(originally aired November 6, 2001)
A lot of the decline of the Treehouse of Horror episodes came from loss of tone. What were once unique stand-outs in a season would now just blend right in with all the rest of the monotony. A lot of this year’s edition feels indicative of that: most of the time I feel like I’m watching a regular episode, but with more fantasy elements in it. Take the first segment, “Hex and the City”: a gypsy lays a curse upon Homer, causing all of his loved ones to undergo hideous transformations. Marge grows hair all over her body. Bart’s neck starts to elongate, Lisa turns into some bizarre centaur. But everyone’s just kind of sitting around the breakfast table talking like normal, no sense of any shock or worriment from anybody. If the characters don’t care, then we don’t. Also Homer’s kind of a jerk in this one, stubbornly refusing to admit he’s cursed, despite the horrible things happening to his family. I get that’s the joke, but you’d expect a bit more of a reaction of him trying to rectify the situation. A big non-ending caps off this humdrum segment.

“House of Whacks” has more potential, but I feel it falls a little bit short. Like the first one, everything up until the end feels like a normal episode… albeit with a hyper-sophisticated super house with the voice of Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan is the standout here, with a fair share of great lines (“This is Constable Wiggums. We’ll be right there. Remove your knickers and wait in the bath,”) as he attempts to bump off Homer so he can have Marge all to himself. Or itself. It’s kind of slow to start, but once Brosnan puts his plans into action, things start to pick up, with some cool animation with the various appendages of the house as they attempt to thwart Marge from leaving and finish Homer off once and for all. I think the ending works too, with the family sending the house’s CPU off to Patty and Selma. A psychopathic machine, yes, but I guess Marge feels her sisters can deal with anything it can dish out. Not perfect, but it’s definitely memorable, and the best of the three segments here.

“Wiz Kids” is kind of forbearing, as it’s a story based on something from pop culture that is decidedly not Halloween-y, which we’d see plenty more of in the future. But Harry Potter’s kind of magical and fantasy, so it works well enough. A big annoyance is why they actually have the boy himself in class. Before that shot, we have the title reminiscent of the Harry Potter logo and the kids go to Springwarts School of Magic. At that point, we get the parody, we don’t need to have Harry fucking Potter sitting there in class. It’s such a small moment, but it just bothered me a lot for some reason. Anyway, there’s not much here in terms of story: Mr. Burns as Lord Montymort wishes to eliminate Lisa, the best wizard in school, for his own evil purposes, and enlists Bart to help him, who then feels bad and saves his sister. Whatever. There’s enough jokes here to keep it watchable, but I’m not too enthralled by this one. On the whole, this was an alright Halloween show, but that’s not too great praise considering they used to be season highlights. Ah well.

Tidbits and Quotes
– The Simpsons take a stroll through Ethnictown, a place where, as Homer puts it, “hard-working immigrants dream of becoming lazy, overfed Americans.”
– Tress MacNeille is the gypsy… of course. I like her childish taunt when Homer comes back at the end (“Ah, the curséd one. How’s that curse I cursed you with, Cursedy?”)
– Lenny and Carl give Homer advice on how to absolve his curse (“I was hexed by a troll, and a leprechaun cured that right up.” “Hey, you know what’s even better is Jesus. He’s like six leprechauns.” “Yeah, but a lot harder to catch. Go with a leprechaun.”)
– I really like Dan Castallaneta’s insane leprechaun character. I guess the writers did too because later he would show up in regular episodes. Like in “real life,” leprechauns apparently exist. I guess if jockey elves exist, then why not leprechauns? Goddammit.
– In addition to Brosnan, they got Matthew Perry to do one line, for some reason. They also have Dan Castellaneta doing Dennis Miller, and he’s specifically credited as such at the end for doing an impersonation. This show has its cast mimic celebrities all the time, why specifically mention this one? Maybe because the other two are the genuine article, but then why not have someone imitate Perry if it’s just one stupid line? Whatever. Who cares.
– I remember as a kid very much enjoying the sequence of Marge taking off her robe from behind. So does Brosnan, apparently.
– Brosnan and Homer talk about Marge (“You’re certainly a lucky man to have her.” “Lucky, schmucky! I knocked her up. But, she’s stuck now. We’re married till death do us part, but if I died, she’d be completely free, for man or machine.”) I’m not too big on the cavalier nature of Homer discussing his beloved wife, but it’s such a contrived, stupid line that I laugh anyway. As he walks off, Brosnan repeats, “Machine, eh?” Dramatic music sting. Then Homer pops his head back in to confirm (“Yep, a machine!”)
– I like how despite how sophisticated the Ultrahouse is, the basement is as plain as can be.
– It’s gratuitous and stupid, but I still love Bart’s failed man-toad vomiting abomination (“Every moment I live is agony!”)
– Montymort and Slithers debate how to stop Lisa (“We’ll need a go- between to get it away from her.” “How about Satan?” “No, no, I’m ducking him. His wife has a screenplay.”) A gag about how Hollywood types try to get their loved one’s scripts off the ground by schmoozing? It reminds me of the teamster jokes in “Children of a Lesser Clod,” these gags don’t really appeal to people outside Los Angeles. All this stuff reminds me of the classic Krusty line of him attempting to write relatable comedy (“Like when your lazy butler washes your sock garters, and they’re still covered with schmutz!”)
– I like Skinner using the amnesia dust twice, once to cover Milhouse’s failed invisibility trick, then to cover the audience’s disgust over his misguided ramping up of Lisa (“A sorceress so powerful, she made tonight’s refreshments out of dead people!”)
– The post-credits scene of Brosnan, the leprechaun and the toad thing is so strange, but it’s probably the best thing in the whole show, if only for more insane cackling from Castellaneta (briefly interrupted when he asks Brosnan if he can turn up the radio.)

