Since the show has discussions of the show’s best episodes is season 4’s “Marge vs. the Monorail.”
In the episode, Springfield is tricked into paying for a monorail system by Lyle Lanley’s slick sales pitch. Marge is the only Springfieldian who can see through the ruse. As with any episode that’s commonly called the best, “Marge vs. the Monorail” has a ton of classic moments.
Mr. Burns As Hannibal Lecter
After cramming drums of nuclear waste into trees and altering Springfield’s ecosystem by creating mutant squirrels, Mr. Burns is forced to stand trial for mes the environment.
He’s brought into the courtroom in a straitjacket and a muzzle in a hysterical parody of Hannibal Lecter in the classic thriller The Silence of the Lambs.
The Monorail Song
Thanks to the Burns settlement, Springfield has some extra cash lying around. Lyle Lanley’s ears start burning when he hears about this and he tricks the town into desperately wanting to buy his idea before they even know what it is by saying, “Ah, it’s not for you...it’s more of a Shelbyville idea.”
Lanley explains his monorail idea in a song. He gets the town all riled up and ing in the song in no time, and Marge is the only one expressing any concern. The musical number is given the perfect punchline as Homer repeats the final lyric one time too many: “Mono...D’oh!”
Marge Visits Lyle Lanley’s Office
Marge comes into an empty office and sees a file on a desk containing evidence that Lyle Lanley is every bit the sleazy snake oil salesman she thought he was. Then, Lanley emerges from the shadows and asks, “How much did you see?” Marge not-so-subtly lies: “Nothing incriminating.” A nervous Lanley replies, “Good!”
The gag gets slightly meta when Marge leaves and Lanley looks down at the file on his desk and comments on the setup of the joke: “I don’t know why I leave this lying around.”
Homer Decides To Become A Monorail Conductor
After seeing a commercial on TV advertising the training academy for monorail conductors, Homer instantly decides to enroll. He tells Marge that it’s been his lifelong dream, but Marge reminds him that his lifelong dream was to run across the field at a baseball game and he already did it.
She directs his attention to a framed newspaper front page with the devastating headline, “Idiot Ruins Game, Springfield Forfeits Pennant.”
Leonard Nimoy Bores Fellow engers
The had a great sense of humor about himself.
He bores the guy sitting next to him with behind-the-scenes stories from Star Trek. Eventually, the guy sitting next to Nimoy stops being polite and bluntly asks if anyone wants to switch seats with him.
Marge Arrives In North Haverbrook
After catching on to Lyle Lanley’s scam, Marge drives through the night to North Haverbrook (one of the small towns that got “put on the map” by a Lyle Lanley monorail system) and finds the place totally dilapidated.
Curious, Marge approaches a shop window and asks about the monorail. The clerk says, “There ain’t no monorail and there never was!,” and then slams down the shutter that says, “Monorail Café,” on it.
The Monorail’s Maiden Voyage Spirals Out Of Control
On its maiden voyage, Springfield’s monorail speeds out of control. And it couldn’t have had a worse conductor in charge of things: Homer Simpson. But having Homer as a conductor isn’t as terrible as the shoddy workmanship on the monorail itself.
Lanley scrimped on the construction and embezzled funds. When Homer tries the brake, a digital voice says, “The lever you have pulled, brakes, is not in service. Please make a note of it.”
Lyle Lanley’s Plane Lands in North Haverbrook
As Lyle Lanley escapes with Springfield’s money after leaving them with a faulty monorail system, the pilot of his plane announces an unexpected stopover in North Haverbrook. The name sounds vaguely familiar to Lanley and at first, he’s not sure why, but then it hits him.
There’s a delightful absurdity to the gag as it relies on the residents of North Haverbrook seeing Lanley on the plane as it lands. The scene leans into this elevated logic as one of the townspeople points up at the plane in the sky and says, “There he is! Seat 3F!”
“It’s Not Batman!”
Marge brings in an expert to help Homer slow down the monorail and radios to him to get the two in touch. She tells him, “Homer, there’s a man here who thinks he can help you.” Homer jumps the gun on guessing who it could be: “Batman?”
Marge says, “No, he’s a scientist,” and Homer says, “Batman’s a scientist.” Losing patience, Marge bluntly tells Homer, “It’s not Batman!”
All Of Springfield’s Subsequent Mistakes
In a voiceover narration at the end of “Marge vs. the Monorail,” Marge explains the moral of the story and says that the town of Springfield never got swindled into falling for a stupid idea ever again.
However, a pan through the town proves Marge wrong, showing a wobbly skyscraper made out of Popsicle sticks, a 50-foot magnifying glass that magnifies a beam of sunlight that burns down the Popsicle stick skyscraper, and an escalator to nowhere.