A Milhouse Divided

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<tr><th width="33%">Show Runner(s)</th><td>Bill Oakley
&
Josh Weinstein</td></tr> <tr><th width="33%">Couch gag</th><td>The family runs to the couch and sits, but Bart is glowing green. Homer fiddles with the TV, switching him to red. Then he slaps him behind the head, giving him back his normal color.</td></tr>

The Simpsons episode
"A Milhouse Divided" <tr><th style="font-size: 100%;" align="center" colspan="2">Image:Milhouse Divided.jpg</th></tr>
Episode no.	159
Prod. code	4F04
Orig. Airdate	December 1, 1996
Writer(s)	Steve Tompkins
Director	Steven Dean Moore
SNPP capsule
Season 8 October 27 1996 – May 18 1997
Treehouse of Horror VII You Only Move Twice The Homer They Fall Burns, Baby Burns Bart After Dark A Milhouse Divided Lisa's Date with Density Hurricane Neddy El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer) The Springfield Files The Twisted World of Marge Simpson Mountain of Madness Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show Homer's Phobia Brother from Another Series My Sister, My Sitter Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment Grade School Confidential The Canine Mutiny The Old Man and the Lisa In Marge We Trust Homer's Enemy The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase The Secret War of Lisa Simpson
List of all Simpsons episodes...

"A Milhouse Divided" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons' 8th season.

1 Synopsis
2 Trivia
3 Cultural references
4 Quotes
5 External link

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Marge decides to throw a dinner party to escape from the doldrums of everyday life at the Simpson house. She invites the Flanders family, the Lovejoys, the Hibberts and the Van Houtens. Kirk, Luanne and Milhouse Van Houten come late, and the parents nitpick at each other all night as Milhouse plays upstairs with Bart. The two seem to get more quarrelsome as the party progresses, and finally, despite Marge trying to divert the party away from the fighting pair, Luanne demands a divorce.

Kirk moves out of the Van Houten house and into "Casa Nova: A Transitional Place for Singles", where he sleeps in a race-car bed. Despite his drab new surroundings, Kirk keeps a cheery attitude toward it all... that is, until he is fired from his job at the cracker factory for being newly single (crackers are "a family food," his boss explains). Meanwhile, Luanne quickly begins her life after Kirk by starting a new relationship with Chase, who goes by "Pyro" on American Gladiators. Marge invites Homer to go see Spalding Gray with Luanne and Chase, but Homer declines, instead going out with Kirk. Kirk also has a new relationship; he begins dating a wig-wearing radio station temp named Starla who promises to help him launch his singing career, but instead steals his car. While at Moe's, Kirk mentions that he never saw the divorce coming. "One day, your wife is making your favorite meal," he says. "The next day you're thawing a hot dog in a gas station sink." Homer begins to fear that his and Marge's marriage might be next, especially when he sees that Marge left hot dogs thawing in the sink for him.

Homer enlists the aid of Lisa to help him figure out how to save his marriage. He recalls his wedding reception, which was nothing more than him and Marge at a truck stop with a whale-shaped cake that read "To a Whale of a Wife." Homer tries to perform selfless gestures for Marge, such as making "soothing" ocean noises to lull her to sleep (which includes squawking and him saying "Arrr, matey"). Marge acts fairly indifferent toward these gestures, so Homer files for a divorce from Marge. However, this is not an admission of defeat; when Marge comes home, Homer surprises her with an impromptu second wedding, complete with many invited guests and a band with one of The Doobie Brothers as one of its members. Kirk sings a song at the reception to Luann, but she rejects a second marraige with him.

[edit] Trivia

Although Milhouse's parents stay divorced after this episode ends, they reunite in the 2005 episode "Milhouse of Sand and Fog".
Kirk works (or worked, since he was fired in this episode) at Southern Cracker, whose slogan is "the dryyyyyy cracker".
Chase takes Luanne out on the town in an Atlasphere from American Gladiators.
Marge makes Bart her specialty "butterscotch chicken", but in "Blood Feud " Marge says that Bart's allergies are "butterscotch and imitation butterscotch."
Originally, Bart was going to be jealous of Milhouse getting more attention and was going to try to split up Homer and Marge. This sub-plot was later dropped.
A big name singer was originally sought to sing "Can I Borrow a Feeling?" over the end credits. The writers wanted Sheryl Crow, but she declined and the concept was later dropped.

[edit] Cultural references

The episode title is a play on Matthew 12:25.

[edit] Quotes

Kirk: Sorry we're late, Luanne had to put on her face. She doesn't want anyone to know she doesn't have eyebrows.
Marge: Homer, is this the way you pictured married life?
Homer: Yeah, pretty much. Except we drove around in a van solving mysteries.
Otto: (leaving a cookware store called Stoner's Pot Palace in disgust) Man, that is flagrant false advertising!
Homer: (trying to console the bickering Van Houtens) You know what you two need? A little comic strip called Love Is.... It's about two naked eight-year-olds who are married.
Marge: I feel terrible. The Van Houtens split up at our party.
Homer: Marge, please! That was 20 minutes ago.
Marge: I shouldn't have served those North Korean fortune cookies. They were so insulting: "You are a coward." No one likes to hear that after a nice meal.
Homer: You can't keep blaming yourself. Just blame yourself once and move on.
Kirk: (describing single life at his new apartment) And another great thing: you get your own bed! I sleep in a racing car. Do you?
Homer: I sleep in a big bed with my wife.
Kirk: (dejected) Oh, yeah.
Casa Nova tenant: (at Kirk's door with a group of other tenants) Hey, there, Kirk.
Kirk: Oh boy! What's going on? Patio party?
Casa Nova tenant: No, a possum drowned in the pool. You have any garbage bags?
Kirk: Just throw it over the fence. Let Arby's worry about it.
Kirk's boss: (explaining why Kirk is being let go) Kirk, crackers are a family food. Happy families. Maybe single people eat crackers; we don't know. Frankly, we don't want to know. It's a market we can do without.
Kirk: So that's it, after 20 years, "so long, good luck"?
Kirk's boss: I don't recall saying "good luck."
Homer: I know you're only eight years old, and I don't want to put a lot of pressure on you, but you've got to save my marriage!
Lisa: Oh, okay. Can I stay up?
Homer: (pause) ... All right.
Homer: I'd like to file for... divorce.
Clerk: (unenthusiastically) These things happen. Eight dollars.
Homer: Marge, will you marry me?
Marge: Why, am I pregnant?
Homer: It's a second wedding, honey! Our first one was so crummy I had to make it up to you. I really love you.
Marge: Oh Homey, I know you love me. We don't need to get married again.
Homer: Yes we do! (shows Marge divorce papers) I got us a divorce this afternoon.
Marge: What?!
Homer: I didn't want a hokey second wedding like those ones on TV!
Rev. Lovejoy: I will now read these special vows which Homer has prepared for this occasion. Do you, Marge, take Homer, in richness and in poorness -- "poorness" is underlined -- in impotence and in potence, in quiet solitude or blasting across the alkali flats in a jet-powered, monkey-navigated... and it goes on like this.
Homer: You know, Marge, I was thinking about how much I enjoy your interest. So I wandered over to that theater you went to last night and I bought tickets to their entire season. Look, "Mostly Madrigals"... (feigning interest) Yeah, that might be good. Ooh, ooh, "An Evening with Philip Glass." (over enthusiastically) Just an evening? "Voices of the Elderly Poor." Hmmm...