Margaritaville (The Smiths)

Margaritaville is the second episode of season thirteen of The Smiths. It aired on March 25, 2009. It follows Homer, as he steps forward with a solution to fix the desperate financial state everyone finds themselves in. Quahog gets behind him and everyone starts to live a life that no longer depends on any economy at all. Meanwhile an unlikely savior makes the ultimate sacrifice to solve everyone's problems.

Plot
The story opens with Homer and Morty at a local bank, because Homer thinks it's important for Morty to learn to save his money. Morty gives the teller the $100 savings bond from his grandmother. The teller explains how instead of simply putting it into the bank like he should that he will invest it in several different ways, while only to state a split second later that "it's gone", meaning that all the money was lost. Homer is angry, but the teller asks him to stand aside for customers that actually have money. The teller does this to two more people, whose money also instantly vanishes. At dinner, Homer explains to the family why the economy is struggling, blaming it on people who spend their money on foolish things while not having enough to actually pay for it, which he explains to Francine while making himself a margarita in an automatic-margarita-making-machine called a "Margaritaville". The blending is so loud that you can't hear his explanation. The machine is obviously very expensive, this is ironic as it is representative of a stupid purchase Homer himself had made with money he didn't have so he had put it on credit.

People in Quahog are struggling with the recent economic downturn and many people on the street are preaching about who they should blame. A Wall Street executive suggests that low interest rates are to blame, a regular citizen blames the problems on Wall Street, and meanwhile Stewie blames it on the Jews. Homer continues to teach his philosophy to the rest of the city, while at the same time defending his own stupid purchases, saying the bare essentials people should buy include Margaritas. Homer's ideas become the most popular and he starts to gather a following, telling people they have angered the economy with their reckless spending and encourages people not to spend money in order to propitiate the economy's anger. People start to wear togas made of bed sheets so they don't have to wash clothes as much and also try to spend as little as possible to try and earn the economy's favor, like it's some sort of deity. Mayor Adam West then officially declares the Margaritas Day.

Brian, getting annoyed with everybody's idiocy, starts to get his own following through Francine when he preaches that the economy isn't actually angry with them since it's not a living being, saying if they want the economy to get better, then they need to spend money. Word gets back to Homer and his friends and they eventually decide that they need to kill "the Jew". Brian continues to preach to people that the economy doesn't really exist except in people's minds and that if they want the economy to be strong, they must first have faith in it. He shows how easy it is to get money by showing a no-limit American Express Platinum Card that he applied for just a few days ago. This all happens in a setting that parodies older paintings of Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount. Stewie, in his desire to obtain a copy of Grand Theft Terrance and Phillip: Chinatown Wars, says that he will deliver Brian and Francine to Homer in exchange for the game.

Brian go out to drink at the Drunken Clam, and he laments to Quagmire, Cleveland, Joe, Moe and Barney that he feels they won't be able to get together like this anymore because people can't afford luxuries like booze. He says he worries that one of his friends will betray him. All of them act shocked while Stewie appears out of nowhere and says that whoever betrays Brian "is a dick." and "it's not cool!"; Brian admits to the guys that he knows what he has to do to save everyone.

The next day, it shows everybody in the town lining up to a table with Brian and a credit card machine, where he is "paying everybody's debts" with the no-limit American Express Platinum Card. Francine asks him not to do it because he will be paying it off for the rest of his life. Brian agrees, but feels he must do it to help everybody in Quahog. After paying the last person's debt, a $17,000 bill from Homer, Brian passes out. The episode ends with a news report about how the economy almost didn't survive in Quahog if it wasn't for the efforts of one very brave person, President Obama. It ends with Brian praising Obama's government.

Cast

 * Dan Castellaneta as Homer Smith, Barney Gumble
 * Wendy Schaal as Francine Smith, Patty Bouvier, Selma Bouvier
 * Justin Roiland as Morty Smith, Neil Goldman, Toshi Yoshida
 * Spencer Grammer as Summer Smith
 * Seth MacFarlane as Stewie Smith, Brian Smith, Glenn Quagmire
 * Mike Henry as Cleveland Brown
 * Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson
 * Hank Azaria as Moe Szyslak, Fouad bin Laden, Comic Book Guy
 * Trey Parker as Mr. Garrison, Mr. Mackey
 * Harry Shearer as Mr. Burns
 * Adam West as Mayor Adam West
 * Jennifer Tilly as Bonnie Swanson
 * Curtis Armstrong as Snot Lonstein
 * Eddie Kaye Thomas as Barry Robinson
 * Jenny Slate as Mina bin Laden

Reception
The episode won a 2009 Emmy Award in the category of "Outstanding Animated Program (for programming less than one hour)". This is the show's fourth overall Emmy Award.

Source

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