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"The Great Louse Detective"
The Simpsons episode
Sideshow Bob saves Homer's life.
Episode no.	297
Prod. code	EABF01
Orig. airdate	December 15, 2002
Show runner(s)	Al Jean
Written by	John Frink and Don Payne
Directed by	Steven Dean Moore
Couch gag	The family travels back in time to the prehistoric era and the Roman times when Homer uses the remote.
Guest star(s)	Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob
Season 14 November 3, 2002 – May 18, 2003 "Treehouse of Horror XIII" "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation" "Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade" "Large Marge" "Helter Shelter" "The Great Louse Detective" "Special Edna" "The Dad Who Knew Too Little" "Strong Arms of the Ma" "Pray Anything" "Barting Over" "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can" "A Star Is Born Again" "Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington" "C.E. D'oh" "'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky" "Three Gays of the Condo" "Dude, Where's My Ranch?" "Old Yeller Belly" "Brake My Wife, Please" "The Bart of War" "Moe Baby Blues" List of all The Simpsons episodes
Seasons 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21

"The Great Louse Detective" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons' fourteenth season.

[edit] Plot

When the Simpson family go to a free spa weekend, Homer is nearly killed when a mysterious person locks him into an incredibly hot steam room. This prompts Homer and Marge to see Chief Wiggum, who suggests that they get someone who can understand a murderer's twisted mind — Sideshow Bob, who is released from prison, much to Bart's discomfort. To ensure Bart's safety, Wiggum placed a shock bracelet on Bob's ankle to keep his murderous urges at bay when he comes to live at the Simpson house. He asks Homer to list all the people who may want him dead, and decides to follow Homer around to investigate who the killer could be. During their day, they go hang gliding (Homer wanted to impress him), visit the Kwik-E-Mart (where Bob and Apu reminisce about their last encounter) and end up at a repair shop, where Homer chastises the mechanic, Junior.

Later, Homer and Bob go to Moe's, where a hand, holding a gun, appears at the door and fires at Homer, but it hits and shatters Moe's pickled egg jar. The person gets away in a tow truck. Bob suggests that Homer should stay home and out of sight to be safe, but he is told that he was named the King of the Springfield Mardi Gras, in which he must ride on a float for the whole day. Bob discovers that Homer won because someone filled the ballot box with ballots listing Homer's name, but Homer takes part in the parade anyway in hopes of luring out his killer. At the parade, Bob learns that Homer's engine is having a problem due to the repair by the mechanic (the brake line is cut), and draws a correlation between the wrench used to lock Homer in the steam room, the wrenches in the tow truck, a smudge on the spa invitation, and the tow truck driver (Junior). He saves Homer by getting fired out of a cannon, and grabs Homer by his feet, just before the float hits the Museum of Swordfish. Homer and Bob end up giving chase to the killer on stilts, who is found out to be, indeed, Junior, Homer's mechanic. He admits his name is Frank Grimes Jr., who blames Homer for his father's death. The police arrive, and Chief Wiggum places Grimes Jr. under arrest and has Bob tranquilized with a dart.

That night, after Homer puts Bart in bed, Bob, who was hanging to the back of the door, gags Bart, bent on killing him once again. However, Bob realizes he is accustomed to Bart's face and he can not bring himself to do it. With that, Bob takes his leave and Bart hurriedly shuts his window. At that point, Bob becomes electrocuted with his shock bracelet by two birds who play with the remote on their nest.

[edit] Production notes

• This is the fourth Simpsons episode to be animated using digital ink and paint (the previous episodes include season seven's "Radioactive Man," season 12's "Tennis the Menace," and this season's "Treehouse of Horror XIII"). Starting with this episode, The Simpsons will regularly be animated and colored with digital ink and paint.

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v • d • e The Simpsons Sideshow Bob episodes "Krusty Gets Busted" · "Black Widower" · "Cape Feare" · "Sideshow Bob Roberts" · "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming" · "Brother from Another Series" · "Day of the Jackanapes" · "The Great Louse Detective" · "The Italian Bob" · "Funeral for a Fiend"