"The Last Temptation of Homer" is the ninth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 9, 1993. In the episode, an attractive female employee named Mindy is hired at the nuclear power plant. Homer and Mindy find themselves attracted to each other after bonding over their shared interests of beer, donuts and television. Although Homer is tempted to sleep with Mindy, he remains faithful to his wife Marge. Meanwhile, Bart becomes an outcast after medical treatments make him look like a nerd. The episode was written by Frank Mula and directed by Carlos Baeza. It features cultural references to films such as The Wizard of Oz, It's a Wonderful Life, and A Christmas Carol. It did not get the usual amount of laughs at the test screenings, which made the staff worry the show was not as funny as they expected. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics; guest star Michelle Pfeiffer was especially praised for her performance as Mindy, which was highlighted on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 16 best guest appearances on The Simpsons. It acquired a Nielsen rating of 12.7, and was the highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
Plot After Homer, Lenny, Carl, and Charlie miraculously escape from a gas leak at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, Charlie asks Mr. Burns to add a functional emergency exit to the plant. Burns degrades and promptly fires Charlie. During Burns's attempts to find Charlie's replacement, agents from the United States Department of Labor come to the plant and charge Burns with violations of several labor laws; Burns has employed undocumented immigrants and working animals, but has never hired a woman. A beautiful woman, Mindy Simmons, is hired and when Homer first sees her, he has a hallucination where she resembles the figure in The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, which he attributes to eating a packet of powdered gravy he found in the parking lot. Homer immediately becomes attracted to Mindy. Barney advises Homer to talk to Mindy because they will most likely have nothing in common. To his horror, Homer discovers that Mindy shares many of his interests, and Marge develops a cold, causing Homer to find her unattractive. While Homer and Mindy are in an elevator together, they catch each other muttering to themselves "think unsexy thoughts", and realize the attraction is mutual. Bart is sent to an eye doctor, who finds Bart has a lazy eye and fits him with thick glasses he must wear for two weeks. A dermatologist treats Bart's dry scalp by matting his hair down with a medicated salve, parting his hair to both sides. He receives a pair of oversized shoes from the podiatrist to help his posture, and the otolaryngologist sprays his throat. These changes make Bart look and sound like a nerd, causing school bullies to pick on him. Bart eventually returns to school in his normal guise after his treatments end, but the bullies pummel him anyway. Homer tells Mindy they should avoid each other because of their mutual attraction. However, Mr. Burns chooses Homer and Mindy to represent the power plant at the National Energy Convention in Capital City. To make matters worse, the convention organizers award Homer and Mindy a free dinner in a romantic restaurant. Later, in Homer's hotel room, Mindy tells Homer how she feels about him, but notices his anguish and tells him to decide what to do. Although he is very tempted by her, Homer declares his faithfulness to Marge. Mindy accepts his decision and leaves after they share a small kiss. Later, Marge and Homer share a romantic evening together in the same room.
Production
The episode was written by Frank Mula and directed by Carlos Baeza. The premise was pitched by then-show runner David Mirkin. When he was hired to work on The Simpsons, one of his goals was to study the aspect of Homer Simpson's character if he was "really tempted away" from Marge. Mirkin wanted to find out what would happen in a situation where Homer finds himself attracted to another woman. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening had previously written the third season episode "Colonel Homer", where Homer finds himself attracted to a country singer named Lurleen Lumpkin. In that episode, Lurleen immediately had a "crush" on Homer, but Homer belatedly became aware of it. With this episode, Mirkin wanted Homer to immediately know he was attracted to Mindy. Mirkin thought it was a "great exploration" to see what happened to Homer in this particular case. The episode did not get the usual amount of laughs at the animatic test screening, which made the staff worry it was not as funny as they expected. Mirkin said it had to do with the fact that because there were very "subtle" performances in the episode, the animation had to be "exactly right" for it to be funny. Baeza and David Silverman, another animation director on the show, worked "hard" on the episode. Mirkin said from the very beginning it was a "huge group effort" from both the writing and the animation staff. Many scenes in the animatic portrayed Mindy as flirty. Mirkin did not like this because the secret of the episode was Homer and Mindy are two good people who are thrown into the situation and "can't help that their libidos are going crazy upon seeing each other". He added that the two characters have "so much in common" that it is "not just a physical relationship, but a mental connection as well", and that Mindy is not a seductress but rather a woman just as nervous as Homer. Mirkin also pointed out that while Homer is being tempted by a "seemingly perfect" woman at work, his wife could not be more "imperfect" since she has got a cold and looks sick. "He's trying to connect with his family, but with Marge looking sick and Bart looking like a nerd, everything is just not working," Mirkin said.
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