You'd think they could at least spring for James Hong or something. Geez.
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America's Favorite Non-prehistoric Cartoon Family - The Simpsons Thread
- Thread starter Johnny Unusual
- Start date
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
It's interesting they have never had him on the show.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Specs and the City
I only went to therapy once for a short time... in middle school, I think. I'm not sure if there was a specific reason my parents sent me. Middle school was definitely tough for me emotionally. But I don't think I new how to make the most of it and I don't think I stayed there long. I think mostly I was concerned with getting some homework done. Maybe I should try therapy again someday but at this time, it probably simply isn't feasible.
In this episode, the Nuclear Power Plant workers are gifted with smart glasses, unaware that Burns is using them to spy on employees. At home, Marge gets fed up with Homer's smart glasses obsession and convinces him to give them up. Marge starts using them and Homer ends up discovering in Mr. Burns office the spy cameras and can see the eyes through the world of Marge. He learns Marge is going to therapy and is talking about him, which bothers him. On Moe's advice, Homer comes up with the idea to "accidentally" bump into her there to broach the subject but when he sees Marge leaving therapy happy, he realized Marge needs her privacy and care for her mental health.
Specs and the City isn't a bad episode. It has a couple laughs, I think it is about something interesting and blends and builds its ideas well. But in the end, I just can't bring myself to actually care. It's completely serviceable but even though it has elements that I feel count for a lot, it just didn't hold my attention that much. On paper, I think it does a lot right. I think writer Bryan Kelley is smart enough to have Homer literally be in the seat of the show's most evil character to show how wrong it is that he's spying on his wife. Then it doubles as a low-key commentary on the invasive nature of modern technology while keeping things focused squarely on character and the importance of privacy both on a macro and micro level. It's doing a lot very well.
Perhaps it doesn't work because the comedy is just OK. Or maybe it's because the structure also follows a classic sitcom structure. Or that it could have gone an emotional level further about what Homer did (he is about to confess but the show let him off the hook). But I feel like these shouldn't be huge knocks against it from how I often engage with the show. Effort tends to count for a lot and when it isn't being completely wrongheaded (there are a couple of weak "everyone gets a trophy now" type complaining but it's pretty brief), I tend to be pretty forgiving.
I will say, the best moment is when we get to the reveal of Marge in therapy. Julie Kavner is doing some good acting and the image of her point of view where she is toying with her wedding ring is fairly effective. Yes, it's followed up by some pretty standard "Homer is an oaf and a dummy" jokes. And maybe that's my issue; that's an interesting opening and perhaps I would have liked something a little more experimental. With structurally it's fine, maybe it could have rushed though the "oogle" glass gags a bit to put Marge in therapy at the end of act one reveal and spend most of act two with Marge in therapy and have it be less of a series of gripes and more real introspection from Marge about how she loves Homer but is also infuriated by him and her thinking about what that says about her as a character. I guess I'm falling into my old habit of armchair quarterbacking a comedy show but I know what I want and I only kind of like this episode that I think is a decent product of a show with a history of mediocrity.
Other great jokes:
"Charlie, your move in Muppet Chess."
"Gonzo to Fozzie 7."
"Aw, that's Kermit-mate."
"Wokka wokka!"
I would play this.
"Everything in the newspaper makes him mad."
"Not Marmaduke! NEVER MARMADUKE!"
...
"Marmaduke was horrible today!"
I only went to therapy once for a short time... in middle school, I think. I'm not sure if there was a specific reason my parents sent me. Middle school was definitely tough for me emotionally. But I don't think I new how to make the most of it and I don't think I stayed there long. I think mostly I was concerned with getting some homework done. Maybe I should try therapy again someday but at this time, it probably simply isn't feasible.
In this episode, the Nuclear Power Plant workers are gifted with smart glasses, unaware that Burns is using them to spy on employees. At home, Marge gets fed up with Homer's smart glasses obsession and convinces him to give them up. Marge starts using them and Homer ends up discovering in Mr. Burns office the spy cameras and can see the eyes through the world of Marge. He learns Marge is going to therapy and is talking about him, which bothers him. On Moe's advice, Homer comes up with the idea to "accidentally" bump into her there to broach the subject but when he sees Marge leaving therapy happy, he realized Marge needs her privacy and care for her mental health.
Specs and the City isn't a bad episode. It has a couple laughs, I think it is about something interesting and blends and builds its ideas well. But in the end, I just can't bring myself to actually care. It's completely serviceable but even though it has elements that I feel count for a lot, it just didn't hold my attention that much. On paper, I think it does a lot right. I think writer Bryan Kelley is smart enough to have Homer literally be in the seat of the show's most evil character to show how wrong it is that he's spying on his wife. Then it doubles as a low-key commentary on the invasive nature of modern technology while keeping things focused squarely on character and the importance of privacy both on a macro and micro level. It's doing a lot very well.
Perhaps it doesn't work because the comedy is just OK. Or maybe it's because the structure also follows a classic sitcom structure. Or that it could have gone an emotional level further about what Homer did (he is about to confess but the show let him off the hook). But I feel like these shouldn't be huge knocks against it from how I often engage with the show. Effort tends to count for a lot and when it isn't being completely wrongheaded (there are a couple of weak "everyone gets a trophy now" type complaining but it's pretty brief), I tend to be pretty forgiving.
I will say, the best moment is when we get to the reveal of Marge in therapy. Julie Kavner is doing some good acting and the image of her point of view where she is toying with her wedding ring is fairly effective. Yes, it's followed up by some pretty standard "Homer is an oaf and a dummy" jokes. And maybe that's my issue; that's an interesting opening and perhaps I would have liked something a little more experimental. With structurally it's fine, maybe it could have rushed though the "oogle" glass gags a bit to put Marge in therapy at the end of act one reveal and spend most of act two with Marge in therapy and have it be less of a series of gripes and more real introspection from Marge about how she loves Homer but is also infuriated by him and her thinking about what that says about her as a character. I guess I'm falling into my old habit of armchair quarterbacking a comedy show but I know what I want and I only kind of like this episode that I think is a decent product of a show with a history of mediocrity.
Other great jokes:
"Charlie, your move in Muppet Chess."
"Gonzo to Fozzie 7."
"Aw, that's Kermit-mate."
"Wokka wokka!"
I would play this.
"Everything in the newspaper makes him mad."
"Not Marmaduke! NEVER MARMADUKE!"
...
"Marmaduke was horrible today!"
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
The Man Who Grew Too Much
The issue of genetically modified foods is an interesting one. We've been genetically modifying food since the beginning of agriculture through cross-breeding. However, my biggest concern isn't the modification (of vegetation, anyway. Animal modification can get pretty cruel as is how they are taken care of) but who is doing it and how they are. It's one thing to slowly do it over time but a lot of the ways they are modified and the way companies like Monsanto do it are pretty awful.
In this episode, Lisa becomes concerned about genetically modified foods but after seeing a manipulative scare video, Lisa flops the other way. Her defense draws the attention of a larger GMO producing company who invite the Simpsons to the tour of their facility. It is there they are shocked to discover that the Chief Scientist is Sideshow Bob, who began work with the company as part of a prison program and proved to be capable enough to help and rise to his current rank. He begins trying to win over Lisa and the two end up bonding over their shared intellectual interests. However, Bob reveals his plan while on a museum tour... he's been genetically modifying himself to superhuman levels and wants to steal the DNA of the world's greatest minds to add their qualities to his own. Bob also reveals one of his changes resulted in a hair-trigger temper and ends up going on a rampage. Lisa talks Bob down, who escapes thanks to his powers.
The Man Who Grew Too Much is an episode that wants to say something about GMOs but ends up saying very little. The episode starts with Lisa trying to figure out her take but weirdly the show has Lisa flip to ridiculous extremes. I get Lisa being wary of GMOs and I get her seeing there are advantages but for her to immediately side with "Monsorno" (ugh, *eyeroll*) feels like a betrayal of the character. I think the show wants to show that it is complex but kind of drops it in the area where we SHOULD be most wary of GMOs, which is in the hands of a major company. There is the implication Monsorno is evil by using Bob but it doesn't really have anything to say about how a corporation is evil, instead focusing on the individual evil of Bob.
Of course, you could say that Bob can be a metaphor for corporate evil but that doesn't really pan out in the episode. I think it doesn't help that he's reach the level of Dr. Colossus-level villainy with super-powers and such. And sometimes the Simpsons CAN go big and work. Heck, the pretty good Simpsons movie has the city trapped under a dome which is then threatened with a bomb. Itchy and Scratchy Land is an episode that ends with the Simpsons battling a robot army. The Simpsons doesn't always need to be grounded to work. But the Man Who Grew Too Much is mostly just not very funny and kind of sidesteps the idea it brings up in favour of a standard Bob plot with a comic book flavour.
I think the idea of having Bob and Lisa get along is potentially interesting. Lisa is smart but I do believe her to be someone who can be manipulated through her passions and her ego and she really is someone desperate looking for someone she can share with. But it just goes a little too easy. I almost wish they made an episode that didn't have the GMO stuff and was a little more intimate. The early Bob episodes were pastiches of different kinds of thrillers or crime stories (Cape Fear, 70s political thrillers, detective TV shows) and I think that's when they worked best. Maybe a more intimate style thriller would have worked better, like a reworking of Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt. Instead it's just a weird wacky episode that never quite holds together.
Other great jokes:
"No one tortures my kids with Mozart."
"You know Mozart?"
"I call all music Mozart!"
Other notes:
This is also the episode with the final performance of Marcia Wallace. It won't be till seasons later that the show tries to really grapple with this but it's a bittersweet acknowledgement for Flanders and Nelson.
The issue of genetically modified foods is an interesting one. We've been genetically modifying food since the beginning of agriculture through cross-breeding. However, my biggest concern isn't the modification (of vegetation, anyway. Animal modification can get pretty cruel as is how they are taken care of) but who is doing it and how they are. It's one thing to slowly do it over time but a lot of the ways they are modified and the way companies like Monsanto do it are pretty awful.
In this episode, Lisa becomes concerned about genetically modified foods but after seeing a manipulative scare video, Lisa flops the other way. Her defense draws the attention of a larger GMO producing company who invite the Simpsons to the tour of their facility. It is there they are shocked to discover that the Chief Scientist is Sideshow Bob, who began work with the company as part of a prison program and proved to be capable enough to help and rise to his current rank. He begins trying to win over Lisa and the two end up bonding over their shared intellectual interests. However, Bob reveals his plan while on a museum tour... he's been genetically modifying himself to superhuman levels and wants to steal the DNA of the world's greatest minds to add their qualities to his own. Bob also reveals one of his changes resulted in a hair-trigger temper and ends up going on a rampage. Lisa talks Bob down, who escapes thanks to his powers.
The Man Who Grew Too Much is an episode that wants to say something about GMOs but ends up saying very little. The episode starts with Lisa trying to figure out her take but weirdly the show has Lisa flip to ridiculous extremes. I get Lisa being wary of GMOs and I get her seeing there are advantages but for her to immediately side with "Monsorno" (ugh, *eyeroll*) feels like a betrayal of the character. I think the show wants to show that it is complex but kind of drops it in the area where we SHOULD be most wary of GMOs, which is in the hands of a major company. There is the implication Monsorno is evil by using Bob but it doesn't really have anything to say about how a corporation is evil, instead focusing on the individual evil of Bob.
Of course, you could say that Bob can be a metaphor for corporate evil but that doesn't really pan out in the episode. I think it doesn't help that he's reach the level of Dr. Colossus-level villainy with super-powers and such. And sometimes the Simpsons CAN go big and work. Heck, the pretty good Simpsons movie has the city trapped under a dome which is then threatened with a bomb. Itchy and Scratchy Land is an episode that ends with the Simpsons battling a robot army. The Simpsons doesn't always need to be grounded to work. But the Man Who Grew Too Much is mostly just not very funny and kind of sidesteps the idea it brings up in favour of a standard Bob plot with a comic book flavour.
I think the idea of having Bob and Lisa get along is potentially interesting. Lisa is smart but I do believe her to be someone who can be manipulated through her passions and her ego and she really is someone desperate looking for someone she can share with. But it just goes a little too easy. I almost wish they made an episode that didn't have the GMO stuff and was a little more intimate. The early Bob episodes were pastiches of different kinds of thrillers or crime stories (Cape Fear, 70s political thrillers, detective TV shows) and I think that's when they worked best. Maybe a more intimate style thriller would have worked better, like a reworking of Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt. Instead it's just a weird wacky episode that never quite holds together.
Other great jokes:
"No one tortures my kids with Mozart."
"You know Mozart?"
"I call all music Mozart!"
Other notes:
This is also the episode with the final performance of Marcia Wallace. It won't be till seasons later that the show tries to really grapple with this but it's a bittersweet acknowledgement for Flanders and Nelson.
This really is the weirdest and weakest Bob episode.
The Face/Off one was also weird as hell but it at least felt like an episode of The Simpsons
The Face/Off one was also weird as hell but it at least felt like an episode of The Simpsons
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Hmm... maybe? Are you counting the one in the Treehouse of Horror? I'll have to judge on re-watch. But while I don't necessarily mind if there was a more super-villain pastiche story but to me it's not that it's too over-the-top, it's that it's just kind of messy and not that funny. I kind of like the idea of Bob being a little too pretentious to appreciate Lisa's stuff but that feels like it's just a joke when it has the potential to be much more character commentary that could be for a better, smaller scaled episode.
Purple
(She/Her)
Hey, we've reached it! The episode where I watched it and then I stopped watching The Simpsons! (until this season which has been remarkably good)
To be fair there were other factors beyond this just being a really bad episode (I think this was around where circumstances required me to move quite suddenly), but it's still a pretty impressively terrible episode, and I'm not at all comfortable with Sideshow Bob Has Superpowers when it's not Halloween.
To be fair there were other factors beyond this just being a really bad episode (I think this was around where circumstances required me to move quite suddenly), but it's still a pretty impressively terrible episode, and I'm not at all comfortable with Sideshow Bob Has Superpowers when it's not Halloween.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
My falling off would come a bit later but it's a bit the same in that rather than being a single episode, I moved back in with my parents for a time and I just didn't feel like watching this mediocre show with them around anymore.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Diggs
Back in the 80s and early 90s, TV sitcoms had the trope of the "very special episode".
Basically, it was putting a PSA in a show oftentimes, or adding more serious drama to a series. It kind of became a bit of a comedic punching bag and rightly so; a lot of the shows were about the horrors of pot, of have unearned drama or handle a real social issue all wrong. Or simply, the show that was already broad and wacky would find itself looking cringey. Some shows are more suited to this based on the kind of comedies they were and could do drama well. The greatest moment of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air was a heartbreaking speech from Will dealing with an absentee father. But often, a lot of shows were just plain hokey about it and it became worse when they were sort of hokey to begin with. In the 90s, outside some notable family sitcoms, there was a step away from the maudlin with shows like Seinfeld where they wanted "no learning, no hugging". The Simpsons was a show that could have actual emotion but it was also one that mocked the kind of special episodes that TV made. I won't call Diggs a very special episode... but it very much has it in it's DNA.
