When Flanders Failed

Ned Flanders invites the Simpson family to a barbecue where he announces plans to quit the pharmaceutical business and open the Leftorium, a store for left-handed people. While pulling a wishbone with Ned, Homer—jealous of Ned's material success—wishes for the Leftorium to fail and go out of business. Undeterred after Lisa scolds him for indulging in schadenfreude, Homer gloats when Ned tells him business is slow. Afterwards, Homer keeps seeing left-handed citizens struggling with items made for right-handed people (including his boss, Mr. Burns) and considers telling them about the Leftorium, but decides not to. In the B-story, Bart begins taking karate lessons at Akira's karate school. He soon finds himself bored with karate, so he decides to skip each lesson and play video games at the mall arcade instead. Whenever Bart is asked by his friends and family about the karate techniques he is learning, he refers to the Touch of Death, an ability he sees in one of the arcade games he plays. He proceeds to terrorize Lisa into doing his will by threatening her with the Touch of Death. When the school bullies take Lisa's saxophone, she tells them Bart will defend her with the Touch of Death. Unable to actually defend himself or his sister, Bart is beat up by the bullies and is left hanging by his underwear from a nearby playground basketball hoop rim by the bullies with his pants down. Having reclaimed her saxophone, Lisa wistfully notes that sometimes two wrongs do make a right. Eventually the store closes, plunging the Flanders family into debt and misery. Ned is forced to sell his possessions, and Homer gleefully buys many of them for a pittance. Overcome by regret, Homer decides to return Ned's possessions, but he finds Ned's house repossessed and the family living in their car. Homer tells Ned to open the store one final time and informs all the left-handed residents of Springfield about the Leftorium; they descend upon the store and buy almost everything; Mr. Burns buys the roadster with left-handed shift. The business boom helps Ned keep the store open and get his house back. Todd Flanders leads a chorus of "Put On a Happy Face". ==Production==

said he remembers "When Flanders Failed" as the episode with "a thousand mistakes in it". Show runner Mike Reiss said he will always remember it as the episode "that came back animated with a thousand mistakes in it and was just a complete and utter mess". Reardon said there was "literally a mistake in every other scene" when the episode came back from Korea. Several scenes had to be re-animated in the United States because of these glitches, but according to Reardon, "you can still see the lesser ones that got through, such as line quality problems particularly in the first act." The Simpsons writer George Meyer came up with the idea of The Leftorium when the creators were trying to figure out what Ned's failed business would be. The inspiration came from a family friend of the Meyer family who had opened a left-handed store that was quickly forced to close down due to lack of business. ==Cultural references==

The title is a reference to the poem "In Flanders Fields". Akira's school is located in the mall next to Shakespeare's Fried Chicken, a reference to the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. Richard Sakai is seen in one of the crowd shots at The Leftorium. The final scene is based on the ending of ''It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946), with Maude's dress and mannerisms modeled after Donna Reed. The episode closes with a rendition of "Put On a Happy Face" from Bye Bye Birdie. ==Reception==

In its original American broadcast, "When Flanders Failed" finished 29th in the ratings for the week of September 30 – October 6, 1991, with a Nielsen rating of 13.9, equivalent to approximately 12.8 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on Fox that week. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. Kirk Baird of the Las Vegas Sun named it the fifth best episode of The Simpsons, and Central Michigan Life called it an "instant classic". Pete Oliva of North Texas Daily said the episode "proves that it is possible to laugh and cry at the same time without being able to control either response". Bill Gibron of DVD Verdict said "When Flanders Failed" shows that even if The Simpsons is not dealing with famous celebrities or "high profile places", the writers can still "wring uproarious comedy out of their cast of regulars. Flanders is a special creation in the canon of humor, a regular guy who is funny because of how hyper-normal he is compared to his Neanderthal neighbors. The focus on people who are left-handed, and the whole idea of being a lefty, is an unusual basis for a television show. But then again, nothing about The Simpsons is ever common." Hock Guan Teh of DVD Town also praised the writers, saying they "are able to craft a downtrodden tale for the perpetually clueless Flanders family that serves to illustrate how dark emotions can eventually be overcome by Homer's guilt. A memorable episode." Niel Harvey of The Roanoke Times called "When Flanders Failed" a "classic bit of Simpsonia". The episode's reference to ''It's a Wonderful Life was named the 26th greatest film reference in the history of the show by Total Film'''s Nathan Ditum. Nate Meyers of Digitally Obsessed rated the episode a (of 5) and commented that "perhaps it is not profound in its examination of jealousy causing people to behave irrationally, but it handles the topic in a serious manner while not compromising the show's humor. The side story with Bart stems from the era of the series when Bart was the big star, but it still has some funny bits." DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson wrote: "Mean Homer equals Funny Homer, so 'When Flanders Failed' presents an above average show. He seems unusually crude here, which makes him amusing. The subplot with Bart and his karate class also adds good material, especially when he threatens to turn the 'Touch of Death' on Lisa. Another sappy finish slightly mars this one, but it remains generally solid." Kimberly Potts of AOL named it tenth best episode of the show and commented: "Schadenfreude is the theme of this tight episode about Homer's joy at the failure of Flanders' Leftorium store. There are few times Homer is more shamelessly smug than he was while imitating Flanders and using Ned's yard sale grill, and we haven't even mentioned Bart's 'Touch of Death' subplot." Winston-Salem Journal's Tim Clodfelter called it an "outstanding" episode. ==References==