From Russia Without Love

Plot

Marge asks Homer to uninvite Moe from Thanksgiving dinner, leaving Moe depressed and unresponsive to Bart's prank calls. Bart, Milhouse, and Nelson escalate by accessing the dark web with Herman's help and ordering a mail-order wife for Moe. A woman named Anastasia arrives at the bar; Moe denies sending for her but lets her stay. She transforms the bar into a high-class establishment.

Moe is smitten but, fearing heartbreak, refuses romance, so Anastasia moves out to work at the Russian Tea House in Odgenville. Homer discovers Bart receiving a dark web package—a pregnant Sumatran breeding rat—and he and Marge force Bart to confess. Marge punishes Bart while Homer tells Moe the truth and urges him to fight for Anastasia. Moe finds her at the Tea House dating Krusty.

Encouraged by barflies, he crashes their picnic and confesses his love; Anastasia breaks up with Krusty and agrees to honor the contract. Bart is made to help at Moe and Anastasia's wedding as his final punishment. However, Bart, Milhouse, and Nelson, having learned Russian from the dark web, realize the marriage contract gives Anastasia all rights to Moe's property and expose this at the altar. Moe refuses to marry her.

Anastasia admits she is an American scam artist, then leaves to seduce Groundskeeper Willie by pretending to be Scottish.

Reception

Tony Sokol of Den of Geek gave the episode 3 and a half out of 5 points, noting it contains no political commentary and only social commentary on catfishing. Sokol described the episode as a long sad look into Moe, ending with Nelson stranded on an outpost a planet away. Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a C+, criticizing the script for lacking investment in Moe's emotional dilemma or the dark comedy of the mail-order plot. Perkins compared it unfavorably to an Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode on the same subject.

The episode scored a 0.9 rating with a 4 share and was watched by 2.35 million viewers, making The Simpsons Fox's highest rated show of the night. Hank Azaria was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance at the 71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards for his performance as Moe Szyslak, Carl Carlson, Duffman, and Kirk Van Houten.