Plot
A badger takes up residence in Santa's Little Helper's doghouse. After several failed attempts to lure it out (including Homer crawling into the kennel, thinking it is Milhouse but getting attacked by the badger), Homer calls animal control. When he is unable to get through, Marge explains that the phone company has introduced a new area code to Springfield. Half of the town now has a 636 area code, the other has 939. At a town meeting to explain the change, Homer rallies an angry mob to protest the change, noting that the upper class side of town got to keep their area code while the poorer half were forced to switch. Homer proposes that the town split into two halves, and the mob agrees.
Homer is declared mayor of New Springfield after rejecting the Arizona Cardinals and tensions immediately arise between the two towns. Olde Springfield businesses begin discriminating against customers from New Springfield, and condescending to them on the nightly news. Bart and Homer shut off power to Olde Springfield and cut off their water supply in retaliation. When the lack of water reveals gold in the river bed, making the town even richer, an enraged Homer has a wall built between the two towns. However, a lack of supplies and sanitation drives away all of the New Springfield residents, who stream over the wall, leaving the Simpsons alone.
Bitter, Homer attempts to sabotage a concert in Olde Springfield by The Who. He and Bart sneak into The Who's hotel room and convince them to play New Springfield instead. When Olde Springfield realizes that their concert has been stolen, they follow the sound of the music to the wall, where The Who are playing for an audience of The Simpsons. A riot begins to break out as the two sides of town begin hurling flaming garbage at each other. The members of The Who hear about the area code problem and suggest that the townspeople get speed dial to resolve their differences. Pete Townshend's opening riff from "Won't Get Fooled Again" crumbles the wall, and the citizens of Springfield reunite and dance to the music. Meanwhile the badger leads an animal invasion of the town to "get 'em while they're dancing".
Read more about this topic: A Tale Of Two Springfields
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
“There saw I how the secret felon wrought,
And treason labouring in the traitor’s thought,
And midwife Time the ripened plot to murder brought.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)
“The plot was most interesting. It belonged to no particular age, people, or country, and was perhaps the more delightful on that account, as nobody’s previous information could afford the remotest glimmering of what would ever come of it.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
“We have defined a story as a narrative of events arranged in their time-sequence. A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality. “The king died and then the queen died” is a story. “The king died, and then the queen died of grief” is a plot. The time sequence is preserved, but the sense of causality overshadows it.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)