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"The Italian Bob" is the eighth episode of The Simpsons' seventeenth season. It first aired on December 11, 2005. The title is a take off of the film The Italian Job.

Synopsis

Template:Spoiler After Mr. Burns' car breaks down, he tells Homer to pick him up a brand new Lamborgotti Fasterossa car in Italy. The rest of the family comes along with him, and after they pick up the car, they have a great time touring the country. However, after a huge chunk of Mortadella cheese lands on their car, they are forced to push it into a small town nearby called Salsiccia. When they get there, they ask an elderly woman for help, and she tells them that the mayor speaks English. However, they find out the mayor is none other than Sideshow Bob. He explains to them that after he attempted to kill Bart, he came to Italy to start a new life. After a rough start, the natives warm up to him after he helped them crush grapes into wine (using his enormous feet). After that, they elected him mayor of their town. Bob no longer has any intention of killing Bart, and it is revealed that he has a wife and son, Francesca and Gino, and they don't know anything about his past life in America. Bob begs the Simpsons not to tell anyone, and they agree.

The Simpsons enjoy spending time in the town, and they continue to keep Bob's past a secret. However, after Lisa drinks some wine at a party, she starts to spout off about him being a killer. He leads her away from the table, but as she stumbles backwards, she rips off his suit and underneath is his prison outfit from Springfield Prison. Everyone finds out the Bob is a killer, and they take away his title as mayor. The Simpsons take off in the fixed car, and Bob vows vengeance on them all.

After the family flees, Bob begins to follow them on a motorcycle. Homer drives into a ditch and ends up driving on ancient Roman ruins, and after they go off the end, the car ends up on top of Trajan's Column in the Roman Forum. Bob's wife meets up with him, and she tells him that they will kill the Simpsons together as a family (Gino, too).

Meanwhile, the Simpsons are wondering what they should do next. Lisa spots a bus with a poster for an opera that Krusty the Klown is performing in: Krusty E Pagliacci. They meet up with him at the Colosseum, and he puts them in as extras. However, Bob, Francesca and Gino find them and corner them in on the stage while Bob replaces Krusty, who went into a trap door. Before they can kill them, though, Krusty's limo picks them up. The Terwilligers walk away with evil smiles, no doubt plotting revenge.

Quotes

• Marge: Excuse me, Mr. Mayor. We heard you speak English.
  Very familiar voice: Indeed I do.
  (man turns around to reveal...Sideshow Bob)
  Simpsons: Sideshow Bob!
  Bob: The Simpsons!
  (they both scream)
• Bob: (narrating) I needed a fresh start. But where?
  (He walks up to the globe and spins it around. He covers his eyes and stabs the knife into the globe, which lands on Orlando, Florida)
  Bob: Not in this lifetime!
  (He spins it again, and the knife lands on North Korea)
  Bob: Damn it!
  (He spins it again, and the knife lands on Shelbyville)
  Bob: Never!
  (He spins it again, and the knife lands on a country called Bartovia that looks like Bart winking)
  Bob: Oh, cut that out.
  (He moves the globe and stabs the knife in Tuscany)
  Bob: Ah, Tuscany. Fortune is finally smiling upon me. (steps on a rake and grunts incoherently)

• Woman crushing grapes: (in Italian) I give up. This is too difficult.
  Man crushing grapes: (in Italian) Our tiny feet suck.
• Lisa (as Homer gestures like Mussolini): Dad, don't act like Mussolini.
  Homer: Really? I thought it was Donald Trump.
• Bob: This is my bride, Francesca, and my son, Gino.
  Homer: Holy moley! I always thought that you were, you know, out loud and proud.
  Bob: Well, I experiemented in college as one does.
  Homer: Yeah, I never went to college.
  Bob: (sarcastically) Stop the presses.

• Marge: (to Francesca) Hello. I'm Marge, this is my husband, Homer, my daughters, Lisa and Maggie, and my son, Bart Simpson.
  Francesca: Bart Simpson? The name Roberto cries when he has the bad dream?
  Gino: (making stabbing motions with his hand) Bart Simpson! Bart Simpson! Bart Simpson! I make like my daddy! (grunts and makes more stabbing motions)
  Bob: (takes Gino from Francesca and laughs nervously) Yes! Bart and I used to go, uh, fly fishing together.
  Gino: (running around on the floor in a circle and making more stabbing motions) Die, Bart! Die, Bart! (steps on a miniature rake and grumbles incoherently)

• Bart: Bob, your family will find out the truth. Sooner or later, you'll try to kill me again! Watch, I'll prove it. (lifts up his shirt and moves his hips around) Come on, Bob. Slice, dice, and serve on rice!
  Bob: (chuckling) You little scamp! (laughs and puts down Bart's shirt) You know, you'll make some murderer very happy one day. But, it shan't be me.

• (in Springfield, Chief Wiggum, Lou, and Eddie burst into a home)
  Wiggum: Freeze, Sideshow Bob!
  (the cops then empty their machine guns)
  Wiggum (realizing that this a birthday party): Oh, uh, oops.
  Lou: Chief, I tried to tell you. Sideshow Bob hasn't lived here for months.
  Wiggum: Yeah, well, sorry kids. Hey, is that a Penn State pennant? My cousin went there. Ya know him? Mark Wiggum, fat kid? (the kids still stared, shocked beyond comprehension)
• Bart: Help us! We don't want to be the first Christians to die in the Colosseum!
• Bob: I can't believe what Krusty is doing to Pagliacci! And they call me a killer!
• Mr. Burns: : Smithers! Kill them!
  Smithers: You could just buy a new car, sir.

Notes

• The rake-to-the-face gag is recycled from "Cape Feare".
• Lisa mentions Jean Valjean. Both Bob and Arrested Development's Oscar Bluth have worn Valjean's prison number in the past.
• Peter Griffin is identified in a policeman's manual as a plagiarist, and Stan Smith as a plagiarist of a plagiarist. Interestingly, they are both portrayed in Caucasian, rather than yellow.
• The town drunk is two years old, and looks and sounds like a chibi Barney Gumble. He may actually be one of Barney's innumerable children, thanks to the Springfield sperm bank.
• When Homer gives an Italian woman a mug with Kentucky emblazoned on it as a peace offering, this may be a reference to Behind the Laughter, in which the Simpsons are referred to as a "Northern Kentucky family."

Goofs

• Homer did attend college--later in life, yes, but he did go.
• Lisa does not appear to speak Italian in this episode, despite learning from Milhouse in the previous episode.

• Simpsons episodes