(originally aired May 20, 2001)
So after “Bible Stories,” now we get “Tall Tales,” another anthology episode, and I’m just as ambivalent to this one as I was with that one. There’s nothing really to hate on here, but also not much to love. These episodes always kind of have a phoned-in feel, where I’d much rather be watching a normal episode. While riding the rails to Delaware, the Simpsons have a run-in with a kindly hobo, who regales them with three tall tales. First up, the legend of Paul Bunyan, a big lovable oaf who of course is played by Homer. Then we get the story of Johnny… err, Connie Appleseed, played by Lisa. And then we have Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn… not really a tall tale, but whatever, portrayed by Bart and Nelson. Oddly enough, being a non-religious type, I remember less of the specifics of these stories than I do the Bible ones, but from what I do recall, a great deal of liberties were taken in these renditions, so at least I can credit this one more than “Bible Stories,” which played most of their stories fairly straight to the source material.

There’s amusing bits and moments throughout all three stories, but it’s a little difficult reviewing these episodes. I find there’s a lot more going on in Halloween shows to elaborate on, but these are a bit thinner and don’t have much to really comment on. I’ll say what stuck out to me the most was the odd feeling I got from the wrap-around. All the Simpsons felt like a weird unified entity, all reacting in unison to almost everything the hobo did. It’s kind of hard to explain. But then they also had Lisa be the mouthpiece for the audience, another example of a few this season where they’ve done this just to have another character shoot them down and call them stupid for having valid complaints. And when this creepy, smelly man starts to take off his clothes and ask for a sponge bath, none of them even bat an eye. Marge doesn’t object, try to shield her children’s eyes, no one acts disgusted, it’s just like a wacky comedy bit. It’s a small moment like that that reminds me that any semblance of realism this show once had has pretty much evaporated, and this is what we’re left with: Homer scrubbing the cracks and crevices of a homeless man’s body. Eight more seasons to go…