In this episode, Bart is ostracized from the fallout of a money making scheme that ended with him eating a frog and meets a similar outcast, an older boy named Diggs. Diggs and Bart restart the school's falconry club and bond as friends. However, one day, Diggs jumps out of a tree to Bart's shock. At the hospital, Bart learns Diggs is being taken to a psychiatric hospital and Homer and Marge are hesitant to bring Bart to see him. Diggs gets a one-day pass for a falconry competition. It turns out Diggs is less interested in winning than freeing the other Falcons which Bart helps him with. Diggs suspects it will be a long time before he can get another pass and bid Bart adieu.
This is a weird one. Not bad weird. But not good. It's a not good episode. Not awful. But it is reaching for something. And I appreciate that. I feel like the fact that the episode doesn't have a pun in the title or doesn't have "Bart Vs. ______", tells you this is a bit of a different one. And it really does harken back to the very special episode mentality. I think in many ways, it's better made than most. It's actually not that saccrine (the Simpsons have done WAY sappier episodes). I think it wants to talk about mental illness in an honest way. Characters make jokes and use the word crazy but I feel like it is also trying to show what stereotypical crazy looks like isn't what mental issues look like.
I can appreciate that but it does fall into some "special episode" traps. I feel like it is trying to add jokes in the way such episodes do, in a way that says "we can laugh at our problems together" but it feeling a little awkward in the process. Not just in a way organic to Bart's discomfort but just... feeling like a weirdly toned episode. And I am really happy it IS trying something like this. And I feel like for my issues, it doesn't crash and burn horribly, like that time they decided to do a gay wedding episode that is "pro-gay" that was also ridiculously transphobic. I'm not saying it doesn't stumble but it doesn't look like a nightmare.
But I think it's in a weird spot where the show fails and succeeds in the same way. There's not a lot of talky detail about the specifics of Diggs' situation. I think that both helps and hurts because the show never becomes a lecture but it also never quite shows what Bart should be doing. I think it handles the Simpsons parents well, not because they do the right thing but because that reads a little real. It doesn't overtly mention Homer and Marge trying to keep Bart away from Diggs in the psychiatric hospital is bad but I feel like the viewers can intuit, even if their reasons are worrying if it might be upsetting for their son. But the show in this era has story structure problems and that not only hurts the story but it's message. Diggs freeing the falcons is never built up to properly and feels like a needless turn. I like the idea that Bart helps his friend with a defiant prank and that Bart's talent can help his friend but it feels shoehorned in. And making Diggs condition vague both works and doesn't, weirdly. I think it does put us in Bart's shoes where all he knows is his friend is acting in a way that worries him but there's a benefit to specificity. It's an odd duck, really. I'm glad it wants to add something to the conversation but I don't know if it's actually succeeding. I'm glad a cartoon like this that has a history of, like many cartoons, treating "crazy" with broad wackiness wants to try really addressing mental health. But while Diggs isn't a complete embarrassment, it's not really good. It's, at best, watchable and a little odd.
Other notes:
Second appearance from Daniel Radcliffe. Dude gets some meaty roles in this series.
Another guest intro, this time from animator of the Triplets of Belleville Sylvain Chomet with wacky French cliches as Bart tries to make pate and Homer is eating a bucket of live snails. It's a pretty good opening.
Back in the 80s and early 90s, TV sitcoms had the trope of the "very special episode".
In this episode, Bart is ostracized from the fallout of a money making scheme that ended with him eating a frog and meets a similar outcast, an older boy named Diggs. Diggs and Bart restart the school's falconry club and bond as friends. However, one day, Diggs jumps out of a tree to Bart's shock. At the hospital, Bart learns Diggs is being taken to a psychiatric hospital and Homer and Marge are hesitant to bring Bart to see him. Diggs gets a one-day pass for a falconry competition. It turns out Diggs is less interested in winning than freeing the other Falcons which Bart helps him with. Diggs suspects it will be a long time before he can get another pass and bid Bart adieu.
This is a weird one. Not bad weird. But not good. It's a not good episode. Not awful. But it is reaching for something. And I appreciate that. I feel like the fact that the episode doesn't have a pun in the title or doesn't have "Bart Vs. ______", tells you this is a bit of a different one. And it really does harken back to the very special episode mentality. I think in many ways, it's better made than most. It's actually not that saccrine (the Simpsons have done WAY sappier episodes). I think it wants to talk about mental illness in an honest way. Characters make jokes and use the word crazy but I feel like it is also trying to show what stereotypical crazy looks like isn't what mental issues look like.
I can appreciate that but it does fall into some "special episode" traps. I feel like it is trying to add jokes in the way such episodes do, in a way that says "we can laugh at our problems together" but it feeling a little awkward in the process. Not just in a way organic to Bart's discomfort but just... feeling like a weirdly toned episode. And I am really happy it IS trying something like this. And I feel like for my issues, it doesn't crash and burn horribly, like that time they decided to do a gay wedding episode that is "pro-gay" that was also ridiculously transphobic. I'm not saying it doesn't stumble but it doesn't look like a nightmare.
But I think it's in a weird spot where the show fails and succeeds in the same way. There's not a lot of talky detail about the specifics of Diggs' situation. I think that both helps and hurts because the show never becomes a lecture but it also never quite shows what Bart should be doing. I think it handles the Simpsons parents well, not because they do the right thing but because that reads a little real. It doesn't overtly mention Homer and Marge trying to keep Bart away from Diggs in the psychiatric hospital is bad but I feel like the viewers can intuit, even if their reasons are worrying if it might be upsetting for their son. But the show in this era has story structure problems and that not only hurts the story but it's message. Diggs freeing the falcons is never built up to properly and feels like a needless turn. I like the idea that Bart helps his friend with a defiant prank and that Bart's talent can help his friend but it feels shoehorned in. And making Diggs condition vague both works and doesn't, weirdly. I think it does put us in Bart's shoes where all he knows is his friend is acting in a way that worries him but there's a benefit to specificity. It's an odd duck, really. I'm glad it wants to add something to the conversation but I don't know if it's actually succeeding. I'm glad a cartoon like this that has a history of, like many cartoons, treating "crazy" with broad wackiness wants to try really addressing mental health. But while Diggs isn't a complete embarrassment, it's not really good. It's, at best, watchable and a little odd.
Other notes:
Second appearance from Daniel Radcliffe. Dude gets some meaty roles in this series.
Another guest intro, this time from animator of the Triplets of Belleville Sylvain Chomet with wacky French cliches as Bart tries to make pate and Homer is eating a bucket of live snails. It's a pretty good opening.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
The Winter of His Content
I really do worry about myself getting old. I'm 40 and while I has some money squared away for retirement, it's not a lot. I only have a few people in my life and as I get older, that number may get smaller. And I fear that I'm getting a bit old to find someone at times, particularly with my lack of romantic and intimate experience. I've always feared death but poor quality of life is also something to fear and I hope I can find a way to afford it.
In this episode, due to the retirement castle being shut down until it fixes serious safety issues, Grandpa, Jasper and the Old Jewish Man must stay with the Simpsons. Homer gets fed up with them but on Lisa's advice tries to learn to live with them. He spends more time with them and becomes like them, enjoying the life of an old man. But Marge doesn't like it so much and finds herself less attracted to Homer. Meanwhile, after Bart stands up for Nelson at school, Nelson lets Bart be an honorary bully. They end up attending a bully gathering but Bart is framed for an attack on their leader, causing every bully to hunt down Bart, Nelson, Dolph, Kearney and Jimbo. After some scrapes and escapes, the kids return to Springfield only to be attacked by the gang that framed Bart. Homer saves Bart, deciding to live life as a young man again.
The Winter of His Content is an episode that starts with a fun premise... then completely looses it as the B-plot transforms into the A-plot. That's not necessarily a bad maneuver but the fact is in this episode, neither plot is done service by this. Bart's story is a loving tribute to the lean thriller The Warriors and with that film being simple, you think it wouldn't hurt being only half the episode. But really, it doesn't land and even with it being silly, I think I needed a bit more of an investment. It sounds weird for more emotional engagement from a silly plot like this but I feel without I'm just kind of shrugging. In all honesty, this is a plot that Bob's Burgers would 100% do a great episode for but the parody the Simpsons provide in this era tend to connect to some of the show's weaker instiinct.
The Homer likes being old plot has more potential. It's a little cute in a pretty basic way but more importantly, it has some emotional hooks. Homer gets to see that growing old isn't so bad but more importantly, Marge really starts to wonder if she actually wants to grow old with Homer if that's what being old looks like. It's an interesting idea, an anxiety about your loved one aging and learning to accept it and even enjoying elements but the show STRAIGHT UP DROPS what it establishes as an actual emotional dilemma from Marge; that she just isn't attracted to Homer as an old man. The show brings it up like it's a big "Oh, no" and Marge is gone until they are making out in bed because Homer decided to stop acting like an old man.
So there's like no self-discovery or emotional grappling from Marge because it all worked out in a plot narratively, emotionally and thematically independent story. I actually think these stories could have blended together smoothly if Homer and the old folks joined the young bullies at the half-way point. The old people live in a world of fear and though the young bullies have fear, it's clear their fear is from insecurity rather than simply being beaten up and being totally victimized. I think it might have meant our heroic cast would be a little overstuffed but it would dovetail a story about age together and actually make the Warriors parody a little more high-stakes.
Other great jokes:
The Downton Abbey parody is pretty standard Itchy and Scratchy but calling in more Scratchy servants to clean up the bodies of the other Scratchy servants is pretty good social commentary that the actual Downton Abbey lacked.
"He's got three bottles!"
I really do worry about myself getting old. I'm 40 and while I has some money squared away for retirement, it's not a lot. I only have a few people in my life and as I get older, that number may get smaller. And I fear that I'm getting a bit old to find someone at times, particularly with my lack of romantic and intimate experience. I've always feared death but poor quality of life is also something to fear and I hope I can find a way to afford it.
In this episode, due to the retirement castle being shut down until it fixes serious safety issues, Grandpa, Jasper and the Old Jewish Man must stay with the Simpsons. Homer gets fed up with them but on Lisa's advice tries to learn to live with them. He spends more time with them and becomes like them, enjoying the life of an old man. But Marge doesn't like it so much and finds herself less attracted to Homer. Meanwhile, after Bart stands up for Nelson at school, Nelson lets Bart be an honorary bully. They end up attending a bully gathering but Bart is framed for an attack on their leader, causing every bully to hunt down Bart, Nelson, Dolph, Kearney and Jimbo. After some scrapes and escapes, the kids return to Springfield only to be attacked by the gang that framed Bart. Homer saves Bart, deciding to live life as a young man again.
The Winter of His Content is an episode that starts with a fun premise... then completely looses it as the B-plot transforms into the A-plot. That's not necessarily a bad maneuver but the fact is in this episode, neither plot is done service by this. Bart's story is a loving tribute to the lean thriller The Warriors and with that film being simple, you think it wouldn't hurt being only half the episode. But really, it doesn't land and even with it being silly, I think I needed a bit more of an investment. It sounds weird for more emotional engagement from a silly plot like this but I feel without I'm just kind of shrugging. In all honesty, this is a plot that Bob's Burgers would 100% do a great episode for but the parody the Simpsons provide in this era tend to connect to some of the show's weaker instiinct.
The Homer likes being old plot has more potential. It's a little cute in a pretty basic way but more importantly, it has some emotional hooks. Homer gets to see that growing old isn't so bad but more importantly, Marge really starts to wonder if she actually wants to grow old with Homer if that's what being old looks like. It's an interesting idea, an anxiety about your loved one aging and learning to accept it and even enjoying elements but the show STRAIGHT UP DROPS what it establishes as an actual emotional dilemma from Marge; that she just isn't attracted to Homer as an old man. The show brings it up like it's a big "Oh, no" and Marge is gone until they are making out in bed because Homer decided to stop acting like an old man.
So there's like no self-discovery or emotional grappling from Marge because it all worked out in a plot narratively, emotionally and thematically independent story. I actually think these stories could have blended together smoothly if Homer and the old folks joined the young bullies at the half-way point. The old people live in a world of fear and though the young bullies have fear, it's clear their fear is from insecurity rather than simply being beaten up and being totally victimized. I think it might have meant our heroic cast would be a little overstuffed but it would dovetail a story about age together and actually make the Warriors parody a little more high-stakes.
Other great jokes:
The Downton Abbey parody is pretty standard Itchy and Scratchy but calling in more Scratchy servants to clean up the bodies of the other Scratchy servants is pretty good social commentary that the actual Downton Abbey lacked.
"He's got three bottles!"
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
The War of Art
One of the things I'm learning as an educator is NOT to make people apologize but to encourage it. I mean, I might bug a kid until they at least have an idea of what the issue is but I let them know there isn't an obligation like there is to follow other rules. And in fact, sometimes I encourage the offended party to say what THEY want. Sometimes it's not an apology, they want to play or maybe a drawing. But this is beside the point; my point is that there's a difference between a moral obligation and a choice with moral benefits. There are choices where you are in the right to make but frustratingly it might make life a little harder for someone.
In this episode, the Simpsons boat painting is broken and Marge wants a new one. They buy a painting Kirk Van Houten bought when he was separated from Luann and remove the frame only to discover it was by a respected painter name Johan Oldenveldt. It turns out to be very expensive and can be sold for a lot of money but Marge wants to split it with the Van Houtens. Homer and Marge have a prolonged discussion about how to proceed until eventually Homer convinces Marge to keep it a secret but it turns out Milhouse overheard the conversation. They try to buy off Milhouse but he lets the truth slip and the Van Houtens are betrayed. Word of what happened airs on TV, dividing the town on if the Simpsons owe the Van Houtens. The painting goes up for auction and before it is sold, Kirk's ex from when he was separated claims ownership, meaning the Van Houtens had no right to sell it. With no evidence, the auction is put on hold until the ownership is determined. Kirk is in the doghouse, as he claimed he wasn't seeing anyone during the separation and Homer lets him stay over. Homer decides to go to Isla Verde where the painting originated and prove it was Kirk's and therefore now his. Homer learns just that but then he learns it was actually drawn by an art forger from the forger himself. The forger tells Lisa that though it isn't real, the beauty is, as is the effect on people. Homer is disappointed by the fact that his painting is a fake, he gets the forger to make a portrait of the Van Houtens as an apology and a new boat painting for Marge.
The War of Art is actually one of the best episodes I've seen in a while. One scene made me laugh out loud pretty hard and it's actually coming from an interesting and morally complex place. It all hinges on the issue of obligation and the idea of what do you do with that freedom when you don't have it. Homer has no moral obligation to give ANYTHING to the Van Houtens based on the word of the law. He never cheated the Van Houtens, he was just fortunate. With that and him in a very advantageous position, it's understandable that he wants to push it. Marge is frustrated by his greed and he is greedy but the show also takes time to remind us this family needs a real money cushion is doesn't have (though lets face it, the show is pretty lacks in presenting the Simpsons as a financially struggling family). Marge thinks they should split the money because they care about their friends but Homer twists things to make Marge think changing her mind is right. And the thing is Homer isn't "wrong" in many respects...
But being right doesn't mean there aren't better decisions. A lot of the time I complain that there are different unrelated "lessons" going on at the same time that tie together poorly. Here there are two lessons about morality that don't immediately tie together but feel appropriately adjacent. In this one, the other one is a man is being an art forger, a crime. But his philosophy is that the originator isn't as important as the effect; does the painting still possess the power to move. I think there are elements to debate on this point; no one likes learning they were lied to. I think though the Van Houtens wouldn't like that money, it hurt even more that the Simpsons kept the truth from them. But at the same time, Homer is "in the right" legally and in the most technical sense morally but it doesn't make the world better beyond his. People on both side of the argument are correct in a lot of ways but thought needs to be paid to the result. Homer is thinking of only his and Marge thinks about the world beyond. Homer is able to win Marge over a bit when he makes her think that the truth could lead to resentment. This might be true but in doing so it's a betrayal.
