Albert Brooks is the voice of Hank Scorpio, Homer's new boss. He lures Homer away from his job at the nuclear plant after Smithers rejects his offers. The new town is seemingly perfect and Hank Scorpio is the greatest boss ever. Albert Brooks delivers the lines with such an agreeing nature that his tone of voice is simply HI-larious. This episode is one of the 25 best episodes of The Simpsons. It has hammock jokes, men throwing their moccasins, Marge drinking to excess?, musical chairs with more chairs than people, suger randomly lying in the bosses pocket, an evil super villain, a dead James Bonds,and Homer succeeding at something work related. John Swartzwelder is responsible for this episode. To any Simpsons fan that says it all. He is responsible for over 75 episodes encompassing their entire run. And, what is not funny about Marge's total lack of football knowledge?
16 Reviews
This is a great episode ...
das-1920 September 2012
Because it's funny on nearly every level. There are moments of great crass humor, there's character based stuff like the whole town saying goodbye, there's the pure acting genius of Albert Brooks riffing with Dan Castellenata.
It's great for the main plot -- a parody of James Bond told from the villain's side and basically denuded of all the sex and intrigue. It's comedy of the absurd meets comedy of the pathetic, and it fires on all cylinders.
Combined with this is a series of excellent satires -- the planned community as the engine of organized evil, the progressive school as an inescapable educational Mobiüs strip, the housewife's dream house that leaves her life empty. This is great stuff.
It's great for the main plot -- a parody of James Bond told from the villain's side and basically denuded of all the sex and intrigue. It's comedy of the absurd meets comedy of the pathetic, and it fires on all cylinders.
Combined with this is a series of excellent satires -- the planned community as the engine of organized evil, the progressive school as an inescapable educational Mobiüs strip, the housewife's dream house that leaves her life empty. This is great stuff.
The Best "Simpsons" Episode?
Halfwaytoheaven29 January 2006
Is this the greatest episode of the greatest sitcom in television history? Probably not, but it's still my favorite. Bart's "Leg Up" class, Homer's motivational speech, the greatest Bond villain of them all, and the Denver Broncos - what more could you want? This alone is enough reason to pick up Season Eight on DVD (when it is finally made available to those able to resist the temptation to download 'em all), to preserve one of the finest examples of this much-beloved series for all eternity, or at least until DVDs are replaced by some even shinier format of home video. So look upon the greatness of this episode and despair! And if it's not too much trouble, could you kill someone on your way out? It'd be a big help.
An episode of the Simpsons that will, probably, never be bettered...
karlito56 March 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This episode of The Simpsons is probably the best ever. No other Simpsons episode squeezes nearly as much into 22 minutes, the plot is utterly ridiculous but is still rooted in something that the viewer, whether young or old, can relate to - that of moving to a new area, making new friends etc. Homer's new boss Hank Scorpio is in my opinion the best character to appear in a single episode, his voice (by Albert Brooks) is insanely funny and he has some of the best lines ever to be heard on the Simpsons, such as; Scorpio, "What's your least favourite country? Italy or France?" Homer, "France" Scorpio (chuckles), "nobody ever says Italy"; Scorpio (to Homer), "if you could kill someone on your way out that would be a great help".
Along with the megalomaniac plot line you also get musical chairs - with more chairs than people, Marge drinking and James Bond.
For me of all the Simpsons episodes this is the one that comes closest to perfection and there are, I reckon, only three or four other episodes, such as Who Shot Mr Burns, Homer the Great and maybe Marge Vs The Monorail, that come close to the brilliance of You Only Move Twice.
Along with the megalomaniac plot line you also get musical chairs - with more chairs than people, Marge drinking and James Bond.
For me of all the Simpsons episodes this is the one that comes closest to perfection and there are, I reckon, only three or four other episodes, such as Who Shot Mr Burns, Homer the Great and maybe Marge Vs The Monorail, that come close to the brilliance of You Only Move Twice.
"Could You Kill Someone On Your Way Out, It's Be A Big Help"
Gerardrobertson6126 April 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Without doubt, this rates in my top 3 Simpsons episodes. Hank Scorpio is a great character and the episode so so well written. There are so many funny lines and scenes in it, I can just watch it over and over again.