Tidbits and Quotes
– We open the episode with the dialogue we saw at the end of “Behind the Laughter,” but here taking place at the airport rather than in the Simpson living room.
– I like the hobo vernacular for those with homes being “no-bos.”
– I honestly don’t have much to say about each segment. The only bit I liked in the first act was Big Holes with Beer National Park. The love montage between gigantic Homer and normal-sized Marge is pretty sweet, but is then ruined when Homer asks when they’re going to consummate their relationship, if only because of the mental picture it gave me. I mean, really, his genitalia has got to be bigger than her.
– The running gag of the easy-to-kill buffalo is kind of amusing, as is the Simpsons changing their last name to Bufflekill. But the story kind of just ends as Lisa randomly returns to the troupe with apples and saves the day. I do like the wrap-up with the hobo at the end (“And thanks to that little girl, today you can find apples in everything that’s good: Apple wine, apple whiskey, apple schnapps, apple martinis… uh, Snapple with vodka in it, apple nail polish remover…” “Don’t forget apple sauce.” “Yeah, I suppose you could grind some pills into it.”)
– The cast members do their darnedest at Southern accents in the third act, and are mostly successful. It’s definitely the funniest of the three: Nelson reckonin’ he can get a new neck from a cat, Marge bolting after Abe finally turns down his shotgun, leaving Missouri and entering Missoura, the photo of a young lady flashing her “privates” (the best line of the episode, “All for Silas, all for Silas!!”), Apu’s indignation of the high prices at the 99-cent store, the powerful-weak Derringers… Now I’m just listing stuff though. There’s not much to evaluate with these shows, it’s just mentioning what was funny about them. Just like “Bible Stories,” this one’s amusing enough, but wholly disposable.

Season 12 Final Thoughts
After seemingly hitting rock bottom last season, the series is just as ramshackle as ever: plot turns that make no sense, sorry attempts at humor, slapdash characterization for whatever is convenient for the scene… A few new awful things cropped up this season. Firstly, a lot more direct shots at the viewer, sometimes through Lisa commenting about how something makes no sense, followed by her being interrupted or belittled for her point. There were plenty of times when the writers deliberately pointed out how nonsensical their scripts are and figured that made it okay, but all it did was further emphasize how the writing was shit. Quite ballsy, but doesn’t make for a good show. Also on the rise are the number of crude, tasteless sex jokes, which all feel very out-of-place and strange. This show has slipped in plenty under the radar in the past, but being more overt about it is clearly not their strong suit. But here we are the end of Mike Scully’s reign of terror. When Al Jean took the helm, things seemed to level off a bit in terms of quality. Will this be a good thing? I guess we’ll have to see.

The Best
“A Tale of Two Springfields,” “Pokey Mom,” “New Kids on the Blecch,” “Trilogy of Error.” Yeah, just four this time. And three of them truly shock me that they ended up on the best list. Things are looking mighty grim.

The Worst
“Homer vs. Dignity,” “The Computer Wore Menace Shoes,” “Tennis the Menace,” “Day of the Jackanapes,” “Simpson Safari”

I’ll start up Season 13 at the start of next week. See you then!

(originally aired May 13, 2001)
There’s this odd air of “whatever” that permeates through this entire episode for me. It’s like they banged out the entire story in an afternoon and never revised it. There’s some kind of idea here, striving for an emotional connection, but it is not executed to that effect at all. The thing about garnering sentimentality in your story is that you need to set it up early so the episode is cohesive and feels like it builds. Instead it feels like they got half-way through and realized there was no point to the episode and crammed one in last minute. Homer gets a terrible knee injury and ends up wheelchair bound for a few weeks, which is a huge bummer for him, which of course is funny because normally he does little more than sit on his ass all day. He agrees to watch Ned’s kids for a night and enjoys their company so much that he decides to open a daycare center out of his home. This is like half the episode at this point, and everything feels so slow and aimless. It’s like instead of things building to this point, they just tripped and fell into the plot.

So the “emotional” element of the story is that Homer is investing so much time and care into the kids of Springfield, but not to his own. Only Bart and Lisa,  that is. Maggie is suspiciously absent, presumably because she can’t speak, but it would have been cute to give her some pantomime moments in going along with her two siblings. It’s not exactly clear why Bart and Lisa care so much about this, nor why Homer all of a sudden is the world’s funnest surrogate dad. We get like two scenes of showing him playing around with the kids, but it all feels so empty. So when a documentary crew shows up at the third act saying he’s up for a “Good Guy Award,” it feels so bizarre. This plot angle also kind of deflates thanks to one “joke” where Homer claims to have made little felt heart pins for his kids himself, then we cut to Bart and Lisa toiling in the garage making them all. Cruel parenting? Yeah, but beyond that it sort of betrays the conceit of the show. The idea is that Homer is blind-sighted by his new venture that he’s unconsciously pushed his actual kids to the wayside, not acknowledging their existence. But here we see he’s put them into slavery. Makes no sense.

