Episode Review - "Homer's Phobia" Episode #168 8th Season Episode 15 4f11

"Homer's Phobia" starts with Bart breaking the family dryer during a lottery drawing he has set up for some classmates. From there the family owes $900 dollars to the gas man, after Homer drops the retirement fund, and it proceeds to sink deep into the earth (the retirement fund is all pennies in a water cooler jug), Homer calls into the hole for China to help but his pleas are left unheard. Marge makes the decision that they will have to pawn her Grandmother's priceless Civil War figurine. They go to "Cockamamie's" in the mall to sell the heirloom, only to find out that it is not a rare figurine at all, but in fact a whiskey bottle. Homer proceeds to chat with the store's owner John (excellently voiced by John Waters), who Homer invites back to the house to see all the valuable worthless junk they have. Homer decides John is a great guy and wants to have him and his wife over for drinks sometime, only to have Marge tell him that John is a homosexual, Homer's reaction is nothing more then a terrified scream. As the episode goes on the rest of the family continues to hangout with John, theis worries Homer as he starts to fear Bart may be gay. He tries to fix bart by making him stare at a cigarette billboard with woman pillowfighting for two hours, taking him on an ill-fated trip to a steel mill, and lastly take Bart hunting. By the end of the episode John has saved Homer's life and Homer becomes slightly more tolerent of him. This episode has some great moments, the trip to the gay steel mill is one of my all time favorite gags, "stand still theres a spark in your hair" "hot stuff coming threw" "we work hard we play hard". Also on the hunting trip when Homer is getting pummeled by reindeer, Bart asks if Homer is hurt, and Homer replies "just my bones... and organs". There is an amusing moment that incenuaites that John and Smithers are an item. Moe and Barney were also saved by John at the episodes end, and Moe when asking if everything is ok says "I'll do anything you want... anything!" Overall this is a very funny episode, with a great guest performance, and I highly reccommend it to anyone!

9 out of 10

Best quote "Homer, I won your respect, and all I had to do was save your life. Now, if every gay man could just do the same, you'd be set. " John