“The Italian Bob” is the eighth episode of The Simpsons’ seventeenth season. It first aired on December 11, 2005 in U.S.A. and March 14, 2007 in Italy. This episode is the ninth appearance of Sideshow Bob and the last seen appearance of him since this episode aired. This episode was also shown during the Super Bowl XL Halftime show (February 5, 2006).
Couch gag: A hand tosses out playing cards with pictures of each Simpson on them
Chalkboard: none
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Synopsis
After Montgomery Burns old car gets teased by the Kids in Springfield Elementary, he tells Homer to pick him up a brand new Lamborgotti Fasterossa car in Italy. The rest of the family comes along with him as they fly over on Alitalia. After they pick up the car, they have a great time touring the country. They visit multiple cities such as Pompeii which is spelt Pompei (actually the correct spelling of the city in Italian) when they arrive. During the trip Homer and Bart manifest profound knowledge of the history of Italy, not to mention the Italian language. However, after a huge wheel of Mortadella lands on their car, they push it into a small Tuscan village nearby called Salsiccia, which means sausage in the Italian language. When they get there, they ask an elderly woman for help, and she tells them that the mayor speaks English. However, they find out the mayor is none other than Sideshow Bob. They are shocked to find him there, and for once, he feels the same way. He explains to them that after he attempted to kill Bart, he came to Italy to begin a new life. After a rough start, the natives warm up to him after he helped them crush grapes into wine (using his enormous feet). After that, they elected him mayor of their village. Bob no longer has any intention of killing Bart, and it is revealed that he has a wife and son, Francesca and Gino, and they don’t know anything about his past life in America. Bob begs the Simpsons not to tell anyone, and they agree in order to have the car fixed.
The Simpsons enjoy spending time in the village, and they continue to keep Bob’s past a secret. However, when Lisa gets drunk at a party, she starts to spout off about him being an attempted-murderer. He leads her away from the table, but as she stumbles backwards, she rips off his suit and everyone can see that underneath is his outfit from Springfield Prison. They find out the Bob is an attempted killer, and they take away his title as mayor. The Simpsons take off in the fixed car, and Bob swears vendetta on them.
After the family flees, Bob begins to follow them on a motorcycle. Homer drives into a ditch and ends up driving on ancient Roman ruins, and after they go off the end, the car ends up on top of Trajan’s Column in the Roman Forum. Bob’s wife meets up with him, and she tells him that they will kill the Simpsons together as a family (Gino, too).
Meanwhile, the Simpsons are wondering what they should do next. Lisa spots a bus with a poster advertising Krusty the Klown’s performance in Pagliacci. They meet up with him at the Colosseum, and he puts them in as extras. However, Bob, Francesca and Gino find them and corner them in on the stage while Krusty, who went into a trap door, flees the stage, allowing Bob to perform the climax of Vesti la Giubba. Before they can kill them, though, Krusty’s limo picks them up, who needs them to smuggle an ancient artifact back to American which they split amongst their persons. The Terwilligers walk away with evil smiles, no doubt plotting revenge.
Trivia
- This is the second time Lisa gets drunk.
Cultural references
- The episode title is a reference to the 1969 film The Italian Job and its 2003 remake.
- The Lamborgotti Fasterossa is virtually identical to the real-life Lamborghini Gallardo. As a play on the names of Italian exotic cars, the Fasterossa’s name is also derived from the Ferrari Testarossa and the manufacturer Bugatti. The badge is of a horse (which appears on the Ferrari badge) but is in the stance of the bull on the Lamborghini badge. The ‘rossa’ root might explain the car’s red color, despite Lamborghini’s signature yellow color. Also, Sideshow Bob chases the Simpsons with a motorcycle that looks like a Ducati 999.
- The song Lisa chants as the cheeses bounce towards the Fasterossa is to the tune of “Italiano Calypso”, a song on The Seven Hills of Rome.
- Lisa mentions Jean Valjean as an example that characters can redeem themselves. Bob, Marge and Principal Skinner have worn Valjean’s prison number, 24601 in the past. Also, the episode’s plot is similar to “Les Misérables“, where as Jean Valjean was mayor of a town until he was found to be an ex-con.
- This episode marks the first cameo appearance of Stan Smith from the American Dad series. He, like fellow cameo Peter Griffin from Family Guy, is shown with their regular skin color rather than yellow skin, as Caucasian characters in The Simpsons are normally portrayed (both Seth McFarlane’s cartoons use regular skin colors instead).
- Sideshow Bob’s line, “Now cut that out!” is a reference to Jack Benny.
- This is the second episode to reference the opera Pagliacci, the first being Large Marge in the fourteenth season.
- The Da Vinci Airport is the main airport of the city of Rome.
Awards
- Kelsey Grammer won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his voice portrayal of Sideshow Bob in this episode.
- This episode won the 2007 Writers Guild Awards in the animation category.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Italian_Bob
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