Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Marge the Meanie
I was never into pranks as a kid. I think there can be a fun to it and there's definitely a possibility to create pranks where everyone involved, including the victim can have a good laugh. But even before the disgusting and aggressive pranking in it's modern form, I'm generally hated prank TV shows, thinking about how if it was me, I'd be much more annoyed and frustrated to feel like laughing along. But in fiction, it can be a little more fun with characters getting justice on some meanies and turning the tables.
In this episode, Marge runs into her old middle school principal, who is terrified of her. It turns out Marge, like Bart, was actually something of a prankster in Middle School, in a successful effort to be popular. Marge became regretful of that time but Bart is impressed and finds a newfound admiration for Marge. When Bart and Marge find Comic Book Guy being cruel to patrons at the comic book store, the two prank him, beginning a series of pranks against who Marge decides are worthy targets. However, when one of Marge's pranks sends Mr. Burns to the hospital, she's racked with guilt. Marge sees a therapist who encourages to make up with her old principal. Back at home, Marge vows that she and Bart will give up pranking. Bart seems to talk her out of it and Marge sees her principal to pull a prank on her. Except in fact it turns out to be a prank on Bart to teach him not to prank.
Megan Amram has written two episodes prior to this one and both were pretty strong. This one is a bit of a letdown but a mild let down. It is still a very fun, funny episode with characters getting to bounce off of each other and bond in fun ways. However, my big problem is that by the final act, the structure feels like every third episode of Home Improvement. It's been a while but I feel like a lot of the episodes involved the parents pranking their own kids to teach them a lesson or something. And here, I feel like if the show had anything deeper to say about pranks, Marge's guilt or Bart and Marge's bond, it really gets tossed out the window for a more formulaic conclusion. It's a shame because while the build up also isn't terribly original in concept, it's pretty successful in execution.
After all, there is fun in Marge and Bart not only pulling pranks together but Marge being good at it and finding the kind of victims Marge would want to prank; bullies and meanies. So it would seem a good time to explore "aren't you just a bully if you bully the bullies?" Again, not a terribly original idea but I still think it's worth exploring, as it is in our human nature to want justice against jerks. It's hard to feel sorry for anyone Marge pranks in the present day. I also appreciate that I think of the three big prank set pieces, the first two are clever without being overly complicated (I'm curious if Marge and Bart rubbed and scratched up all the bar codes to ensure price checks on all those embarrassing items in Helen Lovejoy's cart).
The other thing working in this episode, even if it never lands on anything satisfactory in the end, is Marge and Bart bonding. Marge and Bart are one of my favourite pairings in the show for emotional and character beats and here Megan gets how these characters function together in this new context where it still fundamentally feels like the same people. It doesn't reinvent the wheel but it trucks along very well with there characters making for some fun scenes and good chemistry for the actors and characters. So really, it's a good episode, I just feel it lacks an ending with impact, whether it be emotional, comedic or character-based and I feel I don't really have a closure to this episode that leaves me with any real thoughts about it beyond "OK, that was fun" and despite it ending with Marge trying to teach Bart a lesson, I feel like nothing it learned, there's not really growth and I don't understand these characters on a deeper level.
Other great jokes:
"Check out my tattoo."
"Is that rub-on?"
"Henna!"
"*gasp*"
"Do it Marge, prank that guy!"
"Superman?"
"For legal reasons you can call me Uber Hombre."
"Once again the lack of clear copyright in my country has screwed me!"
"Can I interest you in a very emotional Spider-Man where Peter Parker confronts and forgives the spider who bit him."
"Maybe Bart's pranking allele is on the maternal chromosome."
"The only part of that I understood was allele."
Other notes:
Hank Azaria does a REALLY GOOD Shaggy "zoinks"
"I've waited for a connection like this for so long. Longer than the new Avatar movie."
"It's coming, Marge. You've just got to have faith"
"You sound just like James Cameron, Homer. What if we never see Pandora again? The real unobtainium is the sequel."