Bart and Lisa enact their vengeance during the Good Guy Awards by splicing in home movie footage into the documentary, revealing Homer as the boorish, borderline psychotic lout he actually is. The crowd immediately turns on Homer, who snaps and corrals all the children into a van and takes off with them. This is a very bizarre, almost creepy twist, but some vicious commentary between Arnie Pye and Kent Brockman helps save the ending a little. Then rather than have a conclusion showing the consequences of Homer’s actions, we hand-wave over it with a “Three Mistrials Later” on-screen message so we can move onto the resolution of the Bart and Lisa story. I don’t even need to comment on this, this is the resolution of the emotional arc of the episode (“Why did you rat me out, kids? Was it because I showered love on those other children while ignoring you?” “Yep.” “Pretty much.”) Brilliant. I can’t even hate this episode because it just feels so inept. And this is another episode written by Al Jean; between this and “Day of the Jackanapes,” I don’t know what the fuck happened to this guy. And he’s been our show runner for over a decade now! I’m getting pretty scared…

Tidbits and Quotes
– There’s nothing really that funny about the YMCA set piece, only lots of little observations. First, Burns and Abe together feels so, so wrong ever since “The Curse of the Flying Hellfish,” but now they’re two feeble, neutered old men, not their actual characters. I actually really like Coach Lugash, modeled after Olympic coach Bela Karolyi, but I remember him being stronger in a future episode where Lisa takes gymnastics. Comic Book Guy wears a Muttley shirt, and for some reason is playing basketball. Okay. Then we have an uncomfortable scene where Homer is giving a pep talk, then argues with himself as Moe and Skinner look at each other confused. They’re like the audience whenever some shit like this happens, except it feels even weirder in-universe.
– The writers must have thought it was hilarious to give Homer a morphine addiction. There’s like four jokes about it in here, and they’re all unfunny.
– I like this bit when Homer is being released from the hospital (“You’ll have a full recovery from your spinal cord injury.” “What spinal cord injury?” “Oh, he fell off the gurney.”)
– A terminally bored Homer tries to breed the dog and cat by throwing them in a sack. Then he criticizes them for not having sex properly. These are the jokes, people.
– Nice exchange between Ned and Homer (“Would you mind watching the kids? I’m kinda in a pickle here.” “Well, they would keep me company, and this pickle you’re offering only sweetens the deal.”)
– The only golden bit this show has to offer is the “Kids Say the Darndest Things” clip with Bill Cosby manically riffing about Pokemon. An Internet meme is born.
– Ralph asks if he can touch Homer’s disgusting festering scar, which then heals over his fucking hand. It’s the grossest thing I’ve ever seen on this series, disgusting and absolutely not funny.
– It only took a season to age up the octopulets into toddlers. I thought it was next season where Apu has an affair, I forgot it happened this soon (“Hello, I would like to take advantage of your baby prison.” “We’re calling it day care.” “Yes, whatever, just take them.”)
– Lots of jokes about teamsters in the third act, which feels like a Hollywood insider joke. Like, do you know exactly what a teamster is and what they do? Or not do, which seems to be the case? I don’t think most people know.
– I like Skinner being up for and winning “Biggest People Pleaser,” unable to attend the award show (‘Having Minor Surgery.’)
– Homer absconds with the kids and drives off, then we pan over to Kent Brockman standing a few feet away giving his report. It just happened, why didn’t he react or do anything at all? I guess a real reporter gives the news, not makes it. But tell that to Arnie Pye (“I can see them right below me! I’m going to try to nail the driver with one of my shoes!” “Arnie, please, leave this to the police.” “I’m sick of being the reporter, I want to make the news!” “Arnie, this is not the time…” “You’re not the time, Kent! You’re not the time!”) The read on “I can’t see through metal, Kent!!” is hysterical.

(originally aired May 6, 2001)
I feel like it won’t be too hard to dissect this episode, because within the three acts are three glaring issues. A slightly consistent amount of humor, a lot coming from isolated bits, keep this show from being utter shit though. Things kick off at a church ice cream social, where Flanders runs into Christian singer Rachel Jordan. He offers her to stay the night at his place, which is still adorned with photos and mementos of his dearly departed wife. That’s all fine, as we’re trying to establish Ned as a man who hasn’t yet moved on and is still dealing with his loss, something that “Alone Again, Natura-Diddly” kind of lacked. Then we see that Ned is preserving his wife’s imprint on the bed with starch, and he later cuts Rachel’s hair to look like Maude’s while she sleeps. We’ve gone well past the point of creepy here, this is basically crazy behavior. Rather than stick with a subtle touch, the writers went over-the-top, but in the end made Ned look like an insane weirdo, which isn’t so good to do in your first act when we should be rooting for him through the episode. I was more puzzled than anything, thinking why they thought this was a good idea.

