Reviews - Season 16
Season 16 saw the show solidify into the style it had been playing with for most of Al Jean's second run; more down-to-earth plotlines, an emphasis on comedic zaniness, and more reliance on solid characterization to carry the day. While many critically-minded fans, especially among the hardcore set, found the show to be approaching a Renaissance, for other dedicated viewers it seemed as if the show had finally lost all that remained of its heart. The show had somehow lost its unique viewpoint and appeal in the process of fixing the problems it had acquired with age.FABF23 "Treehouse of Horror XV"
It feels almost hypocritical to criticize "The Simpsons", a show which has consistently broken convention after convention over its evolution, for messing with a formula. It seems more natural to applaud every break with the norm as an affirmation of the show's intelligence and originality. Nonetheless, sometimes it is undeniably better to stay within the mold. The "Treehouse of Horror" episodes have a well-defined formula at this point: 3 one-act stories, each usually written by a different writer, with a low-key opening segment and/or premise. That construction for the episode worked wonders year after year, with seven or eight straight hilarious Halloween specials. Although the TOH episode have declined somewhat over the years, they've still found success sticking to the script. "Treehouse of Horror XV" attempts to be a fun re-invention of the specials, with jokes and characters moving between stories, Kang and Kodos seemingly omnipresent, and opening and closing segments far more "wacky" than segments of old. The sad truth is that all these attempted "improvements", intended to make for a more fun and electic episode, simply come off as embarassing. The opening segment was at best underwhelming; the ending song-and-dance number, with the writers shamelessly reusing the concept of Homer and Mr. Burns being in the same body from a previous Halloween episode, almost made me want to change the channel. No Simpsons episode should do that. Aside from all the painful Kang & Kodos moments and the attempts to be off-the-wall, the episode largely succeeds. The first act was quite funny, and although the second and third take a hit in comedic potency they still offer decent entertainment. But the entire episode is mired in the taint of some terrible creative decisions. After the opening segment, the three acts largely make you forget about how bad the episode started off... and then just when you feel as if the episode has redeemed itself, it jumps right back in to a sea of idiocy. In the end, it's not the worst Halloween special ever; that title probably belongs to last year's effort. But it's not good, period. I doubt this episode will have any bearing on the quality of Season 16, but it will still exist as a rather unpleasant memory in my mind for a few weeks. Here's hoping some good episodes come along to wipe this mis-fire away.Grade: C-/D+
FABF20 "All's Fair in Oven War"
I have a long-professed, near-pathological hatred for Marge Simpson plot-lines. I'll spare my typical rant about how a "straight man" character shouldn't be thrust into the main story, and, with that objection out of the way, move right on in to the other aspects of the episode. The main story itself, independent of Marge, needed a bit more fine-tuning - although the contest provided a decent opportunity to put a lot of minor characters into the spotlight, the overall arc of Marge cheating and then admitting to it felt tired. Although Lisa came off as less annoying than she can be in these types of situations, she really offered nothing we hadn't seen a dozen times before, providing a moral voice of reason that lacked a lot of the flair and spirit that made these stands so great to watch in the past. The main plot hit its mark comedically about half of the time, resulting in a few good laughs but also quite a large amount of clunkers. Overall, if it were its own episode, it'd be something like a C or C-, weighed down by a cliched plot and inconsistent humor. The Bart-featured sub-plot, however, saves this episode. The absolutely fantastic idea of Bart and Milhouse not actually seeing any nudity in the Playdude magazines works well in almost every joke, with lots of Rat Pack-style dialogue and a positive resemblance to some of the better portions of "Bart The Murderer". James Caan's guest appearance, self-depracating and absurd, worked quite well, especially with the ending Godfather pay-off. Homer's encounters with Bart were also quite funny, including their "birds and bees" talk. Overall, the sub-plot was everything the main plot wasn't - fresh, funny, and well-paced, with none of the predictable plot points or jokes that sunk its counterpart. A sub-plot isn't enough to save an episode, but this one improves it more than enough to make for a enjoyable viewing experience. If this is the highest level of quality that the show can reach nowadays, we're in trouble, but if this is what an "average" episode passes for in the 16th season, fans shouldn't be too worried.Grade: B-
FABF19 "Sleeping with the Enemy"
