Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Two Dozen and One Greyhounds
Look, I feel like I could attach this episode to my own pet ownership experience but the fact is there is very little about this episode I feel I can connect to my own life in any meaningful manner. Lets skip the self-absorbed musings and move onto the show.
In this episode, The Simpsons notice that Santa's Little Helper is more wired than usual. Eventually they realize he's super horny after he has sex with a female racing dog in the middle of a race. The Simpsons adopt Santa's girlfriend, She's The Fastest, and eventually they have a huge litter of puppies numbering twenty five. The family loves the puppies but soon they become too big of a burden to take care of. The family tries to give them away but the puppies don't want to be split up. Mr. Burns offers to take them off their hands but based on past experience, the Simpsons assume Burns has a scheme so they decline. Burns kidnaps the puppies and Bart and Lisa eventually track the puppies to Burns Manor, where they learn he plans to turn the puppies into a new suit. Eventually, Bart manages to outwit Mr. Burns and convince him to let the puppies live. He does and they go onto becoming Burns' prize-winning army of racing hounds.
Its always weird to see an episode where so little is going on thematically. At this stage, there are actually very few "just a bunch of stuff that happens" episodes. I mean, it does address that a lot of pets are hard to take care of and maybe don't murder puppies for fashion but emotionally and intellectually, there's not a lot. Oh, I guess empathy for animals is in there but I feel like that's more to assist a plot point and a resolution rather than the point of the thing. Good thing this parody of 101 Dalmations is also very, very funny. Like, I wouldn't say it is among the funniest or strongest episode of the season, but it is packed with good jokes. Parody songs often make my eyes roll (despite being a Weird Al lifer) but "See My Vest" is a top notch musical number that's a delight.
At this point in the show, The Simpsons is getting silly enough to feel like they can anthropomorphize the Simpsons' pets more often but I feel like in the later seasons that episodes about Santa's Little Helper are funnier when he's a gormless dumb animal. Snowball II rubs its eyes in disbelief at one point but she's not the focus. A lot of the parody jokes work here because the dog's emotional journey is extremely simple. Heck, he's all but gone from the last act and we never see him after a joke where he prioritizes dinner over finding his kids because he's a dumb dog. Frankly, I think this is a good approach when parodying a film where the animals are decidedly human.
Overall, this is one of the episodes that has little social commentary or character arcs or anything other than plot which is designed to hang jokes from. There's is ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with that by a long shot. To me, if either is well made it is merely the difference between, say, a complexly flavored cake with varying textures and a bar of solid milk chocolate. Both are great but the deal is it is much easier to talk about the thing where a lot is happening beyond the literal. I kind of don't have a lot to say except its a pretty decent chocolate bar.
Jokes I missed before:
A pretty low key joke but Bart saying "Hush, puppies." BTW, are hush puppies good? I always assumed they were like a hash browns variant but I guess dough is involved?
Other great jokes:
"So it was the dog that buried all our stuff."
"Yes... the dog..."
"Let me try a human-canine mind meld. It's an incredibly rare psychic power possessed only by me and three other clerks in this store."
Alf Clausen does great with this Star Trek music in this moment.
"As soon as they realize he doesn't have any money, they'll throw him out. Believe me, I know."
"C'mon you little horse!"
A surprisingly red-haired Rich Texan makes his second appearance here (his first being in Sideshow Bob Roberts) and makes a good impression with "LADY.... YER ALRIGHT!"
"Is that what we do in this family? When someone becomes an inconvenience we just get rid of them?"
*cut to saddest Grandpa scene*
"SEE YOU IN HELL! From heaven."
Other notes:
So... whatever happened to She's The Fastest?
The kids failing to wear out the dog is basically me trying to wear out any dog or child.
How bad is Luigi's cooking that this is possible?
Yeah. I can see the similarities.
Look, I feel like I could attach this episode to my own pet ownership experience but the fact is there is very little about this episode I feel I can connect to my own life in any meaningful manner. Lets skip the self-absorbed musings and move onto the show.
In this episode, The Simpsons notice that Santa's Little Helper is more wired than usual. Eventually they realize he's super horny after he has sex with a female racing dog in the middle of a race. The Simpsons adopt Santa's girlfriend, She's The Fastest, and eventually they have a huge litter of puppies numbering twenty five. The family loves the puppies but soon they become too big of a burden to take care of. The family tries to give them away but the puppies don't want to be split up. Mr. Burns offers to take them off their hands but based on past experience, the Simpsons assume Burns has a scheme so they decline. Burns kidnaps the puppies and Bart and Lisa eventually track the puppies to Burns Manor, where they learn he plans to turn the puppies into a new suit. Eventually, Bart manages to outwit Mr. Burns and convince him to let the puppies live. He does and they go onto becoming Burns' prize-winning army of racing hounds.
Its always weird to see an episode where so little is going on thematically. At this stage, there are actually very few "just a bunch of stuff that happens" episodes. I mean, it does address that a lot of pets are hard to take care of and maybe don't murder puppies for fashion but emotionally and intellectually, there's not a lot. Oh, I guess empathy for animals is in there but I feel like that's more to assist a plot point and a resolution rather than the point of the thing. Good thing this parody of 101 Dalmations is also very, very funny. Like, I wouldn't say it is among the funniest or strongest episode of the season, but it is packed with good jokes. Parody songs often make my eyes roll (despite being a Weird Al lifer) but "See My Vest" is a top notch musical number that's a delight.
At this point in the show, The Simpsons is getting silly enough to feel like they can anthropomorphize the Simpsons' pets more often but I feel like in the later seasons that episodes about Santa's Little Helper are funnier when he's a gormless dumb animal. Snowball II rubs its eyes in disbelief at one point but she's not the focus. A lot of the parody jokes work here because the dog's emotional journey is extremely simple. Heck, he's all but gone from the last act and we never see him after a joke where he prioritizes dinner over finding his kids because he's a dumb dog. Frankly, I think this is a good approach when parodying a film where the animals are decidedly human.
Overall, this is one of the episodes that has little social commentary or character arcs or anything other than plot which is designed to hang jokes from. There's is ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with that by a long shot. To me, if either is well made it is merely the difference between, say, a complexly flavored cake with varying textures and a bar of solid milk chocolate. Both are great but the deal is it is much easier to talk about the thing where a lot is happening beyond the literal. I kind of don't have a lot to say except its a pretty decent chocolate bar.
Jokes I missed before:
A pretty low key joke but Bart saying "Hush, puppies." BTW, are hush puppies good? I always assumed they were like a hash browns variant but I guess dough is involved?
Other great jokes:
"So it was the dog that buried all our stuff."
"Yes... the dog..."
"Let me try a human-canine mind meld. It's an incredibly rare psychic power possessed only by me and three other clerks in this store."
Alf Clausen does great with this Star Trek music in this moment.
"As soon as they realize he doesn't have any money, they'll throw him out. Believe me, I know."
"C'mon you little horse!"
A surprisingly red-haired Rich Texan makes his second appearance here (his first being in Sideshow Bob Roberts) and makes a good impression with "LADY.... YER ALRIGHT!"
"Is that what we do in this family? When someone becomes an inconvenience we just get rid of them?"
*cut to saddest Grandpa scene*
"SEE YOU IN HELL! From heaven."
Other notes:
So... whatever happened to She's The Fastest?
The kids failing to wear out the dog is basically me trying to wear out any dog or child.
How bad is Luigi's cooking that this is possible?
Yeah. I can see the similarities.