My all time favorite Simpsons episode, and what I feel is the best at showing off a wonderful series at its wonderful best. "Homer’s Enemy" introduces Frank Grimes, a young man who knows what he’s doing. He knows what he needs accomplished, he knows how to accomplish it, and always hits his mark. Yet he always seems to just break even. And so when he meets up with Homer Simpson, a lazy coworker with no motivation and nothing under his accomplishments file, Frank just assumes he is below him. He begins to hate Simpson, but Homer is desperate to make him his friend, so he invites him to dinner. A lobster dinner. Frank is dumbfounded to see that Simpson can afford a lobster dinner with his limited brains and abilities. But there’s more. Homer had more under his belt than Frank gave him credit for. He owns a big house. Has a nice family. He has been in outer space. His son owns property (okay, it’s an abandoned warehouse, but still, it’s property) and so much more that the hard working, well deserving Frank could never hope to achieve. So to get back at him for something that wasn’t his fault, Frank tricks Homer into entering a contest designed for children, expecting him to be ridiculed by everyone in the plant. Instead that backfires. (GRIMES: But it was a contest designed for children! LENNY: Yeah, and Homer beat their brains out!) Grimes becomes disgruntled, and begins to run around the plant being remiss in every duty possible, including going to the bathroom ("Look! I’m peeing on the seat! Give me a raise!") in an effort to make everybody see through his imitation what a fool Simpson is. Those of you who know the episode know what happens here. Those who don’t, don’t. And I will not spoil it for you. Let’s just say it’s more irony, and a prime example of why The Simpsons is, in my eyes, the perfect show.

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