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“Marge in Chains” in a strong Marge episode. It really does well by Marge. It’s also a great Lionel Hutz episode. Oh, and a tough beat for Jimmy Carter, but in a delightful way. Marge episodes get overlooked, which is fitting, in a meta way, because this is an episode about Marge herself being overlooked.
A flu has ravaged Springfield, including everybody in the Simpson family save for Marge. She’s already the one tasked with taking care of the family, but she’s being worked ragged during this flu outbreak. This leads to her accidentally forgetting to pay for a bottle of bourbon at the Kwik-E-Mart, and she is charged with shoplifting. The one issue with the story is that Apu is so stringent about prosecuting Marge. He knows her, and knows she is trustworthy. That is the one thing that doesn’t track.
Hutz’s poor lawyering (to be fair he is distracted by the brownest of the brown liquors) and Quimby looking for a win politically leads to Marge being sent to prison for 30 days. Marge is able to make some friends and do alright – it’s breezy sitcom prison – but the town falls into disarray. Not just the Simpson clan, but the town. The nadir is when the bake sale, sans Marge, is a fiasco. That’s why the town has to settle for a statue of Jimmy Carter, aka “history’s greatest monster,” and not a statue of Abraham Lincoln. Quimby lets Marge out of prison early, the Carter statue becomes a Marge statue, and Marge’s value to the town becomes clear.
The best way to clarify Marge’s role in the family, the town, and The Simpsons is through her absence. “Marge in Chains” does that in a great way. Plus, there are plenty of jokes to be found in the mix as well. I mean, a statue of Jimmy Carter and him being called “history’s greatest monster?” That’s a delight.
Don’t overlook Marge, and don’t overlook “Marge in Chains.”
