Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder: Here I Am at Camp Depression
Homer’s characterization is nothing if not… inconsistent. Sure, he’s a multi-faceted guy, and everybody’ll surprise you from time to time. That being said, there’s a difference between complexity and inconsistency. Complexity can be surprising, but it has to be believable. In these past couple of seasons, Homer has kind of been exactly what the writers needed him to be, whether it made sense for his character or not. His personality, and the way his mind works in general, was being adapted to fit the story being told and his role within it. However, even with all of that preamble, I was still surprised to see Homer contemplating suicide in Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder.
To be fair, this isn’t entirely out of character. Homer tried to kill himself once before, all the way back in Season 1. In Homer’s Odyssey, Homer gets fired and, unable to find a new job and provide for his family, decides to tie a rock around his waist and jump off a bridge. This time the situation is a little different. Homer bowls a perfect game and becomes a local celebrity. Eventually, people get sick of him and stop caring about his minor achievement, and Homer gets depressed and considers jumping to his death. He climbs to the roof of a tall building with the intent of jumping, only to be pushed by the next suicidal person in line. In a moment that recalls the climax of the classic Kevin-Spacey-gets-trapped-in-a-sassy-cat film Nine Lives, Homer realizes mid-freefall that he wants to live. And then he does, which is nice.
Now, I’m not gonna say that Homer’s Odyssey is some classic. It was very early in the show’s run, the characters weren’t totally ironed out yet, the show was still trying to find its footing. However, it is a much more emotional and tonally consistent episode than Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder. You buy Homer’s decision, at least to some extent, because the show sells his emotional state. He feels like a failure in the eyes of his family, the people he loves the most. He cannot care for them and give them the things they need, so he decides to no longer be a burden on their lives. In comparison, killing yourself because you’re no longer a local celebrity seems a little less justified.
And yet, both of these suicide attempts kinda come from the same place. Homer has always been nagged by this sense that he hasn’t accomplished much with his life. The last time he felt this way, back in last season’s The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace, Marge reminded him that he was an astronaut, which is pretty good as far as lifetime accomplishments go. Still, Homer can sometimes feel worthless, as we all do from time to time. It seems that bowling that perfect game and feeling important distracted Homer from his inner inadequacy. Once the applause faded, Homer was confronted with the true nature of his achievement. It was small, and it was fleeting, and now Homer had to go back to his boring old life as an underachieving nobody. As when he was fired, Homer felt small, insignificant, unaccomplished. And so, he contemplated ending his life.
That being said, Homer’s decision here isn’t given as much weight as it is in Homer’s Odyssey. Homer doesn’t exactly decide to kill himself, but he goes up on that roof because doing so is a distinct possibility for him. He won’t necessarily do it, but he might. That is a huge moment, not one to be brushed off or taken lightly. But that’s exactly what they do. Homer thinks about killing himself, almost falls to his death, and then the show moves on. The moment is not earned, it is not justified, it is not handled respectfully… I hate it. The fact that I hate this sequence so much even though it contains an easter egg suggesting that there is an army of identical Hans Molemans living underground (which would explain how he keeps on dying) speaks to the intensity of my emotions on the subject. Cause that’s a good easter egg. I wanna laugh at that. I just can’t do it.
Anyway, Homer is not successful in his quasi-suicide attempt, and so he decides to devote the rest of his life to his kids. Lisa and Bart have no interest, of course, so he decides to focus on Maggie, who he accurately calls the “forgotten Simpson.” I have always been a Maggie fan, and have never understood why she is not utilized more on the show. Itchy & Scratchy shows that the Simpsons writers and animators are fans of silent (or nearly silent) cartoon humor, and why wouldn’t they be? So many classic animated shorts, the classic Roadrunner vs. Wylie Coyote bits for example, accomplished so much without dialogue. Years later the Simpsons would make an Academy Award-nominated short starring Maggie called The Longest Daycare which did likewise. I’ve always found it strange that the writers never let Maggie go off on her own adventures, which could then play into some of those classic tropes. Instead, they just use her as a background character. I’m pretty sure that Santa’s Little Helper has had more spotlight episodes than Maggie, and the animators often forget he exists for huge sections of the show. It’s just weird, that’s all.
What I’m trying to say is that a storyline starring Maggie would be very welcome at this point. Unfortunately, they have to shove it all into the last act of the show, and the whole thing just feels half-assed. First of all, Homer decides to start hanging out with Maggie for two reasons: his other children don’t like him and he saw Ron Howard taking his own kids to the zoo. In other words, it has nothing to do with Maggie. You know that classic, heart-melting moment in And Maggie Makes Three when it’s revealed that Homer is keeping his soul-sucking job at the plant for his infant daughter? That ending hits so hard partially because we never understood the extent of Homer’s love for Maggie until that moment. It reveals something powerful about Homer and how much he cares for his children, how great of a father he can occasionally be. The issue is that we’ve never really seen evidence of that love since. Even now, when the whole episode should be based around it, their connection just doesn’t feel that strong.
They try to show that connection in Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder, but it’s so underdeveloped. Homer’s about to drown in the ocean and Maggie performs a superhuman feat of dragging him to shore. This is supposed to show the depth of her love for Homer. It’s been said that parents can accomplish superhuman feats of strength when their children are in danger, and this is clearly a play on that. However, it’s so ridiculous that a baby could drag an obese adult out of a deadly rip current that the moment falls totally flat. And I know the show’s not realistic at this point. The humor has gotten way more fantastical than this. But this isn’t a joke. At least, I don’t think so. This is supposed to be an emotional moment showing the bond between Homer and his neglected daughter. I cannot emphasize how ineffective it is in that regard.
The episode ends with Homer and Maggie going bowling together. This is supposed to be another bonding moment. Maggie bowls a perfect game, but Homer knocks five points off her score for a technicality. This is an interesting character moment for Homer. On the one hand, he has a baby who’s a bowling prodigy. If he acknowledged her accomplishment it would be a big news story. He might even be able to get back into the limelight. However, it would be Maggie’s accomplishment. She would be the star. Not only that, but people would care a hell of a lot more about Maggie’s story than Homer’s. Some fat schlub bowling a 300 is fine, but a baby doing it would be a sensation. That’s not local news, that’s national news. And that would probably make Homer feel inadequate, and he might have to go overdose on pills or something.
Listen, I’m not saying this episode is terrible. It’s actually trying harder than a lot of the other episodes I’ve covered. I like that it’s at least attempting some emotional beats, even if approximately none of them work. I like the eventual focus on Maggie, I just wish it hadn’t been so rushed. The celebrity voices are pretty fun too. Ron Howard is always welcome on the show, even if his appearance feels even more random than last time. And it’s fun to have the famously silent Teller from Penn and Teller talking so much (and then presumably being eaten by sharks). There’s also a really good Doors joke. Man, I just cannot stand The Doors. Jim Morrison was such a pretentious, drunken, pompous asshole, and he wrote really shitty poetry. Maybe I’m just in a bad mood. Sorry, everybody. We’ll try again next time.