It's interesting to me because in the most basic way it is "Marge right/Homer wrong" but in a much more nuanced way than usual. Homer is morally tricky and surprisingly savvy at using arguments that are both very obviously to get what he wants to hew close enough to certain truths to be convincing. But in the end, for his greed, Homer does want people to be happy and he's willing to pay a small fee and do a small act of good with art to put some good back in the world. This is one of the more interesting Rob Lazebnik episodes where a great deal is a debate between Homer and Marge and is clearly him working out in his head what both characters want in the moral dilemma and how both of them would approach it. It also has a few solid laughs and it a thoroughly engaging episode. This might be my favourite episode from this season and while that's a low bar, this is a pretty strong episode.
Other great jokes:
"Kettlecorn; the heroin of the farmer's market."
I like the bit where people are debating the Simpsons choice to keep the painting by throwing rocks through their window.
"Just remember; if your mother asks, I took you to a wine tasting."
"That's a terrible thing for a father to do."
"That's why she'll believe it."
Other notes:
I like the touch that Homer has in his wallet some anonymous person's bank receipt with five figures as a reminder of what could be.
I assumed Bumblefoot was a funny made up name for a fake guinea pig disease but it's apparently real.
How did Lisa's new guinea pig stick around until the episode's end. If Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II are barely around and their actual pig straight up disappeared, I can't imagine that Pokey the guinea pig EVER turned up again.
Max von Sydow has a great voice, doesn't he?
One of the things I'm learning as an educator is NOT to make people apologize but to encourage it. I mean, I might bug a kid until they at least have an idea of what the issue is but I let them know there isn't an obligation like there is to follow other rules. And in fact, sometimes I encourage the offended party to say what THEY want. Sometimes it's not an apology, they want to play or maybe a drawing. But this is beside the point; my point is that there's a difference between a moral obligation and a choice with moral benefits. There are choices where you are in the right to make but frustratingly it might make life a little harder for someone.
In this episode, the Simpsons boat painting is broken and Marge wants a new one. They buy a painting Kirk Van Houten bought when he was separated from Luann and remove the frame only to discover it was by a respected painter name Johan Oldenveldt. It turns out to be very expensive and can be sold for a lot of money but Marge wants to split it with the Van Houtens. Homer and Marge have a prolonged discussion about how to proceed until eventually Homer convinces Marge to keep it a secret but it turns out Milhouse overheard the conversation. They try to buy off Milhouse but he lets the truth slip and the Van Houtens are betrayed. Word of what happened airs on TV, dividing the town on if the Simpsons owe the Van Houtens. The painting goes up for auction and before it is sold, Kirk's ex from when he was separated claims ownership, meaning the Van Houtens had no right to sell it. With no evidence, the auction is put on hold until the ownership is determined. Kirk is in the doghouse, as he claimed he wasn't seeing anyone during the separation and Homer lets him stay over. Homer decides to go to Isla Verde where the painting originated and prove it was Kirk's and therefore now his. Homer learns just that but then he learns it was actually drawn by an art forger from the forger himself. The forger tells Lisa that though it isn't real, the beauty is, as is the effect on people. Homer is disappointed by the fact that his painting is a fake, he gets the forger to make a portrait of the Van Houtens as an apology and a new boat painting for Marge.
The War of Art is actually one of the best episodes I've seen in a while. One scene made me laugh out loud pretty hard and it's actually coming from an interesting and morally complex place. It all hinges on the issue of obligation and the idea of what do you do with that freedom when you don't have it. Homer has no moral obligation to give ANYTHING to the Van Houtens based on the word of the law. He never cheated the Van Houtens, he was just fortunate. With that and him in a very advantageous position, it's understandable that he wants to push it. Marge is frustrated by his greed and he is greedy but the show also takes time to remind us this family needs a real money cushion is doesn't have (though lets face it, the show is pretty lacks in presenting the Simpsons as a financially struggling family). Marge thinks they should split the money because they care about their friends but Homer twists things to make Marge think changing her mind is right. And the thing is Homer isn't "wrong" in many respects...
But being right doesn't mean there aren't better decisions. A lot of the time I complain that there are different unrelated "lessons" going on at the same time that tie together poorly. Here there are two lessons about morality that don't immediately tie together but feel appropriately adjacent. In this one, the other one is a man is being an art forger, a crime. But his philosophy is that the originator isn't as important as the effect; does the painting still possess the power to move. I think there are elements to debate on this point; no one likes learning they were lied to. I think though the Van Houtens wouldn't like that money, it hurt even more that the Simpsons kept the truth from them. But at the same time, Homer is "in the right" legally and in the most technical sense morally but it doesn't make the world better beyond his. People on both side of the argument are correct in a lot of ways but thought needs to be paid to the result. Homer is thinking of only his and Marge thinks about the world beyond. Homer is able to win Marge over a bit when he makes her think that the truth could lead to resentment. This might be true but in doing so it's a betrayal.
It's interesting to me because in the most basic way it is "Marge right/Homer wrong" but in a much more nuanced way than usual. Homer is morally tricky and surprisingly savvy at using arguments that are both very obviously to get what he wants to hew close enough to certain truths to be convincing. But in the end, for his greed, Homer does want people to be happy and he's willing to pay a small fee and do a small act of good with art to put some good back in the world. This is one of the more interesting Rob Lazebnik episodes where a great deal is a debate between Homer and Marge and is clearly him working out in his head what both characters want in the moral dilemma and how both of them would approach it. It also has a few solid laughs and it a thoroughly engaging episode. This might be my favourite episode from this season and while that's a low bar, this is a pretty strong episode.
Other great jokes:
"Kettlecorn; the heroin of the farmer's market."
I like the bit where people are debating the Simpsons choice to keep the painting by throwing rocks through their window.
"Just remember; if your mother asks, I took you to a wine tasting."
"That's a terrible thing for a father to do."
"That's why she'll believe it."
Other notes:
I like the touch that Homer has in his wallet some anonymous person's bank receipt with five figures as a reminder of what could be.
I assumed Bumblefoot was a funny made up name for a fake guinea pig disease but it's apparently real.
How did Lisa's new guinea pig stick around until the episode's end. If Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II are barely around and their actual pig straight up disappeared, I can't imagine that Pokey the guinea pig EVER turned up again.
Max von Sydow has a great voice, doesn't he?
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
You Don't Have To Live Like a Referee
When I work after school, my kids have REALLY gotten into four square. Fiercely. To the point where they want me to spend a LOT of my time refereeing their games. And frankly, I don't know a lot about the rules but the kids are keenly aware... at least of what THEY think the rules are. And not all of them agree. So it does get frustrating at times. But I try to be as fair as I can be to my little friends.
In this episode, Lisa needs to suddenly change her subject for a presentation on her "hero" and Bart suggests picking Homer. Lisa makes a Hell of a speech about the time Homer was a referee and was willing to give her a red card for cheating. Lisa's speech goes viral and Homer is recruited to referee the World Cup, which is suffering from a pandemic of corruption. Homer wants to live up to Lisa's expectations of him and overcomes bribe attempt after bribe attempt. Bart decides to tell Homer that he was actually a second choice for her hero and Homer is devastated and decides to take an outrageously large bribe. Before the game, Lisa confronts Homer and admits while she's sorry for hurting him, she really does admire his incorruptibility. Homer decides to call a fair game, causing the gangsters to turn on him. Luckily Marge is able to talk them down and the Simpsons are freed.
You Don't Have To Live Like a Referee has a few good lines but all the same it is a supremely forgettable episode. I don't even mean that it's bad. It's not bad so much as it is very forgettable. A real non-entity of an ep. I feel like we are going back to the mid-2000s era where things mostly settled in a boring middle ground of C/C+ level outings. Yes, there was some jerk ass Homer and some really shitty jokes that were transphobic and involved "funny" accents and othering and I did hate that shit but I feel like those weren't constant so much as there were very visible and sadly not-rare blips (It's why I feel like going back to Arrested Development is certainly a lot harder). There were good episodes but it felt like there were huge streaks of nothing while in this era, it feels like there were huge streaks of frustrating clumsiness.
Really, the structure is annoyingly pedestrian for a sitcom even 20 years older; Lisa lies about Homer in a way that makes him feel good and he's devastated when he learns the truth. There's very little complexity to it and it tells us very little about our favourite characters we don't already know. Everything it put on a very conventional story structure and I feel like I've seen it so many times and in the Simpsons in particular that I have nothing to grab onto, even with a wild locale and situation.
Though I think it's also telling that it's a return to Brazil and Homer being a referee AGAIN. I don't mind dredging up one of Homer's one off jobs as continuity or a way to speed up the story process of getting Homer to yet another job but this episode feels like a retread of so much that has gone on before and while this is the show's first World Cup episode, I feel like if you told me it wasn't, I'd believe you. At least the SuperBowl episode had Vincent Price's Egg Magic. This one has jokes about language apps and bribes and while a few made me laugh, I feel like none of them really break the mold.
Other great jokes:
"Our cafeteria will no only surf Stuffwich's heroes, hoagies and torpedoes."
"What about po' boys?"
"Sorry, Nelson, poor boys such as yourself will have to go hungry."
One bribe bit that worked was the "bribe cam" getting to the last gangster who didn't want to bribe and the camera would not get off of him until he did.
Other notes:
Man, I forgot Jared from Subway was still a thing in 2014. I guess he isn't outed as a creep till 2015? Weird, it felt so much longer ago.
When I work after school, my kids have REALLY gotten into four square. Fiercely. To the point where they want me to spend a LOT of my time refereeing their games. And frankly, I don't know a lot about the rules but the kids are keenly aware... at least of what THEY think the rules are. And not all of them agree. So it does get frustrating at times. But I try to be as fair as I can be to my little friends.
In this episode, Lisa needs to suddenly change her subject for a presentation on her "hero" and Bart suggests picking Homer. Lisa makes a Hell of a speech about the time Homer was a referee and was willing to give her a red card for cheating. Lisa's speech goes viral and Homer is recruited to referee the World Cup, which is suffering from a pandemic of corruption. Homer wants to live up to Lisa's expectations of him and overcomes bribe attempt after bribe attempt. Bart decides to tell Homer that he was actually a second choice for her hero and Homer is devastated and decides to take an outrageously large bribe. Before the game, Lisa confronts Homer and admits while she's sorry for hurting him, she really does admire his incorruptibility. Homer decides to call a fair game, causing the gangsters to turn on him. Luckily Marge is able to talk them down and the Simpsons are freed.
You Don't Have To Live Like a Referee has a few good lines but all the same it is a supremely forgettable episode. I don't even mean that it's bad. It's not bad so much as it is very forgettable. A real non-entity of an ep. I feel like we are going back to the mid-2000s era where things mostly settled in a boring middle ground of C/C+ level outings. Yes, there was some jerk ass Homer and some really shitty jokes that were transphobic and involved "funny" accents and othering and I did hate that shit but I feel like those weren't constant so much as there were very visible and sadly not-rare blips (It's why I feel like going back to Arrested Development is certainly a lot harder). There were good episodes but it felt like there were huge streaks of nothing while in this era, it feels like there were huge streaks of frustrating clumsiness.
Really, the structure is annoyingly pedestrian for a sitcom even 20 years older; Lisa lies about Homer in a way that makes him feel good and he's devastated when he learns the truth. There's very little complexity to it and it tells us very little about our favourite characters we don't already know. Everything it put on a very conventional story structure and I feel like I've seen it so many times and in the Simpsons in particular that I have nothing to grab onto, even with a wild locale and situation.
Though I think it's also telling that it's a return to Brazil and Homer being a referee AGAIN. I don't mind dredging up one of Homer's one off jobs as continuity or a way to speed up the story process of getting Homer to yet another job but this episode feels like a retread of so much that has gone on before and while this is the show's first World Cup episode, I feel like if you told me it wasn't, I'd believe you. At least the SuperBowl episode had Vincent Price's Egg Magic. This one has jokes about language apps and bribes and while a few made me laugh, I feel like none of them really break the mold.
Other great jokes:
"Our cafeteria will no only surf Stuffwich's heroes, hoagies and torpedoes."
"What about po' boys?"
"Sorry, Nelson, poor boys such as yourself will have to go hungry."
One bribe bit that worked was the "bribe cam" getting to the last gangster who didn't want to bribe and the camera would not get off of him until he did.
Other notes:
Man, I forgot Jared from Subway was still a thing in 2014. I guess he isn't outed as a creep till 2015? Weird, it felt so much longer ago.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Luca$
I actually had something to start this but then I decided it was a little personal (though I may have alluded to elements of it in other entries). But I will say that loving someone can be a challenge for some people and life and clashing personalities and lifestyles doesn't always make it easy.
In this episode, Lisa shows interest in a boy named Luca$, a weird dreamer who wants to be a competitive eater. Marge worries about Lisa's interest in this awkward, obese boy and Patty and Selma suggest that boys marry their fathers. Marge tries to get Homer to take Lisa out for dinner but makes it clear what she really doesn't want is for Lisa to be with someone like him. Homer is hurt but obliges for Lisa. During dinner, Marge appears and apologizes to Homer saying she IS stuck with him but only insofar that she can't stop loving him and all is forgiven.
This is a rough one. It's not awful, it's just a train wreck of ideas that don't fit together. The titular character kicks things off but then he really barely matters and really doesn't appear enough in the episode to warrant a credit. I will say special guest star Zack Galifianakis does a surprisingly good youthful sounding voice for the episode. But the episode weirdly implies Lisa has a passing interest similar to romance and even in the broadest sense I don't buy it. I think the show makes him too weird, gross and awkward. I believe Lisa might even be slightly interested in being a competitive eater but she'd be more into the science and strategy and coach him,
But really, the meat of the episode is the idea that Marge wants Lisa to end up with someone who doesn't resemble Homer. That's a more emotionally interesting element and though it is saved for the last third, it isn't without it's merit because "I love you but I don't want my daughter to end up with someone like you" is kind of a devastating thing to lay down on there and is emotionally tricky. But it doesn't devote a lot of that and is more about the silliness of Homer asking Lisa out on a "date" which is kinda cute.
But then the last act is Marge apologizing gets odd. First, it starts fine, I'm stuck with you because I love you is kind of sweet. Then Marge says "this will change your mind" and shows him a weird fashionable dress and I'm like "what is going on here." And then it lets slip the dress is from a Project Runway winner and clearly this is some poor and awkward brand synergy, causing it to feel awkward, even moreso when Marge is interrupting daddy-daughter time for the promise of some romantic times later. The whole thing feels clunky but that felt like a real insult when the narrative finally felt like it had a decent, if a little trite, bit of emotion at the end. It's weird to see it do it in an era when the show's real cultural cache is now in the past tense. This isn't a slight on the show as a whole, which has apparently improved. It is weird, though, and definitely a slight on THIS EPISODE, which wasn't good.
I actually had something to start this but then I decided it was a little personal (though I may have alluded to elements of it in other entries). But I will say that loving someone can be a challenge for some people and life and clashing personalities and lifestyles doesn't always make it easy.
