Miracle on Evergreen Terrace

Homer and Marge go Christmas shopping at the Try-N-Save, where frenzied shoppers are quickly snatching the holiday season's most popular toys. Homer, posing as a store cashier, buys toys that customers were attempting to buy from him.

At home, the family makes their last-minute Christmas preparations. At bedtime on Christmas Eve, Marge tells everyone nobody can open presents until 7 AM, and just to make sure there is no cheating, she confiscates all of the alarm clocks in each bedroom. However, Bart, relying on an old Indian trick, drinks 12 glasses of water in order to wake up early to use the bathroom and get an early look at his presents. He awakens at 5:04 AM and secretly unwraps his gifts. One of the presents is the coveted Inferno Buster 3000, a remote-controlled fire truck. Bart has fun playing with the truck, until it sprays water on an overloaded electrical socket, and the Christmas tree bursts into flames. The flames immediately engulf the plastic Christmas tree and all of the presents beneath it. Bart manages to extinguish the fire before it spreads, and hides the burned evidence outside beneath the snow in the front yard.

When the family come downstairs at 7:01 AM and discover that the Christmas tree and presents are gone, Marge asks Bart what happened. Bart lies to them. He makes up a story about how he caught a burglary in progress, and the suspect made off with the tree and all of the family's presents. The police investigate, and Kent Brockman decides to do a human interest story on what he believes is the Simpsons' yuletide misfortune.

As a result of Brockman's report, everyone in Springfield shows their community spirit by giving them a new Christmas tree and $15,000. With the donations, Homer buys a new car. Driving it home Homer gets impatient when he gets stuck behind the Plow King and decides to pass. He unknowingly drives the car onto a frozen lake. The ice cracks, causing the car to sink and blow up.

The next morning, Bart's conscience gets to him, and finally he admits the truth when he disobeyed his family, which prompts Homer and Lisa to choke him. Soon, Kent Brockman and the Channel 6 news crew arrive to do a follow-up story. Homer slaps on a plastic smile and says everyone should stop looking for the "burglar" but that he does exist. The story quickly unravels when a cameraman, with help from Santa's Little Helper, finds the burned remains of the Christmas tree. The family is forced to explain, but it is too late for the viewers, who feel they have been scammed. The citizens shun and harass them until the family can pay back the $15,000.

Marge decides the only alternative is to try and win money by becoming a contestant on Jeopardy!, but she performs very poorly and ends up with -$5,200. After the show, Alex Trebek and two men approach the Simpson family demanding that they pay the $5,200 that Marge was in the red (which doesn't happen in real life), and the family runs away. When they get home, they find that everyone in Springfield (including Alex Trebek) is gathered on their lawn, and Marge thinks they have forgiven them. However, while everyone does forgive the Simpsons, they enter the family's house and steal things from it, except all the curtains and the living room and dining room window sill cushion seats, in order to cover the $15,000 debt. In the end, the family playfully fight over a tattered washcloth, the only thing they have left.


You Only Move Twice

Waylon Smithers is offered a job at the Globex Corporation. When he refuses, the offer is passed down to Homer, the next-longest-employed individual at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. He informs his family that the new job pays better and provides free health-care for the family, but involves moving to Cypress Creek. The Simpson family originally opposes the move, but after they watch a promotional video about the planned community, they agree that it is much better than Springfield. Abandoning their house, the Simpsons pack up and leave town.

Shortly after the Simpsons arrive at their new house in Cypress Creek, they meet Homer's new boss, Hank Scorpio, who is very amiable and seems like the perfect boss. After giving Homer a tour of the company, Scorpio tells him that his job is to motivate the employees in the nuclear division. Meanwhile, Bart starts school, but he finds that his new class is far above the standards of Springfield Elementary. When his teacher discovers that Bart cannot read cursive writing, he places him in a remedial class, much to Bart's shock. Lisa goes for a nature walk and discovers that she is allergic to all of the plants around Cypress Creek. Marge tries to go about her daily chores, but the house does everything automatically. This ends up depressing her to the point where Marge starts drinking a glass of wine to cope with her depression. However, Homer does an excellent job motivating his team in the nuclear division, and productivity increases by 2% thanks to his skills, which makes his family very proud of him.

Despite his success, Homer notices after a few days that his team members are starting to get overworked. He decides that the solution is to get them hammocks and visits Scorpio to ask where he can purchase some. Scorpio begins to tell Homer of "the Hammock district", but he is interrupted by some urgent business. It turns out that Scorpio is a criminal mastermind formulating a plot (known as Project Arcturus) to take over the East Coast with a doomsday device, as he turns to a screen and threatens the United Nations Security Council by declaring that he has got hold of the doomsday device and that they have 72 hours to meet his demand of gold. To prove his intent, he blows up the 59th Street Bridge. Despite being in the same room, Homer appears oblivious to Scorpio's nefarious plan as he was looking outside the window.

Another time was when Homer was in Globex Headquarters trying to get something from a vending machine, Scorpio has managed to capture a secret agent named Mr. Bont, who is attempting to stop him in his tracks. Scorpio intends to have Bont killed with a laser, but Bont uses a coin to free himself from his restraints before attempting to flee. However, Homer, who is unaware of events and believes that Bont is a 'loafer', easily knocks him down, allowing Scorpio's soldiers to shoot the agent. A proud Scorpio happily thanks Homer for a job well done.

At dinner, Homer proudly tells of his successes at work, but discovers that his family hates Cypress Creek because of their current problems and want to go back to Springfield. At first, Homer is opposed to this, saying that he has been doing a great job for the first time in his life, but nobody else is happy. Dejected, Homer decides to visit Scorpio back at Globex Headquarters. His visit coincides with an assault by the U.S. military, but Homer still remains oblivious to what is taking place. He finds Scorpio, explains the situation, and asks what to do. Scorpio advises Homer that he should do what is best for his family, asking him only to kill someone on the way out. As Homer dejectedly walks away, Scorpio straps on a flamethrower and attacks the remaining U.S. troops, making them flee.

The next day, the family returns to Springfield, as Scorpio succeeds in his plot and seizes control of the East Coast. Homer, who previously confided to Scorpio his dream of owning the Dallas Cowboys, expresses disappointment when he instead discovers the Denver Broncos practicing ineptly on his front lawn as a present from his former boss.

I really don't like either of these episodes, so just a slight edge to You Only Move Twice.

Hank scorpion may be their greatest one-off character

I love YOMT so much

The best part of YOMT is the reveal of the Denver Broncos.

YOMT is fantastic, ST.