I especially love when The Simpsons are leaving Springfield and the town folks say good bye to them in all sorts of different ways, but the real character in this episode is without doubt Hank Scorpio, the best boss ever.
Definitely my favourite epsiode of all time!
MrFilmAndTelevisionShow14 February 2021
Is this episode my favourite? Yes
Is this episode the best of all time? Yes (In my opinion, Cape Feare is a close second)
Is Hank Scorpio my favourite character? Absolutely!
Nostalgia perhaps is one reason why this is such a great episode for me, but it is so well made, the plot is a true classic and I can watch it until the cows come home, and continuing watching it even after that for it is truly a masterpiece not only of animation television but TV as a whole.
"Aww, the Denver Broncos!"
Mr-Fusion23 August 2017
If there hadn't been any guest stars in this episode, it'd still be a terrific spoof of - well, I'm not gonna spoil things, but with an episode title like that, it's no government secret. Homer is poached (by default, no less) bu a power company and moves the family into an idyllic planned community. It's a well=-written episode that finds ever Simpson faced with a situation that's too good to be true. Especially Homer, settling into a job for which he is grossly unqualified.
But it's precisely the guest star that's the real push to greatness; the icing on the cake, the trump card if you will. Hank Scorpio (love that name) is one of my favorite Simpsons characters because of Albert Brooks, who dives into the role with unfettered zeal. The dialogue itself is funny enough, but the man just plays it like a master comic.
10/10
But it's precisely the guest star that's the real push to greatness; the icing on the cake, the trump card if you will. Hank Scorpio (love that name) is one of my favorite Simpsons characters because of Albert Brooks, who dives into the role with unfettered zeal. The dialogue itself is funny enough, but the man just plays it like a master comic.
10/10
Want some cream too?
snoozejonc14 December 2022
Homer is offered a new job and uproots the family to another town.
This is a very strong episode with a great parody and memorable Homer moments.
There is a lot of talk of it being the greatest episode of The Simpsons. For me it's not quite at that level, but it's a very memorable parody of the Silicon Valley lifestyle combined with a great Bond villain tribute. Homer's obliviousness to everything happening is one of the central, ironic, recurring jokes and I never get tired of any of these scenes.
The little subplots involving Marge, Lisa and Bart are good, as they function as a means of getting the plot to the reset button and are pretty funny in their own right. Ultimately they increase the irony by being what drives the family back to Springfield as opposed to Hank Scorpio being a mad supervillain.
Albert Brooks gives one of the great guest voice performances as Scorpio.
This is a very strong episode with a great parody and memorable Homer moments.
There is a lot of talk of it being the greatest episode of The Simpsons. For me it's not quite at that level, but it's a very memorable parody of the Silicon Valley lifestyle combined with a great Bond villain tribute. Homer's obliviousness to everything happening is one of the central, ironic, recurring jokes and I never get tired of any of these scenes.
The little subplots involving Marge, Lisa and Bart are good, as they function as a means of getting the plot to the reset button and are pretty funny in their own right. Ultimately they increase the irony by being what drives the family back to Springfield as opposed to Hank Scorpio being a mad supervillain.
Albert Brooks gives one of the great guest voice performances as Scorpio.
Yeah, I need that boss too
Mark_Shine19 August 2023
Yes, James Bond may sound old to the new generations and his storyline may seem out of logic, it's a shame because for those of us who knew the world of the cold war and took life with more humor, that was our ideal. This parody is delicious, first of all because it complies with one of the greatest precepts of comics, the public has to empathize with the villain... and boy does it succeed. A simple visit to YouTube will reveal how many people would like to have Hank Scorpio as their boss. He may be good or bad, but you are important to him, and that is a real boss. The parody of the impossible situations of the James Bond movies (the authentic ones...of course), and again, the underlying values such as the well-being of the family over personal prosperity, take us back to the best days of the Simpsons.
Walks Through Life
Hitchcoc15 July 2022
If you've ever seen a cartoon where a guy is walking on a girder fifty stories high and is about to step off one when another appears and he keeps going. That's the principle here. Homer is clueless so he can't be harmed. The world he moves to comes with a very high price. Quite funny when the Denver Broncos show up at the end.