In this episode, Lisa shows interest in a boy named Luca$, a weird dreamer who wants to be a competitive eater. Marge worries about Lisa's interest in this awkward, obese boy and Patty and Selma suggest that boys marry their fathers. Marge tries to get Homer to take Lisa out for dinner but makes it clear what she really doesn't want is for Lisa to be with someone like him. Homer is hurt but obliges for Lisa. During dinner, Marge appears and apologizes to Homer saying she IS stuck with him but only insofar that she can't stop loving him and all is forgiven.
This is a rough one. It's not awful, it's just a train wreck of ideas that don't fit together. The titular character kicks things off but then he really barely matters and really doesn't appear enough in the episode to warrant a credit. I will say special guest star Zack Galifianakis does a surprisingly good youthful sounding voice for the episode. But the episode weirdly implies Lisa has a passing interest similar to romance and even in the broadest sense I don't buy it. I think the show makes him too weird, gross and awkward. I believe Lisa might even be slightly interested in being a competitive eater but she'd be more into the science and strategy and coach him,
But really, the meat of the episode is the idea that Marge wants Lisa to end up with someone who doesn't resemble Homer. That's a more emotionally interesting element and though it is saved for the last third, it isn't without it's merit because "I love you but I don't want my daughter to end up with someone like you" is kind of a devastating thing to lay down on there and is emotionally tricky. But it doesn't devote a lot of that and is more about the silliness of Homer asking Lisa out on a "date" which is kinda cute.
But then the last act is Marge apologizing gets odd. First, it starts fine, I'm stuck with you because I love you is kind of sweet. Then Marge says "this will change your mind" and shows him a weird fashionable dress and I'm like "what is going on here." And then it lets slip the dress is from a Project Runway winner and clearly this is some poor and awkward brand synergy, causing it to feel awkward, even moreso when Marge is interrupting daddy-daughter time for the promise of some romantic times later. The whole thing feels clunky but that felt like a real insult when the narrative finally felt like it had a decent, if a little trite, bit of emotion at the end. It's weird to see it do it in an era when the show's real cultural cache is now in the past tense. This isn't a slight on the show as a whole, which has apparently improved. It is weird, though, and definitely a slight on THIS EPISODE, which wasn't good.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Days of Future Future
The Simpsons is in a weird place in this era. The show is weirdly into the kids finding love. There's a weird sense of continuity for things that aren't nearly as vital. Bart's romance with Cletus' daughter doesn't seem to have the same kind of replay value as, say, Sideshow Bob. And when the show had a surprisingly well-received future Christmas episode, they went and decided to give that a larger continuity.
In this episode, we see the Simpsons in the future where Bart is having a hard time getting over his first wife Jenda. Meanwhile, Milhouse is bitten by a zombie and contracts zombism. Bart goes to a company that affects Bart's brain to get over Jenda and immediately starts seeing other women. Lisa is more interested in Milhouse again when he uses his zombie strength to defend her. Jenda surprisingly splits with her current boyfriend and she and Bart try their relationship again. But Bart sees it isn't working and when he accepts that, he suddenly finds himself in the place that was supposed to affect his brain to get over Jenda. It turns out everything that happened since he entered was part of a simulation by the company to help Bart get over his feelings toward Jenda.
Holidays of Future Passed is an episode that didn't stand up QUITE as well on rewatch but still is a decent episode. But sadly returning to this future continuity is a clear case of diminishing returns. I feel like what worked for the previous episode is actually a couple of moments that actually felt a little real and had some funny bits. This episode has the same writer, inconsistent J. Stewart Burns. He's a writer I find capable of making some rather fascinating episodes but also making some incredibly clunky episodes. And while the Holidays of Future Passed was in the former, Days of Future Future is in the latter. It's far from his worst episode but... I'm not sure what the point is.
I guess I'm not sure what the episode wants to say about romance. There's a Homer and Marge thing that feels like THE LAST THREE Homer and Marge in the future bits where maybe THIS TIME Marge and Homer for real split but then Marge decides to go into cyberspace and is eaten by Homer. It's as confounding as it sounds and the show seems to know it. Lisa and Milhouse's story is "Lisa wants somebody exciting but learns to accept that Milhouse isn't going to change and... stay." It reminds me that putting these two characters together in this way sucks and I really don't like it. And I like both of these characters but it paints a really shitty future for two characters I really like.
As for Bart's story, I think it's the closest thing to having a point, with Bart seeing that if they got back together, it wouldn't make him happy. But it also has him with a bunch of other women first and that kind of doesn't come up again. Maybe the point is the simulation is trying to show Bart he can be happy with other women and it doesn't work so it shows Jenda won't make him happy. Which is closer to interesting but I feel like if that's the idea, I did a LOT of that work myself and this episode feels like "well, we needed stuff to happen on the TV or they don't give us money to air it." But even beyond that, I feel like there could have been more insight and emotional resonance in an episode about a failed relationship and this just doesn't do it.
Other great jokes:
"We treat a lot of people for obsession."
"It's a whole new day for Nothing Stu!"
The Simpsons is in a weird place in this era. The show is weirdly into the kids finding love. There's a weird sense of continuity for things that aren't nearly as vital. Bart's romance with Cletus' daughter doesn't seem to have the same kind of replay value as, say, Sideshow Bob. And when the show had a surprisingly well-received future Christmas episode, they went and decided to give that a larger continuity.
In this episode, we see the Simpsons in the future where Bart is having a hard time getting over his first wife Jenda. Meanwhile, Milhouse is bitten by a zombie and contracts zombism. Bart goes to a company that affects Bart's brain to get over Jenda and immediately starts seeing other women. Lisa is more interested in Milhouse again when he uses his zombie strength to defend her. Jenda surprisingly splits with her current boyfriend and she and Bart try their relationship again. But Bart sees it isn't working and when he accepts that, he suddenly finds himself in the place that was supposed to affect his brain to get over Jenda. It turns out everything that happened since he entered was part of a simulation by the company to help Bart get over his feelings toward Jenda.
Holidays of Future Passed is an episode that didn't stand up QUITE as well on rewatch but still is a decent episode. But sadly returning to this future continuity is a clear case of diminishing returns. I feel like what worked for the previous episode is actually a couple of moments that actually felt a little real and had some funny bits. This episode has the same writer, inconsistent J. Stewart Burns. He's a writer I find capable of making some rather fascinating episodes but also making some incredibly clunky episodes. And while the Holidays of Future Passed was in the former, Days of Future Future is in the latter. It's far from his worst episode but... I'm not sure what the point is.
I guess I'm not sure what the episode wants to say about romance. There's a Homer and Marge thing that feels like THE LAST THREE Homer and Marge in the future bits where maybe THIS TIME Marge and Homer for real split but then Marge decides to go into cyberspace and is eaten by Homer. It's as confounding as it sounds and the show seems to know it. Lisa and Milhouse's story is "Lisa wants somebody exciting but learns to accept that Milhouse isn't going to change and... stay." It reminds me that putting these two characters together in this way sucks and I really don't like it. And I like both of these characters but it paints a really shitty future for two characters I really like.
As for Bart's story, I think it's the closest thing to having a point, with Bart seeing that if they got back together, it wouldn't make him happy. But it also has him with a bunch of other women first and that kind of doesn't come up again. Maybe the point is the simulation is trying to show Bart he can be happy with other women and it doesn't work so it shows Jenda won't make him happy. Which is closer to interesting but I feel like if that's the idea, I did a LOT of that work myself and this episode feels like "well, we needed stuff to happen on the TV or they don't give us money to air it." But even beyond that, I feel like there could have been more insight and emotional resonance in an episode about a failed relationship and this just doesn't do it.
Other great jokes:
"We treat a lot of people for obsession."
"It's a whole new day for Nothing Stu!"
Purple
(She/Her)
This is one of those things that's going to inevitably going to sound way more derisive than I intend it to, but there's a lot of episodes between somewhere around here and just before the show recently got really good again where the writing feels very... fan-ficcy. Specifically the whole fix fic/comfort fic sort of thing where you take the characters from something you grew up with who were just always in a bad place, and you write a nice little happy ending for them, or a happy middle, whatever, probably low stakes, high chance of people becoming a couple or getting married or ending a longstanding rivalry.
And again, I'm not saying "that's because these writers are a bunch of hacks who might as well be on AO3!" or something. It's just something you normally otherwise only see in fan fiction, Doctor Who and probably also superhero comics and soap operas (maybe pro wrestling?) because it's very rare that something is actively being written long enough to leave an impression on kids and still be going once they're old enough to become writers.
I WILL say though that I don't really care for it in the Simpsons specifically, because it's so against the general tone and spirit though. I don't relate to Comic Book Guy enough to be invested in his relationship with his father or care about whether he's ready to have kids. I just want a real deep cut nerdy joke out of left field and then bam, let's get back to the A-plot about Homer's cockfighting ring or whatever.
Ever since a friend pointed it out to me I can't not see it, but from as early on as what like season 6 or so the writers just really really want to move down the timeline and start doing stories where Bart and Lisa are in highschool dealing with teen stuff, and future episodes are more there to act as a safety release valve for some of those ideas (and I mean when they DON'T we get like, Lisa attending college and picking up smoking, so, yeah, necessary valve!) than because someone had a real good idea for a story. Then earlier future episodes tend to be consistently really solid in spite of that because Futurama wasn't there yet... or was on a long break (if my math's right?) to soak up all the sci-fi gags, so there's a bunch of those just primed to go too.
Also was this the one that had the really questionable choice to flash forward to the future via a montage of Homer dying repeatedly, starting in the present, or was that a different one?
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
That's it. And weirdly, by the end I almost felt like it didn't merit mentioning but at the beginning, it's all I wanted to talk about.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
What to Expect When Bart's Expecting
I remember being in elementary school and learning about the birds and the bees... sort of. My parents bought my sister an animated video tape about puberty and where babies come from and I watched it after. Apparently, I also showed it to my friend, much to my mother's embarrassment. I don't even think I took in that this would be scandalous, it was just a cartoon and I didn't get what might have been viewed as inappropriate. Children are naturally curious about these things and it is important to let them know the truth in a gentle but honest way.
In this episode, Bart tries to do away with an art teacher that bugs him by using voodoo to send her home with a stomachache. Instead, the teacher comes to school the next day pregnant. Word gets around the school that Bart "got a teacher pregnant" with his voodoo and soon Bart is approached by a desperate couple who want a baby and ask Bart to do the same thing. The couple does get pregnant and Bart starts opening up services to couples who also hope magic can help them. Homer shuts down Bart's business and while the two are discussing it at Moe's, the father and son are kidnapped by Fat Tony, who wants Bart to use his magic to breed a champion race horse using his own horse and a champion race horse. Making it more challenging is the reveal that the champion race horse is gay. Instead, they get the horse pregnant with another horse in the stable, a horse used to promote beer. Tony is none the wiser and Homer and Bart are released.
This is a really weak, slapdash episode. I feel like I've been a bit kinder to some episodes for simply not being grotesquely offensive or aggravatingly wrongheaded. And this one didn't make me mad, despite a really tired gay joke (a horse turning on a record playing "It's Raining Men" and dancing around), it's just a very pathetic episode that feels less about anything than usual. I think it thinks it is; the natural curiosity of children about where babies come from but from that relatable seed comes an episode that can't seem to stick to it's guns about exploring anything about these characters or human nature.
And like so many times, the show gestures at a few and assumes that's good enough, like throwing a few raw ingredients on a table haphazardly and hoping a meal just happens. Why does even Homer get mad about Bart using voodoo to help people get pregnant. Is he weirded out by Bart dabbling in an adult world or upset he's profiting off of other people's desperation (I have a hard trouble buying the latter)? The show never tells us. He's just mad at Bart. And Bart brings up Homer being a bad role model for his behaviour but while an example of him being a disappointing dad appears earlier in the episode, it draws NO lines between these two ideas.
The episode feels like it should be about the natural curiosity of children but the show has no curiosity about it's scattered ideas or interest in building things other than a joke machine and it's worse because they are mostly all clunkers. The show tries for a big Les Miserables musical number in the end about horses having sex and like a lot of the big parody musical numbers, Dan Castellaneta can sing his heart out all he wants but it just doesn't land. And it's really disappointing because as old hat as a "where do babies come from" story is, I think there is a lot you can do within that framework. Assuming you choose to do anything at all.
I remember being in elementary school and learning about the birds and the bees... sort of. My parents bought my sister an animated video tape about puberty and where babies come from and I watched it after. Apparently, I also showed it to my friend, much to my mother's embarrassment. I don't even think I took in that this would be scandalous, it was just a cartoon and I didn't get what might have been viewed as inappropriate. Children are naturally curious about these things and it is important to let them know the truth in a gentle but honest way.
In this episode, Bart tries to do away with an art teacher that bugs him by using voodoo to send her home with a stomachache. Instead, the teacher comes to school the next day pregnant. Word gets around the school that Bart "got a teacher pregnant" with his voodoo and soon Bart is approached by a desperate couple who want a baby and ask Bart to do the same thing. The couple does get pregnant and Bart starts opening up services to couples who also hope magic can help them. Homer shuts down Bart's business and while the two are discussing it at Moe's, the father and son are kidnapped by Fat Tony, who wants Bart to use his magic to breed a champion race horse using his own horse and a champion race horse. Making it more challenging is the reveal that the champion race horse is gay. Instead, they get the horse pregnant with another horse in the stable, a horse used to promote beer. Tony is none the wiser and Homer and Bart are released.
This is a really weak, slapdash episode. I feel like I've been a bit kinder to some episodes for simply not being grotesquely offensive or aggravatingly wrongheaded. And this one didn't make me mad, despite a really tired gay joke (a horse turning on a record playing "It's Raining Men" and dancing around), it's just a very pathetic episode that feels less about anything than usual. I think it thinks it is; the natural curiosity of children about where babies come from but from that relatable seed comes an episode that can't seem to stick to it's guns about exploring anything about these characters or human nature.
And like so many times, the show gestures at a few and assumes that's good enough, like throwing a few raw ingredients on a table haphazardly and hoping a meal just happens. Why does even Homer get mad about Bart using voodoo to help people get pregnant. Is he weirded out by Bart dabbling in an adult world or upset he's profiting off of other people's desperation (I have a hard trouble buying the latter)? The show never tells us. He's just mad at Bart. And Bart brings up Homer being a bad role model for his behaviour but while an example of him being a disappointing dad appears earlier in the episode, it draws NO lines between these two ideas.
The episode feels like it should be about the natural curiosity of children but the show has no curiosity about it's scattered ideas or interest in building things other than a joke machine and it's worse because they are mostly all clunkers. The show tries for a big Les Miserables musical number in the end about horses having sex and like a lot of the big parody musical numbers, Dan Castellaneta can sing his heart out all he wants but it just doesn't land. And it's really disappointing because as old hat as a "where do babies come from" story is, I think there is a lot you can do within that framework. Assuming you choose to do anything at all.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Brick Like Me
As we get older, time seems to move faster. Apparently, experiencing more time does this to us, which is why to a kid, things take forever but not so much to an adult. That means while kids are working hard growing up, it happens pretty quickly for adults. And that can be a scary thing, seeing things move on so quickly. I'm 40 and if I have a kid now, I'll be a senior citizen just a few years after they leave university. A scary thought. The future can be a scary thing and it will all end, so we need to cherish the now and learn to let go and other conventional trite platitudes.
