Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Super Franchise Me
More than once my father suggested I start my own business. But I know the truth; I really have no business or money sense. I don't really feel comfortable being the boss and being responsible for other people and a business scares me. It's just not for me. But at the same time, I would like to be able to have the ability to create something that people love and can put their faith in, something I built with my own hands. But I guess if I want to do that, I would have to deal with the consequences and risks, not my strong suits.
In this episode, when Flanders takes back his freezer, Marge decides to turn Homer's huge supply of frozen meat into sandwiches. Bart and Lisa take the sandwiches to school for trading and they prove to be popular. So much so that Marge is proportioned as a franchise owner for Mother Hubbard's Sandwich Cupboard, a sandwich restaurant chain. Marge decides to take her up on the offer but finds her untrustworthy employees and other challenges make success nearly impossible. When Marge finally does get ahead, with the help of her family working the shop, another Mother Hubbard's opens across the street, one more popular. Marge is in despair but Moe comes up with a plan to help; having Homer pretend to be a customer, injuring him and pointing out she was never properly trained in first aid. Marge is let out of her contract in exchange for taking full responsibility for "the customer's" injuries.
Super Franchise Me is another middling episode; not bad but it offers very little to remember. I think it doesn't help that it follows the formula of a lot of Marge episodes. Marge enters into a new business venture and she has the skills to create the product or service but there's something awful in society preventing her from succeeding.; unethical business practices, inexperience, bad luck, sexism. And this is already very similar to the Twisted World of Marge Simpson, where Marge opens up a pretzel franchise and finds it soul crushing until Homer plays dirty on her behalf.
There is potential in this one though because of it's target. In the Twisted World of Marge Simpson, the owner Marge buys it from seems like he's a sincere dude. But this episode reflects something similar to the actual dark side of franchises; that the people running them might not be treated the best by their corporate overlords. I think it's a good idea because I think reflecting the reality works with the Simpsons mistrust of authority and their systems and I think the specificity of the issue is worth exploring, even if it's a bit of a retread.
However, the end result is lacking. Not for a lack of trying; putting our characters in a hard spot, reflective of the kind of hard spots we can all be in is the kind of tact I want from the show but really the gags just aren't that memorable. I also kind of wish that Marge's solution was a bit more clever. I like the idea of Marge turning the corporations cutthroat rules against them but the way it's done lacks... a sort of narrative sting. I feel like "You didn't train us": probably does have a reflection in reality but as a story, it's a bit of a letdown.
More than once my father suggested I start my own business. But I know the truth; I really have no business or money sense. I don't really feel comfortable being the boss and being responsible for other people and a business scares me. It's just not for me. But at the same time, I would like to be able to have the ability to create something that people love and can put their faith in, something I built with my own hands. But I guess if I want to do that, I would have to deal with the consequences and risks, not my strong suits.
In this episode, when Flanders takes back his freezer, Marge decides to turn Homer's huge supply of frozen meat into sandwiches. Bart and Lisa take the sandwiches to school for trading and they prove to be popular. So much so that Marge is proportioned as a franchise owner for Mother Hubbard's Sandwich Cupboard, a sandwich restaurant chain. Marge decides to take her up on the offer but finds her untrustworthy employees and other challenges make success nearly impossible. When Marge finally does get ahead, with the help of her family working the shop, another Mother Hubbard's opens across the street, one more popular. Marge is in despair but Moe comes up with a plan to help; having Homer pretend to be a customer, injuring him and pointing out she was never properly trained in first aid. Marge is let out of her contract in exchange for taking full responsibility for "the customer's" injuries.
Super Franchise Me is another middling episode; not bad but it offers very little to remember. I think it doesn't help that it follows the formula of a lot of Marge episodes. Marge enters into a new business venture and she has the skills to create the product or service but there's something awful in society preventing her from succeeding.; unethical business practices, inexperience, bad luck, sexism. And this is already very similar to the Twisted World of Marge Simpson, where Marge opens up a pretzel franchise and finds it soul crushing until Homer plays dirty on her behalf.
There is potential in this one though because of it's target. In the Twisted World of Marge Simpson, the owner Marge buys it from seems like he's a sincere dude. But this episode reflects something similar to the actual dark side of franchises; that the people running them might not be treated the best by their corporate overlords. I think it's a good idea because I think reflecting the reality works with the Simpsons mistrust of authority and their systems and I think the specificity of the issue is worth exploring, even if it's a bit of a retread.
However, the end result is lacking. Not for a lack of trying; putting our characters in a hard spot, reflective of the kind of hard spots we can all be in is the kind of tact I want from the show but really the gags just aren't that memorable. I also kind of wish that Marge's solution was a bit more clever. I like the idea of Marge turning the corporations cutthroat rules against them but the way it's done lacks... a sort of narrative sting. I feel like "You didn't train us": probably does have a reflection in reality but as a story, it's a bit of a letdown.