Other Towels

\"The Blunder Years\" is the fifth episode from The Simpsons' 13th season. It marks the official return of Al Jean as full time show runner. more...

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Plot

While unpacking after her daily grocery shopping, Marge realizes that she has bought a different brand of paper towels called \"Burly Paper Towels\". However, she does not mind so much after seeing that the spokesmodel on the cover is a rugged, handsome lumberjack. The fact that the towels absorb liquids much better than a sponge or other towels impresses her even more. Homer notices Marge fantasizing about the manly mascot and becomes jealous. Later, Marge types out a letter to \"Burly\" and Homer, after reading the typewriter ribbon, decides to play a prank on her. Homer makes Marge believe that \"Chad Sexington\" (the \"Burly model\") is coming for dinner that night. Marge prepares the house for his arrival, but finds out about the prank when Barney Gumble enters as Chad. While Homer and Bart have a hearty laugh, Marge feels humiliated and storms off, as does Barney. Lisa tells Homer that Marge is really unhappy, so he decides to make up for it by taking the family out to dinner.

They go to the Pimento Grove, where live performers perform. One of the acts is a hypnotist called Mesmerino. Homer volunteers to be hypnotised. Mesmerino hypnotises him into thinking he is twelve years old again. As Homer starts to reminisce, he starts screaming incessantly all through the night. The next day, Lenny and Carl bring him home early from work, still screaming. They finally manage to calm him down with some Yaqui tea. He starts to recall the events leading up to the scream-inducing incident. He starts to remember, and in a flashback, he, accompanied by twelve year old Lenny and Carl, are hiking in the woods and are confronted by a young Fat Tony, but are saved by a young Moe. The present-day Moe arrives at the Simpsons' home, upon noticing that his bar was empty. He begins to recall the events of that day.

He remembers that while they sat by a fire that night, they saw a near-meltdown at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. The next day, they went to the old quarry for a swim and Homer jumped in, only to find that there was no water, only mud. After falling in the mud, he started screaming a bit. Moe believes that's why Homer was screaming the night before. However, Homer recalls that there was no water in the quarry because something was blocking the inlet pipe. When Homer unblocked it, he found a rotting corpse in it, causing him to scream even more.

The mystery of the corpse intrigues the family. They figure that the body can not have been discovered after that day, so it still must be there. The Simpsons decide to investigate. They go to the old quarry and meet Chief Wiggum there, who wants to tag along. Marge uses Burly paper towels to drain the water from the quarry. They find the skeleton and go into the inlet pipe to see where the body came from. They find that the pipe leads to a ladder, which in turn leads to Mr. Burns's office. They confront him about the body, but he insists he did not murder anyone. He tells them that the dead man is Smithers' father, Waylon Smithers Sr. He shows an old surveillance tape, during the imminent meltdown (which young Homer and his friends witnessed) in which the father of Waylon Smithers goes into an unstable reactor core to prevent the meltdown. He succeeds in saving the city but he dies in the process due to exposure to large amounts of radiation.

Read more at Wikipedia.org