I was trying to think of the darkest, evillest moment on the Simpsons and kept coming back to the same one -- when Lisa noticed the German car company's crash test dummies were actual people. "This exhibit is closed!" Can anyone think of something darker? More depraved? More soul-damning?
Pretty much anything from the Frank Grimes episode counts as being pretty sinister selon moi...especially the funeral scene.
I think we've got a winner. One of the best black comedy episodes of the series. But I'm going to nominate the whole Bont sequence in "You Only Move Twice". As Homer glibly puts it after inadvertently being the doom of this British superspy who in no way bears a resemblance to a certain Ian Fleming creation: "I tackled a loafer at work today."
The episode where Bart was being given ritalin, Homer and Marge go to tell the scientists they're pulling him out. The guy pushes a button, and two syringes on arms come out of the ceiling and inject them both. Marge passes out. Homer says "Hey wait a minute, mine just had air in it!" Then clutches his heart and collapses of a heart attack.
Another one, from a Halloween episode from a few years ago when Homer replaces the angel of death; to demonstrate to Bart's class, he invites a homeless man in under the pretence of giving him a hot meal, and then kills him. The kids cheer.
There was that scene in one of the more forgettable halloween episodes where Homer ran over Ned Flanders repeatedly with the car.
"The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" has a number of my favorite dark moments. Homer: Here it is everybody! The world's greatest web site! [a highly annoying newbie web page, complete with several clashing sounds, is seen] You'd think all the noises would be annoying, but they're not. Bart: I got suspended from school today. Homer: No kidding. [obviously ignoring and then continuing to ignore Bart] What do you think of my page, Lisa? Be honest, it's great, isn't it? Go ahead, say it's great if you want to. Bart: They found a switchblade in my locker. Lisa: Well, a web page is supposed to be a personal thing. You've just stolen copyrighted material from everyone else. They could sue you for that. Bart: I took a swing at a cop. Homer: They can't sue me if they don't know who I am. I'll just call myself Mr. "X". Bart: I'm just mad all the time. Homer: Yep, you just can't go wrong with Mr. "X". Woman: We'd like to award this years Pulitzer prize to Mr. "X". Unfortunately, we don't know who he is, so his cash award will be used to feed starving children. Homer: Noooo! [runs down to podium] Homer: I'm Mr. "X"! Gimme, gimme! % Back at home. Marge: I'm proud that you won the Pulitzer ... Homer: Finally.. Marge: ... but I do feed bad about the starving children. Homer: They're with God now. Marge: Oh, well, that's good. [realizes] Hmmmm. Moe keeping Moleman underneath his floor. Flanders: [reading a computer screen] They're controlling our minds with flu shots. I knew it. Well, kids, now aren't you glad that we don't believe in inoculations? Rod + Todd: [shivering from an apparent fever] Yay. Todd: Mommy?
I still like the flashback episode concerning Lisa's first word. I believe this is the one where Bart has to give up his crib and start sleeping in a bed. Homer either builds or buys him a clown bed. As Bart lies awake staring at the clown, it start to speak. "If you should die before you wake... HAHAHAHA!" The next scene shows litle Bart shivering in the living room and muttering, "Can't sleep. Clown'll eat me. Can't sleep. Clown'll eat me."
I'd say he's pretty directly responsible for it. But I agree. Pretty dark moment and turn for the series. It's always sad to me to watch Ned and his kids after Maude died. It's amazing (though I guess this goes with the Flanders' religous roots) Ned is so forgiving of it and still manages to remain neighborly and friendly towards Homer, even after everything Homer says/does to him. ... Maybe someday Homer will realize the best friend he's ever had is Ned.
Agreed. I think The Simpsons was a lot better when it was more of a family sitcom-cartoon and before it became a whole lot more farcical.
Heh, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Hank Scorpio's command that got Homer started in the first place: "Stop him! He's supposed to die!"
IMHO, the darkest Simpsons moment ever comes at the end of "The Mansion Family," when a fishing net full of people is dropped in the ocean. Moe: Hey, whaddaya know? It floats! Homer: That was my plan all along. Now, relax and the currents will take us home. Bart: What about the people on the bottom? Homer: They're the greatest heroes of all. Hey! Something's clawing at my leg! [pause] Okay, it stopped.
I thought this last sundays episode had the darkest moment ever. They've done painful and tragic moments well but it wasn't funny, it was just terrible. If you missed it, good!
He did once. Flanders is better off with Homer hating him. The baby-sized noose in the movie is pretty damned dark.
Chief Wiggum: No jury in the world will convict a baby....Well, maybe Texas. Chief Wiggum: Ok men here's the order of deportations: first will be rounding up your tired, then your poor, then your huddled masses yearning to breath free. Homer: (While manipulating the corpse of Flanders, and trying to mimic his voice.) Remember Maude when I die I don't want an autopsy. There's also when Uters parents were trying to get information from Skinner on what happened to their son. Mr. Burns laughing at the window washer who is about to fall off his platform. Mr. Burns: Schindler and I are like peas in a pod. We both owned factories. We both made weapons for the Nazis, but mine worked. Grampa Simpsons: I never thought I could shot down a German airplane, but last year I proved my self wrong. Homer: Dad quite making up lies or we'll put you in a home. Grampa Simpson: I'm already in a home! Homer: Then we'll put you in that crooked home we saw on 60 Minutes. Grampa Simpson: I'll be good.
i think it was season 7, at the beginning the simpsons go to a christian convention, where they show an episode of "Davey and Golaith" that teaches how to make pipe bombs for abortion clinics, among other things