Manger Things

"Manger Things" is the 16th episode of the thirty-second season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 700th episode overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on March 21, 2021. The episode was directed by Steven Dean Moore and written by Rob LaZebnik.

The couch gag is animated by Bill Plympton, his seventh episode for The Simpsons.

Plot
While decorating a Christmas tree, Bart discovers an ornament reading, "Todd's First Christmas", and asks Marge for the story behind the decoration. Six years earlier, Homer and Marge go to the Christmas party at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Although Homer promises not to drink, Lenny and Carl spike his soda, making him drunk enough to mock Mr. Burns. Marge, appalled by Homer's behavior, refuses to let him inside the house for Christmas, leaving him to wander town. Eventually, Ned Flanders lets him stay at his house.

A pregnant Maude does not appreciate Ned letting Homer stay with them. She lets him stay in Ned's room that is dedicated to Jesus. Homer eats the Christmas ham and has hallucinations of Hell from a painting. Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa are missing Homer and wonder where he is. After Homer ruins grace and is a bad influence on Rod, Maude kicks him out of their house. When Homer goes to Moe's Tavern, Moe shows him a secret room located above the Simpsons' garage where he can be close to his family.

On Christmas Eve, Bart and Lisa offer to give up all their toys for Christmas in exchange for Homer coming home. Marge agrees on the condition that he does one selfless deed. Overhearing this, Homer tries baking cookies, but he burns the kitchen. Suddenly, Maude goes into labor, while Ned is out delivering Christmas turkeys to the poor. Homer goes to assist Maude with the birth while unaware that Marge is watching. Marge and Homer reconcile, while Maude and Ned decide to name the baby Todd, whose middle name is Homer.

In the tag, Bart scares Rod and Todd with Grampa's missing dentures while Homer and Marge spend time in the secret room with Moe surreptitiously watching. The credits feature Christmas cards from various Springfield residents.

Development
Executive producer Al Jean stated that creator Matt Groening wanted an episode featuring the room above the garage, and Jean wanted to feature a bond between Homer and Ned. Because the first episode of the series took place at Christmas, he also wanted the 700th episode to take place at Christmas even though the season already featured a Christmas episode.

Production took place entirely during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a line in the episode alludes to it when Homer refers to the "horrible present." The producers did not want the pandemic to appear in the world of the Simpsons because they felt the masking and distancing would look odd when viewers watch the episode in the future.

The couch gag was created by Bill Plympton, which features the Simpson family members being formed from pieces of Homer's head, and they float to the couch. This is the seventh couch gag that he has created.

Release
The episode aired on March 21, 2021 on Fox in the United States.

Cultural References
The films Frozen and The Ice Storm are playing as a double feature at the movie theater. Boléro by Maurice Ravel is heard during the couch gag.

Viewing figures
In the United States, the episode earned a 0.41 rating was watched live by 1.28 million viewers, which was the most watched show on Fox that night.

Critical response
Tony Sokol from Den of Geek gave the episode 5 out of 5 stars. He wrote that "'Manger Things' works exceedingly well as a stocking stuffer, even if it does arrive on the first day of spring."

Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club was more critical, giving the episode a "C-minus" rating. He did not understand why Marge was suddenly in the room when Maude gave birth and felt the revelation of the secret room to be unremarkable.