My main takeaway from this episode is how uniquely Simpsons it feels. One big thing I personally value in a television show is a sense of identity; a sense that this is what we do, this is what we don’t … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode Four, “Rosebud”

I’m beginning to see what you all mean when you divide the Golden Age into smaller units – this is one of the silliest episodes we’ve had so far without actually delving into a musical number or an all-star softball … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode Three, “Homer Goes To College”

So, I’m big enough to admit when I’m wrong and handsome. Last week, I remarked that “Homer’s Barbershop Quartet” was the only full-episode parody I could think of, and right here, not only do we have an episode-long parody of … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode Two, “Cape Feare”

You know, thinking about it, this is one of the few times the show has ever done a full-episode parody of something. We’ve seen individual jokes, of course, and certain characters like Wolfcastle are parodies of specific people or characters, … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode One, “Homer’s Barbershop Quartet”

I have this idea that a great protagonist is someone caught between two completely contradictory drives, and from this perspective, Krusty is one of the best side characters on The Simpsons. On the one hand, he has a compulsive need … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Four, Episode Twenty-Two, “Krusty Gets Kancelled”

Part of the fun of this series is tracking the evolution of the show, and this deftly combines two things we’ve already discussed: the occasional forays into riff-heavy plotting, and the development of the town of Springfield. This episode finds … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Four, Episode Twenty-One, “Marge In Chains”

“Whacking Day” is the most direct and pointed satirical statement in the entire show. More accurately, it’s a pair of statements: ‘doing things out of a sense of tradition can lead to you committing evil’, and ‘mob justice is fickle’. … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Four, Episode Twenty, “Whacking Day”

I confess, last week’s clip show was a bit of a struggle to write about to the length I’m usually satisfied, obviously because it was low on new #content. This week, I have the opposite problem – there’s so much … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Four, Episode Nineteen, “The Front”

As far as I know, the only person still thinking about clip shows in the year 2018 is Dan Harmon, and he’s more interested in parodying the various setups for clip shows than in ever delivering the real deal. Nobody … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Four, Episode Eighteen, “So It’s Come To This: A Simpsons Clip Show”

This is the first episode where, as a filthy foreign non-American, I almost don’t feel qualified to write about this episode. It feels so rooted in a specifically American (and specifically working-class American) perspective that I’m certain there are nuances … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Four, Episode Seventeen, “Last Exit To Springfield”

After dealing with Homer’s eating problems, this episode delves into his drinking. Once again, we’ve seen all through the show how Homer can be a little *glug glug* – I recall the flashback of Homer getting Barney into alcohol as … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Four, Episode Sixteen, “Duffless”