Recap / The Simpsons S11 E21 "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge"

"USURPER! USURPER!"

Original air date: 5/14/2000

Production code: BABF-18

Otto breaks up with his fiancee Becky at the altar, leaving her to stay at the Simpson's house, where Marge fears Becky will replace her as a better wife and mother. Meanwhile, Principal Skinner assigns Bart's class into making a video (so long as it's not a parody or rip-off of The Blair Witch Project), which the school was able to afford by cutting geography lessons from their budget.

Tropes:

• The Ace: Becky is a great cook, a painter, knows how to stage karate moves, killed competition at a talent contest and foiled a usurper.
• Always Someone Better: Becky to Marge. She is more pretty, she listens to the kids, and she has already foiled an usurper.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
  Selma: Look, all we know is she's going to shoot you or stab you or boil you.
  Patty: Or club you with an antique wooden doll.
• Artistic License – Ornithology: Lisa states that consumption of rice makes birds swell up and explode, which is actually a myth. Wild birds are capable of eating uncooked rice without ill effects, with some species like bobolinks actually feeding on paddy fields (hence their informal term "ricebirds").
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • A double when Marge learns her brakes have been cut; the window glass somehow manages to withstand the punishment, but not the largest speedbump.
  • At Marge's insanity hearing:
  Dr. Foster: Marge Simpson, you give us no choice but to declare you utterly-
  Marge: I'm not insane!
  Dr. Foster: You didn't let me finish. INSANE!
  • When Marge tries to find proof that Becky is up to no good, she finds two headlines that seem promising until she reads the rest of the headline:
    • "Local Girl Kills...Competition in Talent Contest".
    • "Another Usurper Foiled...by Becky".
• Bondage Is Bad: Marge comes back to the house with Becky to apparently ritualistically murder Homer, both of them in S&M gear. Subverted when it turns out they're making a video for Bart's project, although it at least seems to be the theme of Becky's video.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Marge takes a page out of Homer's book as she briefly strangles Becky.
  Marge: Why you little...
• Call-Back:
  • Bart suggests they host Otto and Becky's wedding at the Simpsons' house because they can reuse the leftovers from Apu's wedding.
  • When asked about his parents in "The Otto Show", Otto remarks that "The Admiral and I don't get along". Sure enough, when we meet him in this episode, he's wearing a naval uniform.
  • When Marge is Mistaken for Insane, her "unhealthy fixation on Ringo Starr" is brought to bear against her, referring back to "Brush With Greatness."
    Marge: It was healthy! He reciprocated. He reciprocated!
• Comeback Tomorrow:
  Becky: And if you pick up some semolina, I can make couscous for Lisa.
  Lisa: It's my favorite!
  Marge: It is?
  Becky: Oh, yeah. You can learn a lot from your kids if you just listen to 'em.
  (moments later, while Marge is driving...)
  Marge: Why do I always think of the perfect thing to say when it's too late? "Shut up, Becky!" Oh, that would've been sweet.
• Contrived Coincidence: Played with. Ordinarily, Marge finding Becky giving mouth-to-mouth to Homer at the ice cream parlor just as Marge reached her breaking point would qualify as this, except this is Homer and ice cream related mishaps cannot be that uncommon for him. Marge arriving home to Bart's filming a music video with the family suggestively in peril is a more straightforward example.
• Control Freak: The whole plot happens because Marge can't stop herself from meddling with a couple's love life when she was not asked to.
• Couch Gag: The family comes in, colorless and marked with numbers. A group of Korean painters come in and color the family, but forget to outline the eyes on Homer and Marge.
• Daydream Believer: Patty and Selma both believe that The Hand That Rocks the Cradle was a documentary, despite Marge telling them both that it's not.
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • If we assume Becky wasn't being sarcastic, she would have killed Marge and stolen her family for forcing her to split up with Otto (who wasn't that good a marriage prospect, to say the least).
  • At the ending, Homer fired the tranquilizer dart to knock out Marge just for being assigned to scrub and mop.
• Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Discussed and averted. Patty and Selma are both disgusted at the thought of helping Homer in any way, but when they imply Becky will try to seduce or rape Marge's husband and she reminds them who that is they're still forced to admit "It's an act of violence, not love."
