• Directed by: Rich Moore
• Written by: Jon Vitti
• Airdate: October 18th, 1990

    Homer charges the purchase of a one thousand dollar hair growth formula to his Nuclear Power Plant insurance, and the hair product does indeed work, giving him newfound confidence. He is also easily spotted by Burns on the security cameras and is given a promotion. Here, Homer meets and hires Karl, who helps Homer in impressing Mr. Burns more and more, to the point where Burns gives Homer the job of giving a speech to the workers on increasing profitability.
    Smithers, who is growing jealous of Homer, finds out about the false insurance claim and is instructed by Burns to fire the man who took the money from the company. In the midst of Smithers firing Homer, Karl takes the blame and is fired instead. Returning home to find Bart accidentally break the bottle of his formula, Homer panics even more and loses his hair by the next day. Before the speech, he finds a letter from Karl, which includes cards containing the speech that Karl had written himself. Karl tells Homer that he should believe in himself, as he was the one who did everything, not the hair.
    While giving the speech, the workers slowly walk away, saying that a bald man doesn’t know anything. Burns himself is horrified and does not recognize Homer. In Burns’ office afterwards, Burns tells Homer that he will not be fired, because Burns can relate to his problem. Instead, he gives Homer his old position back. At home, Homer thinks Marge will not love him without his hair, but Marge insists that she loves him just for who he is.

    One of my favourite early, subtle, and heartfelt stories, Simpson And Delilah carries three main messages that many other stories do:
1) Believe in yourself and others will believe in you as well.
2) Don’t judge a book by its cover.
3) Be yourself, because that’s why people love you in the first place.

    The story mixes these three messages effortlessly, and in doing so becomes another relatable tale. It makes you feel sad, happy, nervous and stressed, everything that Homer himself feels in the 24 minute duration of the episode.

    The build-up of the story is handled in a fantastic fashion. It shows how desperate Homer is to have something that he thinks will make his life so much better, even going to the lengths of giving a false insurance claim. But once he does have hair, he believes that his life is a lot better. Why? It may be a tad difficult to pin-point the exact reason why, as there’s a few. Does he want to fit in? Does he honestly think that the hair will give him that extra “oomph”? Or does it simply remind him of when he was younger? It may be one of these or a mixture of all three. All we need to know to feel good for Homer is the fact that he is happy with himself. Everything goes in his favour: a promotion, confidence he hasn’t felt before, being recognized, being respected, and even being the target of envy (even though he does not realize this last one). When Bart breaks the container of treatment, Homer’s breakdown is understood. You feel bad for him, but at the same time, you feel as though it may do him good in the long run, and may teach him a lesson in self-confidence.

     With Homer’s continuing stress over the speech he has to give, and now the loss of his hair, you believe that he is going to go down and that this is the end of his happiness. But when Karl gives him the letter and cards, you believe things will work out well. He finally realizes that he has done everything good so far himself, and that the hair was only there for display. This causes the fact that people walk out of his speech because he is bald so much more heartbreaking. It is a literal “F*** You” from everyone there, and a kick in the pants of his finally realized self-confidence. We’ve all had a moment like this, where we believe everything is going fine, only to be halted and thrown off the rails by something slightly ridiculous.

     All is well, though, when Marge tells Homer that she loves him for who he is and not for what he looks like. The episode ends sweetly with Marge cradling Homer, and them singing “You Are So Beautiful” to each other.

    Another great aspect of this episode is Harvey Fierstein as Karl, Homer’s hired assistant. Karl appears in an interview telling Homer straight out that he does not belong in the new position that he has, simply because Homer does not believe in himself, and believes that he should not have the job he was given. Karl is a great character, with his deep voice, and the way his eyes bulge whenever he announces his name, he works back-breakingly hard in making Homer happy. When Homer forgets it’s his anniversary, it is revealed that Karl sent a man with flowers to sing “You Are So Beautiful” to Marge. Whether or not the affection that Karl displays for Homer is romantic could, and has been, discusses, but I believe that it is not important. In my eyes, for this one episode, Karl is truly Homer’s guardian angel. He sees a man who needs help, a man who should realize that everything he has maintained is because he worked hard for it, and Karl decides to help him. It is important to remember that it’s always easier to be hard on yourself and not recognize how good you’re doing, since you have the benefit of nitpicking how things are going based on how you assumed they would. It makes you sometimes overlook the fact that things are still going good, and that you are, in fact, doing the best you can.

     Altogether, like the best episodes, Simpson And Delilah makes for a realistically subtle, heart-touching episode. It isn’t so pointed at tugging the heartstrings like later episodes are, but it is just as effective. It is often an overlooked episode, which is a shame, seeing as it has such strong messages, such strong ways of telling them, and such a strong and likeable supporting character.

Favourite Quotes And Bits:
5) The checkerboard floor of the special bathroom dissolving into the windows of the building is fantastic.
4) Lisa (about Homer crying over his broken treatment bottle): "Dad is taking this in a less heroic fashion."
3) The ‘Karl-reading-the-letter-behind-Homer' reveal never fails to make me laugh.
2) (After the singing, flower-carrying man has finished singing to Marge)
    Marge: "I love you, Homer."
    Homer: "I love you, Karl, err, Marge."
1) TV Gameshow Host: "The capital of North Dakota is named after what German ruler?"
    Homer: "Hitler!"
    Marge: "Hitler, North Dakota?"