Every Simpsons Ever: Episode 8 “The Telltale Head”

Episode 8: “The Telltale Head”

This one utilizes a pretty interesting narrative device.  While most of the episodes so far have employed linear storytelling, Episode 8 begins with a flashback, and then goes back and explains the event, only to catch back up to the events at the episode’s beginning.

So, the episode starts at the height of the action. Bart and Homer are walking down a Springfield street late at night. Bart is holding the head off a statue of Jebediah Springfield, the town’s founder. As they turn a corner, they’re met by an angry mob. It becomes clear that everybody is furious over the now-headless statue. With Bart and Homer surrounded in the town’s center, Bart scales the statue and yells out to the crowd, begging for the chance to tell his side of the story.

And his story is one of compromised ideals in the face of upward social mobility. It all begins with Marge’s refusal to let Bart see “Space Mutants 4.” Despite his wife’s opposition, Homer undermines Marge and gives Bart the money to see the movie. As soon as he gets there, Bart sees older kids Dolph, Jimbo, and Kearney. The power dynamics at play become immediately apparent. Bart is the younger kid, and he’s gonna have to do a lot to prove himself cool to his peers.

“What if you’re a really, really good person and you’ve been in a really, really bad fight and your leg gets gangrene and it has to be amputated? Will it be waiting for you in Heaven?” – Bart Simpson

Bart, Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney all sneak into the movie. And, before the credits, they are all unceremoniously booted from the theater. But this is just the first of their infractions. Next, Bart finds himself inadvertently the patsy in a shoplifting scheme at Kwik-E-Mart. As he continues to bend his morals, Bart begins to lose himself in his pursuit of cool friends. And, after hearing an throwaway remark about how lame the Jebedia Springfield statue is, Bart gets it in his head that he should cut the statue’s head off.

As soon as the head is off, Bart starts regretting the decision. He wakes up with the decapitated head in his bed, in a hilarious The Godfather nod. And this is where Bart’s guilt begins to parallel that of the protagonist in the parodied-in-name “The Telltale Heart.” Like that famous Poe story, Bart is haunted by his decision. Not only do his “friends” think its uncool, but his family and community all react horribly too. Even Bart’s beloved Krusty the Clown has some nasty words for the still-unknown vandal.

Now, with the whole town whipped into a frenzy, Bart realizes the full extent of his vandalism. And his guilt begins to talk to him through Jebediah Springfield’s head. Finally, he is forced to confess to his family, and Homer escorts him to the town’s center. Here, the story links back up to its beginning, with the angry mob closing in on the Simpson boys. But by now we understand the guilt that fills Bart. And as he tells his story, he shows the townspeople that his misdoing has actually united them all. Plus, just as Homer undermining Marge starts the conflict in the episode, he closes the story standing next to his son, helping to solve the problem.

FIRSTS

• Reverend Lovejoy
• Ms. Albright
• Dolph
• Kearney
• Jimbo
• Apu
• Krusty the Clown

GAGS

• Chalkboard: “I did not see Elvis”
• Couch: The Episode 1 gag in which Bart gets smushed off the couch and flies into the air is reused here in Episode 8