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”

If you wanted to make a collection of Simpsons episodes themed around the town of Springfield as protagonist, this would absolutely have to be part of it. Bart is our initial window into the problem of the week, but technically … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Fourteen, “Bart’s Comet”

I have what I like to call a Cowboy Bebop sense of pacing. I like it when an episodic work – most obviously TV, but also music albums or comics or to an extent books – studies one idea with … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Thirteen, “And Maggie Makes Three”

It’s amazing how we keep getting further and further out of reality and yet still hit not only some great commentary on America but some great universal themes. The Stonecutters, as a parody of institutions like the Freemasons, seem almost … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Twelve, “Homer The Great”

This is remembered as a mediocre episode with a great first act, and I am deeply frustrated that I can’t go against the grain, because that’s an accurate assessment of it. I never expect this show to have anything specific … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Eleven, “Fear Of Flying”

The thing I’ve really grown to like about this show while doing this project is how good it’s gotten at flowing from one theme to another without feeling totally disconnected. One of my first complaints about the show was all … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Ten, “Grampa Vs Sexual Inadequacy”

Oh dear. I wasn’t looking forward to this episode. Last time I watched this episode was a few years before the Harvey Weinstein scandal, and even then it was weird and uncomfortable not in a way that challenged my beliefs … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Nine, “Homer Badman”

How is it this show could keep finding more nuances and new emotional depths to these characters after so long? This episode digs further not just into Bart and Lisa, but into their specific relationship. I’m actually curious how people … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Eight, “Lisa On Ice”

Can you believe we’re exactly one hundred and ten episodes in and still getting defining episodes that explore new nuances and depths to these characters? “Bart’s Girlfriend” is a critical episode in the mythology of Bart, with that oh-so-defining line: … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Seven, “Bart’s Girlfriend”

This is my favourite “Treehouse Of Horror” episode. For me, the fun of these episodes is that they have three elements going on at once: 1) They’re genuine horror stories, 2) they’re about the Simpsons, and 3) they’re funny. All … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Six, “Treehouse Of Horror V”

There’s a phrase, “the personal is political”, and I like how this episode actually plays out that concept as effective storytelling – it starts as an abstract political statement on shock jocks, and shows a very specific, personal consequence of … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Five, “Sideshow Bob Roberts”

I’ve talked before about episodes that felt like a dry run for later episodes; we’ve officially crossed a line into a new version of the show, because this feels like a redo of older episodes. We’ve seen the family go … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Four, “Itchy & Scratchy Land”

This is my favourite clip show of all time. Low bar, I know, but I actually like it even more than the clip show parodies seen in shows like Clerks: The Animated Series, Community, and Rick & Morty (in fact, … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Three, “Another Simpsons Clip Show”

When David Mirkin took over as showrunner in season five, his main goal was to explore character and find out what made these four fingered freaks tick, and I’ve been wondering if that will change going into six. Just based … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode Two, “Lisa’s Rival”

As always, this episode was a holdover from the previous season’s batch of episodes – in this case, because production was held up by an earthquake, and this gave the crew extra time to polish the episode. So, in a … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Six, Episode One, “Bart Of Darkness”

Season five had the underlying goal of pulling apart these characters and their relationships, so it makes complete sense to finish off by looking in on the central relationship, Homer and Marge. We’re at the point now where it’s really … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode Twenty-Two, “Secrets Of A Successful Marriage”

We’re moving away from the meta stuff this week; arguably, putting together Abe Simpson and Jacqueline Bouvier is another example of shaking up relationships, but they’re two random characters who’ve otherwise barely interacted, so to me it feels more like … Continue reading The Simpson, Season Five, Episode Twenty-One, “Lady Bouvier’s Lover”

Last week, we watched an episode where Skinner’s sense of authority made him an empathetic figure, a weak man trying vainly to make sense of the world. This episode completely flips it over and turns him into a non… giving … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode Twenty, “The Boy Who Knew Too Much”

When David Mirkin took over as showrunner, his main goal was to dig further into the characters that make up the town – to find out what really drives them, what makes them tick, what they will and won’t do. … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode Nineteen, “Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Baadasssss Song”