S01EP011 Life on the Fast Lane

Life on the Fast Lane
Air Date: March 18, 1990
Production Episode: 7G11
Written by: John Swartzwelder
Directed by: David Silverman

Now familiar, well tread territory, the first infidelity episode featured none other than Marge Simpson. While one could say Homer's Night Out was also about infidelity, Marge made it quite clear that she was upset with the lesson Homer was teaching Bart, and not the dancing itself. This episode begins with Homer forgetting Marge's birthday and rushing out to buy her a gift. Being Homer, that gift is a bowling ball for himself.

Determined not to let Homer use the gift he obviously bought for himself, Marge decides to go bowling. It is here she meets sort of series regular Jacques. While not a major recurring character, he has appeared in more than a few crowd scenes, much like Princess Kashmir from the previous episode. After much back and forth temptation, dates, and many bowling related pick up lines from Jacques, Marge chooses to visit Homer at the plant, referencing the ending to An Officer and a Gentleman.

 There's not much to say about this episode. It has a lot of clever and not so clever bowling jokes, take that as you will. Compared to most other infidelity episodes, it falls short. There's really no chance Marge is going to sleep with Jacques, despite his desperate attempts to do so.

(truer words were never spoken)

In most other cases, the character tempting Homer or Marge has some redeeming quality or is filling some void in their marriage. In this case, it's just someone paying attention to Marge. And not even someone with any redeeming qualities. Jacques is simply pure scumbag all the way through. The whole episode feels a bit flat, like they just picked a plot from a grab bag and ran with it.

As for other characters introduced, this is actually our first look at Helen Lovejoy, with her trademark love of gossip. She was mentioned in Homer's Night Out, but this is her first onscreen and speaking appearance.