Marge the Lumberjill

Did You Know?

• Russi Taylor appeared one more time as the voice of Martin in 'Thanksgiving of Horror' after this episode.
• The episode was directed by Rob Oliver and written by Ryan Koh.

Plot

At Springfield Elementary, children perform dramatic scenes based on TV shows and YouTube videos. Lisa performs a scene based on her own family, with Database as Bart, Ralph as Homer, Sam as Marge, and Kearney as Maggie. The Simpsons feel uncomfortable seeing how others perceive them, and Marge feels self-conscious for being seen as boring. She tries a funny sermon at the First Church of Springfield but fails. Later, lightning fells a tree onto the family car. Homer begins chopping the trunk but falls asleep, so Marge takes over. Patty invites her lumberjill friend Paula to watch, and Paula coaches Marge, inviting her to become a lumberjill. Marge takes up timbersports and wins the Springfield Timbersports Pro-am with Paula. Patty tells Homer that Paula is a lesbian, making Homer fear Paula will steal Marge. Paula asks Marge to become her partner and train for a month in Portland, Oregon, which Marge accepts. A month later, Homer and the kids go to Portland to watch Marge and Paula in the Grizzly Timbersports Northwest Championship. They find Marge unsure about returning home. Marge and Paula win the championship. Paula tells Homer she is not romantically interested in Marge; she has a wife who is a ribbon dancer in the Olympics and a child. She assures Homer she and Marge are just friends. Homer offers his sperm if she wants another child, and she says he is in the top three. Back in Springfield, Homer buys Maggie a toy chainsaw, but she gets scared by it.

Reception

Leading out of an NFL doubleheader, the episode earned a 1.8 rating with an 8 share and was watched by 5.00 million viewers, making it the most watched show on Fox that night. Tony Sokol of Den of Geek gave the episode 2 and a half out of 5 stars, calling it mediocre and noting that Homer and Marge's marriage was never in real danger. Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B−, describing it as inessential and lacking great jokes, though he praised Jill Sobule's original song 'The Lumberjill Song' as a sweet touch.