Homer Scissorhands

Plot

An accident with paint leads to Homer using garden shears on Patty's hair, and the result is surprisingly stylish. Selma then insists Homer do her hair too, and soon he becomes the most sought-after hairdresser in Springfield, working on the hair of Helen Lovejoy, Luann Van Houten, Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon, and many other local women.

But the constant, pointless chatter of his clients makes him furious and distressed, to the point where he tries to kill himself by swallowing a jar of disinfectant. When he vents to Moe and the other regulars at the bar, Homer realizes he can no longer look at any man there without noticing all the flaws the women complain about. Convinced he can actually hear hair growing all over town, he does Marge's hair for a party and they pass it off as Julio's work; Julio is instantly mobbed by women wanting his services.

Separately, Milhouse has a profound shift after watching Finding Nemo from the very start for the first time, since he and Bart had only ever seen it from Chapter 2 onward, after Nemo's mother dies. Grasping that death could come for anyone, he decides to live every day as his last. He declares his love for Lisa and writes her a love song set to the tune of Greensleeves. Lisa turns him down, but he catches the attention of a fifth-grader named Taffy.

They start dating, but Lisa suspects Taffy is just using him and begins spying. Taffy, annoyed by Lisa's interference, concludes Milhouse will never love her because he is too fixated on Lisa, and she leaves. Heartbroken, Milhouse asks Lisa exactly how miserable she wants him to be. Guilty, she gives him a kiss to lift his spirits.

Milhouse asks if that means she likes him. After a pause, Lisa says life is full of surprises and tells him not to give up on finding love. Milhouse then faints, falls off a cliff, and is caught by an eagle. Lisa smiles, happy to see him feeling better.

Production

This is the first and only episode co-written by Steve Viksten, a freelance writer who co-developed the Nickelodeon animated series Hey Arnold! The plot of Homer becoming a hairdresser was an unused side story idea from the fourth season episode New Kid on the Block. Kristen Schaal guest stars as Taffy, although her surname is spelled incorrectly as Schall in the credits; the chalkboard gag from the following episode 500 Keys was written to correct the error.

Cultural references

The episode title references the 1990 film Edward Scissorhands directed by Tim Burton. Homer tells Marge to call him Homer Fingerhands, and several scenes parallel the film, such as Homer rapidly styling hair with garden shears mirroring Edward sculpting hedges and ice. The musical score features instrumentation reminiscent of Danny Elfman's soundtrack for the film. Lady Gaga is mentioned by Helen Lovejoy, who notes her husband has given up basing sermons on Seinfeld episodes in favor of discussing the pop singer.

Homer's attempt to commit suicide by drinking blue comb disinfectant parodies the Seinfeld reunion storyline from Curb Your Enthusiasm. Homer's salon, Are We Hair Yet?, parodies the 2005 film Are We There Yet?

Homer references Warren Beatty and the 1975 film Shampoo. Selma compares Patty's haircut to Victoria Beckham, while Homer objects he was trying to replicate Mel B's hairstyle. Milhouse's romantic ballad uses the melody of Greensleeves.

Reception

In its original American broadcast on May 8, 2011, Homer Scissorhands was viewed by an estimated 5.480 million households and received a 2.5 rating/8 share among adults 18-49, a 7 percent drop from the previous episode. Rowan Kaiser of The A.V. Club gave the episode a C−, feeling the main plot was neither terrible nor good and that Kristen Schaal's appearance was wasted. Eric Hochberger of TV Fanatic gave it 3.8 out of 5 stars, highlighting the jokes and visual gags but also feeling Schaal was not used properly. In 2022, Comic Book Resources ranked the episode's couch gag as the eighth best in Simpsons history.