The Wandering Juvie
I wouldn't say I was a "good" boy, in that I did act without thinking but in general I tried to act well. I was always afraid of getting in trouble and still don't do that well with confrontation. Right now, I work in childcare where I got to be the one who has to dispense authority. Our program doesn't do "punishment" but we do have to wield authority or threaten to tell their parents, which is usually effective. I always want to be as fair as possible but sometimes time doesn't allow me to listen or it is clear a lot of the kids ask for explanations not because it will satisfy them but because it buys them time. But all the same, I try to make sure to give a sense that they are listened to and respected before I need to drop the authority bomb.
In this episode, Bart's latest prank becomes the last straw and Bart is forced into a six month stint in juvenile prison. Bart is miserable, constantly bullied by inmates and the warden, and even Homer becoming a guard helps much. With two weeks away from his sentence being up, Bart is forced into an escape by one of the female prisoners, Gina. The two argue and end up having feelings for each other and come to understand each other a bit better. Bart realizes that Gina has no family and when the two are caught, Gina sees Bart misses his family and reveals Bart escaped under duress. The Simpsons show their care by giving her a family dinner she never had.
The Wandering Juvie, as a whole, isn't bad but it isn't particularly strong. I feel there are a lot of strong individual elements and moments but as a whole, it's merely serviceable. Now I don't think even the bad episodes skimp on effort but I do feel like for this one I feel like there is a little more effort, one with some visual flair.
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I wouldn't call these the most original of visuals but they are eye catching and I do appreciate it. Though I feel the show goes further in this direction at the expense of real jokes later, a sign of things to come. I don't blame the decisions to try to be good looking, as it keeps elements of a long running show watchable but it's not a great trade off for great jokes and storytelling.
As for this story, I don't think it's a mess on a surface level but I do feel its another episode that isn't properly focused. I feel like it is an episode about the idea that family is far better for development than some prison authority but it doesn't really explore it in anything other than vague gestures towards it and it really doesn't come into play until the end. I feel like there are more specific directions that could have been taken, like perhaps that for all Bart's mischief but the values his family gave him help define him beyond "misbehaviour" or the idea that defining a misbehaving kid as bad and/or putting them in a prison setting is harmful. Instead, it's a bit of a hodgepodge of prison story homages and character moments that would be better if the themes were better massaged into the episode.
On the plus side, we got some good guest stars. Sarah Michelle Gellar is good as Gina and though she isn't given the best lines, she is given some nice acting to do, both mock-crying and "real" crying which she sells. It's a damned shame that Joss Whedon's toxicity makes me never want to watch Buffy again, because it was one of my all-time favourite series and I think Gellar, while never lasting long as a movie star, seems to be doing well as a voice actress, recently doing well in the lead role on the surprisingly good Kevin Smith-penned Masters of the Universe cartoon. And hey, Charles Napier appearing yet again as the warden. I swear, he might not have much in the way of vocal range but he is perfect in embodying elements of the show's more cynical voice in the way that Phil Hartman was. So as a whole, not a lot to write home about (are you still writing home? They MISS you) but it definitely has individual elements I liked and was watchable.
Other great jokes:
"Try this rejuvenating lotion. It contains over 60
ingredients."
Good joke but while is Lindsay Nagel now working behind a counter?
Concurring with
@Octopus Prime Wiggum still works at this stage of the show because the show remembers the cops suck.
"Your eyes need diapers."
"Your eyes nee-- that's good Ralphie."
It occurs to me that Ralph is actually funnier when someone responds to his non-sequiturs. And I like that Clancy is now appreciating his son's nonsense.
Yeah, it's an obvious "Homer is dumb" joke but this one works for me.
"I believe the children are the future... unless we stop them now."
"This ends for beatin' and this ends for holdin'."
"When does training start?"
"It just ended."
"Secure the perimeter."
Cue old man with a pole. I like this kind of bit.
"No son of mine will be marched down the aisle at the barrel of a ray gun!"
My favourite joke in this era is a grunt of mild interest in response to be bigger bit, such as Wiggum being kind of interested in a whittled piece of wood foretelling a horrific bear attack.
"Bart, I can't believe you don't know this but there's no such thing as cooties, cootie shots, cootie force fields, or cootie insurance."
"But State Farm took my money."
Nancy Cartwright really sells Bart's sense of betrayal.
Another point in the episode's favour; not commenting on this.
"Well, my shift's over. I guess it's back to my bachelor apartment, make myself a tuna sandwich, watch Will and Grace and cry myself to sleep."
"Would you like to join us?"
"Didn't you hear me? I've got an evening planned."
Other notes:
So the title is a reference to the Wandering Jew, a bible figure who, if I remember correctly, is cursed with immortality for taunting or hitting Jesus. So that's like an anti-Semitic figure, right? Do we
want allusions to that character?
There's some good commentary about how prisoners are treated, even if most of said prisoners are cartoonish bullies. The bit with the "future job opportunities" is not laugh out loud but it is on point.