007
safenoe26 April 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Here Homer and his family are caught up in a James Bondesque adventure with Albert Brooks returning as the super villian, more fearsome than the ones you see in the 007 movies for sure. Anyway, it's interesting upon reflection to see just how far the writers can move the plot into a different genre, and it's amazing that we kind of move on afterwards. What's interesting is that this episode spiked with imdb user votes, with around 6,000 votes, compared to the average of around 3,000 votes, so that says something init about what appeals to Simpsons fans and what doesn't. You Only Move Twice is worth watching.
Extremely Overrated, Horrible Episode... One Of the WORST EPISODES EVER BY PLOT
Zabon6 June 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Thoughts: I absolutely detested this episode. I wish it hadn't been made so that all the actually good episodes would have dominated the highest rated episodes. I am extremely annoyed and confused... as well as frustrated... at the amount of foolish reasoning behind the liking towards this episode. If I judge an episode overall... or show my love for it... it would have to be brilliant in every way. I definitely wouldn't love an episode for stupid reasons... such as a James Bont appearing in it for a few seconds or a Football team being shown... these are some of the most moronic and stupid reasons to actually like an episode... just because of a few seconds of a supporting tertiary character appearing on-screen doesn't make this episode a good one. In fact, this episode fails in almost all ways. The cameos aren't much... and if someone isn't a James Bond fan... then they probably won't like the episode overall as well. I myself judge an episode in its entirety, not which cameos are made.
Scorpio: The emphasis being placed on this Scorpio character doesn't make sense to me. Scorpio overall was extremely boring to me. He acts fine and dandy and rather anticlimactic if anything. I found him to be one of the WORST guest star characters in the entire series and whenever I saw him on screen, it bored the life out of me. I still don't understand what there is to like even remotely about a character that acts basic and nothing special in particular... he just goes about his business, be it conquering a planet or giving someone sugar. He really stunk to me. If I were to judge an episode based on an awesome guest star characters... those would be the likes of Frank Grimes from "Homer's Enemy" and John from "Homer's Phobia". Those are two of the best guest star characters in the entire series hands down. And if I were to judge based on villains in the series... Waylon Smithers and c. Montgomery Burns are THE BEST villains in the series without a doubt, along with the occasional menace of Sideshow Bob.
Story: What in the name of all that's sacred are people talking about? There's hardly anything happening in this episode other than Bart playing musical chairs and Lisa sneezing around some chipmunks. It's a really poor plot and a horrid story. And to think this came from the mind of John Swartzwelder (a writing genius)... this is without a doubt... THE WORST EPISODE EVER other than the numerous singing, dancing, and prancing episodes that show previous footage or flashbacks. There's hardly anything happening in relation to James Bond... just because there's one scene that shows a knockoff named Bont (someone who's supposed to resemble Bond) getting capped off-screen... doesn't make this a good episode.
Meaning: By the time it was over... I was amazed at what the purpose or moral of the episode was... I think it may have had something to do with "there's no place like home"... or something of that caliber... but to judge an entire episode with that very simple and basic (even infantile message) is ludicrous. I still don't understand and am in amazement that this atrocious excuse of an episode is rated so highly. I mean, I understand most of the other episodes being liked... but this fails in terms of actual morality and messages.
Overall: This episode was so random and idiotic. After watching almost every episode of the series, I am still baffled at the success ratio for this episode and even more so... at the reasoning behind why it was considered a "good" episode. The ratings seem to be extremely weird to me.
Scorpio: The emphasis being placed on this Scorpio character doesn't make sense to me. Scorpio overall was extremely boring to me. He acts fine and dandy and rather anticlimactic if anything. I found him to be one of the WORST guest star characters in the entire series and whenever I saw him on screen, it bored the life out of me. I still don't understand what there is to like even remotely about a character that acts basic and nothing special in particular... he just goes about his business, be it conquering a planet or giving someone sugar. He really stunk to me. If I were to judge an episode based on an awesome guest star characters... those would be the likes of Frank Grimes from "Homer's Enemy" and John from "Homer's Phobia". Those are two of the best guest star characters in the entire series hands down. And if I were to judge based on villains in the series... Waylon Smithers and c. Montgomery Burns are THE BEST villains in the series without a doubt, along with the occasional menace of Sideshow Bob.