Three things die-hard fans always seem to want more of is emotional material, great animation, and well-constructed plot-lines. "Sleeping With The Enemy" provided all three far more than any episode in recent memory. Amidst all this technical excellence there was a relatively small amount of jokes and gags, with long periods going without any significant comedic attempts. The episode was in a style noticeably like the earliest seasons of the show, when the writers seemed to care far more about getting a dramatic point across than getting a bunch of cheap laughs. The problem with this formula is that the jokes that make it in have to, at the very least, not be painfully bad. Episodes that have only a handful of good jokes can still win out in the viewer's mind if there are no bad apples in the mix. This episode's comedic batting average fell far short of where it needed to be to succeed in such a way, however. When you couple a reduction of jokes with an increase in the percentage of bad jokes, it results in an episode that suffers a terrible lack of enjoyable humor. In the end, that's really the most important part of "The Simpsons", and having every other aspect of the show (including biting satire) fully present in the episode can only do so much to alleviate the lack of laughs. A few jokes clicked, especially Bart and Nelson's one-liners and a few of the slapstick jokes in the beginning, but none adds enough positives to counter-act terrible gags that popped up far more often (Ralph's duck-duck-goose game most prominently). I can't give this episode a mediocre grade when I see so much of what the show should be striving for nowadays without being a hypocrite, so it will remain in the company of the better-than-average crowd. But there have been episodes I've hated that have made me laugh more than this one did, and I'm not sure if it's possible for me to fully justify a view of the show wherein a laugh isn't the best measure of quality.Grade: B
FABF22 "She Used to Be My Girl"
With episodes like this, the only effective criticism you can level is that they are simply not classic episodes. Given that it's the show's 16th season, however, fans like me are just going to have to accept a lower standard of excellence nowadays - it's a requirement of the territory. Once you get past the inescapable reality that this episode is probably worse than pretty much anything from Season 6 or 7, it becomes clear that this episode is at the higher end of what can be expected nowadays. Frankly, with such a tightly plotted and consistently funny episode, it's hard to really be mad at the situation. From the inventively condensed opening credits on, it's an episode with little excess in either its humor choices or its plot points. Chloe Talbot (voiced with a high suprisingly high degree of skill by "Sex and the City" star Kim Cattrall) makes for a fairly interesting guest character, with the obviousness of Lisa's idolatry and Marge's jealousy alleviated by Chloe's set-up of some excellent moments of character humor. Playing off the new face allows all the members of the family to get in some good moments, from Maggie's attempts to do the dry-cleaning to Grampa's acupuncture. A few gags stretched on a bit too long - the Bob Dylan interview and Homer's chicken-bone dance being two prominent examples - but they were offset with a bunch of genuine laughs, something which was sorely lacking in last week's coulda-been-a-contender "Sleeping with the Enemy". On the whole I'm happy to see the show in a mold where it can bring its comedy to such prominence, but there's also something to be said for an episode with social commentary that rises above well-deserved but cheap shots at Fox News and the Christian Science Monitor. If the writers can work to whittle away at the amount of gags with painfully bomb, I think the show would reach a point where everything would come together. But, as is too often the case when time is so far removed from the show's golden years, "She Used to Be My Girl" falls short of finding the proper balance between intelligence and laughs.Grade: B
The airing of this episode marks the end of seeing fifteenth-season holdovers, and the true start of the show's sixteenth production run. Coming off last season, where the flawed "I D'oh-Bot" was the best episode, and the initial part of this season, where episodes have seemed to revert back to problems that fans had long thought the show was past, my expectations were not very high. At present, if the show can make me laugh and manage not to make me cringe, it falls into the category of "above average". What's nice about this episode is that it doesn't seem as if the writers were content with merely making sure to satisfy the above criterion for success. Whether it was some motivational speech at the beginning of the writer's retreat, or Al Jean threatening to lop the heads off writers who tried to make the show more "zany", for some reason something clicks in this episode that's been missing for quite a while. The episode's events flow in a logical way, the characters act realistically, the one-liners bring smiles - in short, the core aspects of the show, long neglected, are brought back to health. There's no comedic show-stoppers that are the like of old masterpieces, and there's certainly a few jokes that aren't that great, but it's a variety of Simpsons episode that's been missed. Self-deprecating jokes also found their way in, with the kind of subtle meta-referncing that was a hallmark of the classic years. Homer's making fun of "jerkass Homer" borrows a phrase from net Simpsons boards, makes fun of the show's previous blunders, and then reaffirms Homer's capacity for intelligence in one amazing and hilarious line, and Lisa's pointing out that Homer's ending romantic gesture is stereotypical deflects any feelings of having seen it a hundred times before. Really, this episode is "The Simpsons" of the present day kicking it up a notch. I frankly don't expect to see more of the same, given that next week is what is sure to be a truly terrible Super Bowl guest-star extravaganza, but for one brief Sunday night I was able to be reminded of how good this show can sometimes be.Grade: A-
