The Wife Aquatic

The Wife Aquatic is the tenth episode of The Simpsons' eighteenth season, which originally aired January 7, 2007. 13.9 million viewers watched this episode, making it the highest rated of seasons 17–20.

Plot

After watching Patty and Selma's old home movies of a trip to Barnacle Bay in New England during a town-wide outdoor movie night, Marge pines for the excitement she had in her youth. Moved by his wife's depression, Homer organizes a surprise trip to the island. However, on the family's arrival, Marge's hopes to relive her youth are dashed as Barnacle Bay has been devastated by overfishing of the Yum Yum Fish, the island's main attraction. Homer refuses to let Marge down and fixes the boardwalk and celebrates with a large fireworks show. The plan backfires and he accidentally starts a fire and the boardwalk burns down. In order to repay the townsfolk, Homer joins a fishing crew and sets out to rediscover the Yum Yum Fish.

Homer mistakenly beer batters and deep fries the fishing hooks, attracting a large haul of Yum Yum Fish. However, their celebrations are short-lived as Homer and the crew become trapped in a storm. Searching for a means of escape, they discover Bart has stowed away and removed the lifeboat in order to hide. The ship sinks and Marge and the rest of Barnacle Bay believe that all is lost. Much to the everyone's relief, Homer, Bart and the rest of the crew manage to survive and are rescued by a Japanese fishing boat called "Iruka Koroshi Maru" (Dolphin Killer). The townsfolk recommence fishing, but Lisa warns them about the dangers of overfishing. Agreeing with her, the townsfolk decide to go into logging instead, and clear cut the island's trees, which are planned to be sent to a paper mill to be made into issues of Hustler and Barely Legal magazine.