Sky Police

"Sky Police" is the sixteenth episode of the twenty-sixth season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, and the 568th overall episode of the series. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 8, 2015.

Plot

Chief Wiggum is mistakenly delivered a military jet pack, which he gleefully accepts. He later is found by a military general who originally bought the jet pack, and received his order for an off-brand dust ruffle. Chief Wiggum tries to escape, but is shot down by the general's soldiers. The jet pack still goes, however, and then crashes into the church. The congregation, led by Marge, must resort to gambling and counting cards, taught by Apu, in order to collect money to pay for the repairs. Marge then proceeds to go to the casino with Sideshow Mel, Ned, Agnes Skinner and Reverend Lovejoy and his wife Helen. They win enough money for the church but Homer finds out and goes looking for Marge at the casino.

The casino then holds Homer hostage in exchange for return of the money won, which they can't because they already gave it to the contractor, who laughs at the idea of giving it back. While there Homer asks why they want the money back since card counting is not illegal or even cheating at the game. The thugs holding him, unable to come up with an answer shut him up by putting his head in a vice.

Marge prays in the middle of the casino which attracts a huge crowd. The casino lets Homer go because Marge was causing a "disturbance" that hurt business. The owner tells them they can even keep the money they won, but are banned from ever entering the casino again. Homer refuses and demands the casino stop treating people who count cards like they're cheating when all they're doing is playing by the rules. He is then thrown out by a robot.

Reception

The episode received a 1.6 rating and was watched by a total of 3.79 million people, making it the third most watched show on Fox that night after Family Guy and The Last Man on Earth.^[1] Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a C+, saying "Faith on The Simpsons has been an effective source of both satire and emotion over the years, but while Marge’s journey tonight has its moments of the latter, “Sky Police” is another dispiriting example of the show going for broad, lazy laughs instead of finding anything unexpected in an episode’s comic premise. Instead, Chief Wiggum gets a jet pack."^[2]

References