• Dude, Not Funny!: Bart's reaction to the "Mad Marge Dancers" sketch.
• Everyone Has Standards: When Patty and Selma are conversing with Marge about the possibility that Becky is trying to steal her family a la The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, they still feel disgusted about having to prevent Homer from getting hurt (even by proxy), but they feel the warning had to be made.
• Five-Finger Fillet: Homer attempts it on the kitchen table, and hits every digit almost dead center.
• Fingore: Homer learns the hard way why Marge doesn't like him to play knife games on the kitchen table. His response: "I didn't hit your precious table."
• Foreshadowing: It was quickly apparent that Otto and Becky were not going to get married when Otto interrupts Becky's accepting of his marriage proposal... just so he could listen to the guitar solo in "Every Rose Has Its Thorn".
• Fun with Acronyms: At the end of the episode, Marge tells Homer she has some "S&M" for him...and by "S&M", she means scrubbing and mopping
• Grievous Bottley Harm: A variant at the ice cream parlor. Marge breaks a giant ice cream cone decoration and uses it like a broken beer bottle to corner Becky.
• Halfway Plot Switch: The first act focuses on Otto and Becky's intended wedding, up until Marge gives her some advice, leading the two to break up at the altar. The rest of the episode focuses on Marge's brewing envy and jealousy with Becky.
• A Handful for an Eye: At the ice cream parlor, Marge attacks an employee by throwing a handful of sprinkles into his eyes.
• Hope Spot: The wedding was actually going nice...that is until Otto gets a Poison tribute band called "Cyanide" to play "Nothin' But A Good Time"
• I Just Want to Have Friends: After failing to dig up dirt on Becky, Marge wonders if she really might be crazy because she's talking to herself. A depressed Hans Moleman then tells her he thought she was making friendly conversation.
• Immoral Journalist: Kent Brockman calls Marge a Serial Killer who has killed people before and must be stopped before she kills again when he reports about her escape from the mental hospital. Bart instantly denies that statement.
• Improperly Paranoid: Zig-Zagged: Up until the reveal that Becky was planning to kill Marge, but stopped because it was becoming too much of a hassle, Marge seems to be overreacting (woman interacts with my family more sensibly = usurper). Although she still thinks her sisters are too weird by believing The Hand That Rocks The Cradle is a documentary.
• Improvised Weapon: When Marge confronts Becky at the ice cream parlor:
  Marge: Don't mess with me! I've got jimmies!
  (throws a handful of them at one of the employees, which hit him in the eyes)
  Employee: I can only see a horrible rainbow!
• Involuntary Smile of Incapacitation: When Marge gets a tranquilizer dart to the neck, she gets a dopey smile before passing out.
• Isn't It Ironic?: Otto proposes to Becky by playing the Poison song "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", which is actually a breakup song. And the music he chooses as a wedding march is "Nothin' But A Good Time" by Poison.
• It's All About Me: When Otto is given the ultimatum by Becky that it's her or rock and roll, he immediately ditches her and drives off to party with Cyanide.
• It's Been Done: Mentioned In-Universe with Skinner ordering the students to not do any videos resembling The Blair Witch Project.
• Jerkass Realization: While explaining what Becky would do to her, Marge reminds Selma and Patty who their brother-in-law is^note Homer, making the sisters react with Patty responding, "It’s an act of violence, not love."
• Lethally Stupid: Marge's failed brakes turn out to be from Homer accidentally draining the brake fluid while performing an oil change. He never told her because he assumed she'd be mad.
• The Lopsided Arm of the Law: Wiggum refuses to help Marge when she thinks Becky is trying to murder her, outright telling her (and everyone else, apparently) "the law is powerless to help you". When Marge attacks Becky, she is immediately arrested, and Wiggum smugly emphasizes the Exact Words of his previous statement ("powerless to help you, not punish you").
• Major Injury Underreaction: Homer decides to lick the ice sculpture at the wedding and gets his tongue stuck to it. He soon resolves it by simply pulling it off and casually walking away while the tip of it is still left on the ice.
• Man on Fire: Otto met Becky after the latter put out the fire engulfing his hair, head, and back.
• Mistaken for Cheating: In the second act, after Marge starts to harbor the paranoid belief that Becky is trying to steal her family, she arrives to the ice cream parlor and sees Becky giving Homer CPR after he almost drowns in a huge tub of ice cream, calls Becky an usurper, and attacks her.
