Original air date: 3/21/2004 (produced in 2003)
Production code: FABF-10
Homer and Marge's bond becomes stronger when they both get drunk on wine, but soon the bond unravels when Homer frames Marge for crashing the car and Marge is sent to rehab. Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa complain to Randall Curtis (a George Lucas-esque sci-fi director) about his latest film.
This episode contains examples of:
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: The Comic Book Guy hates the new Cosmic Wars movie so much he vows to only see the movie thrice more. That day.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: Fox is described here as a division of Orange Julius and as something Bart and Lisa want to complain about.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Bart and Lisa quickly figure out Marge probably wasn't the one driving, and proceed to confront Homer about it.
- Celebrity Paradox: This episode introduces the Cosmic Wars franchise, an obvious parody of Star Wars - trouble is, those have already been referenced in-series (and will continue to do, as three episodes later, Homer tries to check out a movie called Chocolate Star Wars, only to learn it doesn't exist).
- Everyone Has Standards: When Homer confesses to Moe about framing Marge, Moe is disgusted and tells Homer he should be drinking watered down beer from a chipped glass sitting on a nail. Moe then proceeds to do just that. Homer then asks whether he can have some peanuts, to which Moe begrudgingly agrees, but only if he gets to poke Homer with a sharp stick, which he also does as well.
- Frame-Up: Homer frames Marge for driving while intoxicated when he drives drunk and steers the car off the road. He frames Marge by moving her from the passenger seat to the driver’s seat while she was unconscious and then fleeing from the crime scene.
- Grail in the Garbage: Moe pours Homer and Marge a bottle of 1886 Cháteu Latour
for $4 before looking up what it's worth. He then wipes his tears on a lost Shakespeare play. - Hypocritical Humor: When Lisa criticizes Jim-Jam Bonks of being a "tired stereotype", Italian chef Luigi complains, "Yes, and it's-a making-a me so mad, I'm-a gonna throw the meatballs at the screen! But first, I gotta pose-a for a pizza box-a," and he does so, holding a pizza in a stereotypical Italian pose.
- Insane Troll Logic: "I'm in no condition to drive. Wait, I shouldn't listen to myself, I'm drunk."
- Jerkass: Homer crashes the car on the way home from Oktoberfest, then panics when he sees a police car driving up. He then sets up a still sleeping Marge to take the fall for his crash to save himself.
- May the Farce Be with You: Cosmic Wars is an obvious parody of Star Wars.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Moe regrets serving Homer and Marge an 1886 Chateau Latour when he looks up its value in a wine collector's guide (which he admits is "a step I perhaps should have taken initially").Moe: Let me dry my tears with this lost Shakespeare play.
- Porky Pig Pronunciation: Marge does her best impression of the Drunk Stork from Looney Tunes.Marge: Oh, no. I'm getting incarcer—HIC! Incarcer—HIC! Incarcer—HIC! I'm going to jail.
- Rhetorical Question Blunder: During the Creature Works tour, the guide comes across two men in the middle of a motion-capture production and declares, "Who knows what fantastic creature these two men are creating?" The man operating the computer turns to the tour guide and responds, "It's a Hip-Hop loaf of garlic bread for an Olive Garden commercial."
- Saw "Star Wars" Twenty-Seven Times: After the latest Cosmic Wars movie "The Gathering Shadow" is a disappointment, Comic Book Guy makes the following comment.
- Comic Book Guy: Worst Cosmic Wars ever! I will only see it three more times... Today.
- Shout-Out: When Bart reads the Opening Scroll for Cosmic Wars, he reacts by exclaiming, "What the Fark-bot?!"
- Take That!: The first part of the episode is one at The Phantom Menace, and the hype surrounding its release which led to the immense disappointment of the fans; from the overreliance on CGI effects to the focus on the political structure of the Galactic Republic at the expense of the story and characters (most of the in-universe movie is dedicated to the Chancellor Valorum expy calling roll). Jim-Jam Bonks is an obvious potshot at Jar-Jar Binks, being shown as an annoying stereotype that nobody cares about despite the creator anticipating him being an Ensemble Dark Horse, with everybody throwing his merchandise into the trash.
- Tie-In Cereal: Cosmic Wars has Jim Jam Cereal, which is described as being Alpha-Bits with more 'J's.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Marge gets understandably pissed off when Homer confesses to using her as a scapegoat. He weakly defends that he “did it out of love”, as in “love of not getting arrested”. Naturally this excuse doesn’t fly with her.
- Worst. Whatever. Ever!: Comic Book Guy describes the new Cosmic Wars movie as the "worst Cosmic Wars ever".
