Mine’s gotta be Marge on the Lam. It’s got Ballet as bears driving little cars, it’s got Homer about to have his arms sawed off cause he didn’t let go of soda, it’s got good waffles sticking together, it’s got moonshine straight from your own still, it’s got ghost cars, it’s got Miguel Sanchez, it’s got Sunshine and Lollypops and Raibows, it’s got precious antique cans, it’s got suspects in a…red car who are passing directly beneath the earth’s sun…now. it’s hilarious and really encapsulates season 5s ‘fuck it, we ball’ attitude.
I would guess it doesn’t count as underrated, but yeah, Homer’s Enemy is the episode for me too. The B-plot doesn’t even do a lot for me (okay, Grimes including “A son who owns a factory!” when angrily listing off Homer’s blessings was pretty great), but every scene with Grimes is pure gold. The scene where he’s laughing maniacally watching Homer drive off after tricking Homer and then stops laughing once Homer backs up into his car is amazing slapstick comedy, and the contest scene is perfection.
“Could you explain your model young man?” “Well, basically I just copied the plant we have now.” Burns is immediately impressed.
Yeah, that’s the best part of it. It’s such a great tragi-comedy.