In “You Only Move Twice,” the second episode of The Simpsons’ eighth season, Homer quits his job and moves his family to a town called Cypress Creek. He starts working for an exceedingly charming and charismatic man named Hank Scorpio (voiced by Albert Brooks) who is pretty much the perfect boss in every way, and it just so happens that he’s a full-on supervillain. The episode is easily one of the best (if not the best) of the show’s entire run, and that’s almost entirely based on the delightful absurdity of Hank Scorpio. The episode will be 20 years old soon, and in the years since it aired, the rise of real-life tech moguls with their own insane schemes has made the episode seem bizarrely ahead of its time.
Because of this, The Ringer’s Alan Siegel decided to go deep into “You Only Move Twice” and examine how that episode came to be and figure out why it’s so prescient in an extensive article called “The Rise of Hank Scorpio.” The articles features quotes from future-Parks And Recreation co-creator Greg Daniels (who pitched the original concept) and Simpsons season 8 co-showrunner Josh Weinstein, but unfortunately the episode’s actual writer—beloved recluse John Swartzwelder—doesn’t chime in.
The article discusses the way the episode pokes fun at gentrification and rich people buying worthless sports team, both of which have become more common in the last couple decades, and it points out the similarities between Scorpio’s Globex company and Google as well as the similarities between Scorpio himself and guys like Steve Jobs. It’s pretty interesting stuff, and it just underlines how essential those older Simpsons episodes are. You can read the entire article at this link.