Sometime last year, when "'Tis The Fifteenth Season" aired, I mourned the show's decline. Basically, I saw the episode as about the pinnacle of what the recent era episodes could be - devoid of character mistakes, bad jokes, or any other bad filling, and simply comedic and smart. I was disappointed that such a creation wasn't automatically "A" material - proof that simply being "not bad" does not equal being "good". I ranted and raved about how the show apparently could only be "not bad" at its best, and however enjoyable it could be it was still not aiming high enough. "'Tis The Fifteenth Season", wherever you are in syndication heaven, I owe you an apology. I had no idea how difficult it was to simply make an episode "not bad". And frankly, I have no idea why I'm still watching the show. I sat through the embarassing Super Bowl special on the strength of "Mommie Beerest", telling everyone who would listen that it was the banner of some glorious revolution in episode quality, ready to lead the GABF production run in bringing this season to the show's previously high levels. I sat through this episode, pleading with the writers for some third-act snap-turn into brilliance. No such luck. Instead I got an episode where I laughed just a few more times than "Pokey Mom". A lack of humor should have been fine in such a well-plotted episode, but the problem was that many, many jokes were attempted. If you're going to try for a lot of laughs, you have to make sure that a respectable percentage of the tries succeed. The rap jokes, which probably added up to around 60% of the show's jokes, were uniformly bad. Homer-related jokes and gags were straight out of annoying Homer 101. Bart's humor similarly wore away at patience. Wiggum's lines with the Lou and Eddie fared the best out of anything, since the cops as a group are simply unable to not crack a smile, but they, too, were alarmingly inconsistent. Even the animation was bad, with Lisa's argument with Skinner clearly rushed somewhere along the animation assembly-line. It's tough to say what the central problem was. It could be that doing a rap-centered episode, with Bart and the family exploring hip-hop culture and Ebonics, is just simply not a recipe for comic success. It could be that the plot, however straight-forward, was either too convuluted or too ambitious for its own good. It could be that the resolution of the episode was noticeably attempting to be "clever". An episode like this one, though, probably doesn't merit the amount of analysis it would take to figure out just what went wrong. What's important is that the episode clunked at the very time when I wanted a good episode more than anything in the world. I don't know how long I can spend getting my hopes up off the excellent episodes the writers throw out every once in a while. Like table scraps, they've kept me coming back for more despite a near-endless stream of disappointments, but I don't know if I can continue. Some may praise this episode as one where everyone stayed in character, the plot was well-constructed, and legitimate social commentary was shown. They may very well be right. What they're missing is that the show at this point has officially spent the good-will it has accrued over years of amazing episodes. If you ignore the show's elite history, how anyone could view an episode like this as anything but mediocre entertainment is beyond me.Grade: C-
GABF04 "There's Something About Marrying"
The Simpsons rarely tackle current events and for the most part, they've stuck to more general messages, leaving South Park to cover all of the latest issues. After watching "There's something About Marrying", an episode dealing with gay marriages and human rights, it becomes ever-more clear that recent media topics should remain a staple of South Park, and stay at a distance from Springfield. No, this episode was not a disaster, in fact, it is closer in quality to "Mommie Beerest" than to last week's yuk-fest "Pranksta Rap". As for humour, this episode could have displayed some of the funniest gags and one-liners all season. Homer's antics were gravitating to the 'jerkass' side, but he was kept grounded in an episode where the leash could have been pulled off completely. The problem, like so many flaws in recent seasons, was pacing. By the second act, it appeared as if the storyline had been beautifully set up, and the conflict to be resolved was the showdown between Homer and Reverond Lovejoy on the topic of gay marriages. However, if you've read or heard about the publicity from the last six months leading to this episode, you knew that an uneeded twist would be squeezed into the last three minutes. Patty's third act 'coming out of the closet' was a poor plot direction choice, and in one fell swoop, any hope for a normal-timed third act was crushed. All of a sudden instead of having the town become involved in the debate of marriage rights, Marge and Selma become the center of the episode's attention. The emotions and tempers that were attempted between the two were forced and rushed, and was topped off by an ending that belongs in a soap opera or at best, a cheesy sitcom. "There's Something About Marrying" nearly pulled off a successful jab at today's political scene, but it what seems like a shameless ratings grab, if felt as if it had to go that little bit further. After nearly 350 episodes, sometimes simplicity is best.Grade: B
