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”

After a few runs of different goofy premises, I love this one for its sheer brazen hackiness and level of fantasy – some rich old man just leaving you his enormous fortune is something every kid and most adults have … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode Eighteen, “Burns’ Heir”

This show has become a pure absurdism machine, moving faster than I can keep up with and further than I keep expecting. It’s like watching a virtuoso guitar player, in that I can grasp how their fingers move and the … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode Seventeen, “Bart Gets An Elephant”

The underlying self-awareness of this show has finally come to a boil, as we get a premise that makes its whole joke out of changing up a fundamental aspect of the series. First, Homer hated Flanders in a satire of … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode Sixteen, “Homer Loves Flanders”

Well, here we are. When people talk about the wackiness of the Golden Age and season five in particular, this is the one they point to first: the one where Homer goes to space. On paper, I guess you could … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode Fifteen, “Deep Space Homer”

Episodes like this are what I mean when I say that the show’s treatment of Apu is an embarrassing blindspot, because this showed how progressive the show could be. My anecdotal experience is that female fans of The Simpsons are … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode Fourteen, “Lisa vs Malibu Stacy”

(I want to clarify in this essay on racial stereotypes that I’m white) Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is the most controversial aspect of The Simpsons here in 2018. Comedian Hari Kondabolu released a documentary in late 2017, The Problem With Apu, that … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode Thirteen, “Homer And Apu”

I never remembered this episode as anything particularly special – it’s great, I just didn’t remember it as a particular favourite – and so I was delighted to find a really thoughtful half hour of television. In fact, not only … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode Twelve, “Bart Gets Famous”

Let me tell you, I was looking forward to covering this little masterpiece, a genuine Top Ten, maybe even a Top Five; “Last Exit To Springfield” might be the most popular episode of the show, but I would argue “Homer … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode Eleven “Homer The Vigilante”

Introducing legalised gambling is an all-time great concept for this show to play with. If The Simpsons’ strengths can be distilled down to a few elements, it would be the knack for absurdity, the big heart, the satirical view of … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode Ten, “$pringfield (or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Legalized Gambling)”

The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode Nine, “The Last Temptation Of Homer”Homer’s most sympathetic trait is his passionate love for his family, and this episode is one of his best expressions of that by throwing in a challenge to it. Obviously, … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode Nine, “The Last Temptation Of Homer”

This is one I’ve been waiting on a long time, because it factors heavily into a major Simpsons theory of mine: Jerkass Homer is neither a reason for nor symptom of the show’s eventual decline. Not only does the entire … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Five, Episode Eight, “Boy-Scoutz ‘N The Hood”