Everything about The Italian Bob totally explained
"The Italian Bob" is the eighth episode of
The Simpsons' seventeenth season. It first aired on
December 11,
2005 in U.S.A. and
March 14,
2007 in Italy. This episode is the ninth appearance of
Sideshow Bob. 10.4 million tuned into this episode.
Plot
After
Mr. Burns gets teased about his old car by the kids at
Springfield Elementary, he sends Homer to pick up a brand new
Lamborgotti Fasterossa car in
Italy. The rest of his family goes along with him and they fly over on
Alitalia. After they pick up the car, they've a great time touring the country. During the trip, Homer and Bart manifest limited knowledge of the
history of Italy and the Italian language. After a huge wheel of
Mortadella lands on their car, they slowly push it into a small Tuscan village nearby called Salsiccia, which means
sausage in the
Italian language. When they get there, they ask an elderly woman for help, and she tells them that the mayor speaks English. The Simpsons find out the mayor is none other than
Sideshow Bob. They are shocked to find him there, and he feels the same way. Bob explains to them that after he attempted to
kill Bart, he decided to get a fresh start elsewhere by settling on his new destination of Italy. After a rough start, the natives warm up to him after he helped them crush grapes into wine (using his enormous feet). After that, they elected him mayor of their tiny village. Bob no longer has any intention of killing Bart, and it's revealed that he's a wife and son, Francesca and Gino, who know nothing about his past life in America. Bob begs the Simpsons not to tell anyone, and they agree in order to have the car fixed.
The Simpsons enjoy spending time in the village, and they continue to keep Bob's past a secret. However, when Lisa gets intoxicated at a party, she starts to spout off about him being an attempted-murderer. He leads her away from the table, but as she stumbles backwards, she rips off his suit and everyone can see that underneath is his prison uniform. The village finds out the Bob is an attempted killer, and they sack him as Mayor. The Simpsons take off in the fixed car, and Bob swears
vendetta on them.
When the family flees, Bob follows them on a motorcycle. Homer drives into a ditch and drives onto a Roman aqueduct. When they fall off the end of the aqueduct, the car lands on top of
Trajan's Column in
Roman Forum. Bob's wife and son meet him, and Francesca tells him that that'll kill the Simpsons together as a family.
Meanwhile, the Simpsons are wondering what they should do next, since they're in a foreign country, have no car and no money whatsoever. Lisa spots a bus with a poster advertising
Krusty the Klown's performance in
Pagliacci. They meet up with him at the
Colosseum, and he puts them in as un-noticed extras. However, Bob, Francesca and Gino find them and corner them on the stage while Krusty, who went through a trap door, flees the stage, allowing Bob to perform the climax of
Vesti la Giubba. Before Bob and family could finish off the Simpsons, though, Krusty's limo picks them up. Krusty needs them to smuggle an ancient artifact back to America. The Terwilligers walk away, grinning maliciously and plotting revenge.
Trivia
- When Sideshow Bob decides where to get a fresh start, he throws a knife at a spinning earth globe, the first knife lands in Orlando, Florida, to which he responds "NOT IN THIS LIFETIME!", then the next one lands in North Korea, then in Shellbyville and the last one in Bartovia, a huge island colored yellow in the map with the shape of Bart's head, to which Bob responds "Oh, cut that out!".
- In the Italian cop's book I Criminalli Americano, the criminals shown are:
Cultural references
The episode title is a reference to the 1969 and 2003 films The Italian Job.
Sideshow Bob's prisoner number is HABF02, the production number of this episode.
Lisa's Canadian sticker on her luggage and comment about Europeans feeling that Americans have made stupid decisions over the last 5 years refer to concerns about anti-Americanism abroad by liberals in the U.S. over the policies of the George W. Bush Administration.
The Lamborgotti Fasterossa is virtually identical to the real-life Lamborghini Gallardo. As a play on the names of Italian exotic cars, the Fasterossa's name is also derived from the Ferrari Testarossa and the manufacturer Bugatti or Maserati. The badge is of a horse (which appears on the Ferrari badge) but is in the stance of the bull on the Lamborghini badge. The 'rossa' root might explain the car's red color, despite Lamborghini's signature yellow color. Also, Sideshow Bob chases the Simpsons with a motorcycle that looks like a Ducati 999.
The song Lisa chants as the cheeses bounce towards the Fasterossa is to the tune of "Italiano Calypso", a song on The Seven Hills of Rome.
When Homer struts on the balcony in Salsiccia, Lisa tells him not to act like Mussolini. Homer says he thought he was acting like Donald Trump, the host of the then-popular NBC reality TV show The Apprentice. Interestingly, John Belushi also parodied the exact same behavior (which is seen in historical footage) from The Cabildo in New Orleans during the Saturday Night Live prime-time special from 1977. This scene has been cut when aired in Italy.
When the Italian police are looking through a book of American criminals for Bob, Peter Griffin from Family Guy has plagiarismo under his picture, and Stan Smith from American Dad has plagiarismo di plagiarismo under his picture (the Italian word for "plagiarism" is actually "plagio").
Pompeii is incorrectly spelled as 'Pompei'. However, in the Italian language, the word is written with only one 'i', as Pompeii is the old Latin name of the city.
Krusty Sings Aria Vesti la giubba from opera Pagliacci
Awards
Kelsey Grammer won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his voice portrayal of Sideshow Bob in this episode. This marks the third time a credited guest star for the show has won an Emmy, the other two being Marcia Wallace and Jackie Mason.
This episode won the 2007 Writers Guild Awards in the animation category.Further Information
Get more info on 'The Italian Bob'.
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