Nelson also sees her doing this and after talking about the situation, he offers to help Lisa get back at Sherri and Terri for teasing her. The next day, Nelson unleashes a skunk, which sprays both of them, while Lisa and her friends point and sing a parody of Jingle Bells. Both twins are scared and flee. When Lisa and Nelson return home, they find Nelson's father, who Bart found working at a freak show in a circus. It turns out that Mr. Muntz had really gone to the Kwik-E-Mart, where he had gotten a severe allergic reaction from eating a peanut bar. Coincidentally, the circus had made a stop in the Kwik-E-Mart parking lot, and the unscrupulous ringmaster noted the allergy and kept him as a forced freak for his traveling show. Nelson's mother finally returns, after going to Hollywood and getting the lead role in Macbeth, playing Lady Macbeth. Before returning to his family, Nelson thanks Marge for making him feel good about himself and appreciates what Bart did but says that this is not enough to stop him from bullying Bart. As the family talk about the morals of the episode, Lisa admits that she still has body image issues. Homer tries to get Lisa to talk about it positively, but Lisa says that it is a "very open-ended problem" and that she may never fully be content with her body image. Homer tries to goad Lisa into changing her mind, but she refuses to do so. Production The episode was written by Jon Vitti and was directed by Lauren MacMullan. This is their last episode to act as this role. Reception In its original broadcast, "Sleeping with the Enemy" was viewed by 9.95 million people. Guy Davis and Brendan Dando of Four Finger Discount praised the episode. "For months we've been complaining about how sad the Nelson character has become, so it was great to see the writers finally give that story a satisfying payoff that felt like a fresh direction for the Muntz family," says Dando. References External links Sleeping with the Enemy at the Internet Movie Database Sleeping with the Enemy at the Big Cartoon DataBase The Simpsons (season 16) episodes 2004 American television episodes Television episodes about eating disorders Television episodes about social class