Realizing he’s still living in the past, Flanders enlists the Simpsons to help him dispose of all Maude’s belongings. Amongst them is an old sketchbook where Maude had outlined a Christian amusement park named Praiseland, an obviously pie-in-the-sky dream of hers. But let’s make that dream into a reality! Things start out believable enough, with a good callback to Storytime Village, now a dilapidated husk that the Rich Texan donates to Ned as a tax write-off. Ned puts his all into repairing the place and gets hand-outs from various townspeople, but ultimately when you see the finished park, you have to wonder how the fuck Ned managed to afford to build it. “King David’s Wild Ride” has a giant ride building and a big animatronic King David, that must have cost a pretty penny. And I get having Maude as the statue at the center of the park (with a nice name plate “She taught us the joy of shame, and the shame of joy”) but who the hell would want to buy a Maude mask? Why not Jesus? This park is a monumental investment, and I just don’t see how it could ever have been built. This big factor could have been hand-waved if things made sense or were funny, but there’s not enough here.

The park seems to be a flop, at least until Skinner experiences an unexplainable vision in front of the Maude statue, claiming to have witnessed his own personal version of heaven. It’s seemingly a miracle, until Ned discovers it’s a result of a gas leak. An incredibly obvious gas leak that apparently nobody saw, and that Ned does not experience the ill effects of when he sticks his face right in it when he discovers it. This dumb plot twist is only saved by the great scenes of showing Disco Stu and Comic Book Guy’s visions of heaven, and the conclusion of Homer and Ned tackling two poor orphans in a panic before they can light candles before the statue. Then Rachel Jordan returns, and instead of giving Ned a restraining order, she agrees to give him another shot. And then is never seen again. This episode is kind of a hot mess, and I’m not entirely sure what it’s supposed to be about. It seems to want to be about Ned deciding to move on with his life, but that message is kind of lost amongst all the theme park stuff and hallucinogenic visions. It’s pretty bad, but there’s enough choice chuckles to keep it bearable.

Tidbits and Quotes
– I like the different flavors at the social: Blessed Virgin Berry, Command-Mint, Bible-Gum, and Lovejoy’s specialty: Unitarian ice cream (“There’s nothing here.” “Exactly.”)
– I don’t care for the bit with Homer’s gigantic ice cream cone. It feels like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon seeing his cone fifty scoops high.
– I kind of like how all the Simpsons playfully goad Flanders and his obvious crush on Rachel, it’s very cute.
– To those of you think that a religious amusement park is farfetched, I propose you come on down here to Orlando and visit the Holy Land. I’ve debated going out of curiosity’s sake, but I don’t think it would be worth it.
– I like the insane running bit of the Rich Texan becoming irate and calm at the drop of a dime (“Oh, you are so full of it! God’s grace, that is. It’s really sickening… there aren’t more people like you. Now, get out… your pen, and we’ll make it official.”)
– Nice bit of Homer scorching the earth around Bo Peep and her two sheep, incinerating them, revealing two wire frames and one sheep skeleton. I also like his demands upon taking up the “begging” initiative (“I’ll need a sack and something sharp.”)
– I love Quimby’s drive-by dedication (“It is with great pride that I dedicate this new school, sports arena, or attraction.”) Reminds me a lot of Krusty’s “I heartily endorse this event or product.”
– Ned walks by the Whack-a-Satan, runs the souvenir cart, works at the beverage stand and is at the exit with a hand stamp. Are there any other employees at this park?
– I’m not too big on Skinner becoming Captain Exposition and having to explain how he saw his own specific vision of heaven and then describing it.
– Disco Stu and Comic Book Guy’s visions alone almost make this show worth the price of admission. They couldn’t be more perfect.
– I kind of like Ned on the phone with the gas company (“How poisonous is your gas? …wow. But I’m talking about, you know, outdoors with plenty of ventilation… How could that be worse? …okay, permanent brain damage, or just temporary?”)
– I love the contented smile on Wiggum’s face after the crowd finally gets his “Crazeland” joke.
– In addition to Ned being a creep, so is Homer, who appears outside, then inside Ned’s bedroom throughout the episode. What a wacky guy.

