Bull-E

"Bull-E" is the twenty-first episode of the twenty-sixth season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, and the 573rd overall episode of the series. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 10, 2015.

Plot

Bart isn't excited about going to his first school dance, but after he accidentally destroys the orange drink machine that Nelson's mom's boyfriend brought over, a 5th grade girl is impressed and asks him to dance. Bart then wins the "Best Dancer" trophy and the girl asks him to meet her outside, but the bullies are waiting for him and they break his trophy and mock him, leading the girl to tell him she's leaving and Bart to feel completely humiliated. When Bart tells Marge about the incident, she goes to a City Council meeting and says it's time to make bullies feel scared instead of their victims, and a bill giving the police wide powers to crack down on bullying is passed unanimously. Prior to the bill being passed, Hans Moleman initially voted "No" until Mayor Quimby angrily threatens and shoves him, causing him to change his vote to "Yes".

Chief Wiggum starts out by legitimately arresting bullies like Jimbo, Kearney, and Dolph after they try to steal Bart and Milhouse's sleds. However due to how vaguely the law defines a bully, the police can arrest almost anyone, which Chief Wiggum soon begins to do even if they are wrongly accused. Homer, who has abused the new law on anyone who even mildly inconveniences him, gets a taste of his own medicine when Rod & Todd Flanders (who are fed up with how Homer treats Ned) have him arrested and he's sentenced to 90 days of treatment. While in the center, Homer has an epiphany that he is cruel to Ned because his neighbor is better than Homer in everything he does, and Homer is then held up as a paragon of reform and celebrated. However, Ned doesn't accept this ridiculous logic and bluntly tells Homer that Ned does not forgive him for his past actions. A distraught Homer begs for forgiveness which Ned refuses several times. But after Homer penitently kneels on Ned's lawn for a long stretch, Ned tells him he is forgiven. The Simpsons and Flanderses then join together and have brunch.

Reception

The episode received a 1.2 rating and was watched by a total of 2.77 million people, making it the most watched show on Fox that night.^[1] Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B, saying "since the Homer-Flanders dynamic can only stretch so far—Flanders has to stay Flanders, Homer Homer—an episode that sets out to seek an emotionally satisfying rapprochement between the two has to earn its eventual big moment, and "Bull-E" comes up just short."^[2]

References