In this episode, the Simpsons are compose of Lego, leading what they believe to be a regular life. But Homer starts to have visions of himself made of flesh after picking up a buildable brick toy for Lisa. Soon, they aren't just visions and Homer returns to the store to figure out what's happening. He learns that in the flesh reality, he and Lisa really got into brick building and decided to enter a competition to make a little Springfield. However, not long before Lisa ends up making plans with older girls to see a movie and leaves Homer behind. Marge assures Homer that Lisa is just growing up but Homer is hurt, having really bonded about their shared activity. While at the competition, a large creation falls on Homer and it is revealed the brick world is a delusion by an unconscious Homer. Seeing it is a world where no one grows old or gets hurt, he opts to stay in his toy land but when he realizes that also means missing real growth, he changes his mind. Comic Book Guy, not wanting to leave a playland behind, tries to stop him but Homer is helped by Bart and a giant mecha. Homer returns and accepts Lisa is growing up and she should enjoy doing things with older kids.
Brick Like Me is a gimmick episode and I find that these ones are either worse than usual or better. I'm not certain why but this is not a phoned in episode. I don't even mean just technically, I mean it's a decent story. Granted, it's one I've seen a variation on many times before in comedic speculative fiction where the choice is a safe dream or an unsafe but rewarding reality, but it is a pretty decent version of that thing I just said. The episode builds up a mystery, pays it off and has a strong emotional core as Homer learns to let go and the episode also gets to have a few nerdy jokes, most of which DON'T feel like big elbows to the ribs of "see what we did there?"
This isn't a top tier Simpsons episode, it didn't make me laugh out loud a ton but I was having a pleasant time all the way through. It helps I like the trope of "this world is wrong but I don't know why". I also suspect being with its gimmick for most of the episode means we don't waste a lot of the first act with an unrelated things. Don't get me wrong, unrelated first acts have yielded big comedy before, particularly in the golden age but in the latter era, it feels like things are still revving up in act two and then we have only an act and a half to get things done. Plus the run times get shorter. And the Simpsons isn't often as economical as those 11 minute Cartoon Network shows in terms of storytelling. But Brick Like Me uses it's time properly.
Interestingly, though the episode was made adjacently to the Lego Movie but with no connection, meaning the plot similarities of the play world being a projection of the real world and a desire for a static, unchanging world was coincidental. There is a lampshading of that coincidence but apparently it was an 11th hour submission when they realized that was the case. On it's own terms, it's a pretty decent episode and far less awkward than some of the series attempts at brand synergy. I mean, a couple episodes ago they shoehorned in a Project: Runway thing really awkwardly and that pissed me off. And it is easy to be cynical about using a brand in an episode but both this and the Lego movie understood the underlying themes connected with childhood, play, and simulations of things we know. And that's why it works.
Other great jokes:
"But Revered, what if everything isn't made of plastic? I think there's more to this world."
"You mean like decals? Well, the orthodox don't use them but we're a reform congregation."
"Bad news, people, our religion is not true. Sorry about that, really sorry."
I love that Marge's concern for Homer leaving the toy world was that she wish she knew he'd make that choice before buying groceries.
Other notes:
One of the weirdest things is the episode seems hesitant to use the world Lego for much of the episode, sticking to "brick". The brand Homer and Lisa use is never actually named until Comic Book Guy tosses out the word "Lego" at the end. I'm curious about the reasoning. Part of me thinks even though they worked VERY closely with the Lego company on this episode (t's a slightly more kid-friendly episode, even though it is implied Homer and Marge fucked as Lego and the implication that religion is a joke), the people on the show wanted to celebrate the toys without feeling like they are selling them. Does anyone think there might be another reason? What do YOU think.
As we get older, time seems to move faster. Apparently, experiencing more time does this to us, which is why to a kid, things take forever but not so much to an adult. That means while kids are working hard growing up, it happens pretty quickly for adults. And that can be a scary thing, seeing things move on so quickly. I'm 40 and if I have a kid now, I'll be a senior citizen just a few years after they leave university. A scary thought. The future can be a scary thing and it will all end, so we need to cherish the now and learn to let go and other conventional trite platitudes.
In this episode, the Simpsons are compose of Lego, leading what they believe to be a regular life. But Homer starts to have visions of himself made of flesh after picking up a buildable brick toy for Lisa. Soon, they aren't just visions and Homer returns to the store to figure out what's happening. He learns that in the flesh reality, he and Lisa really got into brick building and decided to enter a competition to make a little Springfield. However, not long before Lisa ends up making plans with older girls to see a movie and leaves Homer behind. Marge assures Homer that Lisa is just growing up but Homer is hurt, having really bonded about their shared activity. While at the competition, a large creation falls on Homer and it is revealed the brick world is a delusion by an unconscious Homer. Seeing it is a world where no one grows old or gets hurt, he opts to stay in his toy land but when he realizes that also means missing real growth, he changes his mind. Comic Book Guy, not wanting to leave a playland behind, tries to stop him but Homer is helped by Bart and a giant mecha. Homer returns and accepts Lisa is growing up and she should enjoy doing things with older kids.
Brick Like Me is a gimmick episode and I find that these ones are either worse than usual or better. I'm not certain why but this is not a phoned in episode. I don't even mean just technically, I mean it's a decent story. Granted, it's one I've seen a variation on many times before in comedic speculative fiction where the choice is a safe dream or an unsafe but rewarding reality, but it is a pretty decent version of that thing I just said. The episode builds up a mystery, pays it off and has a strong emotional core as Homer learns to let go and the episode also gets to have a few nerdy jokes, most of which DON'T feel like big elbows to the ribs of "see what we did there?"
This isn't a top tier Simpsons episode, it didn't make me laugh out loud a ton but I was having a pleasant time all the way through. It helps I like the trope of "this world is wrong but I don't know why". I also suspect being with its gimmick for most of the episode means we don't waste a lot of the first act with an unrelated things. Don't get me wrong, unrelated first acts have yielded big comedy before, particularly in the golden age but in the latter era, it feels like things are still revving up in act two and then we have only an act and a half to get things done. Plus the run times get shorter. And the Simpsons isn't often as economical as those 11 minute Cartoon Network shows in terms of storytelling. But Brick Like Me uses it's time properly.
Interestingly, though the episode was made adjacently to the Lego Movie but with no connection, meaning the plot similarities of the play world being a projection of the real world and a desire for a static, unchanging world was coincidental. There is a lampshading of that coincidence but apparently it was an 11th hour submission when they realized that was the case. On it's own terms, it's a pretty decent episode and far less awkward than some of the series attempts at brand synergy. I mean, a couple episodes ago they shoehorned in a Project: Runway thing really awkwardly and that pissed me off. And it is easy to be cynical about using a brand in an episode but both this and the Lego movie understood the underlying themes connected with childhood, play, and simulations of things we know. And that's why it works.
Other great jokes:
"But Revered, what if everything isn't made of plastic? I think there's more to this world."
"You mean like decals? Well, the orthodox don't use them but we're a reform congregation."
"Bad news, people, our religion is not true. Sorry about that, really sorry."
I love that Marge's concern for Homer leaving the toy world was that she wish she knew he'd make that choice before buying groceries.
Other notes:
One of the weirdest things is the episode seems hesitant to use the world Lego for much of the episode, sticking to "brick". The brand Homer and Lisa use is never actually named until Comic Book Guy tosses out the word "Lego" at the end. I'm curious about the reasoning. Part of me thinks even though they worked VERY closely with the Lego company on this episode (t's a slightly more kid-friendly episode, even though it is implied Homer and Marge fucked as Lego and the implication that religion is a joke), the people on the show wanted to celebrate the toys without feeling like they are selling them. Does anyone think there might be another reason? What do YOU think.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
It's not just that, though. There's a poster for the contest that makes no reference to the product name, even though the show is already doing brand synergy and it's justified. Don't get me wrong, it's not RIDICULOUSLY over the top in avoiding using the name but when I did notice it, it did become a bit conspicuous, THEN conspicuous when they finally used the word Lego in a pretty brief line near the end. Like, I'm glad it actually doesn't feel like a commercial... as much as it could have anyway (this began when Simpsons Legos were announced, then was a suggested couch gag, then the writers wanted to make a full episode. The Lego-ish product Homer buys Lisa doesn't represent any particular product. It does seem like they wanted to go name-light and let the iconic shapes do the work.
The branding thing is easy and understandable to be cynical about but I'm genuinely curious about a lot of these decisions behind the scenes of the whys and wherefores of what kind of language to use.
One thing I remember most about this episode was the tedium of hearing a thousand times "this brick world is a dream in Homer's head, and as soon as he wakes up it will all disappear, which will kill us all, because we're in a dream world, in Homer's head, who is dreaming right now!!!"
Writers. We're a post-The Matrix society. Entertainment has evolved. We can handle this. I have to wonder if they were trying to appeal to the wee ones who might be attracted to this one episode, they thought the viewers were that dumb, or if they just needed to fill time.
Writers. We're a post-The Matrix society. Entertainment has evolved. We can handle this. I have to wonder if they were trying to appeal to the wee ones who might be attracted to this one episode, they thought the viewers were that dumb, or if they just needed to fill time.
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Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Pay Pal
I meet a lot of people at work and get along with them but I'm not super-great at actually making friends. Most of the people I know are actually 10 years younger than me and somehow I feel like I'm less mature than they. I think it's that finding someone you really click with is difficult. And it usually doesn't happen all at once, it's really got to be cultivated. When you are a kid you are thrown in with a bunch of people and usually you can find someone you click with. As an adult, the bubbles get smaller and most of the time, it's all business. And it can ask a lot to stick your neck out and say you want a friend.
In this episode, Homer and Marge attend a party with a new couples friend but Homer angers them when he accidentally blows the ending to a lavish murder mystery dinner party. Marge feels like she'll never find another friend again but doesn't want that for Lisa and begins investigating why she doesn't seem to have friends. Suddenly, Lisa gets a new friend, but Bart is suspicious of her. He discovers and let's Lisa know the truth; Marge has been paying this new kid to be her friend. Lisa is very hurt and angry about being manipulated and won't forgive Marge. When Lisa says something that particularly hurts Marge, she feels both empowered, relieved and ashamed and forgives her.
When I read the quick synopsis, I thought I knew what I was expecting. But Pay Pal is a surprisingly good episode with a couple great moments studded within it but it could have been great. I wish it was able to get Lisa to understand where her mom's position, allowing some sympathy while not justifying her actions. And I wish perhaps it started with Lisa making a friend and backtracking where it came from because I feel like it's not too hard to figure out and might have been more fun as a mystery, especially since the idea of a mystery is also a part of the plot. In fact, I'm wondering if the writer's inclusion of a botched mystery is him admitting he had structural problems in trying to make a mystery story and basically had to spoil the mystery to make it work for the character. But I dunno, maybe not.
What surprises me is that the writer of this episode, one of the better ones of the season... also wrote some pretty awful comedies. A lot of shitty National Lampoon stuff and one of my least favourite movies of all time, Slackers, a movie that made me angry in a truly visceral way. David H. Steinberg (not to be confused with the other David Steinberg) has a career that would make me doubt he could write a really good Simpsons but I can't argue with results. It's fairly funny, cares about character and is even a little devastating. The venom with which Yeardley Smith promises to tell the incident to every therapist she meets is downright chilling (helped by great direction). And the ending is also kind of emotionally complex. Lisa admits that she feels better *because* she was able to make Marge hurt like she is, even if she knows she doesn't want to be that kind of person.
I will also say that while the show has a habit of wasting good comedic actors, I feel like John Oliver is well used here. He's wacky but in a specific way where it wouldn't feel wrong to bring back the character if they wanted. And there are good comedy in here, good intrigue (again, the use of Bart would work better if we the audience wasn't given too much info to make it obvious what is happening) and it flows really well. I also like how it uses Bart. He's the right balance of good and bad and I like his moment of telling Lisa "don't read the secret info I just gave you". This is really what I want from modern Simpsons; no more shipping children or individual scenes over a cohesive whole. Just put my favourite family through emotional wringers and have them react genuinely. Also, I guess be funny but weirdly as I become older that's somehow become secondary. *shrug*
Other great jokes:
"Fun games like charades. Or as you call it, Pictionary."
"Just so you know, Homer, you were going to be a dashing Russian count with multiple lovers."
"Well, as we say in Russian, goodbye in Russian!"
I think the visual gag of Mrs. Hoover writing words down on the blackboard as she is explaining this is interrupting "LUNCH", Lisa is "UNIQUE" and "WE'RE DONE" works. There's an understated quality that I like.
I meet a lot of people at work and get along with them but I'm not super-great at actually making friends. Most of the people I know are actually 10 years younger than me and somehow I feel like I'm less mature than they. I think it's that finding someone you really click with is difficult. And it usually doesn't happen all at once, it's really got to be cultivated. When you are a kid you are thrown in with a bunch of people and usually you can find someone you click with. As an adult, the bubbles get smaller and most of the time, it's all business. And it can ask a lot to stick your neck out and say you want a friend.
In this episode, Homer and Marge attend a party with a new couples friend but Homer angers them when he accidentally blows the ending to a lavish murder mystery dinner party. Marge feels like she'll never find another friend again but doesn't want that for Lisa and begins investigating why she doesn't seem to have friends. Suddenly, Lisa gets a new friend, but Bart is suspicious of her. He discovers and let's Lisa know the truth; Marge has been paying this new kid to be her friend. Lisa is very hurt and angry about being manipulated and won't forgive Marge. When Lisa says something that particularly hurts Marge, she feels both empowered, relieved and ashamed and forgives her.
When I read the quick synopsis, I thought I knew what I was expecting. But Pay Pal is a surprisingly good episode with a couple great moments studded within it but it could have been great. I wish it was able to get Lisa to understand where her mom's position, allowing some sympathy while not justifying her actions. And I wish perhaps it started with Lisa making a friend and backtracking where it came from because I feel like it's not too hard to figure out and might have been more fun as a mystery, especially since the idea of a mystery is also a part of the plot. In fact, I'm wondering if the writer's inclusion of a botched mystery is him admitting he had structural problems in trying to make a mystery story and basically had to spoil the mystery to make it work for the character. But I dunno, maybe not.
What surprises me is that the writer of this episode, one of the better ones of the season... also wrote some pretty awful comedies. A lot of shitty National Lampoon stuff and one of my least favourite movies of all time, Slackers, a movie that made me angry in a truly visceral way. David H. Steinberg (not to be confused with the other David Steinberg) has a career that would make me doubt he could write a really good Simpsons but I can't argue with results. It's fairly funny, cares about character and is even a little devastating. The venom with which Yeardley Smith promises to tell the incident to every therapist she meets is downright chilling (helped by great direction). And the ending is also kind of emotionally complex. Lisa admits that she feels better *because* she was able to make Marge hurt like she is, even if she knows she doesn't want to be that kind of person.
