Labor Pains

General

References/Trivia

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Credits

Quotes

	Season 25 Episode
← 534 "YOLO"	535 "Labor Pains"	"The Kid is All Right" →

"Labor Pains" 250px

Episode Information Showrunner: [[{{{showrunner}}}]]

"Labor Pains" is the five hundred and thirty fifth episode of The Simpsons and fifth episode of the twenty-fifth season.

Synopsis

Homer remembers his Lamaze skills when he's forced to deliver a baby in an elevator. When the mother (guest voice Elisabeth Moss) names the child Homer Jr., he quickly develops a deep emotional bond with the kid. Meanwhile, Lisa is recruited by the cheerleaders of the local pro football team, the Springfield Atoms.

Production

In March 2013, it was announced that the episode was co-written by the late Don Payne and Mitchell H. Glazer.

In April, it was revealed that Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss would guest-star as "a pregnant woman named Gretchen who gets stuck in an elevator, gives birth and names the baby Homer, Jr."

The episode was aired on November 17, 2013, the show's timeslot later postponed an hour in order for FOX to broadcast the premiere of "Almost Human".

A deleted scene featuring Homer and Homer Jr. bungee jumping and then Homer crashing into a ceiling was included in a promotional video but was not included in the episode.¹

Reception

9.18 million viewers saw the pilot episode of "Almost Human", the show that lead into The Simpsons, the ratings result for The Simpsons being quite surprising considering the strong lead-in - this episode gathered 4.08 million viewers, with a 1.8 18-49 rating/share.

The episode received mixed reviews. The A.V Club awarded the episode a C rating and summarized, "In the end, there’s no payoff to this storyline at all, except that Maggie seems to forgive Homer for neglecting her in favor of his new elevator family. It’s the sort of sweet emotional payoff a good Simpsons episode pulls off after building the story on a solid character foundation along the way. Maybe next week it'll be better." The B-story, with Lisa attempting to rally the local football team’s cheerleaders to unionize, was described as "nondescript as it gets" and criticized as sexist because of its use "for little more than "dumb broad" jokes (the cheerleaders) and "ugly broad" jokes (the replacement cheerleaders)." TV Fanatic described the episode as "sweet" with "genuine laughs" but were disappointed with Lisa's story adding, "[the] story just couldn't seem to capture my attention much." They gave the episode a 3.5/5 star rating.

"Labor Pains" garnered positive opinion from fans. On No Homers, the episode holds a majority rating of 4/5 on a fan poll. In a similar reaction to that of critics, fans panned the episode's subplot but the main plot was deemed "excellent" by many and was praised for its "decent emotion, some pretty strong laughs and good pacing."

Gallery

Wikisimpsons has a collection of images related to Labor Pains.

• Labor Pains promo 1.jpg
• Labor Pains promo 3.jpg
• Labor Pains promo 4.jpg
• Labor Pains promo 5.jpg

References

^{1 link} To access promotional video, click on the "play" icon next to the episode name.

← Season 24 Season 25 Episodes Season 26 →

Homerland • Treehouse of Horror XXIV • Four Regrettings and a Funeral • YOLO • Labor Pains • The Kid Is All Right • Yellow Subterfuge • White Christmas Blues • Steal This Episode • Married to the Blob • Specs and the City • Diggs • The Man Who Grew Too Much • The Winter of His Content • The War of Art • You Don't Have to Live Like a Referee • Luca$ • Days of Future Future • What to Expect When Bart's Expecting • Brick Like Me • Pay Pal • The Yellow Badge of Cowardge