Well, here we are, an all-timer episode that has some of the most quoted lines in the show. “Mr Plow” doesn’t reach for any particular satirical or emotional heights, but everything in it snaps together; the underlying plot functional enough … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Four, Episode Nine, “Mr Plow”

Way back in the first season, I suggested that part of the Classic era of the show was giving up the riffing in favour of fast-paced plotting, and I’m going to formally concede that I was as wrong as I … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Four, Episode Eight, “New Kid On The Block”

Sometimes an older episode of a show feels like a subtle dry run for the later, more ambitious episodes, and sometimes an older episode feels like an extremely obvious dry run. As the title implies, “Marge Gets A Job” is … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Four, Episode Seven, “Marge Gets A Job”

Usually, when I think of heartwarming Simpsons relationships, I think of Homer/Lisa, then Homer/Marge, then Bart/Lisa. And usually, my line for Homer and Bart’s relationship is that where Homer and Lisa don’t understand each other, Homer and Bart understand each … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Four, Episode Six, “Itchy And Scratchy: The Movie”

The “Treehouse” episodes are incredibly fun to watch, but by their nature, there’s not much emotional content to analyse. They’re like holidays in themselves, very silly knockoffs where the crew throw in some reality-breaking element to destroy the world they’ve … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Four, Episode Five, “Treehouse Of Horror III”

There are two things (which it can be) that I’ve been preoccupied with in this show: the ever increasing energy of the jokes due to an increased pacing, and the way it builds on old ideas as it moves forward. … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Four, Episode Four, “Lisa The Beauty Queen”

I’ve repeatedly said that Golden era Simpsons isn’t so much leftist as it is bitter with conservatism, fundamentally getting why we turn to family and such but understanding that it’s a lot harder and a lot less happy than it’s … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Four, Episode Three, “Homer The Heretic”

At least one of the first few episodes of any given season of this show tend to feel like a throwback to the previous season; this one feels like it reaches all the way back to season one. This is … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Four, Episode Two, “A Streetcar Named Marge”

Up until now, I’ve been buying the show on Youtube, but now we’ve reached the point where I started collecting the show on DVD a few years ago, and let me tell you, putting in the disc was a thrill. … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Four, Episode One, “Kamp Krusty”

Season three finishes off with a bang! None of the past few episodes of have been bad, but this episode feels like it shifted up a gear in energy; I don’t know whether the crew wanted to save their best … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Three, Episode Twenty-Four, “Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?”

After “The Otto Show” tried expanding its world with, uh, Otto, this episode is trying the same thing with Milhouse. The attempt is admirable, and in the long run Milhouse will pay dividends and so will his parents, but very … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Three, Episode Twenty-Three, “Bart’s Friend Falls In Love”

Well, we couldn’t maintain a high forever. Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide said episodes from the end of a season tended to be a little more tired and strained because they came at the end of a production cycle … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Three, Episode Twenty-Two, “The Otto Show”

Hell yeah, the first return of Sideshow Bob! After season two, the Sideshow Bob episode would become a beloved tradition, shifting the show’s genre to Murder She Wrote-style mystery. As much as I missed him during season two, this was a … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Three, Episode Twenty-One, “Black Widower”

After having a few breezy episodes in a row, it’s nice to get back to something a bit heavier, and the fact that we’re dealing with Homer’s most sympathetic aspect is the icing on the cake. The overall effect we’re … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Three, Episode Twenty, “Colonel Homer”

“Dog Of Death” feels to me like an example of ‘lesser Simpsons is still better than every other show’; my gut tells me that it lacks the heart of stories like “Lisa’s Substitute” or the specific satire of “Radio Bart”, … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Three, Episode Nineteen, “Dog Of Death”

The show has had a minor theme of the demoralising effect of the education system almost since the very beginning, but this is the most sophisticated presentation of it yet, and it’s accomplished because it uses two characters we’ve come … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Three, Episode Eighteen, “Separate Vocations”

Way back in season one, I often complained that episode felt less like coherent stories and more like loose riffing; episodes like “Moaning Lisa” were great for unifying the riffing under a single, compelling theme, but more often than not … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Three, Episode Seventeen, “Homer At The Bat”

Up til now, Mrs Krabappel has been a distant authority figure with hints of a personal life – she’s popped up here and there when the show has needed a woman desperately trying to get laid. This episode, much like … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Three, Episode Sixteen, “Bart The Lover”

It’s common – and I’m fully guilty of this – to forget Marge Simpson. Marge is mainly remembered as the boring nagging square, which a) ignores how funny the show could make her squarishness (“It must be exciting to make … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Three, Episode Fifteen, “Homer Alone”

“Money comes and money goes, but what I have with my daughter could go on for eight more years!” It’s always so frustrating when you write pages and pages of analysis on a TV show and then it goes and … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Three, Episode Fourteen, “Lisa The Greek”