The Simpsons have spent time in Canada before last night's episode: Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver leap to mind. Now they can add Niagara Falls and Windsor to the list.
The family is trying to use up travel points as they go to Niagara Falls, New York. Lisa blows away into the falls and lands on the Canadian side. The authorities think Lisa is trying to seek political asylum in Canada. Marge works hard to get her daughter back to Springfield.
Here are some of the Canadian highlights from The Simpsons episode D'oh Canada:
The welcoming mountie points out that Canadians are too modest to brag. The same mountie determines that Lisa Simpson is a victim of political persecution and therefore assigned a hockey team. Lisa softly says "Please, not Ottawa" but draws an Ottawa Senators cap. Her IV in hospital says "maple syrup."
Lisa's foster parents (Gord is the father) help Lisa pick a place for dinner. The mother suggests Harvey's and Swiss Chalet. Lisa suggests Mr. Submarine and Earl's. Gord says they shouldn't forget Humpty's. Homer starts drooling over restaurant chains he has never heard of before now. (I know the first 4 pretty well; Humpty's is mostly in Alberta and Saskatchewan with nominal locations in Manitoba and British Columbia, nowhere near the foster family in Ontario. The Keg would have also been a good choice.)
Kent Brockman calls Canada "America's Ned Flanders to the North."
Lisa attends Alanis Morissette Elementary School. She has a science textbook that acknowledges climate change (though not available in Texas). The food pyramid of poutine has cheese curds followed by French fries then gravy. Fries would be the base of any poutine followed by cheese curds and then gravy.
The classroom walls also have portraits of John A. MacDonald and Gordie Howe, the latter was featured in another episode of the show.
Lisa wants to ask Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a question and that happens easily as she talks to him through a computer monitor. Trudeau does the planking yoga position on his desk. Lisa asks about the SNC-Lavalin affair and Trudeau escapes out the window.
The teacher says there will be a class play based off a great Canadian novel. A kid in the back suggests The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler. (I've seen the movie version starring non-Canadian Richard Dreyfuss.) Turns out the kids are doing a children-friendly version of The Handmaid's Tale.
Marge sneaks into a Springfield car crossing the Detroit River on the Ambassador Bridge. Marge gets to the foster home where a Stanley Cup lamp is near the rug in the foyer that is covered in the Quebec Nordiques logo.
Im not upset about the ‘newfie’ joke @mrtimlong wrote for tonight’s @Simpson’s episode so much as surprised that in all my 45 years, the lamest, least-interesting ‘Newfie’ joke I’ve heard was on @thesimpsons
— Mark Critch (@markcritch) April 29, 2019
Lisa's teacher points out that Canada also exploits the environment. Lisa asks if people are treated well. The kids respond by making exceptions for the Quebecois and Newfies (derogatory term for people from Newfoundland). We see Ralph as a Newfie bashing a toy seal and then singing a Newfoundland song about how "I'll be an Islander forever."
Lisa conjures up American heroes while sitting in Windsor looking at Detroit. Louis Armstrong crosses over into Canada to get marijuana because "it's legal now."
A bilingual "coyote" says the same thing in English and French before trying to help Marge and Lisa cross the frozen Detroit River. He makes a remark about Martin Short and being short of Shatners.
The class back in Canada ends up watching an episode of The Beachcombers.
Lisa brings the mountie for show-and-tell in Springfield. The mountie finds Nelson's dad hiding in Medicine Hat, Alberta. He tells Nelson that he has a brother in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
OFFICIAL: Ay Caramba!
— Lucas Meyer (@meyer_lucas) April 22, 2019
I will be a guest voice on @TheSimpsons this Sunday as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
In Nov 2017 I put together an impressions video https://t.co/D548zZNx7g for family and friends and it somehow led to this #cdnpoli 1/3 pic.twitter.com/8UZADrngnj
Newstalk 1010 Toronto reporter Lucas Meyer is not an actor. Meyer posted the video of impressions that included the prime minister. Meyer recorded the audio back in September.
Tim Long is one of 3 Canadian writers on The Simpsons. Long co-wrote the episode with his screenwriter wife, Miranda Thompson, who is Canadian by marriage at worst. Joel H. Cohen and Jeff Westbrook are the other Canadian writers.
Long said in an interview that the episode has "a shocking number of Canadian things" that "95 percent of the American audience won't get."
The temptation of sealskin mittens from Canada
CanadianCrossing.com television coverage
I heard countless stories while in Newfoundland about the realities of the seal hunt. The false bravado of the clubbing baby seals story continues to be prevalent long after being disproved. The song that Ralph sings was more in the spirit of those from the island.
Otherwise, the abundance of Canadian references were fun to watch.
The episode touched on the issues of border crossings and asylum with Mexico/U.S. and U.S./Canada.
The Simpsons airs on Fox in the United States and Citytv in Canada.
photo credit: The Simpsons/Fox
Twitter captures: @markcritch; @meyer_lucas
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