Springfield Up

Plot

Documentary filmmaker Declan Desmond presents his project Growing Up Springfield, which follows several Springfield residents at eight-year intervals to see how their lives have changed. A central subject is Homer Simpson, who as a child wanted to be a rich and successful rock musician. As an adult, he has started a family and now lives in an enormous mansion, which he explains he earned by creating a pen that dispenses condiments. While Desmond interviews Marge, Mr. Burns arrives and reveals the mansion is his summer home, and he did not give them permission to use it.

Burns orders Smithers—whom Homer had tied up inside a grandfather clock for three days—to release attack dogs on the family to chase them away, though Burns must first go back to his other home to collect the dogs. Desmond follows Homer to try and humiliate him after his pretense of being rich is exposed. Homer admits to the camera that he wanted to be the cool person in Declan's documentary but realized he was only included to make everyone else look good.

As Homer walks away, Desmond tries to end the scene with the words "Strong words from a dumpy man" and attempts to cut the camera. Marge angrily urges the cameraman to keep filming as she confronts Desmond, telling him that Homer went through a lot of trouble to impress him and that Desmond was wrong to intrude on their lives. Later, drinking at Moe's, Desmond admits to Moe that he regrets humiliating Homer. Moe tells him he was wrong to judge Homer, pointing out that Homer is married to Marge, has three children, a job, and his own home.

Desmond produces a compilation of people saying good things about Homer. When Homer watches it, he realizes that spending time with his family and friends has made him truly happy. Nevertheless, Homer vows to achieve his dream of rock stardom within the next eight years. Homer and Desmond then sing a duet of a song Homer wrote called "Satan You're My Lady" as an exasperated Marge looks on.

Production

The episode was written by Matt Warburton and directed by Chuck Sheetz. It is based on Michael Apted's Up series, a British documentary series that followed the lives of 14 British children from 1964 to 2019, from when they were seven years old, returning every seven years to document their lives up until Apted's death in January 2021. English comedian Eric Idle guest starred as documentary filmmaker Declan Desmond. Idle had previously played Declan in two earlier episodes: 'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky (2003) and Fat Man and Little Boy (2004).

Reception

"Springfield Up" originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 18, 2007. The episode has received generally positive reviews from critics. Robert Canning on IGN named it as one of the three "outstanding" episodes of the eighteenth season. He gave it an 8.5/10 rating and commented that it was "by far one of the best Simpsons episodes from the past few seasons.

Jokes and gags came fast and furious, all while telling a great story in a cleverly unconventional way," and added that "At its core, 'Springfield Up' was a simple story about Homer feeling the need to impress the snooty British documentarian, but then realizing his life wasn't as bad as he thought. It's a tale we've seen on The Simpsons time and again, but the fresh twist of having it presented within Desmond's documentary made it very memorable."

TV Squad's Adam Finley wrote: "I didn't love it, and I didn't hate it — for the most part, this week's episode was 'just okay' in my opinion. It was nice to see Eric Idle return [...], but the episode felt like two different episodes battling for the same thirty-minute space. [...] In this episode we spend a lot of time learning about those who grew up in Springfield, but Homer's story is also wedged into the mix — it seems the episode should have just been about Homer feeling depressed about his life, or a lighter episode focusing on all the resident of Springfield.

I'm not saying the episode was a complete write off, because I think it was still funny, just a little thinner than I come to expect from this series."