The Last Temptation of Homer
It did not get the usual amount of laughs at the test screenings, which made the staff worry the show was not as funny as they expected.
However, Mr. Burns chooses Homer and Mindy to represent the power plant at the National Energy Convention in Capital City.
To make matters worse, the convention organizers award Homer and Mindy a free dinner in a romantic restaurant.
[3] The episode did not get the usual amount of laughs at the animatic test screening, which made the staff worry it was not as funny as they expected.
Mirkin did not like this because the secret of the episode was Homer and Mindy are two good people who are thrown into the situation and "can't help that their libidos are going crazy upon seeing each other".
He added that the two characters have "so much in common" that it is "not just a physical relationship, but a mental connection as well", and that Mindy is not a seductress but rather a woman just as nervous as Homer.
Mirkin also pointed out that while Homer is being tempted by a "seemingly perfect" woman at work, his wife could not be more "imperfect" since she has got a cold and looks sick.
[3] When Homer calls a marriage counseling hotline in the episode, he accidentally knocks himself unconscious in the phone booth.
[1] To deal with Homer and Mindy charging room service to the company, Mr. Burns unleashes flying monkeys à la the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (1939).
[2] The scene where Homer meets his guardian angel in the guise of Isaac Newton (who changes into Colonel Klink from Hogan's Heroes because Homer doesn't know who Newton is), showing him what his life would have been like if he married Mindy and not Marge, draws from the films It's A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol.
[2] When Homer meets Mindy in the elevator, he thinks "unsexy thoughts" to avoid being seduced by her; specifically, he imagines Barney in a bikini and humming the I Dream of Jeannie theme.
[2] As Homer attempts read the notes for Mindy that he wrote on his sweat-smeared hand, he unknowingly babbles the Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, a Japanese Buddhist chant in Nichiren Buddhism and Soka Gakkai.
[1] Barry White's song "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" is played in the episode's final scene where Homer and Marge make love in the hotel room; the song was featured in the fourth season episode "Whacking Day".
[6] In its original American broadcast, "The Last Temptation of Homer" finished 24th (tied with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) in the ratings for the week of December 6–12, 1993.
[9] Nancy Basile of About.com named it one of her top twenty favorite episodes of the show, and said Michelle Pfeiffer "is so elegant and beautiful, that the irony of her playing a burping love interest for Homer Simpson is funny enough."
She added "the thorny issue of adultery is tackled in a way only The Simpsons could," and "though Homer is contemplating cheating, he's a sympathetic and almost innocent character.
"[10] The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called it a "wonderfully scripted episode".
[2] DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson said, "Given Homer’s utter devotion to Marge, it may seem off-character for him to fall for Mindy, but the show makes it fit, as his obsession doesn’t come across as inconsistent."
[11] Bill Gibron of DVD Talk called it a "jest fest loaded with insight into the human heart and hilarious over-the-top goofiness.
"[13] TV DVD Reviews's Kay Daly called it the season's finest episode with the "greatest foray into emotional resonance".
[17] Brett Buckalew of Metromix Indianapolis wrote that Pfeiffer "gives arguably the best celebrity guest-vocal performance in series history.
[19] When the inspectors visit the plant, they mention finding an entire Brazilian soccer team working there, and Burns says that they have to because their plane crashed on his property.
