"Lady Bouvier's Lover" is the twenty-first and penultimate episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 12, 1994. In the episode, Abe Simpson falls in love with Marge's mother, Jacqueline Bouvier, and they start dating. However, on a night out in town, she is charmed by Mr. Burns. Abe is brokenhearted when he learns that Jacqueline is going to marry Mr. Burns.
The episode was written by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, and directed by Wes Archer. It was recorded in October 1993 at the Darryl F. Zanuck Building on the 20th Century Fox lot in West Los Angeles. The episode features cultural references to films such as The Gold Rush and The Graduate, and songs such as "Moonlight Serenade" and "Sing, Sing, Sing".
Since airing, the episode has received mixed reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating of 10.0, and was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
Plot
The Simpson family gathers to celebrate Maggie's birthday. After the party, Grampa feels depressed, so Marge sets him up for a date with her mother, Jacqueline. Eventually, the couple falls in love, which enrages Homer, who believes that old people should not date each other — especially in-laws — and fears that his children will become "freaks" if the two decide to marry.
To impress Jacqueline, Grampa takes her out dancing, but when he does, Mr. Burns steals her from him and breaks his heart. They soon fall in love, and Jacqueline later agrees to marry Burns, to Marge's chagrin. Meanwhile, Bart buys a $350 Itchy & Scratchy animation cel with one of Homer's credit cards, which turns out to be poor quality with only part of Scratchy's arm drawn. Bart tries to trade it to Comic Book Guy for money but is offered a telephone in the shape of Mary Worth instead. In order to pay Homer back, Bart blackmails Burns by threatening to ruin his suit before his date.
On the day of the wedding, Grampa crashes Burns's and Jacqueline's wedding ceremony and asks that Jacqueline marry him instead. Partly due to Burns's behavior, especially when he threatens Bart after he accidentally drops the wedding rings, she decides not to marry either man. Grampa accepts Jacqueline's decision.
Production
thumb|upright|left|[[Bill Oakley was one of the episode's writers. |alt=A portrait of a man with black hair looking at the viewer]]
"Lady Bouvier's Lover" was written by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, and directed by Wes Archer. Mirkin said the episode was also a tour de force for Kavner, who in one scene voices Marge, Marge's two sisters, and Marge's mother. He added that even though she enjoyed the process, it was tough on Kavner's voice because those characters talk with "gravelly voices".
Cultural references
thumb|Grampa is hassled by lawyers who claim that he is imitating [[Jimmy Durante.]]
The episode's title is a play on D. H. Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928). Grampa is hassled twice by lawyers representing the estates of deceased entertainers: first for imitating Charlie Chaplin's bread roll dance scene from The Gold Rush (1925), Mrs. Bouvier says her friends Zelda Fitzgerald, Frances Farmer and Sylvia Plath were jealous of her good looks and it drove them crazy. All three women were known for having been institutionalized, Fitzgerald and Farmer for schizophrenia and Plath for a breakdown that resulted in suicide. Bart and Lisa sing the 1960s advertising jingle used for Armour and Company's brand of hot dogs. Everyone, except Lisa, then sings the advertising jingle for Chicken Tonight, complete with chicken dance moves.
Critical reception
Since airing, the episode has received mixed reviews from television critics.
DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson called the episode a "generally good program, though not one of the year’s best". Jacobson said he dislikes Marge's mother; "she’s one of the series’ less interesting characters, which is probably why she appears so rarely." However, he thinks Grampa is "always fun", and "it’s nice to see him in an ebullient mood, at least for a while." Patrick Bromley of DVD Verdict gave the episode a B− grade and said he is "never terribly interested in episodes that revolve around [Grampa] Simpson". He believes Grampa is "great as a background character, but less so when he takes center stage". He added: "I'm also especially uninterested in episodes revolving around Marge's mother. Having said that, this episode does have a number of inspired moments—notably the subplot involving Bart's pursuit of an Itchy & Scratchy cel, as well as one of the series' many homages to The Graduate." Bill Gibron of DVD Talk gave the episode a score of 4 out of 5.
The authors of I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Gary Russell and Gareth Roberts, wrote: "Homer's nightmare vision of Bart, Lisa and Maggie as ordinary kids is a highlight of this especially crazy—surreal jokes, flashbacks and dream sequences whizz by at an alarming rate—installment."