Story: What in the name of all that's sacred are people talking about? There's hardly anything happening in this episode other than Bart playing musical chairs and Lisa sneezing around some chipmunks. It's a really poor plot and a horrid story. And to think this came from the mind of John Swartzwelder (a writing genius)... this is without a doubt... THE WORST EPISODE EVER other than the numerous singing, dancing, and prancing episodes that show previous footage or flashbacks. There's hardly anything happening in relation to James Bond... just because there's one scene that shows a knockoff named Bont (someone who's supposed to resemble Bond) getting capped off-screen... doesn't make this a good episode.
Meaning: By the time it was over... I was amazed at what the purpose or moral of the episode was... I think it may have had something to do with "there's no place like home"... or something of that caliber... but to judge an entire episode with that very simple and basic (even infantile message) is ludicrous. I still don't understand and am in amazement that this atrocious excuse of an episode is rated so highly. I mean, I understand most of the other episodes being liked... but this fails in terms of actual morality and messages.
Overall: This episode was so random and idiotic. After watching almost every episode of the series, I am still baffled at the success ratio for this episode and even more so... at the reasoning behind why it was considered a "good" episode. The ratings seem to be extremely weird to me.
A decent episode from the end of the show's glory days...
pitabox9879 October 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The episode has some good and bad points, the villain Hank Scorpio (not "Scorpion" as Homer calls him) is a decent character, far better than Russ Cargill of the EPA from the movie; both voiced by the same person.
That Homer is chosen to because he is the next highly qualified person at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant doesn't make sense (Carl is his supervisor), Homer is then put in charge of a team of employees and hasn't got a clue how to manage them, not that they seem to actually need his presence.
Whilst Homer enjoys his newfound position, the rest of his family appears to hate having moved, Bart is put in the 'slow' class and treated like a moron; Lisa appears to be allergic to everything and Marge is so bored by her new home's ability to manage itself she resorts to drinking.
Needless to say it doesn't last long and Homer is forced to return to Springfield, oblivious that his boss has been revealed to be an international terrorist.
The final note that Hank had managed to conquer the entire East Coast gave me a chuckle.
It's certainly one of the better episodes of the season, but also shows signs of the show's decline in quality of material.
That Homer is chosen to because he is the next highly qualified person at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant doesn't make sense (Carl is his supervisor), Homer is then put in charge of a team of employees and hasn't got a clue how to manage them, not that they seem to actually need his presence.
Whilst Homer enjoys his newfound position, the rest of his family appears to hate having moved, Bart is put in the 'slow' class and treated like a moron; Lisa appears to be allergic to everything and Marge is so bored by her new home's ability to manage itself she resorts to drinking.
Needless to say it doesn't last long and Homer is forced to return to Springfield, oblivious that his boss has been revealed to be an international terrorist.
The final note that Hank had managed to conquer the entire East Coast gave me a chuckle.
It's certainly one of the better episodes of the season, but also shows signs of the show's decline in quality of material.
What is this?
alan-506731 September 2021
Lame James Bond parody and boring family life. This is so overrated. The family moves to a city. Marge is bored by not doing housework. Lisa is allergic to every animal. Bart is in a slow class. Homer likes his job and gives it up for his family. It's so dull.
Nostalgia goggles are too tight with this one
celiawatsonanime21 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Homers new boss is a disposable character, I've seen hundreds of episodes and this is the only episode I saw him in.
What's with all of this stereotypical weak supervillain stuff from Homer's new employer?
Bart didn't even misbehave and he seemed SO MISERABLE in special ed!
The plot just feels mediocre and the story is kinda entertaining.
It's overrated.
This is something I'd expect from mediocre modern Simpsons, this This episode is not funny at all to me.
What's with all of this stereotypical weak supervillain stuff from Homer's new employer?
Bart didn't even misbehave and he seemed SO MISERABLE in special ed!
The plot just feels mediocre and the story is kinda entertaining.
It's overrated.
This is something I'd expect from mediocre modern Simpsons, this This episode is not funny at all to me.
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