Marge on the Lam

Homer grows jealous of their friendship and pursues them, resulting in a police chase led by Chief Wiggum that ends in near-disaster.

The episode, which serves largely as a parody of Thelma & Louise and the Dragnet franchise, was written by Bill Canterbury and directed by Mark Kirkland.

Marge guilts Homer into accompanying her by reminding him of how he once volunteered as a test subject in a United States Army experiment to avoid visiting Patty and Selma with her.

Ruth speeds up and reveals to Marge that she is driving her ex-husband's stolen car in retaliation for his failure to pay child support.

Still in Wiggum's backseat, Homer realizes Marge is in Ruth's car and believes she has turned to a life of crime because of his neglect.

The duo then start to unknowingly drive towards a cliffside leading into the Grand Chasm and Homer mistakes this for a suicide attempt.

Marge is ordered to compensate the farmer for destroying his cans and Homer is remanded to the United States Army's Neurochemical Research Center for extensive testing, to his delight.

The comedian who performs at the telethon that the Simpsons family watches at the beginning of the episode and does not find funny is a parody of Garrison Keillor.

[6] The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, said "Marge getting to let her hair down is always a treat, and in Ruth Powers she seems to have a real friend.