GABF05 "On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister"
Seeing such a fun and funny episode should, logically, make me view this season in a better light. Seeing it, however, had the opposite effect - I almost feel as if I was too nice to some entries this year that were, in retrospect, poor. It's not like seeing such a fine episode is a downer, though. I had thought "Mommie Beerest" was a one-shot fluke, but this episode picked right back up in its comedic shoes. The same hallmarks of success were all over this one. The plot wasn't anything ambitious, but both the main storyline and Homer's sub-plot managed to get from point A to point B with a minimum of stupid moments, while giving ample opportunity for some great scenes. Lots of great one-liners and wordplay were scattered all over the episode, especially in the first act. Most noticeably, however, the writers managed to avoid the painful comedic screw-ups that have been such a consistent problem with newer episodes. The closest the episode came was with Principal Skinner and the mummy, and it quickly moved on to the next scene without its awkwardness leaving a scar. The entire episode really seemed to have a solid rhythm, with beats before one-liners and ending cuts all coming in at the perfect moments. What all the obvious attention paid to timing and editing resulted in was an episode that, regardless of any plot logic, flowed smoothly from scene to scene with a maximum of laughs. When you get right down to it, an episode that can do that has succeeded in all of the important areas. Everything else - Gary Busey's hilarious guest appearance, yet another Lou-and-Wiggum gem interaction, two solid bits of social commentary, and the third act plot flaws - are superfluous here. What matter is that this is an episode where the writers seem to have researched exactly why the show so often doesn't work nowadays, and took steps to fix it. And succeeded. And made me laugh every scene. And maybe, just maybe, gave us a glimpse of a future wherein episodes like this aren't beloved rarities but what's expected every Sunday night.Grade: A-
Three dragons appear, playing guitar and singing, floating in mid-air. A man's heart is ripped out by Buddhist monks and put back in with no ill effects. A full-sized, bipedal panda chokes a man for stealing his child. A man's lungs are coughed out and swallowed back up again. A tank is rolled out to meet a child adoption case. A man is dragged with a rusty spike by his nose, pretending to be a statue. Yet, strangely enough, the Three Stooges are not resurrected. Family Guy, at least temporarily, remains off the air. John Belushi and the cocaine-addled SNL writing staff lie safely in the past. Instead, these incidents come from "The Simpsons", as "Goo Goo Gai Pan" serves up moment after moment of these sorts of incidents. Is it funny? No, not really. Is that the problem? Again, not really. The problem goes beyond the moment-to-moment inanity of these sorts of jokes. It goes beyond the show slipping past pre-conceived notions of "reality" or "taste" on the show. These don't form the root of the problem. The issue here is a general, nauesating decrease in standards. I don't watch "The Simpsons" to see the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach. I don't want to see the show go for the cheap jokes, to summon up Chris Farley's dead ghost and brutally embarass itself for the occasional chuckle. I want "The Simpsons". Maybe I'm naive, or maybe I'm out of touch with what "funny" is nowadays. Maybe the show is just doing an excellent job of keeping in line with the comedic tastes of an audience that I may no longer fit in with. I'd like to think there's still a chance at reconciliation between me and the show, however, some possibility that maybe the writers will realize exactly why this episode fails so utterly to deliver what recent stand-outs have provided - simple yet dignified entertainment. I think about "The Simpsons" sometimes as an old friend. Like most people, I don't care about the wrinkles, the flaws, the slow accumulation of nicks and personal foibles that accumulate over years together. What I do care about is that the show remain distinctly itself - and I'm find it increasingly difficult to peel through the heaps of comedic dead weight to see the old girl as she once was. My show, my beloved show, is pulling the equivalent of sleeping with the dumb jock on the school football team. It's something you can try to forgive but can never forget - that terrible feeling when you realize that the companion you once knew has become someone far different and may be the person you first cared for. I want to believe that the show can still be itself, but after seeing the levels it's falling to, the fundamental change in its outlook, the