Gal of Constant Sorrow

"Gal of Constant Sorrow" is the fourteenth episode of the twenty-seventh season of the animated television series The Simpsons, and the 588th episode of the series overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on February 21, 2016.

"Gal of Constant Sorrow"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 27
Episode 14 (588th overall)
Directed byMatthew Nastuk
Written byCarolyn Omine
Production codeVABF06
Original air dateFebruary 21, 2016 (2016-02-21)
Guest appearance(s)

Bob Boilen as himself
Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob
Natalie Maines as Hettie (singing voice)
Kate McKinnon as Hettie

Episode features
Couch gagThe Simpsons family dressed as American football players reunites at the center and get in position, Homer tries to sneak Maggie in as a football but goes over the couch and smashes the wall where he finds the TV remote.

Plot

During breakfast, Marge discovers a loose tile on the floor and says that she will have to call a handyman. Homer gets the hint that he is not handy and decides to replace the tile himself. He succeeds with the help of an online tutorial, but soon realizes that he has trapped the family cat Snowball II inside the floor. He later manages to free the cat from the walls, but also traps Santa's Little Helper inside. Homer eventually falls through the roof trying to rescue the dog, only to find that Marge has already rescued him and has been doing the handywork around the house to cover for Homer's mistakes; she admits she played along with this as she found the idea of Homer being "handy" attractive.

Meanwhile, Bart participates in a sled race on a hill, but Milhouse slows them down, out of fear. Bart knocks Milhouse off, but he loses control of the sled and hits the shopping cart of a homeless woman named Hettie Mae Boggs, throwing it and all of her things into a frozen river. Feeling guilty, he invites Hettie to the Simpsons' house. Hettie gets too comfortable in Bart's closet, so she decides to give Bart one dollar per day as a rent. Lisa soon realizes Bart's suspicious income and discovers Hettie, but Bart convinces her not to tell Marge out of fear that Hettie will get kicked out of the house.

They also discover Hettie's incredible talent for music, so Lisa invites her to stay in her closet and helps her record her songs. Bart warns Lisa against this because if Hettie lets her down, Lisa will not be able to deal with her emotions. Lisa showcases the songs to the town and manages to arrange a concert and a NPR interview for Hettie. However, during the interview, Hettie reveals that she is a drug and heroin addict who could be very violent to the point of shooting someone (possibly her parents) in the face, much to Lisa's shock.

Hettie soon goes missing on the night of her concert, so Bart and Lisa come clean about her to Marge and Homer. With less than thirty minutes to go before the concert, Lisa distracts the audience by playing her saxophone while Homer and Bart search for Hettie. They manage to find Hettie drinking on Cletus Spuckler's farm, and talk her into calming down and coming to her concert, only to find that a heartbroken Lisa had failed to entertain the crowd, so the place is almost empty. Hettie decides to sing one last song dedicated to Lisa, who decides to forgive her.

During the credits, Hettie is shown playing in a rehab clinic only for the interns to escape to Moe's Tavern through a secret tunnel. One of the interns, Disco Stu, comments that the bar is dirtier than the tunnel.

Reception

"Gal of Constant Sorrow" scored a 1.4 rating and was watched by 3.10 million viewers, making it Fox's highest rated show of the night.[1]

Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+ stating, "For all the griping about The Simpsons overstaying its welcome, it doesn’t take much for the show to win back viewers’ trust and affection. The characters and pieces are all in place, just waiting for the right tune to start moving in a semblance of their former hilarious harmony. For the second episode this season, credited writer Carolyn Omine pitches her script with a deftness and an understanding of the Simpsons that makes an episode fairly sing."[2]

References
  1. Porter, Rick (February 23, 2016). "Sunday final ratings: 'Shark Tank' adjusts down". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on February 24, 2016. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
  2. Perkins, Dennis. (February 21, 2016). "Bart and Lisa's musical friend finds a note of sweet silliness on The Simpsons". The A.V. Club. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
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