Whilst the plot of this episode may not be the strongest in season 1, a number of important characters and events occur during his second regular lenght episode. The chalkboard an couch gags continue, the former being " I must not skateboard in the halls" and the latter seeing the sofa collapse as the family hurries onto it.
The basic premise of the episode is that during a visit to the Power plant by Barts class Homer causes a serious accident and is fired infront of Bart by Sheri & Teri's father. The aforementioned twins are just two of the important secondary characters introduced in the episode. Depressed by the situation Homer attempts suicide but after being nearly run over realizes how precious his life is and sets about making Springfield a safer place for everyone. Interestingly, this idea would resurface in a later episode which sees Homer embark on a baby safety campaign. It ends with him trying to take on Mr Burns and unlitmatly capitulating when the offer of becoming plant safety inspector is made. Homer accepts and remains in this post on and off for the rest of the run.
Along side the twins, Chief Wiggum, Jaspar and Mr & Mrs Whinfield are introduced in this episode, as well as a black Smithers. The writing had always called for Smithers to be a sycophant to Burns and the production team decided that by portraying this slave like character as black would be a bad idea. The next time we see Smithers he is white. And gay.
This episodes most remarkable feature is perhaps it's dealings with feelings of drepression and suicide. Few cartooons before and explored such themes as they would reoccur in The Simpsons throughout it's history.
2/5 in my humble opinion
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