frequent and incurable sale of its own dignity for the sake of a cheap laugh, I find it tough to remain empathetic. I can forgive dozens upon dozens of sub-mediocre episodes because I still think of "The Simpsons" as a smart, heartfelt, and funny show, worthy of respect in a time when intelligence appears to be anathema to popular American culture. But when the show can't seem to remember that it's smart, can't show its heart through layers of ugly clothing, and can't make me laugh because I'm too busy pitying it, then there's something wrong. I don't see "Goo Goo Gai Pan" as the worst "Simpsons" episode I've ever seen - but that's the worst part of it all. I don't think of it as a "Simpsons" episode at all - just an entry from a new animated pilot that has seemingly hijacked the show's old timeslot, determined to head full speed towards the lowest common denominator. And I think I want off before the show hits rock bottom.Grade: C
There's something to be said for consistency in grading criteria. In that spirit, this episode is a grade-A stunner. A complex, well-handled, well-paced plot, a concept that's funny in both theory and execution, and strong, wordplay-based humor is what I'm always criticizing other episodes for not being. The episode was full of the type of jokes I love to see, where the characters' give-and-take in a conversation provides the humor, rather than shock gags or overt one-liners. It was even great to see a solid visual performance, in both the designs for the aged characters and in the animation for some of the more complicated sequences. At the same time, however, the happy realization of my vision is marred by a few all-too-familiar flaws. For one, there were a few jokes that were tasteless shock humor; the sight of Superintendent Chalmers as a vegetable was unwelcomely crass, and a few of the gags revolving around the wacky future inventions were a little too weird for my tastes. Similarly, the plot had a few downsides, especially with Homer and Marge's relationship. If the step of having Marge and Homer actually separated is taken, then it would make sense to at least exploit it to its full potential. Instead, their sub-plot is given too little screen time, with the end result being that the separation premise feels like a cheap play for a few laughs. A little more time spent on the story or a re-tooling towards something less drastically different from their current relationship could have helped. As a final criticism, the general flow of the episode was slightly mad-cap. It was fun to see all the intricacies of the plot unfold and to see so many storylines and characters juggled around, but when all jammed together the episode seemed to be almost bursting at the seams due to all its ideas. By cramming in all the plot points, the episode's flow spiraled slightly out of control by the end, lending the episode a zany, quick-paced atmosphere that felt out of place with the material. The key point, however, is that these are nitpicks. None of the large-scale problems that have dogged most of the episodes this year were present, and that alone ensures the episode a high regard. For the most part, the episode was a funny, well-plotted, altogether enjoyable glimpse into the future. There were parts that could have been improved, but the problems mainly emerged because the writing staff had too many great ideas to fit into one episode. I find it far easier to forgive an episode for failing with high ambitions than to reward an episode for hitting a low mark.Grade: B+
GABF10 "Don't Fear The Roofer"
Proclaimed as the 350th episode of the series (most likely innaccurately, given the Fox counting quirks), "Don't Fear The Roofer" drew the biggest audience for the show since this year's Super Bowl special. Thankfully, unlike that debacle, this episode was competently made, a funny and well-plotted reminder of the show's enduring quality. I'm happy to know that so many people got a chance to see it, and I can only hope that some of those people who stopped by might stick around awhile and grow used to the modern show. The strongest element in this episode's favor was its humor. For all three acts, the jokes were on-target. Even more importantly, they weren't awkward laughs at stretched-out gags, or belly laughs at slapstick, but hearty chuckles at clever quips and one-liners. It's great to see the writers finally returning to the type of humor that has made the show so enduring, and I hope they stay in this comedic mode instead of returning to the bleeding, floating, violin-playing dragons of only a few episodes ago. The guest appearance by Ray Romano was well-done as well, despite the rather weird choice of naming the character "Ray". With the exception of the grating final gag, plugging "Everybody Loves Raymond", he managed to voice a surprisingly funny foil for Homer. The twist of Ray not being "real" was a great plot point, as was the decision to reverse course and show that he wasn't a figment of Homer's imagination at all. That choice kept the episode from veering too far into unealism, an appreciated bit of restraint from the staff. Despite the careful attention to the plot, however, it contributed to the episode's weak link: its third act. While the first act was absolutely hilarious, and the second mid-to-high level, the third act came dangerously close to veering out of control. Seeing Homer undergo