'The Simpsons' Season 24, Episode 12: 'Love Is a Many Splintered Thing' Recap

'The Simpsons': Season 24, Episode 12: 'Love Is a Many Splintered Thing'

A future Bart Simpson (dressed a la Woody Allen) frames this episode recounting his knowledge of women.

Homer and Marge argue over GPS directions. The female voice of the GPS mixed with Marge’s seems to overwhelm Homer, who makes a wrong turn into a skate park. Marge claims Homer ruined their Sunday drive. When the GPS switches to a male voice, Homer magically started listening, much to Marge’s chagrin.

At school, the Bullies dare Bart to stick a caterpillar down a girl’s dress. He does, and it turns out to be Mary Spuckler (voiced by Zooey Deschanel), who moved back to Springfield after her failed attempts at being an actress. The bullies urge him to push her into the mud, and she understands. They cheer on as he shoves her.

Mary pays Bart a visit the next morning, bringing him breakfast.

Bart ignores Mary in favor of video games. Lisa warns him that he will never do better than Mary and to stop ignoring her in favor of a stupid video game. Mary, growing bored, calls her mom Brandine to come pick her up.

“Mama, come pick me up! I’m bored!”

“You have to wait! The mule’s taking a nap!”

Bart goes to Mary’s house for dinner, and is treated to Cletus and Brandine’s folk singing. As they continue to “sing”, Mary asks Bart if he would rather be playing video games, he says he’s all hers. She sings him a song, but he gets distracted. She doesn’t seem too happy as she wanted to enter it into a content. He reassures her that she’s very talented, and is sure to win.

Bart recounts his tale to Milhouse, who seems eager to try those moves on Lisa. Lisa overhears, disgusted, and reassures Bart that he has to treat girls like they matter. Homer walks in and confirms. Lisa tells him it applies to him as well. Marge interjects.

“Homer Simpson, did you take Maggie to Moe’s?”

“It was during Happy Hour. Don’t you want our baby to be happy?”

Lisa warns them that they are talking their women for granted, and that’s what they hate the most.

At the Old Opry House, Mary doesn’t win the song competition, but she’s only interested in what Bart thinks. He asks his idols what he should say. Mary tells him to get out of his fugue state and lift her spirits.

As she’s disappointed, a Brazillian record producer approaches her, saying he’s with the “rapidly growing jug band/samba fusion market”. He invites her to dinner with him and his handsome, girl-crazy son. She asks Bart to come, saying she needs him, but he brushes her off.

At the pier, Mary’s brother informs a sulking Bart that he’s been dumped. A Woody Allen caricature comes to life and tells Bart how to win her back. He tries taking her to a foreign film, and they sleep through it.

They go to the “Let’s Just Talk Point”, and Mary says they should take a break. She requests a hug from the ignorant Bart. Once they hug, he begins to realize what it all means…

“Back pats? This is a break up!”

He begs her for another chance, but she says she can’t.

Bart walks home to find Homer and Marge arguing. Marge asks Bart to go upstairs while she and Homer finish their “little talk.”

“Little talk? You guys are having a big fight. This is the problem with women, they don’t say what they mean until it’s too late.”

She tells them what she really thinks: she throws them both out, saying they are both in the doghouse.

“Which is misleading ‘cause I still like the dog!”

Homer takes Bart to his usual spot when he gets kicked out: the Brokewood Apartments.

Bart says he has to make a call, and calls Mary. She says she’s using the break to pull an Adele, and manages to produce better music.

Homer and Bart visit pool and meet with the other husbands who have been kicked out. Homer vows that they need to throw a kicked-out-of-the-house party.

The men party, but start to express how they miss their women. They have to figure out what to do to get their women back.

“The same way Hollywood does, by watching British movies.”

They watch a movie featuring the British Prime Minister (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) as he woos his secretary, narrated by Severus Snape (also voiced by Cumberbatch).

They realize they must perform a grand romantic gesture to win back their women.

All the men invite their women to the hotels, and perform a song for them accompanied by an orchestra, listing all the things they promise to change.

But Bart isn’t able to convince Mary to give him another chance.

“But I’m the main guy in this story, things are supposed to work out for me.”

Mary walks out of his life once again.

In the future, he says that there’s a cure for broken hearts: video games. Then he checks Mary’s Facebook page, confirming she’s married. But as he’s looking, her status is changed to single. He sends her a message and gets one in return.