I would argue that this is the episode that has aged the most dramatically out of all classic Simpsons. Sure, the collective response to some aspects – like Apu – has shifted, but I think you’d have to work very … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Seven, Episode Ten, “The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular”
This is a very rare Golden Age Simpsons episode that I’m not a big fan of. Bob’s episodes suffer a little bit of diminishing returns after a point; “Cape Fear” is a rollicking comedy adventure and “Sideshow Bob Roberts” is … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Seven, Episode Nine, “Sideshow Bob’s Last Gleaming”
You know, I never actually thought about how the Sixties hang over The Simpsons before now. In fact, a lot of the imagery and ideas it riffs on are hangovers from the Fifties – the house in the suburbs with … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Seven, Episode XX, “Mother Simpson”
What makes Homer generally likable and sympathetic even through his childishness and destructiveness is the genuine joy he gets out of what he does, and I think this episode is a great example of that. No matter your feelings on … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Seven, Episode Seven, “King-Size Homer”
I always enjoy how the “Treehouse” stories can do three different things with its three different shorts. “Attack Of The Fifty-Foot Eyesores” is one of the more deliciously satirical “Treehouse” shorts; there have been other satirical shorts, but I really … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Seven, Episode Six, “Treehouse Of Horror VI”
Lisa episodes are often dismissed as boring and preachy. This is in part because post-Golden Age, the character was reduced to the writer’s liberal mouthpiece, but I can see it based on how so many of her Golden Age episodes … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Seven, Episode Five, “Lisa The Vegetarian”
I’m always willing to admit when I’m wrong and handsome. I kicked off this season suggesting that the show was done being as philosophical and would become more traditionally sitcommy, but if anything that traditional sitcom plotting is only letting … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Seven, Episode Four, “Bart Sells His Soul”
This is such a weird premise for an episode. I know we’ve had stories of, like, Homer going to space, but even that feels like a more likely sitcom premise than racing against time to prevent a baptism. The flipside … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Seven, Episode Three, “Home Sweet Home-Diddly-Dum-Doodly”
“Radioactive Man” has what might be the fastest pace this show has had up to this point. Pace in storytelling is actually something really easy to quantify: the shorter the distance between action and its consequence, the faster the story … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Seven, Episode Two, “Radioactive Man”
So, yeah, the baby did it. If “Part One” was all buildup, this is all winding down – the consequences for all those actions. I’ve always been struck by the elegance of the plotting of this episode. Each act has … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Seven, Episode One, “Who Shot Mr Burns? (Part Two)”
You know, having gone through this whole series, breaking down each episode in eye-bleeding detail, “Who Shot Mr Burns (Part One)” feels like something momentous in a way catching it on reruns or seeing it on DVD didn’t. I missed … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Twenty-Four, “Who Shot Mr Burns? (Part One)”
It honestly awes me that an episode of TV this good was allowed to happen – if you asked me to write down my top five, this would easily make it – hell, if you asked me to make my … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Twenty-Three, “Lemon Of Troy”
It’s been a long time since we’ve had a ‘first’ anything on this show. I stand by my belief that the Golden Era is seasons four to eight, with the first three seasons being the show’s Experimental Era, where it … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Twenty-Three, “The Springfield Connection”
I shouldn’t be as astounded by how this show constantly finds new depths to its protagonists at this point. ‘Character development’ can mean one of two things, and it’s not often immediately clear which version people mean when they use … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Twenty-Two, “‘Round Springfield”
It’s been noted before that The Simpsons’ satire is less about specific problems (like how The Wire is a brutal point-by-point takedown of structural flaws in the Baltimore police, school, and newspaper systems) and more about general principles. This, I … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Twenty-One, “The PTA Disbands!”
I wonder how many sitcoms before this had a plot centered around a horny dog. This show has cycled through a lot of showrunners, so it’s fascinating to me how the show feels like it’s always building on what came … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Twenty, “Two Dozen And One Greyhounds”
This is the first, best, and arguably only good future-set episode of The Simpsons. This is one of those concepts that can only work in either animation or extraordinarily goofy live-action comedy. Our favourite four-fingered freaks are perpetually frozen in … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Nineteen, “Lisa’s Wedding”
This episode is the biggest example people use to say that Matt Groening isn’t necessarily right about everything Simpsons, because he famously hates this episode to the point of taking his name off it and refusing to do the commentary … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Eighteen, “A Star Is Burns”
The relationship between Homer and Marge’s two sisters is a cultural cliche that’s taken on a life of its own. It’s the cliche of a man hating his mother-in-law transferred to his sisters-in-law, and I often find it’s a reflexive … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Sixteen, “Homer vs Patty and Selma”
Ordinarily, my Australianishnessism is something I lean into in these essays to mark myself as someone commenting on America from the outside; my conception of America largely comes from shows like The Simpsons, making me a true test of the … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Sixteen, “Bart Vs Australia”
“Krusty was originally supposed to be Homer’s secret identity” is one of those facts that every hardcore Simpsons fan is completely unsurprised to find in one of those “25 Things You Never Knew About The Simpsons” videos on Youtube, alongside … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Fifteen, “Homie The Clown”
