View source for Apocalypse Cow

{{Infobox Simpsons episode
| image          = 
| caption        = 
| season         = 19
| episode        = 17
| director       = [[Nancy Kruse]]
| writer         = [[Jeff Westbrook]]
| production     = KABF10
| airdate        = {{Start date|2008|04|27}}
| guests         = [[Zooey Deschanel]] as Mary Spuckler
| blackboard     = "[[Horton Hears a Who!|A person's a person, no matter how Ralph]]"
| couch_gag      = A piece of [[tapestry]] shows the [[Ned Flanders|Flanders family]] taking the [[Simpson family]]'s couch. The Simpsons take the couch back and kill [[Ned Flanders]].
| commentary     = [[Al Jean]]<br/>[[Jeff Westbrook]]<br/>[[Tim Long]]<br/>[[Tom Gammill]]<br/>[[Max Pross]]<br/>[[Chuck Sheetz]]<br/>[[David Silverman]]
| prev           = [[Papa Don't Leech]]
| next           = [[Any Given Sundance]]
}}
"'''Apocalypse Cow'''" is the seventeenth episode of the nineteenth season of '''''[[The Simpsons]]'''''. It was first shown on [[television]] on April 27, 2008 on the [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox network]]. 7.69 million people watched the episode. In the episode, [[Bart Simpson|Bart]] joins [[4-H]] and saves a cow named Lou. He gives it to a girl named Mary and her father, Cletus Spuckler, thinks that Bart wants to marry her. [[Jeff Westbrook]] won a [[Writers Guild of America Award]] for writing the episode.<ref>{{Cite web|title='Milk,' 'Slumdog' top WGA Awards|url=http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=awardcentral&jump=contenders&id=picture&articleid=VR1117999784&cs=1|author=Littleton, Cynthia|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=2009-02-07|access-date=2009-02-09|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090209101249/http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=awardcentral&jump=contenders&id=picture&articleid=VR1117999784&cs=1|archive-date=9 February 2009|url-status= live}}</ref>

== Story ==

Bart and [[Lisa Simpson|Lisa]] watch a [[cartoon]] called "Transclown-O-Morphs." The main character tells kids to buy their new [[cereal]] to survive an emergency. [[Marge Simpson|Marge]] gets annoyed by the [[television advertisement|commercials]] and wants the kids to get away from TV. She gets Lisa to make [[banana bread]] and Bart to go to [[Springfield (The Simpsons)|Shelbyville]] with [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] to have [[bean bag chair|bean bag chairs]] "rebeaned." While driving, they see [[List of The Simpsons characters|Martin Prince]] driving a [[combine harvester]]. Bart asks him why he would drive a combine harvester, and Martin says he joined [[4-H]]. Bart joins and learns how to drive a [[tractor]]. A 4-H volunteer tells the members about a [[competition]]. He says you have to pick a calf and raise it over the [[summer]], and the [[cattle]] will be judged at a [[county fair]].

Bart gets stuck with a weaker cow and can not trade it away. He meets Mary, who gets Bart to not give up on the competition. Through the competition, Bart takes good care of the cow, which he names Lou, and makes him stronger and starts loving him. At the judging, Lou has grown up into a [[bull]] and is given a blue ribbon as an award. Bart is very happy until Lisa tells him that Lou will then be sent to a [[slaughterhouse]].

Bart wants Marge and Homer to buy Lou, but do not want to because it is expensive. At night, Bart starts hearing mooing and thinks he is [[hallucination|hallucinating]], but Lisa tells him it is just a [[Compact disc|CD]] of animal sounds that she started playing. Bart, Lisa, and two friends, named Compost and [[Solar panel|Solar Panel]], go to the slaughterhouse at [[midnight]] to save Lou. They find Lou and see that he has been fed [[growth hormone]] pills and is much bigger, so they use a [[forklift]] to move him away from the slaughterhouse. They decide that they should take Lou to Mary's house because it is on a farm. The next morning, they discover that Mary's father is Cletus Spuckler.

Bart gives Lou to Mary. Cletus yells for Brandine, Cletus' wife, to come to the door. Brandine learns about Bart giving Lou to Mary, so she tells Bart that giving a cow means that he has made a proposal of [[arranged marriage]]. Bart and Mary do not want a marriage, but Cletus and Brandine plan a wedding for the next day. Lisa tells Bart to go along with it so that they have enough time to figure out how to save Lou because she thinks that Cletus will not keep Lou if Bart doesn't want to get married to Mary. Homer and Marge learn about the wedding and are shocked, but Marge agrees to save Lou because Bart cares deeply for Lou. The next day, Marge stops the wedding and tells Cletus to send Lou to the slaughterhouse. However, Cletus ends up sending Homer in [[wikt:disguise|disguise]] as Lou. The real Lou is sent to [[India]] because cows have [[Sacred cow#In religion|a sacred status in India]]. They then save Homer from the slaughterhouse after he nearly gets killed. Homer promises to eat less meat, and Bart says with [[pride]] that "I had a cow, man."

== Reception ==

Richard Keller of [[TV Squad]] thought that the episode was another good episode of The Simpsons that feature Bart and Lisa together and says that "episodes that center around Bart and Lisa tend to be more interesting...because those characters have more dimensions, and their diverse personalities and passions [show that] there is more to explore about them."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/04/28/the-simpsons-apocalypse-cow/ |last=Keller |first=Richard |publisher=[[TV Squad]] |title=The Simpsons: Apocalypse Cow |access-date=2008-04-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501133708/http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/04/28/the-simpsons-apocalypse-cow/| archive-date=1 May 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> Robert Canning of [[IGN]] enjoyed the episode in a special way and was surprised by some plot elements, giving the episode a 7.5 out of 10.<ref>{{cite web|last = Canning|first = Robert|url = http://tv.ign.com/articles/869/869822p1.html|title = The Simpsons: "Apocalypse Cow" Review|website = IGN.com|access-date = 2008-04-30|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080502051837/http://tv.ign.com/articles/869/869822p1.html|archive-date= 2 May 2008|url-status= live}}</ref> [[Matt Groening]], creator of ''The Simpsons'', said that this episode was his favorite of the series in a 2008 interview and said that the scene with Homer in the slaughterhouse was the part he liked best.<ref>{{cite web|last = Topel|first = Fred|url = http://www.craveonline.com/articles/filmtv/04650665/3/interview_with_the_creators_of_the_simpsons.html|title = Interview with the Creators of The Simpsons|publisher = Crave Online|access-date = 2008-06-11|date = 2008-06-10|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080613060129/http://www.craveonline.com/articles/filmtv/04650665/3/interview_with_the_creators_of_the_simpsons.html|archive-date= 13 June 2008|url-status= live}}</ref>

== References ==

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Simpsons episodes]]
[[Category:2008 in American television]]
[[Category:2008 television episodes]]
[[Category:Television episodes about marriage]]