blood to write the letters.The Simpson Family,including Abe try to figure out who the letter writer is.Bart will receive more letters,and still no clue as to the culprit.The culprit will soon be revealed as Sideshow Bob,who is serving time in the Springfield Prison for attempting to murder Selma.He is in the middle of writing any letter(again in his own blood)when he collaps from lost blood.Bob will later be released from Prison,incredibly after convincing the Parole Board that he will pose no threat to Bart.Bob walks out of Prison,and finds himself enjoying a Movie.The Simpsons happens to be in the same Theatre.Bob is smoking a Cigar,and laughing out loud to annoyance of the Simpson.Homer who is also smoking a Cigar(an even larger one than Bob's)laughs even louder.This annoys Bob who turns,and confronts him.As he turns to speak,Bart,and Lisa yell their reaction.They all now know that it was Sideshow Bob who has been sending the threatening letters.The Simpson knowing Bob would make good on his threat to kill Bart seeks help.First they go to Chief Wiggum,who proves to be no help at all.They then seek to hire ma Private Detective to run Sideshow Bob out of Town.The Detective fails in his attempt.After this,the Simpson Family seeks the help from the FBI.The FBI will relocate the Family,giving them new identities,calling them The Thompsons.Sideshow Bob follows the Simpsons to their new Home which is on a Houseboat.One evening Bob sneak abord the Houseboat,cuts the rope that was attached to the Boat,ties up the Simpsons,except Bart,and then confronts him in his Bedroom.Bob intends to use a Machete to kill Bart.Bart escapes to the front of the Boat to be confronted by an Alligator,and runs to the back of the Boat,to be confronted by some Electric Eels.Finding no escape,and with Sideshow Bob closing in for a kill,Bart notices the Boat is sail towards Springfield.Wanting to stall long enough to make it to Springfield,Bart asks Bob to sing the entire score from the musical"The HMF Pinofore".Bob grants Bart what he believes to be his final request.Bob sings the songs from the musical,with Bart participating in one of the numbers.As Sideshow Bob finishes the last song,he approaches Bart for the kill,with afew seconds left,The Houseboat hits the dock to Springfield,knocking Bob down.He is confronted by Chief Wiggum,and his Police Force of two,standing in Bathrobes(since they are at a Bothel).As Bob is is being is taken in the Paddy Wagon,Bart tells his Family,and Chief Wiggum of his idea to stall Bob long enough to get to Springfield,and have him arrested.With Sideshow Bob back in Prison,the Simpsons return Home.

Notes

Title Sequence

• Blackboard: "The cafeteria deep fryer is not a toy."
• Couch Gag: The family does a kicking dance reminiscent of the Rockettes at Rockefeller Center. They're joined by several women who dance along with them, followed by men juggling on unicycles. Lastly, the entire backdrop is pulled up to reveal magicians, firebreathers, Santa's Little Helper jumping through a flaming hoop and elephants doing gymnastics.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

While the Simpsons are driving,Homer asks Bart,and Lisa do they drive him to drive through a Cactus Patch.They said yeah,but Sideshow Bob who has attached himself on the bottom of the Car says NO!Homer drive through the Cactus Patch since the vote was two to one,Bob losing,and receiving needles from the Cactus.