electroshock therapy isn't really that funny; in fact, it's not funny at all. It could make a rather insensitive elementary school student giggle and point, but it's not really appropriate for such a typically smart and tasteful show. Problems with the plot being too complicated for its own good and botched gags also dogged the conclusion to the episode, pulling down its final grade slightly. It's possible to ignore the weak points, especially given that near the final two minutes the episode was quite funny, but there's no sense in ignoring what came quite close to tanking the whole enterprise. Disregarding the weakening of the episode as it progressed, however, this was a quite funny and altogether fun addition to the "Simpsons" canon. I'm glad that it aired when it did, and I only hope that the mostly great new material that's coming out lately can be tweaked just a bit more, so that I don't keep having to mark down episodes that I want to love without reservation.Grade: B+
The first thing to get out of the way is almost difficult to say; no "Simpsons" episode, ever, ever, should have Bart succumbing to a heart attack. It's a silly plot point, and one that could have just as easily been replaced with Bart passing out or becoming immobile, instead of a maddeningly unrealistic and melodramatic plot point. Nonetheless, I'll try not to let my rather pointless objection get in the way of a larger examination of the episode. Making that easier is the fact that, with the exception of a few strange jokes, the episode was great fun to watch. The opening with Skinner was absolutely amazing, as was all the rest of the scenes from which the main plot jumps off. The satire of fast-food marketing was dead on, with the "x-treme" advertising landing hilariously (and almost painfully) close to the mark as a send-up of current American corporate imagery. The jokes of Bart becoming too fat were quite funny, including the truly inspired re-hash of the show's iconic opening sequence. Not everything was as good as it could have been, even that excellent sequence, but there weren't the kind of scattered, pace-killing, comedic disasters that so often wreck episodes of this type. Instead, the jokes that didn't work were quickly brushed aside, as the episode chugged along unhurt. The guest turn by Albert Brooks was one of the funniest in recent memory, proving why the man behind both Hank Scorpio and Jacques the seductive Frenchman (not to mention numerous other great one-time characters) is an asset that this show should use as much as possible. Also deserving special mention was the amazing parody of "The Shawshank Redemption", with Bart tearing down a poster, taking smuggled candy, and throwing it into the air in a perfect spoof of the original film. All in all, the purist in me wants to dislike this episode. I should hate some of the over-simplified plot points, the basic premise of the episode, and some of the awkward gags. But the episode's relentlessly exuberant pace, its many funny jokes, and its fun atmosphere are more than enough to win me over. File this one under the rare category of modern-day episodes that favorably remind me of the reckless, take-no-prisoners insanity of Seasons 5 and 8.Grade: A-
The first thing to get out of the way is almost difficult to say; no "Simpsons" episode, ever, ever, should have Bart succumbing to a heart attack. It's a silly plot point, and one that could have just as easily been replaced with Bart passing out or becoming immobile, instead of a maddeningly unrealistic and melodramatic plot point. Nonetheless, I'll try not to let my rather pointless objection get in the way of a larger examination of the episode. Making that easier is the fact that, with the exception of a few strange jokes, the episode was great fun to watch. The opening with Skinner was absolutely amazing, as was all the rest of the scenes from which the main plot jumps off. The satire of fast-food marketing was dead on, with the "x-treme" advertising landing hilariously (and almost painfully) close to the mark as a send-up of current American corporate imagery. The jokes of Bart becoming too fat were quite funny, including the truly inspired re-hash of the show's iconic opening sequence. Not everything was as good as it could have been, even that excellent sequence, but there weren't the kind of scattered, pace-killing, comedic disasters that so often wreck episodes of this type. Instead, the jokes that didn't work were quickly brushed aside, as the episode chugged along unhurt. The guest turn by Albert Brooks was one of the funniest in recent memory, proving why the man behind both Hank Scorpio and Jacques the seductive Frenchman (not to mention numerous other great one-time characters) is an asset that this show should use as much as possible. Also deserving special mention was the amazing parody of "The Shawshank Redemption", with Bart tearing down a poster, taking smuggled candy, and throwing it into the air in a perfect spoof of the original film. All in all, the purist in me wants to dislike this episode. I should hate some of the over-simplified plot points, the basic premise of the episode, and some of the awkward gags. But the episode's relentlessly exuberant pace, its many funny jokes, and its fun atmosphere are more than enough to win me over. File this one under the rare category of modern-day episodes that favorably remind me of the reckless, take-no-prisoners insanity of Seasons 5 and 8.Grade: A-
