The Heartbroke Kid

Infobox Simpsons episode
episode_name = The Heartbroke Kid
episode_no = 352
prod_code = GABF11
airdate = May 1, 2005
writer = Ian Maxtone-Graham
director = Steven Dean Moore
blackboard = (first) None (second) Bart is placing coins in the vending machine instead of doing a chalkboard gag
couch_gag = The family along with the couch are launched by a catapult / Everyone makes it to the couch except Bart, who walks in a few seconds later and suffers a heart attack
guest_star = Albert Brooks as Tab Spangler and Jacques


image_caption = Bart in fat camp with his consuler Tab Spangler (Albert Brooks).
season = 16

"The Heartbroke Kid" is the seventeenth episode of the sixteenth season of "The Simpsons". The episode aired on May 1, 2005 in the US.

Plot

Principal Skinner is looking for a company to sign a vending machine contract with Springfield Elementary, with half of the machine's profits going to the school. He looks at suggestions of a Gumbo machine from the Sea Captain that seriously burned the Sea Captain's hand and from Gil and rejects them, until he gets a suggestion from Lindsay Naegle. The unhealthy vending machines are installed, and most of the students use the machines (save for Lisa, who protests their high sugar content and artificial additives), but Bart is seen using it the most frequently. Soon, Bart becomes obese, and, during a parody of "The Simpsons" opening credits, suffers a heart attack.

Bart sees Dr. Hibbert, who says that malted milk balls have clogged his arteries, and that a wad of Laffy Taffy is blocking his liver. He informs the family that Bart is addicted to junk food and tells Marge to put him on a diet. However, Lisa discovers that Bart has been hiding junk food in his walls, and the family stages an intervention. When Bart tries to run away, his chubby frame gets caught in a fence and he is caught by two representatives of a maximum security fat camp, Serenity Ranch. Bart ends up there with Apu, Rainier Wolfcastle (who was last seen fattening up for a movie), and Kent Brockman, and the camp's leader is none other than former junk food magnate Tab Spangler (who is dealing with many anger issues). However, when Bart is there, the family is faced with an expensive bill. To pay for the camp, the family converts their house into a youth hostel which attracts German tourists.

At the fat camp, Bart cheats by sneaking food, so Tab Spangler takes him home to visit the family to show him the horrors that occur. His family is working continually to appease the students staying in their home. The Germans humiliate the family, making Homer dance and forcing Marge and Lisa to clean intentional messes. He suggests Bart fight his addiction, and he does, by destroying the vending machines in school. His addiction to junk food is over, and he steals the money from the vending machines, which the family uses to pay for the bill and give the Germans "Das Boot". Homer gets revenge by beating up the Germans, and tossing them out. Tab Spangler says that Bart still has three weeks left of non-refundable treatment, and Homer goes with Tab (if this is by choice or not is unknown), where the episode ends with them driving in Tab's car arguing over the cheeseburger Homer is eating.

Cultural references

* The title of this episode is a play on the 1972 film "The Heartbreak Kid", which is also the nickname of the professional wrestler Shawn Michaels.
* Scammer and Z-Dog junk food was influenced by the urban junk food brand Rap Snacks.
* The song Homer sings for change to the German students on vacation is "99 Luftballons" (in its original German language, not the English version).
* The song played during Bart's junkfood sequence is "Yummy Yummy Yummy" by The Ohio Express. The song was previously featured in "" when Homer listened to that song on the same day the moon landing aired on television.
* The line "When I raged against the machine, money poured out" is a reference to the political rap-rock band Rage Against the Machine.
* When Bart rips off the Krusty poster in his room which conceals a stash of junk food, it is a reference to "The Shawshank Redemption", where Andy Dufresne's means of escape is through a hole in the wall covered by Rita Hayworth's famous pin-up poster of her kneeling in bed.
* When Bart arrives with the money procured from the vending machines, Homer and Marge agree (with some delight) to get rid of the German lodgers. When some try and refuse to leave, Homer announces that it is "time to take out the "Eurotrash".