Bart the Fink
I feel like while I'm not some huge well of untapped superpotential (OK, I do but I'm also aware that I have delusions/fantasies of grandeur) but I know if I was willing to do work that I didn't like, I could probably make more money than I do now. As a teacher, I loved seeing students grow and knowing I played a role. But the greater drug is the love of adoring children. Of course it is. But it isn't just "yay, I made a child happy", its "yay, I'm popular." Its not just the love, its the feeding of my ego and knowing that I'm important. The fact that I was courted more than once when I decided to leave on of my jobs (the nature of it made me feel uncomfortable but the concept made me feel like a huge cheese in a small pond). I could probably make more money, but there's something to be said for a job that allows me to feel popular.
In this episode, Bart tries to get Krusty's autograph by slipping a check into his pocket and waiting for him to endorse it. However, Bart is confused when it comes back with a stamp to a Cayman Islands off-shore holding corporation. Bart wants an explanation and after taking it to the bank, Bart inadvertently uncovers that Krusty is a huge tax cheat. Krusty is sparred jail but his fortune is stripped away and with it his status, sending him into a depression. One evening, Krusty is seen flying over Springfield in his personal plane, which crashes into a mountain. Bart is overcome with guilt in the part he played in Krusty's downfall but one day he sees him on the street. After a couple more sightings, Bart becomes convinced he's alive. Putting together a common element in the sightings, Bart discovers that Krusty is living as sunken ship salvager Rory B. Bellows. "Rory" reveals he faked his death and wants to be free of his previous life and debts. Bart and Lisa convince Krusty to return because while he might be able to forget the people who made him famous, he can't turn his back on the adulation they provide him.
Bart the Fink is a great episode but I can't help examining closely what makes Bart's final case to Krusty so convincing. He brings back Krusty's earlier contention that "teachers and scientists" are hogging all the glory and reminds him he was once more popular than all of them combined. Its easily to see it as cynical but I feel like there's something going on that's more than just mean-spirited. Krusty is forced to admit that he definitely has an extremely superficial "love" of the phonies. Lisa points out that celebrity makes you feel better than regular people, which I imagine is 100 per cent true, even if one tries to deny it. I mean, no matter how humble you are, if you are CONSTANTLY being told how important you are, that's going to effect you. Even if you have low self-esteem, it probably makes you feel like you are a better person who sucks worse than anyone. But in the end, Bart appeals to his sense of glory (you know, the glory of being a clown). Earlier Krusty thinks respect without money is nothing, but with both gone and the reveal that Krusty could have made much of his money back easily, it is the desire to be more respected than those who deserve it that spurs him forward. So why does it not feel like a bitter pill and even a little triumphant? Perhaps simply because Krusty is being honest with himself and deciding what matters to him, even if it is something base like vainglory.
Much of the episode is about Bart dealing with the guilt of bringing a downfall to his hero. Objectively, Bart did nothing wrong and everything lies in Krusty's hands. The relationship between these two are different than anyone else in the show; as off the beaten path in terms of characterizations go, Bart never has anything less than complete admiration for Krusty save for when his betrayal goes to far. Bart's love is not a blind love; he's intensely aware of every scandal and publicly known misdeed and can site them off better than anyone. Its not even unconditional. But it is relentless and no matter how badly Bart's been betrayed, he's ready to come back. Krusty, meanwhile, despite Bart's repeated involvement in his life, doesn't even seem to remember Bart's name until the story happens and they throw in together. He doesn't hate Bart, but he doesn't think much of him. I don't even mean in terms of respect, I mean he literally doesn't stay in his mind, much in the same way Homer doesn't stick in Burns mind. Krusty is so dependent on Bart so often but while Krusty doesn't dislike Bart when he's around, its out of sight, out of mind.
I only got it in this viewing but the last act is heavily inspired by one of my favourite movies, Vertigo, down to a Bernard Hermann-esque score. I won't go into much detail if you haven't seen that one (the movie is famous but I think the story isn't as well known as Psycho so there's a good chance going into this one without knowing all the twists) but it does involve someone seeing someone they thought had died. But while Vertigo is a creepy movie about the male gaze, Bart the Fink is about Bart's. Krusty is everything to Bart but when Krusty isn't Krusty, he's not afraid of getting all up in his grill to make Krusty BE Krusty. In Vertigo, there's a tragic warped mutual but not mutual love wrapped in lies and guilt. In Bart the Fink there is love and guilt but the love isn't mutual. But Bart realizes Krusty needs love. Not a romantic or even platonic love but the love and respect from people to make him feel big. It doesn't matter too much who. The audience is a sea of anonymous people. But as long as they sing his praises, he'll find a way back to the spotlight, regardless of the cost. Even his own life. But I wouldn't worry; he has a few to spare.
Jokes I missed before:
Not one of the Simpsons better "toy with a hacky old joke" jokes but I did notice it this time.
Other great jokes:
"Best night's sleep I've ever had."
"Their tapwater tasted better than ours."
"Some might say you're a hero, kid. Not me, though, I love Krusty."
"I don't say evasion, I say avoision."
Me trying to figure out my taxes.
"All I brought's a dime. I didn't know there'd be pornography."
"The moon hit his eye like a big pizza pie. We wrote a song about it. But it ended up infringing on one he wrote years before."
"If only there was something to interrupt this awkward moment."
"Yes, that'll do nicely."
"OK folks, nothing to see here-- OH MY GOD, A HORRIBLE PLANE CRASH!"
"Don't worry, son. I'm sure he's up in heaven right now laughing it up with all the other celebrities. John Dillinger, Ty Cobb, Joseph Stalin..."
"And so Herschel Krustofsky is gone, but not forgotten: today was the unveiling of the new Krusty stamp. Postal patrons were asked to choose between two competing designs: one of Krusty's heartwarming smile and one of his fiery death. By a nearly two to one vote, the smiling Krusty was chosen."
"Don't let Krusty's death get you down, boy. People die all the time. Why, you could wake up dead tomorrow. Well, good night."
"Just as if I were to tell you that Jasper here has five seconds to live."
"What'd he say?"
"HE SAID I'M NEXT."
Man, Mrs. Glick has no chill this season.
Extra emphasis for the Pier One joke.
Other notes:
I had to double check if this was the same haunted house inheritance from Homer Loves Flanders. Nope; the last one was from Uncle Boris and this one was from Great Aunt Hortense.
So do you think Comic Book Guy buying $100 tacos to watch Doctor Who also ties things into Lisa's PBS money plans?
Bart's check plan is a clever plan.
Another background appearance from Miss Pennycandy, Krusty's loving assistant, who may never get another speaking role. Also, she's blond in this episode.