For the life of me I will never understand why this episode is so poorly rated. At IMDB it comes in at humanity-questioning 238th place, which seems like an extraordinarily unfair positioning for such an important episode that was so far ahead of its time. This episode has some great comedy laced throughout it, but like most of the better Simpsons episodes, its the story and ideas at its heart that make it such an interesting watch. In the episode Homer makes a mistake when he Bart catches him dancing at a stag do with a belly dancer named Princess Kashmir. Marge is mad at him, and he gets kicked out of the house. But Marge isn't jealous of Homer giving attention to another woman - she is enraged that Homers misogynist behaviour could have very real impacts on the way that his son treats women. Given that their boy is already a bit of terror, Marge understands how crucial these formative years are to helping shape Barts word view. She is fiercely intelligent, self respectful, and a champion for the underdog. Thus, the idea that her son could ever think that women were objects forces her to draw a line in the sand. And thats really quite phenomenal given just how much trouble television shows still have to this day in creating strong female characters who dont conform to very specific stereotypes or images. To give you a sense of perspective this episode came out in 1990, and Baywatch came out a year after this episode debuted. So not only was it uncommon for smart female characters to truly demand respect, but television was really entering the golden era of misogyny and male sexual fantasy fulfilment. With episodes like this one in its first season, the Simpsons demonstrated immediately that it was here to change the game and do its own thing. Like Marge, it would command respect by not compromising its own values. Agree with this list? Which episodes do you believe are underrated? Let us know in the comments. Like this article? Follow us on Twitter: @WhatCultureTV
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