Ned 'n Edna's Blend

"Ned 'N' Edna's Blend" is the twenty first episode of the twenty-third season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 13, 2012. In the episode, Edna reveals that she and Ned are married and now having arguments, as Ned thinks Edna changed Rod and Todd's fashion. It features a claymation segment made by the Chiodo Brothers in the style of Davey and Goliath, depicting a premonitory nightmare that Ned Flanders has.

Plot

Chazz Busby (the ballet teacher from "Smoke on the Daughter") starts auditioning actors for a production of a passion play. Ned auditions to reprise his role (for the fifth year running) as Jesus, but is rejected when Chazz does not see enough potential in him. Homer overhears Chazz speaking to Ned and asks to take the role of Jesus, which he gets. Homer stuns the audience with his performance and everything is going great until the cross Homer is tied to snaps and falls on Ned. Before the ambulance drives off, Edna wishes to speak to Ned before he goes, but is forbidden as only family members are allowed: Ned reveals that she is his wife, the couple having secretly gotten married.

As the news about Ned and Edna's marriage spreads around town, Marge offers to have a party for their marriage and they both agree. Bart, noticing Edna's struggle to bond with Rod and Todd when alone with them, urges her to introduce them to the "real world" or life will be extremely difficult for them. While Ned is at a left-handers' support meeting, Edna goes to one of Rod and Todd's parent-teacher meetings. Disgusted by the lack of education in their school, Edna transfers them to Springfield Elementary. That night, Flanders has a dream that Rod and Todd do not live up to his expectations. On the day of the party, Edna and Ned get into a fight about Rod and Todd's fashion and new vocabulary (Rod says "Chillax, Daddy"). Annoyed at Ned's inability to trust her, Edna leaves with the kids and leaves Ned at the Simpsons for the night. Ned later sees Homer and Marge get into a fight and realizes that there will always be things that he and Edna will disagree on, so he rushes to the school and makes up with Edna. At the end, Homer, dressed up in Jesus costume, opens up Sleazy Sam's (which in the opening credits was the billboard advertisement) loan rental bank and claims to be the real Jesus until God shocks him with a lightning bolt.

Release

Ratings

The episode originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 13, 2012. It was watched by approximately 4 million people during this broadcast. It received a 1.9 Nielsen rating in the demographic for adults aged 18–49. The Simpsons was the third highest-rated program in the 18–49 demographic in Fox's Animation Domination lineup that night, finishing with a higher rating than The Cleveland Show and Bob's Burgers but a lower rating than Family Guy and American Dad!.^[1]

Critical reception

At The A.V. Club, Rowan Kaiser gave the episode a B+ rating. Kaiser wrote, "In retrospect, it’s easy to say that The Simpsons marketed the “Nedna” relationship in an unfortunate fashion. By creating the relationship name immediately, and turning it into a finale/voting gimmick, the show made it look like a desperate cry for relevance (Marge tacitly admits as much, when she snaps “No voting!” at Homer). But as tonight’s episode demonstrated, had the Ned/Edna relationship been allowed to develop more organically, away from the extra-textual bells and whistles, it could have been, and could still be, something that doesn’t immediately induce cringing."^[2]

This episode won a Writers Guild of America Award, in the animation category.^[3]

References