The idea of an "American Idol"-mocking episode, complete with a guest star formerly of "American Idol", must have sounded appealing at the writer's retreat. Lots of chances to come up with songs, great opportunities for animation, a shorter amount of time to have to write jokes and plots for... it seems like a great recipe for a light-hearted romp through the "Simpsons" universe. I wouldn't say that the episode has the potential for something legendary or iconic, but certainly such a concept seems rife with possibilities for humor, at the least. Somewhere in the making of the episode, however, some rather unorthodox turns were taken. For one, in a rather strange decision, the writers decided that the plot of the episode needed to be densely packed. The kind of bare-bones plotting that would have fit this episode perfectly was sidetracked in favor of a more ambitious construction, with the rather simple plot of Homer and Lisa growing together, apart, and together again embellished with a bunch of unneccessary tangents and scenes. What would have worked far more effectively would have been an episode that spared the extraneous material, and allowed the Homer and Lisa plotline a little more time to develop. As it is, Homer goes from loving and effective to murderously angry and disloyal in far too short a span, giving the episode's plot turns an abrupt and disjointed feel. Wasting significant time on both the opening vegetable-sickness plotline and the set-up for the "American Idol" guest-star that doesn't go anywhere does nothing to alleviate these problems. What makes the messy distractions from the engaging main plot even more annoying is how surprisingly touching the finale of the episode is. I found myself emotionally moved in the third act in a way that the show hasn't managed to pull off for years, and I can only imagine how potent the emotional pay-off would have been had the writers devoted more time to the heart of Homer and Lisa's storyline. Despite the annoyances, however, this was an altogether funny episode, with glimpses of a far more impressive incarnation appearing enough to justify the weaker material. It wasn't the funniest or most well-plotted episode ever, but it proudly wore its heart (and its flaws) on its sleeve, something I can't help but admire.Grade: B+
GABF14 "Thank God It's Doomsday"
Following the flawed but endearingly sweet "A Star Is Torn", I was fully pumped for another earnest, funny look at American life. Perhaps the most wonderful thing about "The Simpsons" is its altogether optimistic take on the world, a quality often overlooked in repeated mentions of the show's biting satire. And that might be the reason that this episode utterly failed to connect. There were scattered laughs, yes. Humor was probably the episode's strongest suit. The entire parody of the "Left Behind" novels barely worked for me, despite my familiarity with them, and for the roughly 95% of "The Simpsons"'s mostly liberal-leaning audience who probably had no idea what the books were, I can only imagine how weird the scenes must have seemed. The parody in the movie theater just went on too long and with too few overt jokes for enjoyment. From that point onward the episode seemed like a crass and ugly step-sister of the amazingly well-handled religious material the show already covered in "Lisa The Skeptic". Homer's doomsday obsession was silly, the townspeople were crudely transitioned into mental schoolchildren, and the scenes on the mesa managed to grate even more than images of Homer making an idiot of himself around the town. Finally, the whole affair was capped off with the extended, astoundingly unsubtle "heaven" sequence, with Homer actually being ascended into heaven for a sit-down with God. Just as the earlier material compared so unfavorably with "Lisa The Skeptic", each minute in the clouds seemed positively wretched compared to the sublime craft of "Homer The Heretic"'s God scenes. The show just doesn't work when it's so brazen and over-obvious. The axiom of "less is more" should find many new believers after seeing this one. I'm probably being unfair, but to see a modern-day episode so thoughtlessly trample upon ground that has already been excellent covered in prior episodes hits more than one nerve. The episode was far from being the worst ever, and was funnier than many, but it is also one of the few times I've ever wished for the kind of rewind God offers for Homer in this episode, so I could turn back time 30 minutes and forget the episode had been made.Grade: C-
GABF15 "Home Away From Homer "