I will also say that while the show has a habit of wasting good comedic actors, I feel like John Oliver is well used here. He's wacky but in a specific way where it wouldn't feel wrong to bring back the character if they wanted. And there are good comedy in here, good intrigue (again, the use of Bart would work better if we the audience wasn't given too much info to make it obvious what is happening) and it flows really well. I also like how it uses Bart. He's the right balance of good and bad and I like his moment of telling Lisa "don't read the secret info I just gave you". This is really what I want from modern Simpsons; no more shipping children or individual scenes over a cohesive whole. Just put my favourite family through emotional wringers and have them react genuinely. Also, I guess be funny but weirdly as I become older that's somehow become secondary. *shrug*
Other great jokes:
"Fun games like charades. Or as you call it, Pictionary."
"Just so you know, Homer, you were going to be a dashing Russian count with multiple lovers."
"Well, as we say in Russian, goodbye in Russian!"
I think the visual gag of Mrs. Hoover writing words down on the blackboard as she is explaining this is interrupting "LUNCH", Lisa is "UNIQUE" and "WE'RE DONE" works. There's an understated quality that I like.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
The Yellow Badge of Cowardge
Season 25 down. Whew. I got to say, this isn't a great season of TV but looking back, there's some actual successes here. I feel like last season it tried a new formula but here the show works best when it goes character-heavy. It's funny, because in the old days, there was a real push and pull between the heart and the comedy-brain between the writers' room and the producers (James L Brooks is an all-heart dude). And when there wasn't as much demand for that, the show often went a little sappy when it did go so. And despite being sappy, it often paid off. But here, some of the emotions are more successful, especially in the rare and brief instances when we see new dimensions to these characters, like when Lisa really wants to hurt Marge for the pain she gave her. But this season ends with a completely generic episode; not bad but with no strong identity.
In this episode, during a race at the school, Milhouse reveals he's trained for a year to win the race. When Martin learns this, he wagers long odds on Milhouse, since no one else thinks he can win. When the bullies running the gambling ring realize Milhouse might win, they send Nelson to beat him up to stop him. Bart sees Milhouse in trouble but is too cowardly to do anything. He keeps running and wins the race while Milhouse arrives with amnesia from getting beaten up. Bart can't admit his cowardice and feels guilt for being praised. When Milhouse gets his memory back, and outs Bart as spineless. Bart is persona non grata until Bart sees a chance to be brave... and lets Milhouse take the credit, to win his friend back.
Again, this isn't a bad episode, but it's one with a pretty standard emotional core; the protagonist does something cowardly and the episode ends with him doing something brave in anonymity. Personally, my favourite version of this story is "The Greatest Story Never Told" from Justice League Unlimited. And frankly, it's weird how many Simpsons episode have taken classic, hoary story-telling formulas, the kind that would have been mocked in the golden age. Don't get me wrong, that era had some cliched tales every once in a while but I feel like the jokes work better.
I think the episode also doesn't have a lot to say about being a coward. Because being brave does take hard work. The episode basically says "Bart shoulda been good" but I think there's a lot of things to say about the hard work it takes to overcome fear. But really, it's another episode were big gestures solve everything but might be ignoring the route of the problem or a real journey to self betterment. I know that's a lot to ask of a show that basically resets most things to zero by the episode's end but I think the illusion of change can be simply they don't have to learn that particular lesson again and find other areas to suck and be better in.
It's also a pretty disappointing way to end a season after two more interesting tales. I was starting to think the series had hit an upswing but this also set things back to zero. The only thing that will stick with me is a joke about someone's biggest hurtle and the observation that hurtles are all the same size. It's completely watchable and sadly, that means there's very little to say or remember about it. So instead, I'll look forward to Season 26, maybe getting a little better with-- oh shit, this is the season with the Elon Musk episode. All roads lead to shit.
Season 25 down. Whew. I got to say, this isn't a great season of TV but looking back, there's some actual successes here. I feel like last season it tried a new formula but here the show works best when it goes character-heavy. It's funny, because in the old days, there was a real push and pull between the heart and the comedy-brain between the writers' room and the producers (James L Brooks is an all-heart dude). And when there wasn't as much demand for that, the show often went a little sappy when it did go so. And despite being sappy, it often paid off. But here, some of the emotions are more successful, especially in the rare and brief instances when we see new dimensions to these characters, like when Lisa really wants to hurt Marge for the pain she gave her. But this season ends with a completely generic episode; not bad but with no strong identity.
In this episode, during a race at the school, Milhouse reveals he's trained for a year to win the race. When Martin learns this, he wagers long odds on Milhouse, since no one else thinks he can win. When the bullies running the gambling ring realize Milhouse might win, they send Nelson to beat him up to stop him. Bart sees Milhouse in trouble but is too cowardly to do anything. He keeps running and wins the race while Milhouse arrives with amnesia from getting beaten up. Bart can't admit his cowardice and feels guilt for being praised. When Milhouse gets his memory back, and outs Bart as spineless. Bart is persona non grata until Bart sees a chance to be brave... and lets Milhouse take the credit, to win his friend back.
Again, this isn't a bad episode, but it's one with a pretty standard emotional core; the protagonist does something cowardly and the episode ends with him doing something brave in anonymity. Personally, my favourite version of this story is "The Greatest Story Never Told" from Justice League Unlimited. And frankly, it's weird how many Simpsons episode have taken classic, hoary story-telling formulas, the kind that would have been mocked in the golden age. Don't get me wrong, that era had some cliched tales every once in a while but I feel like the jokes work better.
I think the episode also doesn't have a lot to say about being a coward. Because being brave does take hard work. The episode basically says "Bart shoulda been good" but I think there's a lot of things to say about the hard work it takes to overcome fear. But really, it's another episode were big gestures solve everything but might be ignoring the route of the problem or a real journey to self betterment. I know that's a lot to ask of a show that basically resets most things to zero by the episode's end but I think the illusion of change can be simply they don't have to learn that particular lesson again and find other areas to suck and be better in.
It's also a pretty disappointing way to end a season after two more interesting tales. I was starting to think the series had hit an upswing but this also set things back to zero. The only thing that will stick with me is a joke about someone's biggest hurtle and the observation that hurtles are all the same size. It's completely watchable and sadly, that means there's very little to say or remember about it. So instead, I'll look forward to Season 26, maybe getting a little better with-- oh shit, this is the season with the Elon Musk episode. All roads lead to shit.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Clown in the Dumps
And now season 26. This is not the last season I watched but this getting to where the memories of me having seen them are getting very foggy. I do remember this one a little though. It's weird because this is an episode that was marketed with a character death and... I feel like I just can't imagine this show being marketed anymore. Granted, it's because I'm just not in the space where it is anymore. I don't use traditional TV anymore. The only time I do see Simpsons marketed are couch gags and as a strange recent blip, the Death Note Simpsons parody. But it really doesn't need it; the show was JUST renewed for two more seasons. So now I'm committed to a 36 season watch. I'm glad the show is getting better but the march of time is hurting my heart.
In this episode, Krusty reacts badly to a roast and it hurts his feelings. Krusty tries to get some reassurance from his father, Rabbi Krustafski, but when the Rabbi is trying to give some criticism, comparing him unfavorably to humour of Rabbi Rudenstein, he dies, his last word being an unimpressed "eh". This haunts Krusty and eventually he is so demoralized and broken he quits his show. Bart tries to cheer up Krusty but it only makes him face the fact that he's regurgitated his own bits for years. Krusty tries wallowing in booze and drugs and even doing good deeds like his father would have wanted. Bart arrives to take Krusty to temple, presided over by Rabbi Rudenstein, who is actually using Krusty's bits. Krusty theorizes his father really did appreciate his humour but couldn't tell him.
Clown in the Dumps is an OK episode of the show and I think it helps a lot that despite going over VERY well-trod territory (Krusty struggles with his hack-level of talent and his father's approval) it does feel emotionally rich in certain areas. Yeah, it's a re-hash but it's a quality rehash, like adding interesting spices to bland leftovers. I think the best part is Krusty seeing "Eh" at the funeral, which isn't the show's most unique visual but I think it pops thanks to the use of sound and sound cues. There's a specificity to it. But I also think this is a better "Krusty isn't funny" episode because it is also about regret and the idea that we don't always get closure. In fact, if anything, the ending is sweet but it does walk it back maybe a little much for what I liked in that messaging.
And I think that's because it really does live in a zone where we do get put in Krusty's shoes just feeling completely hopeless. I also think that this is an episode about grief and regrets and even in it's funnier bits, it's actually rather quieter in bits, like the fairly funny therapist office scene. And I also feel like there are bits but aren't laugh out loud funny but has a couple good visuals. I really like the therapist and former clown who is shown being comedically stomped by an elephant and we see that the elephant's foot is now his foot stool. There are Simpsons, especially in the first 15 seasons, that work purely comedically but as it grows older, the show works better on an emotional level and finding the comedy there rather than simply coming up with a string of scenes for gags. So this episode is not bad, an episode that isn't perfect but on the right track and has a few good lines. I do think that the themes of the episode are done much better in Bojack Horseman, a show that completely looked like it was going to be the funny horse show that pokes fun at 90s sitcoms (remember them) and ended up becoming a very bold, dark series that was never afraid to question it's characters and even at times itself.
The b-plot is also not bad in putting Lisa in a very distressing headspace as she worries about Homer's health. Similar to the episode where Lisa ends up getting environmental anxiety, the show acknowledges this is a real, actual problem and actual concern is healthy but being solely focused on this can be really unhealthy. Lisa's fears are justified but Marge is similarly correct when she says her eight year old daughter shouldn't be concerned. Well, half-correct. I mean, kids are allowed to be concerned for the welfare of their loved ones but at the same time the anxiety is so unhealthy for her. I think the problem with a lot of these Lisa stories, though, is they lead strong and then fall into some platitude like solution. Homer says "Well, I could die tomorrow or a hundred years from now" and it's kind of hand-waving away Homer is so dangerously unhealthy, he stops breathing for five minute increments at night. I wish they could land these better.
Other great jokes:
"Krusty, would you like a therapy dog?"
"Yeah, with extra relish. I still got it, huh?"
"Yes, if by it you mean reflexive denial of your inner sadness."
*sadly* "Hey hey."
"I don't need the pre-recorded applause of children long dead."
"I LIKE IKE!"
"...Only time will tell... which is true for all news stories, I guess. This is Kent Brockman, adding no information."
Other notes:
Remember when Comedy Central was all about Roasts for people we don't like? Wasn't the point in the old days for loved ones to bust their friend's balls?
Maurice LaMarche is getting a lot of play lately.
Pretty great Don Hertzfeldt opening.
And now season 26. This is not the last season I watched but this getting to where the memories of me having seen them are getting very foggy. I do remember this one a little though. It's weird because this is an episode that was marketed with a character death and... I feel like I just can't imagine this show being marketed anymore. Granted, it's because I'm just not in the space where it is anymore. I don't use traditional TV anymore. The only time I do see Simpsons marketed are couch gags and as a strange recent blip, the Death Note Simpsons parody. But it really doesn't need it; the show was JUST renewed for two more seasons. So now I'm committed to a 36 season watch. I'm glad the show is getting better but the march of time is hurting my heart.
In this episode, Krusty reacts badly to a roast and it hurts his feelings. Krusty tries to get some reassurance from his father, Rabbi Krustafski, but when the Rabbi is trying to give some criticism, comparing him unfavorably to humour of Rabbi Rudenstein, he dies, his last word being an unimpressed "eh". This haunts Krusty and eventually he is so demoralized and broken he quits his show. Bart tries to cheer up Krusty but it only makes him face the fact that he's regurgitated his own bits for years. Krusty tries wallowing in booze and drugs and even doing good deeds like his father would have wanted. Bart arrives to take Krusty to temple, presided over by Rabbi Rudenstein, who is actually using Krusty's bits. Krusty theorizes his father really did appreciate his humour but couldn't tell him.
Clown in the Dumps is an OK episode of the show and I think it helps a lot that despite going over VERY well-trod territory (Krusty struggles with his hack-level of talent and his father's approval) it does feel emotionally rich in certain areas. Yeah, it's a re-hash but it's a quality rehash, like adding interesting spices to bland leftovers. I think the best part is Krusty seeing "Eh" at the funeral, which isn't the show's most unique visual but I think it pops thanks to the use of sound and sound cues. There's a specificity to it. But I also think this is a better "Krusty isn't funny" episode because it is also about regret and the idea that we don't always get closure. In fact, if anything, the ending is sweet but it does walk it back maybe a little much for what I liked in that messaging.
And I think that's because it really does live in a zone where we do get put in Krusty's shoes just feeling completely hopeless. I also think that this is an episode about grief and regrets and even in it's funnier bits, it's actually rather quieter in bits, like the fairly funny therapist office scene. And I also feel like there are bits but aren't laugh out loud funny but has a couple good visuals. I really like the therapist and former clown who is shown being comedically stomped by an elephant and we see that the elephant's foot is now his foot stool. There are Simpsons, especially in the first 15 seasons, that work purely comedically but as it grows older, the show works better on an emotional level and finding the comedy there rather than simply coming up with a string of scenes for gags. So this episode is not bad, an episode that isn't perfect but on the right track and has a few good lines. I do think that the themes of the episode are done much better in Bojack Horseman, a show that completely looked like it was going to be the funny horse show that pokes fun at 90s sitcoms (remember them) and ended up becoming a very bold, dark series that was never afraid to question it's characters and even at times itself.
The b-plot is also not bad in putting Lisa in a very distressing headspace as she worries about Homer's health. Similar to the episode where Lisa ends up getting environmental anxiety, the show acknowledges this is a real, actual problem and actual concern is healthy but being solely focused on this can be really unhealthy. Lisa's fears are justified but Marge is similarly correct when she says her eight year old daughter shouldn't be concerned. Well, half-correct. I mean, kids are allowed to be concerned for the welfare of their loved ones but at the same time the anxiety is so unhealthy for her. I think the problem with a lot of these Lisa stories, though, is they lead strong and then fall into some platitude like solution. Homer says "Well, I could die tomorrow or a hundred years from now" and it's kind of hand-waving away Homer is so dangerously unhealthy, he stops breathing for five minute increments at night. I wish they could land these better.
Other great jokes:
"Krusty, would you like a therapy dog?"
"Yeah, with extra relish. I still got it, huh?"
"Yes, if by it you mean reflexive denial of your inner sadness."
*sadly* "Hey hey."
"I don't need the pre-recorded applause of children long dead."
"I LIKE IKE!"
"...Only time will tell... which is true for all news stories, I guess. This is Kent Brockman, adding no information."
Other notes:
Remember when Comedy Central was all about Roasts for people we don't like? Wasn't the point in the old days for loved ones to bust their friend's balls?
Maurice LaMarche is getting a lot of play lately.
Pretty great Don Hertzfeldt opening.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
The Wreck of the Relationship
Parenting is hard work and one of the hardest part is getting a child to respect your authority. It's something I don't like having to do because I don't like being the voice of authority but guess what; those kids NEED to wear snowpants. Just wear the snowpants! But I get it. You get to an age when you start questioning rules and have room to negotiate, which they should. And I want to be supportive of these feelings and instincts but I also need to look out for the kids' safety and health.
In this episode, Homer and Bart end up having a multi-day stalemate over a plate of broccoli which Bart refuses to eat. The battle of wills destroys their weekend and Marge, fearing for their relationship, has them sent on a therapy cruise on a boat. Homer and Bart hate it but the two are separated when Homer suffers scurvy and spends his time sucking lemons. Bart learns to love sailing and Homer is appalled that they are split on the issue. Bart ends up being first mate for his skills but have trouble getting Homer to listen to his authority and do what is needed on the ship. When Homer finds a flask of rum in one of the other father's bags, the captain ends up succumbing to his alcoholism and getting drunk, leaving Bart in charge in the beginning of a huge storm. Homer and Bart are once again at odds, this time of what the solution is. Bart decides in order for Homer to trust him, he must eat his broccoli. Homer immediately assists Bart in his plan and the ship is saved.
