From one perspective, this is the most interesting episode we’ve had in ages, because it’s the usual tug-of-war between Apu’s offensive creative foundation colliding with the show’s warmth and intelligence combined with the new tug-of-war between that same warmth and … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Nine, Episode Eight, “The Two Mrs Nahasapeemapetilans”

This is the first episode of the show I’ve gone through that felt like they wrote the plot around good lines they came up with rather than letting lines evolve from the plot. Something I’ve been saying since about midway … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Nine, Episode Seven, “Bart Star”

The Simpsons has always been better at capturing the foibles of everyday human thinking than taking on broad social trends, ideas, and policies, and this episode is a great demonstration of that. As a commentary on American gun culture, it’s … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Nine, Episode Six, “The Cartridge Family”

It never occurred to me until watching this to consider the prequel episodes in the context of the discussion of Hollywood prequels; ever since the Star Wars prequels came out and we had a glut of prequels and reboots of … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Nine, Episode Four, “Lisa’s Sax”

Here is an episode that I react to in much the same way many of you reacted to “The Principal And The Pauper”. I’ll start with the good: I always found the broad idea of Lisa’s frustration in this episode … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Nine, Episode Three, “Lisa The Simpson”

I admit that this episode is a big part of why I wanted to continue on into season nine. How could you not talk about the single most controversial episode of the show? Much like “Homer’s Enemy”, its controversy comes … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Nine, Episode Two, “The Principal And The Pauper”

It’s very nice of The Simpsons to see me talking about the decline of the show being quite visible at this point and then throw us an episode that’s not only great, but a genuine advancement in some respects. The … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Nine, Episode One, “The City Of New York vs Homer Simpson”

I’m not really a critic that reviews pop culture – I’m one of those people who generally finds whether or not I liked something to be the least interesting thing to talk about when it comes to pop culture. You … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Eight, Episode Twenty-Five, “The Secret War Of Lisa Simpson”

I get why there are people who don’t like this episode, because their views are very straightforward: this is almost too good an impression of shitty, lowbrow TV shows. But that’s exactly what I like about it, because I have … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Eight, Episode Twenty-Four, “The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase”

There’s a consistent pattern where I tend to love the controversial Golden Era episodes because they always have something really interesting to say, whether or not I agree with what they’re saying or whether or not the end result is … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Eight, Episode Twenty-Three, “Homer’s Enemy”

One of the overarching things about this season is seeing different variations on the feeling “bad Simpsons is still better than 99% of TV”. In this case, a genuinely good and thoughtful idea ends up with a payoff that’s uninteresting … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Eight, Episode Twenty-Two, “In Marge We Trust”

This is another one of those episodes that I remember as feeling like a season nine or ten episode that actually comes earlier, so I had low expectations going in. Aside from remembering the pacing (which, say what you will … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Eight, Episode Twenty-One, “The Old Man And The Lisa”

One of the most common observations about The Simpsons is that a bad episode of the show is still better than 90% of the rest of television, and not only does that play out here, I think I’m starting to … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Eight, Episode Twenty, “The Canine Mutiny”

This is the episode that introduces us to the Krabappel/Skinner pairing! I’ve read criticism of this as artificially putting together two random characters, but it actually really worked for me. Like all good romance stories, it’s a plot that heavily … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Eight, Episode Nineteen, “Grade School Confidential”

Here we are, people. You ask me to pick my favourite episode of The Simpsons ever – not my top five, not my top three, my favourite ever – and I’ll point directly to this one. There are episodes with … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Eight, Episode Eighteen, “Homer VS The Eighteenth Amendment”

Here’s another episode I was looking forward to, not because I think it’s especially great or bad, but because it was one of the ones I found nearly unbearable to watch as a child. One of the many ways I … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Eight, Episode Seventeen, “My Sister, My Sitter”

This is the one exception to the general downward spiral of the quality of Sideshow Bob episodes, being a little better than “Sideshow Bob’s Last Gleaming” but not as great as the episodes before. A lot of it comes down … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Eight, Episode Sixteen, “Brother From Another Series”

Now here’s a plot you probably won’t see as much anymore! I’ve seen other queer people who didn’t like this episode because they didn’t like the idea of their hero (or at least someone they like) being bigotted towards them, … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Eight, Episode Fifteen, “Homer’s Phobia”

I’ve been looking forward to this one. This season has been characterised by a sense of thoughtlessness, and this episode is designed from the ground up as a commentary on the legacy of the show, which gives me a lot … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Eight, Episode Fourteen, “The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochy Show”

So here’s a first: I have to admit my acknowledgement of the show’s decline with an episode I found genuinely bad. There are a lot of individually great moments, both comedically and satirically, but the concept and its conclusion rub … Continue reading Simpsons, Season Eight, Episode Thirteen, “Supercalifragilisticexpiala(annoyed grunt)cious”