The Wife Aquatic

"The Wife Aquatic"
The Simpsons episode
File:Wife Aquatic.png
Episode no.	Season 18
Directed by	Lance Kramer
Written by	Kevin Curran
Original air date	January 7, 2007
Episode features
Couch gag	The couch and the Simpsons are pinned onto a bulletin board.

The Wife Aquatic is the tenth episode of The Simpsons' eighteenth season, which originally aired January 7, 2007. 13.9 Million viewers watched this episode, making it the highest rated of seasons 17–20.

Plot

After watching Patty and Selma's old home videos of a trip to Barnacle Bay in New England during a town-wide outdoor movie night, Marge pines for the excitement she had in her youth. Moved by his wife's depression, Homer organizes a surprise trip to the island. However, on the family's arrival, Marge's hopes to relive her youth are dashed as Barnacle Bay has been devastated by overfishing of the Yum Yum Fish, the island's main attraction. Homer refuses to let Marge down and fixes the boardwalk and celebrates with a large fireworks show. The plan backfires and he accidentally starts a fire and the boardwalk burns down. In order to repay the townsfolk, Homer joins a fishing crew and sets out to rediscover the Yum Yum Fish.

File:Barnacle Bay.png

The Island of Barnacle Bay

Homer mistakenly beer batters and deep fries the fishing hooks, attracting a large haul of Yum Yum Fish. However, their celebrations are short-lived as Homer and the crew become trapped in a storm. Searching for a means of escape, they discover Bart has stowed away and removed the lifeboat in order to hide. The ship sinks and Marge and the rest of Barnacle Bay believe that all is lost. Much to the everyone's relief, Homer, Bart and the rest of the crew manage to survive and are rescued by a Japanese fishing boat called "Iruka Koroshi Maru". The townsfolk recommence fishing, but Lisa warns them about the dangers of overfishing. Agreeing with her, the townsfolk decide to go into logging instead, and clear cut the island's trees, which are planned to be sent to a paper mill to be made into issues of Hustler and Barely Legal magazine.

Reception

File:Wife Aquatic Crew.png

The crew of the Rotting Pelican.

This was the highest rated episode since season 16's Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass, which aired right after Super Bowl XXXIX. Barring that, the ratings were last this high in 2003, with "I, D'oh-Bot" which had 16 million viewers.

Cultural references

• The title of the episode is a reference to the film The Life Aquatic.
• The episode parodies The Perfect Storm, among other nautical movies. The fishermen's successful catch, and the subsequent storm (including the monster wave that wrecks the boat) are all reminiscent of the 2000 movie.
• While Homer is clubbing the Yum Yum fish, "At Last" by Etta James is heard.
• The home movie with Marge and her sisters is a spoof of the same scene in Prince of Tides, with similar music. Similar scenes already appeared in the episodes "Selma's Choice" when Marge imagined spending summer at the lake with her sisters and Great Aunt Gladys, then realizes that her memory was really a scene from Prince of Tides, and in "Fear of Flying", when Marge accidently refers to her psychiatrist, Dr. Zweig, as Dr. Löwenstein several times.
• While going to the Barnacle Bay museum, Marge and Lisa pass an exhibit called "The Science of SpongeBob".
• The musical piece that's played throughout the episode is the "Aquarium" movement from Camille Saint-Saëns' "The Carnival of the Animals".