This is a Jeff Westbrook episode and he is one of the better writers of this era of the series. I think he's really good at coming up with ideas of how to have these characters bounce off each other. On the surface, the episode is a pretty generic "Bart and Homer are at odds, then get together at the end" story but this is a more well-observed episode with a message. Yes, there is a grand gesture in a way but it is one that makes sense thematically. So many times the grand gesture is a quick fix to a relationship but here it really is the crux of what the episode is about; at some point you have to earn authority and respect. And that's what Bart does by giving so he can get.
I think it helps that it ties in with the first act, which is pretty strong. And it's a first act that strongly ties in with the themes, often not the case. It's basically a prolonged bit of Homer vs. Bart and then the boat stuff happens at the end of act one but this isn't a left turn, it's all about authority and an unhealthy stalemate. I've been in situations where I needed to be patient and in a battle of wills I had to accept when to give up before it became unhealthy for all parties. Both Homer and Bart are willful and the episode really has a sense of being in the moment. Castellaneta and Cartwright do very good work, especially when they duo triple down on their foolhardy conflict.
After that, it settles into more generic Simpsons territory and it never quite reaches the high of that first act. But at least they brought in a ringer to help it go down smooth; Nick Offerman. He isn't playing one of the more memorable guest characters but he isn't underutilized like some and isn't just an expensive straightman like so many others. He gets to be silly and fun. I think this is the era where the use of a lower tier comedic voice helps a lot in an episode. When I say, lower-tier, I'm not talking about quality but rather in terms in success; TV stars and sketch/improv performers rather than movie stars. It is usually a sign things aren't going to be too bad and Offerman is doing good work.
The episode overall is strong, telling a decent enough story while understanding it's message about how authority can be respected. The b-plot is less successful. I like the idea of Marge entering into Homer's social world and kind of finding the ball-busting trash talk tiring but it doesn't really have time to deal with the idea of the bigger idea of what is going on with that and Marge understanding the underlying social mentality. Instead, it's Marge winning fantasy football so no one is able to trash talk her. It's not bad but I feel like there are interesting ideas about different kinds of social relationships that doesn't pan out.
Other great jokes:
The captain throwing his accordion at Homer is kind of basic physical comedy but the idea of throwing an accordion at someone, assuming they will catch it, made me laugh.
Other notes:
This rather wholesome episode is the first (and I assume only) episode to get a TV-MA rating. But only on reruns where a flipped bird goes uncensored on FXX.
Parenting is hard work and one of the hardest part is getting a child to respect your authority. It's something I don't like having to do because I don't like being the voice of authority but guess what; those kids NEED to wear snowpants. Just wear the snowpants! But I get it. You get to an age when you start questioning rules and have room to negotiate, which they should. And I want to be supportive of these feelings and instincts but I also need to look out for the kids' safety and health.
In this episode, Homer and Bart end up having a multi-day stalemate over a plate of broccoli which Bart refuses to eat. The battle of wills destroys their weekend and Marge, fearing for their relationship, has them sent on a therapy cruise on a boat. Homer and Bart hate it but the two are separated when Homer suffers scurvy and spends his time sucking lemons. Bart learns to love sailing and Homer is appalled that they are split on the issue. Bart ends up being first mate for his skills but have trouble getting Homer to listen to his authority and do what is needed on the ship. When Homer finds a flask of rum in one of the other father's bags, the captain ends up succumbing to his alcoholism and getting drunk, leaving Bart in charge in the beginning of a huge storm. Homer and Bart are once again at odds, this time of what the solution is. Bart decides in order for Homer to trust him, he must eat his broccoli. Homer immediately assists Bart in his plan and the ship is saved.
This is a Jeff Westbrook episode and he is one of the better writers of this era of the series. I think he's really good at coming up with ideas of how to have these characters bounce off each other. On the surface, the episode is a pretty generic "Bart and Homer are at odds, then get together at the end" story but this is a more well-observed episode with a message. Yes, there is a grand gesture in a way but it is one that makes sense thematically. So many times the grand gesture is a quick fix to a relationship but here it really is the crux of what the episode is about; at some point you have to earn authority and respect. And that's what Bart does by giving so he can get.
I think it helps that it ties in with the first act, which is pretty strong. And it's a first act that strongly ties in with the themes, often not the case. It's basically a prolonged bit of Homer vs. Bart and then the boat stuff happens at the end of act one but this isn't a left turn, it's all about authority and an unhealthy stalemate. I've been in situations where I needed to be patient and in a battle of wills I had to accept when to give up before it became unhealthy for all parties. Both Homer and Bart are willful and the episode really has a sense of being in the moment. Castellaneta and Cartwright do very good work, especially when they duo triple down on their foolhardy conflict.
After that, it settles into more generic Simpsons territory and it never quite reaches the high of that first act. But at least they brought in a ringer to help it go down smooth; Nick Offerman. He isn't playing one of the more memorable guest characters but he isn't underutilized like some and isn't just an expensive straightman like so many others. He gets to be silly and fun. I think this is the era where the use of a lower tier comedic voice helps a lot in an episode. When I say, lower-tier, I'm not talking about quality but rather in terms in success; TV stars and sketch/improv performers rather than movie stars. It is usually a sign things aren't going to be too bad and Offerman is doing good work.
The episode overall is strong, telling a decent enough story while understanding it's message about how authority can be respected. The b-plot is less successful. I like the idea of Marge entering into Homer's social world and kind of finding the ball-busting trash talk tiring but it doesn't really have time to deal with the idea of the bigger idea of what is going on with that and Marge understanding the underlying social mentality. Instead, it's Marge winning fantasy football so no one is able to trash talk her. It's not bad but I feel like there are interesting ideas about different kinds of social relationships that doesn't pan out.
Other great jokes:
The captain throwing his accordion at Homer is kind of basic physical comedy but the idea of throwing an accordion at someone, assuming they will catch it, made me laugh.
Other notes:
This rather wholesome episode is the first (and I assume only) episode to get a TV-MA rating. But only on reruns where a flipped bird goes uncensored on FXX.
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.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Treehouse of Horror XXV
Hey, it's another spooky episode.
In this Halloween episode, three more tales of comedic terror. First, Bart discovers a portal to Hell and discovers the schools there teach things he wants to learn. Homer and Marge let him attend and Bart graduates as valedictorian. The second tale, a loose parody of A Clockwork Orange, Moe's gang of violent criminals breaks up after Homer leaves. When Moe is attacked by a younger gang, Moe gets the gang back together and is happy, even though he's viciously beaten. In the final tale, strange things are going on in the Simpsons home and they discover they are being haunted by... the Simpsons. Specifically, the Simpsons as they originally appeared in their debut. Homer finds himself attracted to younger Marge, not seeing a problem with it since he thinks of them as the same person, a dispute that ends with all Simpsons dead. Though both sets of ghost Simpsons learn to live in harmony the house is soon beset by a legion of alternate Simpsons.
This years Treehouse is an odd one; each story is in some way close to actually being really good but in one way or another, kind of fails at the finish line. The first story is probably the best. Apparently it was inspired by the works of Neil Gaiman but I don't quite see it save for the specificity of a couple of the gags that seems like a thing he would do ("Haw haw. your heresy were venialized by the council of Palermo!") Really, not being forced to parody a specific thing is better and it's off to a great start, a tale of Bart finding success in Hell. It's a good idea but the problem is that it kind of never really has conflict and also is kind of not about anything. I feel like the main message is the concept and then never moves on from there. It starts to have some with Bart being told to torture his father and his father willing to be tortured. I feel like there's no journey here. If Bart had to decide to torture an unwilling Homer OR Homer is now willing after fighting Bart prior to this, it would work but it feels like a very nicely done version of a story that really needs more meat.
And I should say, all three stories are well directed and acted, which brings me to the second and weakest story, a loving parody of the works of Stanley Kubrick. And it's a weird one. A Clockwork Orange is a story that is known for being about violent beatings and, more controversially, rape. And I think it's possible to do a parody of this film. But I feel like it's really calling attention to what it is omitting, which gives it a slightly unpleasant feel. More than that, it has even less of a point. It's nice to not to be too beholden to the plot of the original film but I feel like Moe's journey makes little sense and mostly it's a still a checklist of references, eventually to the other films of Kubrick. I don't know what it wants to say using these references and also, it just isn't that funny.
The last tale is not the best but in terms of storytelling mechanics, it meets my own criteria a bit closer, even if it's a poor story. But really, it is a showcase to remind the viewers where the show came from and how the characters have evolved by bouncing OG Simpsons against the modern versions. It's a really fun and well-realized idea. For some reason, a lot of people label this as a parody of The Others, but it really isn't. It's just having a bit of fun with compare and contrast. I also appreciate that not only to they look and sound like the old Simpsons, the animators clearly put in some flourishes to make them move like them.
So I'm in a weird place on this one. I think all three stories are doing a lot of interesting things and I can't dismiss them out of hand (the middle one comes closest). I just think that most of them are only slightly left of center of success. I could see someone disagreeing with me because so much of the episode is largely successful but for me I think it comes so close, I can see how it would have become REALLY strong if certain elements of each story were just taken a bit further.
Other great jokes:
The gag about Hot Stuff having lame comics seems like it should be too pandering to my specific demographic but it is pretty well sold with "I melted it. Get it?"
Other notes:
Man, the specificity of anime Lisa being an Attack on Titan character and Homer being Zoro from One Piece is unexpected; it's a reminder how close I am to the present now in watching this and that now modern American animators aren't just making characters looks like Sailor Moon or Speed Racer (they did make Maggie Pikachu, though).
OK, so at the end they have a joke where the two Lisa's are waiting for something to happen and old Lisa is reading Sweet Valley High, which seems like a great counterpoint to what Lisa is probably reading. Infinite Jest? Finnegan's Wake? The Brothers Karamazov? No it's... Fifty Shades of Grade School. Why? It's a shitty joke and it ruined what I think the point was supposed to be.
Hey, it's another spooky episode.
In this Halloween episode, three more tales of comedic terror. First, Bart discovers a portal to Hell and discovers the schools there teach things he wants to learn. Homer and Marge let him attend and Bart graduates as valedictorian. The second tale, a loose parody of A Clockwork Orange, Moe's gang of violent criminals breaks up after Homer leaves. When Moe is attacked by a younger gang, Moe gets the gang back together and is happy, even though he's viciously beaten. In the final tale, strange things are going on in the Simpsons home and they discover they are being haunted by... the Simpsons. Specifically, the Simpsons as they originally appeared in their debut. Homer finds himself attracted to younger Marge, not seeing a problem with it since he thinks of them as the same person, a dispute that ends with all Simpsons dead. Though both sets of ghost Simpsons learn to live in harmony the house is soon beset by a legion of alternate Simpsons.
This years Treehouse is an odd one; each story is in some way close to actually being really good but in one way or another, kind of fails at the finish line. The first story is probably the best. Apparently it was inspired by the works of Neil Gaiman but I don't quite see it save for the specificity of a couple of the gags that seems like a thing he would do ("Haw haw. your heresy were venialized by the council of Palermo!") Really, not being forced to parody a specific thing is better and it's off to a great start, a tale of Bart finding success in Hell. It's a good idea but the problem is that it kind of never really has conflict and also is kind of not about anything. I feel like the main message is the concept and then never moves on from there. It starts to have some with Bart being told to torture his father and his father willing to be tortured. I feel like there's no journey here. If Bart had to decide to torture an unwilling Homer OR Homer is now willing after fighting Bart prior to this, it would work but it feels like a very nicely done version of a story that really needs more meat.
And I should say, all three stories are well directed and acted, which brings me to the second and weakest story, a loving parody of the works of Stanley Kubrick. And it's a weird one. A Clockwork Orange is a story that is known for being about violent beatings and, more controversially, rape. And I think it's possible to do a parody of this film. But I feel like it's really calling attention to what it is omitting, which gives it a slightly unpleasant feel. More than that, it has even less of a point. It's nice to not to be too beholden to the plot of the original film but I feel like Moe's journey makes little sense and mostly it's a still a checklist of references, eventually to the other films of Kubrick. I don't know what it wants to say using these references and also, it just isn't that funny.
The last tale is not the best but in terms of storytelling mechanics, it meets my own criteria a bit closer, even if it's a poor story. But really, it is a showcase to remind the viewers where the show came from and how the characters have evolved by bouncing OG Simpsons against the modern versions. It's a really fun and well-realized idea. For some reason, a lot of people label this as a parody of The Others, but it really isn't. It's just having a bit of fun with compare and contrast. I also appreciate that not only to they look and sound like the old Simpsons, the animators clearly put in some flourishes to make them move like them.
So I'm in a weird place on this one. I think all three stories are doing a lot of interesting things and I can't dismiss them out of hand (the middle one comes closest). I just think that most of them are only slightly left of center of success. I could see someone disagreeing with me because so much of the episode is largely successful but for me I think it comes so close, I can see how it would have become REALLY strong if certain elements of each story were just taken a bit further.
Other great jokes:
The gag about Hot Stuff having lame comics seems like it should be too pandering to my specific demographic but it is pretty well sold with "I melted it. Get it?"
Other notes:
Man, the specificity of anime Lisa being an Attack on Titan character and Homer being Zoro from One Piece is unexpected; it's a reminder how close I am to the present now in watching this and that now modern American animators aren't just making characters looks like Sailor Moon or Speed Racer (they did make Maggie Pikachu, though).
OK, so at the end they have a joke where the two Lisa's are waiting for something to happen and old Lisa is reading Sweet Valley High, which seems like a great counterpoint to what Lisa is probably reading. Infinite Jest? Finnegan's Wake? The Brothers Karamazov? No it's... Fifty Shades of Grade School. Why? It's a shitty joke and it ruined what I think the point was supposed to be.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Opposites A-Frack
The Simpsons is a show that basically has a left-leaning view with a healthy dose of anti-authoritarianism and mistrust of business. But it also has taken on some really weird or bad takes from time to time. There are some good episodes with Burns as the lead but sometimes they make him the funny rich man who does bad things but then forget the kind of evil he represents. And sometimes in trying to do something prescient, they end up missing the mark. Obviously, one problem is being so close to the issue and then having to get it done a year later means it's old news and yet sometimes there isn't enough time to look at the issue that presents a cogent argument that folds into a narrative. But also, sometimes the show isn't that good.
In this episode, Burns is secretly fracking under Evergreen Terrace, so Lisa contacts her local assemblywoman Maxine Lombard. Maxine manages to shut down Burns operation unless he can get everyone in town to unanimously agree to it. Burns and Lombard has an argument behind closed doors but eventually the two fall in passionate love and begin to see each other in private. In order to get his fracking operation back in order, he decides to convince the entire town to give in to him and to do that, he acquires the persuasive skills of Homer Simpson. Homer is supremely successful, causing Lisa and Marge to turn against him. It seems that Burns is going to win but as co-owner of the Simpsons home, Marge won't sign, ruining Burns chances. While angry, he dumps Maxine who turns her government powers against him. In retaliation, Burns starts fracking illegally with Homer but Homer is eventually convinced by Marge to turn against him and destroys the operation. Burns realizes that even though Homer and Marge are different, they still love each other and decides to follow suit and patch things up with Lombard.