I was never into pranks as a kid. I think there can be a fun to it and there's definitely a possibility to create pranks where everyone involved, including the victim can have a good laugh. But even before the disgusting and aggressive pranking in it's modern form, I'm generally hated prank TV shows, thinking about how if it was me, I'd be much more annoyed and frustrated to feel like laughing along. But in fiction, it can be a little more fun with characters getting justice on some meanies and turning the tables.
In this episode, Marge runs into her old middle school principal, who is terrified of her. It turns out Marge, like Bart, was actually something of a prankster in Middle School, in a successful effort to be popular. Marge became regretful of that time but Bart is impressed and finds a newfound admiration for Marge. When Bart and Marge find Comic Book Guy being cruel to patrons at the comic book store, the two prank him, beginning a series of pranks against who Marge decides are worthy targets. However, when one of Marge's pranks sends Mr. Burns to the hospital, she's racked with guilt. Marge sees a therapist who encourages to make up with her old principal. Back at home, Marge vows that she and Bart will give up pranking. Bart seems to talk her out of it and Marge sees her principal to pull a prank on her. Except in fact it turns out to be a prank on Bart to teach him not to prank.
Megan Amram has written two episodes prior to this one and both were pretty strong. This one is a bit of a letdown but a mild let down. It is still a very fun, funny episode with characters getting to bounce off of each other and bond in fun ways. However, my big problem is that by the final act, the structure feels like every third episode of Home Improvement. It's been a while but I feel like a lot of the episodes involved the parents pranking their own kids to teach them a lesson or something. And here, I feel like if the show had anything deeper to say about pranks, Marge's guilt or Bart and Marge's bond, it really gets tossed out the window for a more formulaic conclusion. It's a shame because while the build up also isn't terribly original in concept, it's pretty successful in execution.
After all, there is fun in Marge and Bart not only pulling pranks together but Marge being good at it and finding the kind of victims Marge would want to prank; bullies and meanies. So it would seem a good time to explore "aren't you just a bully if you bully the bullies?" Again, not a terribly original idea but I still think it's worth exploring, as it is in our human nature to want justice against jerks. It's hard to feel sorry for anyone Marge pranks in the present day. I also appreciate that I think of the three big prank set pieces, the first two are clever without being overly complicated (I'm curious if Marge and Bart rubbed and scratched up all the bar codes to ensure price checks on all those embarrassing items in Helen Lovejoy's cart).
The other thing working in this episode, even if it never lands on anything satisfactory in the end, is Marge and Bart bonding. Marge and Bart are one of my favourite pairings in the show for emotional and character beats and here Megan gets how these characters function together in this new context where it still fundamentally feels like the same people. It doesn't reinvent the wheel but it trucks along very well with there characters making for some fun scenes and good chemistry for the actors and characters. So really, it's a good episode, I just feel it lacks an ending with impact, whether it be emotional, comedic or character-based and I feel I don't really have a closure to this episode that leaves me with any real thoughts about it beyond "OK, that was fun" and despite it ending with Marge trying to teach Bart a lesson, I feel like nothing it learned, there's not really growth and I don't understand these characters on a deeper level.
Other great jokes:
"Check out my tattoo."
"Is that rub-on?"
"Henna!"
"*gasp*"
"Do it Marge, prank that guy!"
"Superman?"
"For legal reasons you can call me Uber Hombre."
"Once again the lack of clear copyright in my country has screwed me!"

"Can I interest you in a very emotional Spider-Man where Peter Parker confronts and forgives the spider who bit him."
"Maybe Bart's pranking allele is on the maternal chromosome."
"The only part of that I understood was allele."
Other notes:
Hank Azaria does a REALLY GOOD Shaggy "zoinks"
"I've waited for a connection like this for so long. Longer than the new Avatar movie."
"It's coming, Marge. You've just got to have faith"
"You sound just like James Cameron, Homer. What if we never see Pandora again? The real unobtainium is the sequel."