Apocalypse Cow

Infobox Simpsons episode
episode_name = Apocalypse Cow


image_caption = The episode's promotional image, featuring Bart, Cletus, and Mary.
episode_no = 417
prod_code = KABF10
airdate = April 27, 2008
show runner = Al Jean
writer = Jeff Westbrook
director = Nancy Kruse
guest_star = Zooey Deschanel as Mary
blackboard = A person's a person, no matter how Ralph
couch_gag = A medieval tapestry shows the Flanders stealing the Simpson family's couch. The Simpsons then take it back and kill the Flanders.
season = 19

"Apocalypse Cow" is the seventeenth episode of "The Simpsons"' nineteenth season. It was broadcast on April 27, 2008.cite news | title = Primetime Listings (April 20 - April 27)| publisher = FoxFlash | date = 2008-04-04 | url = http://www.foxflash.com/div.php/main/page?aID=1z4&ID=93 | accessdate =2008-04-04] After joining 4-H, Bart saves a cow named Lou and gives it to a girl named Mary (guest voice Zooey Deschanel), a farm girl. Her father, Cletus, mistakenly believes it as a token for Mary's hand in marriage, and attempts to get the two married.cite news|url=http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/01/deschanel-close.html|title=Zooey Deschanel, Glenn Close to guest on 'The Simpsons' |author=Dan Snierson|accessdate=2008-01-31|date=2008-01-25|publisher="Entertainment Weekly"] It was written by Jeff Westbrook and directed by Nancy Kruse. 7.69 million viewers tuned into this episode.http://www.simpsonschannel.com/#newsitemEkpAupullyytdWCHzx]

Plot

Bart and Lisa watch Saturday morning cartoons, starting with "Transclown-O-Morphs". The show's main character is quickly placed in a life-threatening situation and pleads with the viewers to help him survive by buying the new Transclown-O-Morphs cereal. Fed up with the commercial messages placed in every TV show the kids watch, a frustrated Marge orders Lisa to make banana bread and Bart to go to Shelbyville with Homer to have the beanbag chairs "rebeaned". While Bart and Homer drive to Shelbyville, they see Martin Prince driving a combine harvester. Bart asks why someone like Martin would be driving a tractor, and Martin informs him he has joined 4-H. Lured by the prospect of operating heavy machinery, Bart joins as well and quickly masters driving a tractor to the theme music of "The Comancheros". Later, the 4-H instructor introduces the members to a competition. Taking them to the calf pen, he informs them that they will each pick a calf and raise it over the summer, at the end of which the cattle will be judged at the county fair.

Bart is stuck with the runt of the litter, and is unable to trade it away. He soon meets Mary, and she encourages Bart not to give up in the competition. Bart agrees, and they name the young bull Lou. Throughout the following weeks, Bart takes good care of Lou and helps him become stronger (to the point the cow can do one-arm push-ups), while also bonding with him and growing to love him. When the day of the competition arrives, Lou has matured into a large bull and is awarded the blue ribbon. [http://www.tvguide.com/detail/tv-show.aspx?tvobjectid=100521&more=ucepisodelist&episodeid=7676621 Simpsons Episodes | TVGuide.com ] ] Bart is ecstatic until Lisa informs him that the next step is to send Lou to a slaughterhouse.

Bart tries to convince Marge and Homer to buy the bull, but they refuse. That night, Bart hears mooing as he lies in bed and believes it to be a hallucination caused by his inability to help Lou. He starts yelling in fear, and Lisa arrives and says it's simply his subconscious telling him to stop eating meat. However, the mooing is suddenly replaced by clucking noises, and Bart discovers that it was only a CD of Tress MacNeille's "Anguished Animals III," placed by Lisa, in an attempt to turn him vegetarian. Nevertheless, Bart, Lisa, and Lisa's friends, "Compost" and "Solar Panel", go to the slaughterhouse in the middle of the night, determined to save Lou. They discover that Lou, who has been fed growth hormones, is now much bigger, so they use a forklift to pick him up and carry him away (though not without some trial and error). Hurrying from the slaughterhouse, they decide the only safe place they can take him is to Mary's home, which is on a farm. The next morning, they are shocked to discover that Cletus Spuckler is Mary's father. Bart gives the cow to Mary, and Mary agrees to take it. Cletus then yells for Brandine to come to the door. When she learns that Bart offered Mary the cow, she informs them that the giving of a cow constitutes a formal proposal of marriage. Against the wishes of both Bart and Mary, Cletus and Brandine plan the wedding for the next day; Lisa convinces Bart to go along with it long enough to let them figure out a way to save Lou. Upon learning what has happened, Homer and Marge are shocked, and Marge devises a scheme to prevent it while Homer makes sure Ned Flanders will not disturb (essentially by punching Flanders out of nowhere for no reason). The next day, Marge arrives to stop the wedding, prompting Cletus to send Lou to the slaughterhouse. However, the "Lou" Cletus sent was actually Homer in disguise, while the real Lou is being sent to India to be treated like a god. They save Homer from the slaughterhouse after a close shave, after which Homer vows to cut back on his meat eating, and Bart reflects with pride that he can finally say that, "I had a cow, man."

Cultural references

The episode's title is a reference to the film "Apocalypse Now".cite web
url = http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/04/28/the-simpsons-apocalypse-cow/
last = Keller
first = Richard
publisher = TV Squad
title = The Simpsons: Apocalypse Cow
accessdate = 2008-04-30 ] "Transclown-O-Morphs" are a parody of "Transformers", complete with a cartoon opening reminiscent of actual 1980s cartoons. The training of Lou punching meat is similar to a scene in "Rocky". When Bart is combining, he goes over manure and creates DVD copies of "". Mary's middle name is mentioned as being Wrestlemania. The song that is played before the wedding is Pachelbel's Canon.The scene where Bart says goodbye ("Here's looking at you, cud") and leads Lou up the gangplank of the plane is a parody of Casablanca including La Marseillaise playing in the background.

Reception

7.7 million viewers tuned into this episode, higher than the previous three episodes. Richard Keller of TV Squad thought of the episode as another decent installment in the Simpsons like other Bart and Lisa centric episodes. He thought "it was unfortunate that these kinds of episodes couldn't have dispersed more evenly throughout the season", and that "episodes that center around Bart and Lisa tend to be more interesting...because those characters have more dimensions, and their diverse personalities and passions there is more to explore about them." He also thought of "the idea of Bart being put into a nature-related environment was unnatural like putting Dustin Diamond in an Academy Award nominated film." Robert Canning of IGN also enjoyed the episode. Although he mentioned that the episode's plot had already been done numerous times, he enjoyed the unique way in which it was told and was surprised by some of the plot elements, such as Bart being forced to marry Mary. He gave the episode 7.5 out of 10. [cite web
last = Canning
first = Robert
url = http://tv.ign.com/articles/869/869822p1.html
title = The Simpsons: "Apocalypse Cow" Review
publisher = IGN.com
accessdate = 2008-04-30 ]

In a 2008 interview, Matt Groening named the episode his favorite of the series, citing the part with Homer in the slaughterhouse as the scene he liked best. [cite web| last = Topel| first = Fred| url = http://www.craveonline.com/articles/filmtv/04650665/3/interview_with_the_creators_of_the_simpsons.html| title = Interview with the Creators of The Simpsons| publisher = Crave Online| accessdate = 2008-06-11|date = 2008-06-10]

References