Opposites A-Frack is a fairly weak, forgettable venture into discussing fracking trying to use a romantic comedy formula. And frankly, that does feel like a missed opportunity for a much more cynical tale. It is literally about a liberal politician in bed with big business. That's a pretty loaded idea and I think one that has SO much opportunity to explore the difference between the public face of a politician and what happens behind closed doors. Frankly, it's a take handled much better with Kathryn Hahn's character in Glass Onion, a politician who makes shows of things but is much more self-serving than she wants to be seen as.
The weird part, here Jane Fonda's character, Maxine Lombard, is kind of beyond reproach professionally. It never morally questions what she is doing. We already know Burns is just the worst but Lombard wants to do good in the world and the show isn't interested in broaching the idea that she is also susceptible to. In fact, she's barely a character at all, she's someone whom Burns can react to and for Simpsons to do hacky jokes about electric limos and turning Burns house into a recycling center/Native American history museum/condor sanctuary. And where the Native American's dressed in cliched, non-specific head-dresses in the year 2014? You better believe it. The episode has little to say about politics, not even from a wishy washy centrist point of view to imply "hey, maybe we can work together."
The strongest statement is from Marge, who doesn't get enough play either. All Marge has to do when Homer tries to spin fracking is say "our water was on fire." It's the moment that feels like it IS coming from a real place of anger from the character and from the writer whom I must assume is pretty fed up with trying to argue in favour of something there should be no argument for. It even ties into the first act where Homer is trying to use Marge's consideration for her children's safety against Patty and Selma. I do like the idea that appears in a lot of episodes that even though Homer is a stupid oaf, he's a stupid oaf who does have a skill for persuasion. But unlike a lot of the stupid assholes with ridiculous amounts of sway despite being complete garbage, there's usually something redeemable about Homer. These are good aspects but they aren't well used in the episode, sadly, and we end up with a topical episode with a big guest star and nothing to say.
Other great jokes:
*on Rich Texan*
"He made us watch him dance for three hours and he really only has one move."
Other notes:
Why did Lisa assume Rich Texan was the villain? Always assume Burns first.
The Simpsons is a show that basically has a left-leaning view with a healthy dose of anti-authoritarianism and mistrust of business. But it also has taken on some really weird or bad takes from time to time. There are some good episodes with Burns as the lead but sometimes they make him the funny rich man who does bad things but then forget the kind of evil he represents. And sometimes in trying to do something prescient, they end up missing the mark. Obviously, one problem is being so close to the issue and then having to get it done a year later means it's old news and yet sometimes there isn't enough time to look at the issue that presents a cogent argument that folds into a narrative. But also, sometimes the show isn't that good.
In this episode, Burns is secretly fracking under Evergreen Terrace, so Lisa contacts her local assemblywoman Maxine Lombard. Maxine manages to shut down Burns operation unless he can get everyone in town to unanimously agree to it. Burns and Lombard has an argument behind closed doors but eventually the two fall in passionate love and begin to see each other in private. In order to get his fracking operation back in order, he decides to convince the entire town to give in to him and to do that, he acquires the persuasive skills of Homer Simpson. Homer is supremely successful, causing Lisa and Marge to turn against him. It seems that Burns is going to win but as co-owner of the Simpsons home, Marge won't sign, ruining Burns chances. While angry, he dumps Maxine who turns her government powers against him. In retaliation, Burns starts fracking illegally with Homer but Homer is eventually convinced by Marge to turn against him and destroys the operation. Burns realizes that even though Homer and Marge are different, they still love each other and decides to follow suit and patch things up with Lombard.
Opposites A-Frack is a fairly weak, forgettable venture into discussing fracking trying to use a romantic comedy formula. And frankly, that does feel like a missed opportunity for a much more cynical tale. It is literally about a liberal politician in bed with big business. That's a pretty loaded idea and I think one that has SO much opportunity to explore the difference between the public face of a politician and what happens behind closed doors. Frankly, it's a take handled much better with Kathryn Hahn's character in Glass Onion, a politician who makes shows of things but is much more self-serving than she wants to be seen as.
The weird part, here Jane Fonda's character, Maxine Lombard, is kind of beyond reproach professionally. It never morally questions what she is doing. We already know Burns is just the worst but Lombard wants to do good in the world and the show isn't interested in broaching the idea that she is also susceptible to. In fact, she's barely a character at all, she's someone whom Burns can react to and for Simpsons to do hacky jokes about electric limos and turning Burns house into a recycling center/Native American history museum/condor sanctuary. And where the Native American's dressed in cliched, non-specific head-dresses in the year 2014? You better believe it. The episode has little to say about politics, not even from a wishy washy centrist point of view to imply "hey, maybe we can work together."
The strongest statement is from Marge, who doesn't get enough play either. All Marge has to do when Homer tries to spin fracking is say "our water was on fire." It's the moment that feels like it IS coming from a real place of anger from the character and from the writer whom I must assume is pretty fed up with trying to argue in favour of something there should be no argument for. It even ties into the first act where Homer is trying to use Marge's consideration for her children's safety against Patty and Selma. I do like the idea that appears in a lot of episodes that even though Homer is a stupid oaf, he's a stupid oaf who does have a skill for persuasion. But unlike a lot of the stupid assholes with ridiculous amounts of sway despite being complete garbage, there's usually something redeemable about Homer. These are good aspects but they aren't well used in the episode, sadly, and we end up with a topical episode with a big guest star and nothing to say.
Other great jokes:
*on Rich Texan*
"He made us watch him dance for three hours and he really only has one move."
Other notes:
Why did Lisa assume Rich Texan was the villain? Always assume Burns first.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Simpsorama
I remember Futurama being such a big deal when it premiered. It was a new show from Matt Groening, this one for the nerds. When it started, we did get what producers assumed we wanted like giving the characters catchphrases. "Bite my shiny metal ass" always felt completely inorganic as a catchphrase. I always felt this was a throwaway line that marketing latched onto. But the show did not take too long to find it's voice and really differentiate itself from the Simpsons. It's a series that's a little nastier, set in a world were life is less valuable and allows itself to go to some of the places that always felt wrong in the Simpsons. Jerkass Homer is bad but Bender isn't bound by human morality and can be flexible so in one he's pretty willing to throw his friends out an airlock and laugh about it and another he might express his deep love for his friends and it still works, much like Homer can be both industrious and successful and a lazy idiot. The show was kind of abused by it's home network and after a few great seasons eventually left, only to return again on a new network. Some complain about the later episodes but it did result in some truly great episodes like The Late Philip J. Fry and Prisoner of Benda. Now people are upset that the show is coming back again, feeling like its time is done. Me? I'm neither particularly excited nor disappointed. I'll probably watch it (though I never did watch Disenchantment, which is readily available to me). But for the longest time, this is the last we got of Futurama.
In this episode, Springfield elementary creates a time capsule. Bart, with no ideas, adds a sandwich he blew his nose into, and after it is buried it sinks into some radioactive ooze produced by Mr. Burns. Later that night, Homer and Bart discover a robot in the basement, called Bender, who claims to be from the future. A drunken lout, Bender and Homer become fast friends but after Lisa and Frink decide to investigate Bender's claims, they learn (and Bender remembers) Bender's mission is to kill Homer. It turns out some hideous monsters running rampant in the future have Homer's DNA. More people from the future from the package delivery company Planet Express arrive to kill Homer but are talked down and they investigate why Homer's DNA is in these monsters. They learn it's actually Bart's DNA and that he's already created the problem, which stemmed from the contents of the DNA mutating from toxic ooze. Before they can destroy it, the Simpson family and the Planet Express crew are accidentally sent to and stranded in the future. Lisa comes up with a plan to defeat the monsters before they can destroy the Earth and then the Simpsons are sent home.
OK, so I remember this one making me cringe with how fanficcy it is. Watching it again, I'm more kind to it, though it still isn't a particularly good episode of either show. And I get it, I'm sure this was both a joy to work on for the cast and writers and a tough nut to crack, as the show both has a similar humourous mentality and yet plays with very different character dynamics. One is in the mold of a traditional family sitcom while the other is a combination of workplace comedy and adventure series about people in their 20s/30s living in the big city. It's tricky to thread the needle and appease everyone and sadly it takes the laziest path. Perfect for Bender and Homer, not so much the audience.
So I'll start with the positive; there are some decent jokes here. Some of them are pretty funny, though the Futurama-style gags work better than the Simpsons-style ones. This is probably because J. Stewart Burns, like Bill Odenkirk, have generally been more successful as Futurama writers than Simpsons ones. And the show does understands the respective worlds and characters and how they are different and why they work. The world of Futurama can off-handedly kill hundreds of people for a joke on a weekly basis but can laugh it off. And Marge is rightfully horrified that this is a world with little (or scarily selective) empathy. So this is OK.
The problem is the show mostly stops at "wouldn't it be fun to see these characters bounce off of each other" and has little to say. Some of the characters meeting jokes feel pretty weak and come from OKish fan art (Marge and Leela's not wanting to embarrass themselves about their respective notable physical features). It's not enough to through our favourite characters together, the story needs to have craft, not just some of the gags. And this has little to say about the difference between the franchises or the future. The show sidles up to a great idea that Marge is put in a world with a different sense of morality but then it kind of stops there. And this seems like a great episode for characters like Lisa, who are very concerned about the future, to see what it is. Or further explore Marge dealing with a much crueler world than she left behind, only to find there is some goodness in the world left. Instead it's putting characters in proximity, sometimes making a comment about each other and not looking back. The episode is more watchable than I remember but it's definitely a wasted opportunity to really do something interesting, especially since seemed like it might be the last time we get to spend with these characters. Fry barely does anything.
Other great jokes:
I love jokes about Bender being a crappy robot. Him having a trajectory calculation for a strike and immediately getting a gutterball worked for me.
Similarly, him using scoreboard technology to wish Lisa a happy birthday but can't do it with Maggie works to. He's just as very crappy robot.
"Professor Farnsworth, I'm dying to know how you got here. With a time machine?"
"Little girl, time machines are physical impossibilities. We teleported through a singularity that I quantum entangled to Bender under the guise of fixing his collar."
"Yes, but how did Bender get here?"
"With a time machine."
Other notes:
Despite my complaints, the episode does have an MVP and it's Prof. Farnsworth.
The laziest joke was "The eBook of Mormon:" But it did remind me that was a big deal about a decade ago.
I remember Futurama being such a big deal when it premiered. It was a new show from Matt Groening, this one for the nerds. When it started, we did get what producers assumed we wanted like giving the characters catchphrases. "Bite my shiny metal ass" always felt completely inorganic as a catchphrase. I always felt this was a throwaway line that marketing latched onto. But the show did not take too long to find it's voice and really differentiate itself from the Simpsons. It's a series that's a little nastier, set in a world were life is less valuable and allows itself to go to some of the places that always felt wrong in the Simpsons. Jerkass Homer is bad but Bender isn't bound by human morality and can be flexible so in one he's pretty willing to throw his friends out an airlock and laugh about it and another he might express his deep love for his friends and it still works, much like Homer can be both industrious and successful and a lazy idiot. The show was kind of abused by it's home network and after a few great seasons eventually left, only to return again on a new network. Some complain about the later episodes but it did result in some truly great episodes like The Late Philip J. Fry and Prisoner of Benda. Now people are upset that the show is coming back again, feeling like its time is done. Me? I'm neither particularly excited nor disappointed. I'll probably watch it (though I never did watch Disenchantment, which is readily available to me). But for the longest time, this is the last we got of Futurama.
In this episode, Springfield elementary creates a time capsule. Bart, with no ideas, adds a sandwich he blew his nose into, and after it is buried it sinks into some radioactive ooze produced by Mr. Burns. Later that night, Homer and Bart discover a robot in the basement, called Bender, who claims to be from the future. A drunken lout, Bender and Homer become fast friends but after Lisa and Frink decide to investigate Bender's claims, they learn (and Bender remembers) Bender's mission is to kill Homer. It turns out some hideous monsters running rampant in the future have Homer's DNA. More people from the future from the package delivery company Planet Express arrive to kill Homer but are talked down and they investigate why Homer's DNA is in these monsters. They learn it's actually Bart's DNA and that he's already created the problem, which stemmed from the contents of the DNA mutating from toxic ooze. Before they can destroy it, the Simpson family and the Planet Express crew are accidentally sent to and stranded in the future. Lisa comes up with a plan to defeat the monsters before they can destroy the Earth and then the Simpsons are sent home.
OK, so I remember this one making me cringe with how fanficcy it is. Watching it again, I'm more kind to it, though it still isn't a particularly good episode of either show. And I get it, I'm sure this was both a joy to work on for the cast and writers and a tough nut to crack, as the show both has a similar humourous mentality and yet plays with very different character dynamics. One is in the mold of a traditional family sitcom while the other is a combination of workplace comedy and adventure series about people in their 20s/30s living in the big city. It's tricky to thread the needle and appease everyone and sadly it takes the laziest path. Perfect for Bender and Homer, not so much the audience.
So I'll start with the positive; there are some decent jokes here. Some of them are pretty funny, though the Futurama-style gags work better than the Simpsons-style ones. This is probably because J. Stewart Burns, like Bill Odenkirk, have generally been more successful as Futurama writers than Simpsons ones. And the show does understands the respective worlds and characters and how they are different and why they work. The world of Futurama can off-handedly kill hundreds of people for a joke on a weekly basis but can laugh it off. And Marge is rightfully horrified that this is a world with little (or scarily selective) empathy. So this is OK.
The problem is the show mostly stops at "wouldn't it be fun to see these characters bounce off of each other" and has little to say. Some of the characters meeting jokes feel pretty weak and come from OKish fan art (Marge and Leela's not wanting to embarrass themselves about their respective notable physical features). It's not enough to through our favourite characters together, the story needs to have craft, not just some of the gags. And this has little to say about the difference between the franchises or the future. The show sidles up to a great idea that Marge is put in a world with a different sense of morality but then it kind of stops there. And this seems like a great episode for characters like Lisa, who are very concerned about the future, to see what it is. Or further explore Marge dealing with a much crueler world than she left behind, only to find there is some goodness in the world left. Instead it's putting characters in proximity, sometimes making a comment about each other and not looking back. The episode is more watchable than I remember but it's definitely a wasted opportunity to really do something interesting, especially since seemed like it might be the last time we get to spend with these characters. Fry barely does anything.
Other great jokes:
I love jokes about Bender being a crappy robot. Him having a trajectory calculation for a strike and immediately getting a gutterball worked for me.
Similarly, him using scoreboard technology to wish Lisa a happy birthday but can't do it with Maggie works to. He's just as very crappy robot.
"Professor Farnsworth, I'm dying to know how you got here. With a time machine?"
"Little girl, time machines are physical impossibilities. We teleported through a singularity that I quantum entangled to Bender under the guise of fixing his collar."
"Yes, but how did Bender get here?"
"With a time machine."
Other notes:
Despite my complaints, the episode does have an MVP and it's Prof. Farnsworth.
The laziest joke was "The eBook of Mormon:" But it did remind me that was a big deal about a decade ago.