The frustrating, meandering path of Season 16 reaches its penultimate episode with this entry. Happily for me, it was one of the finer episodes of the year. The best thing the episode had going for it was its plot. The action progressed at a steady, relaxed pace, and the relative simplicity of the plot allowed for plenty of time to linger on the actions of specific characters. There were many smaller moments where the episode seemed perfectly content to stay still for a while, allowing a succession of characters to interact with the kind of witty back-and-forth that used to be (and still should remain) the show's trademark. Seeing Bart and Milhouse view the webcam, subsequently interact with Flanders and two college co-eds, and then have Homer come in to say his piece was filled with laughs, and it wasn't a unique event. The overall arc of the plot, with Homer betraying Flanders so utterly as to force him from the town in disgrace, was clear-cut in a more elegant way that I'm used to seeing from the newer episodes. I got the clear sense the whole time that I was watching that the writers had a plan, and that each scene was in there for a reason... rather than the all-too-common experience of seeing the results of five writers slapping together a sloppy ending for a poorly thought-out concept. With such a simple, solid plot, it became easier to enjoy the episode's little touches. Homer's interactions with Flanders (including the oft-repeated and somehow funny "stupid Flanders" line) were consistently entertaining. Flanders' conversations with other characters, including the two co-eds, managed to consistently use funny aspects of Flanders as a character without making his humor run thin. The encounters with Flanders and the citizens of Humble, PA were oftentimes priceless, as well, as the writers cleverly turned Flanders into the "bad boy" and satisfactorily whisked him back to Springfield before the joke stopped being funny. Jason Bateman's guest star appearance was the cause of one of my loudest fits of laughing at the show in weeks. Even the brief appearance of the Coach, Flanders' replacement as Homer's neighbor, was timed perfectly, so that he got the maximum amount of laughs that such a thinly conceived character could elicit before vanishing. In all, the only major problem I had was with a few of the jokes. Sometimes the humor just didn't work, and it happened just a few times too often to ignore. When the worst I can come up with is that a few of the jokes were off, however, it's a sign of an episode that is, by today's standards, quite good. It may not have aimed as high as it could have, and it wasn't a flawless comedic masterpiece, but it was the kind of episode that I could unembarssingly bring up in future conversations as evidence of what a great show this is. At a time when I so often have to make excuses or apologies for the show's comedic content, it's refreshing to be able to say that I don't have to make any qualifier: it's simply a really good episode.Grade: A-
GABF09 "The Father, The Son, And The Holy Guest Star"
The final episode of Season 16 was the lesser of the night's two entries. Nonetheless, it was a fun religion-themed episode that suffered most from, ironically, its preachiness. The episode's strongest suit was its humor: consistently, the jokes connected, propping up the episodes at times when the pacing and plot felt rushed. The opening medieval sequence was a fun exercise in good animation and wacky humor, and much of the show's religious humor (at least in the first two acts) was on-target. Almost as impressive was the guest turn from Liam Neeson as Bart's priest friend. Neeson's one of the finest actors of the modern era, and it shows in this episode: he handled a rather complex role with dignity and great comedic timing, and convincingly sold his end of the episode's plot. He was backed up by a great bit of writing for Homer, as his sub-plot managed to provide great humor without stealing away what is, essentially, Bart's episode. Smaller doses of Homer tend to work better, and it was greatly evidenced in this one. A more problematic area for the episode was its religious satire. Although the episode was nowhere near as over-simplifying or hackneyed as the disgraceful "Thank God It's Doomsday", much of its jabs at religions were the same schtick we've been hearing for years. I received enough Jewish circumcision jokes back when I was running that caption contest "Insert Caption Here" to know that the joke is long, long past its prime; the same could easily be said for jokes about Catholic child production, or the more immediate over-proliferation of "Catholic priest pedophile" jokes. I'm all for taking on religion, but for a show that has such a high standard for dealing with religious matters I'd like to see an evolution besides the easier jabs. That isn't to say that many of the jokes were not funny, however; Jesus on a trampoline, Lovejoy and Flanders' concern over Bart's faith, and the inanity of "youth involvement" Church drives all produced smiles. The religious content, as well, opened up the episode to one of the more entertaining plot twists that I've seen in quite a while: Lisa choosing to side with Bart and Homer, rather than Marge and the priests. The lazy and tired religious material did tar the ending, however, as Bart's far-too-preachy "let's settle our differences" speech seemed like a cheap and unfunny way of ending the episode out. To follow up so soon after with an ambitious, could-have-been-amazing future battle that sadly bombed did little to help matters. In the end, the episode just felt dragged down from its lack of new ideas. There were flashes of the kind of irreverence and wit that the show used to display with regards to religion, but often it was counter-balanced by slipping to lower comedic ambitions. I can't be that mad though. It was a funny, funny episode, and it had a lot going for it. I just wish that the cap to such a maddeningly uneven and ambiguous season could have ended with an endorsement less qualified with complaints.Grade: B+
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