Dogtown (The Simpsons)

Homer is driving in his usual manner and style (ineptly and recklessly) when he carelessly drives into an alleyway, with no room to maneuver and faulty brakes, where the now-homeless Gil is eating out of trash cans. Homer is horrified by the notion of hitting a sweet and lovable dog, so he slams into Gil instead, who ends up with a serious neck injury and plans to sue the Simpsons for everything they've got.

The jury accepts the defense argument that dogs are not only as good as humans, but better in many ways, and they dismiss Gil's case. Mayor Quimby decides to ride the pro-pooch sentiment by instituting measures that cater to canines and punish humans who do such things, like round up strays and even run animal medicine places like the poor Dr. Budgie, who gets arrested and put into shackles.

Dr. Budgie's plea for Springfield to realize that the dogs will soon notice that humans have advocated their alpha status and turn on the citizens is not taken seriously until it actually happens. Even Santa's Little Helper joins the feral dog pack, as the town hides from the now-vicious dogs, and a town meeting leads to the community begging their most broken-down citizen to help them: Gil. Gil is ready to face down his fellow street creatures, but it is Marge who steps up, and after finding out the leader of the dog pack is a vicious chihuahua named Taquito, kicks Taquito clear out of their showdown park and becomes the new alpha of Springfield.

All of the dogs return to their homes and families, from Ned's Baz and Mr. Burns' hounds, to Lisa and Bart's joyous reunion with Santa's Little Helper. In the final scene, Gil thinks he is found a new friend in a weakened Taquito who licks Gil's hand and barks happily. Gil does not realize the Chihuahua is only being friendly so he can get a taste for Gil before the poor ex-salesman finally dies and Taquito eats his corpse.

Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a C+ stating, "As far as bare bones go, why not? Again, silly and high-concept can work if the jokes are good enough, especially if an episode manages to ground the silliness in some sort of character work. Failing that, a bold stab at self-reflexive meta-comedy can also power things along. But here, the jokes aren’t good enough to sustain the premise, the character elements are perfunctory and sparse, and, as has been the case for a few years in a row now, the season finale has seemed less like an attempt to go out with a bang, and more like an afterthought."[1]

Tony Sokol of Den of Geek gave the episode 4/5 stars stating, "'Dogtown' panders to puppy love and yet somehow manages to mangle the mutts into a mangy mess of mischievous mayhem. Who doesn’t love cute puppies, playing piano, getting their snouts stuck in pickle jars or scratching their butts along the concrete to clean their fire hydrant debris? Cats will get their day, but doggies are adorable. They are instant memes, man’s best friend, blind people’s eyes and the saviors of drunken arctic explorers."[2]

"Dogtown" scored a 0.9 rating with a 4 share and was watched by 2.15 million people, making The Simpsons the second most watched show on Fox that night.[3]

• "Dogtown" at IMDb
• "Dogtown" at TV.com