Trivia

Allusions and References

• Lizzie Borden: Bart is cast as a murder victim in a dramatization (for elementary school?) of the ax murderer, with Martin Prince cast as Lizzie.
• Cape Fear: The episode's plot – Sideshow Bob, after being paroled from from prison, stalking the Simpsons with the intent of brutally killing Bart – is inspired by the 1962 film (and its 1991 remake), where a convicted rapist is released from prison on parole and begins stalking the attorney who prosecuted him, this time intent on making his earlier crimes seem tame. Both cases see the villain spared death and sent back to prison. Various plot elements from the 1991 remake are used, including:
  • The police citing lack of evidence in failing to arrest Bob for stalking
  • Bob claiming shoddy defense and not being allowed to present evidence at his robbery trial that Krusty the Klown abused him so horribly that it drove him to his breaking point. The film had Max claim he was disallowed to present evidence that would discredit his victim.
  • Bob hiding under the Simpsons' car as the family travels to their (temporary) home
  • Tattoos on Bob's body.
  • The workout and smoking scenes at a gym and movie theater, respectively.
  • Bob singing an operatic score to the HMS Pinafore in the climatic scene before he is arrested, echoing Max's (newfound) affinity for high culture, with Max singing the sacred hymn "On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand." Bob's fate differs from Max's, as Max is knocked into a river and drowns after he is swept under by a rapid tide.
• Edward Scissorshands: Ned Flanders' "finger razors" reference the two films where the main characters have razor-like fingertips. (Although Ned uses his to trim hedges into angel-like shapes a la Edward Scissorshands.)
• Ernest films: The movie the Simpsons go to (and so does Bob) is Ernest Goes Somewhere Cheap, an obvious parody on the film series (and possibly a swipe at series' star Jim Varney for doing what was seemingly a cliched series of films only for money as several Ernest films had been released to this point, each of negative (or worse) critical acclaim).
• Goldfinger: A famous scene from the James Bond film, where Bond is strapped to a table and an industrial laser beam slowly advances toward his crotch area to cause injury, is parodied in the Itchy & Scratchy short "Spay Anything." Bond escapes his predicament in the nick of time; after a tease where kitty seems to have escaped another brutal fate by disabling the laser machine an instant before reaching his body ... well, let's just say, "Itchy ... poor Itchy!"
• I Love Lucy: The scene of the Simpsons driving off to Terror Lake in a convertible, Bart and Homer wearing fedoras, and singing is a near frame-for-frame re-creation of the legendary situation comedy's 1955 episode "California, Here We Come!" (The Ricardos and Mertzes sing "California, Here I Come"; the Simpsons sing "Three Little Maids From School Are We" (from the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta "The Mikado").)
• Late-night talk shows: Up Late With McBain draws its name from NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The Ed McMahon-esque announcer introducing McBain as "Heeee'res McBain!!!" is a la The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, which had ended its long run on NBC a year earlier.
• Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: The scene where Bob repeatedly steps on a series of rakes and is hit in the face each time is heavily inspired by Wile E. Coyote falling victim to his own contraptions. One likely specific source is the 1963 short "To Beep Or Not To Beep," where Wile E. repeatedly tries to use a catapult to fling a boulder on the Road Runner, but the catapult malfunctions on six different attempts, crushing the Coyote each time.
• The Naked Gun: Bob's first encounter at Terror Lake ends with him being trampled by a surprise parade, much like how Ludwig (the 1988 film's bad guy) is killed after being trampled by the USC Marching Band.
• The Night Of the Hunter: The tattoos on Bob's fingers (one for "Luv" (Love) and "Hāt" (Hate, the diacritical mark providing the long vowel) are just like the 1962 film.
• Other horror films
  • A Nightmare On Elm Street: The villain's razor-like fingertips, again just like those on the special glove Ned wears doing (harmless) yard work.
  • Friday the 13th: Homer surprises Bart with a hockey mask, akin to the third installment of the slasher film series where a serial murderer wears a hockey mask as he kills his victims.
  • Psycho: Bob stays at the Bates Motel, the same motel as the 1960 horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Memorable Moments

Moe believing bthat someone has discovered his Panda Collection,tells his cohorts to get rid of them.Sideshow Bob laying in the middle of the Street talking to Bart.He is soon trampled by some Elephants curtesy of a Parade.Sideshow Bob's constant stepping on rakes,and making a growling sound.Abe Simpson looking like an old woman at the episodes end.

Quotes

Bart:"This is Horrible." Lisa:"The Fox Network has risen to a new low". Chief Wiggum:"Sideshow Bob has no decency.He called me,Chief Piggum."

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