• Mistaken for Murderer: Marge was convinced by her sisters Patty and Selma that Becky will attempt to seduce her husband Homer and kill her. When Marge claiming that she's planning to murder her, this leading to her being labeled insane. Subverted when it turns out Becky was trying to kill Marge (if she wasn't being sarcastic about it, that is).
• Not What It Looks Like:
  • Marge walks in on what she thinks is Becky and Homer kissing at the ice cream parlor and goes after Becky. In actuality, Becky was resuscitating Homer.
  • Later, Marge comes home having been convinced Becky isn't a threat... and sees the rest of the family chained up in S&M gear as it looks like Becky is about to torture them all. It turns out Bart was filming his school project and complained about Marge entering his shot.
• Parental Marriage Veto: Otto's father say he and Otto's mother don't approve Otto's marriage or any other life decision Otto's ever made.
• Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The title is a reference to the '60s film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
• Properly Paranoid: Becky was planning to murder Marge, at least originally (unless she was being sarcastic about it). She had gotten to the part where she had been making plans to bury her, but after having too much trouble buying a shovel, she decided to scrap the whole idea.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Selma and Patty brought up the idea that Becky was going to kill Marge, which turns out to be almost true, had Becky not abandoned the plan (if she wasn't sarcastic about it).
• Serial Killer: While on the run, the news implies Marge as one for... reasons. Averted with the following line.
  Bart: Kills again? She hasn't killed once!
• Shout-Out:
  • The Mad Marge Dancers are a parody of the "Dancing [Judge] Itos" during the O. J. Simpson trial.
  • Becky wears a Vampirella costume in the music video.
  • Patty and Selma reference The Hand That Rocks the Cradle as a 'documentary film' and example of what is Becky's plan for usurping Marge's family... this deviates from being a Whole-Plot Reference because it turns out that Becky got tired of the plan because she couldn't decide which shovel to use (if she truly meant it, that is).
  • When Otto puts on a top hat during his wedding, it makes him look like Guns N' Roses' guitarist Slash.
• Skewed Priorities: Played for Drama. Becky loses Otto because he cares more about death metal than the woman he supposedly loves, and she didn't want to walk down the aisle to a monster ballad at the wedding.
• Special Guest: Parker Posey as Becky.
• Stopped Reading Too Soon: Marge looks up old newspaper clippings at the library to try to find evidence that Becky's a criminal. Every time, Marge reads only part of the headline and gasps, but then reads the rest, which clears Becky of any wrongdoing.
  Marge: I really should read the whole headline before I react.
• Sudden Anatomy: At the beginning of the episode, Bart tries to film a camera up Lisa's nose. In the POV shot of the camera, a nostril appears on Lisa's nose as Bart closes in.
• Take That!: Of the Dramatic Irony variety: Otto mentions he met Becky during Woodstock '99, which he considered to be "the Summer of Love".
• Tempting Fate: Otto's parents leave right after he says how much it means to him that they showed up for his wedding.
• Trojan Veggies: Inverted when Marge reveals that she secretly adds meat juices to the vegetables she cooks for Lisa (who is vegetarian).
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • Marge suggests to Becky that she gives Otto an ultimatum; it's either her or the heavy metal. Otto chose the latter.
  • Homer certainly didn't help Marge's paranoia by accidentally draining the brake fluid of her car instead of the oil like he meant to.
• Whole-Plot Reference: To The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. Played with in that it was only Marge being paranoid because Becky is seemingly perfect (then it turns out that was planning on killing Marge, but she ditched the plan when she couldn't figure out which shovel to buy).
• Wrong for the Right Reasons: Though Marge went a little overboard with her advice to Becky, she was trying to help Becky stand up for herself about her needs in her marriage with Otto. Ultimately Otto would always choose heavy metal music over his wife and, even though Becky went through the embarrassment of being jilted at her wedding, she may have been better off realizing that before she legally tied herself to Otto for the rest of her life.
• You Just Ruined the Shot: Marge ruining Bart's video for school, as she thought it was Becky going to kill Homer.
• You Monsters: Homer says this to the three doctors who shoot tranquilizer darts at Marge, thinking they killed her.

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