(originally aired April 29, 2001)
I was getting a little worried about re-watching this one, but thankfully it was as clever and well-executed as I remembered, the solitary season 12 gem I was waiting for. I’m even more shocked that in a season where the writers can barely tell a single story competently, here they manage to string together three of them occurring on the same day, weaving between each other until they reach a mutual conclusion. This episode follows the events of an oddball day through the eyes of one character per act: Homer the first, Lisa the second and Bart the third. An accident in the kitchen leaves Homer with a severed thumb, resulting in Marge having to rush him to the hospital. This leaves Lisa without a ride to school, so she hoofs it, accidentally ending up at the unusually similar West Springfield Elementary. Meanwhile, Bart and Milhouse uncover a cave filled with illegal fireworks, and end up working as informants for Chief Wiggum to track out their supplier, Fat Tony.

Homer’s whole story is told in the first act, where we see bits of Bart and Lisa, but things happen without explanation that will be filled in later. Marge seemingly deserts Homer at Moe’s, Cletus’s truck gets stolen, Dr. Nick’s office explodes, and the grand finale of them all, Lisa’s grammar robot explodes off in the distance, leaving Homer in mourning. It really gets you hooked in, as you want to know how all the pieces fit together. Even with all the choice interactions and elements between stories, the episode never comes off feeling too gimmicky, it strikes the right balance. Lisa’s story hinges on her desperately trying to get to school, with her running montages set to the score of the great film Run Lola Run. Her story ends with Bart coming out of a manhole, which immediately perks your interest since we don’t know a thing about his exploits at all yet. Then by Bart’s story, all the rest of the blanks slowly start to get filled, culminating in an amazing finale on why Linguo blew up, and we have an ending that satisfies everyone. Except Mr. Teeney, he’s pretty pissed.

The three concurrent story structure leads to all new opportunities for setting up and paying off gags. The best may be the one revolving around 123 Fake Street. In act one, scared she might go to prison for her accidental thumb-cutting, Marge gives Wiggum the phony address, which of course he buys is authentic. In act two, he asks Mr. Teeney for directions to said address. Then in act three we see Bart and Milhouse run into a safe house, which before we even see the address, we know what it is: 123 Fake Street. Another great reveal is when Lisa overhears Wiggum’s stakeout in act two, where he blows his informants cover over the radio and seemingly gets him shot dead. Later in act three, when we see said informants are Bart and Milhouse, it feels even worse. Obviously we don’t think they’re going to get shot, but the comedy is even darker in that Wiggum almost got two ten-year-olds killed. Then we find the gunshots were actually fireworks Bart and Milhouse used as a distraction to escape. The episode is literally filled with these kinds of moments, and this experimental format is utilized to its fullest. Again, I’m stunned that they were able to pull off this kind of episode given what shit we’ve seen this season, but I appreciate them for trying something new, and even more so for putting so much care in it and succeeding.

Tidbits and Quotes
– The two gags at the start of the episode must have been tough to write, since they are repeated two more times at the start of each act. Any gag is going to lose its luster the third time around, but “Son of a diddly!” and the newspaper headline (“First Day of Spring: Ants, Picnicers Reach Last-Minute Accord”) are pretty good jokes.
– Homer ruins Lisa’s project by pouring beer down the robot’s throat, but it doesn’t feel so jerky here, as he’s acting more out of naivety than anything (“I’m sorry, I thought it was a party robot!”) It also gave us a Lisa line for the ages, which I use quite often (“This is why I can’t have nice things!”)
– Dr. Hibbert is of no help to Homer (“Your HMO doesn’t cover this type of injury.” “But I have finger insurance.” “A thumb is not a finger!” “Isn’t there anything you can do?” “Well, I could cut off the other thumb for a sense of symmetry.”) Upon leaving, Marge’s comment (“Hibbert’s really losing it…”) is a seemingly conscious line given how much wackier and less professional he’s gotten over the last two seasons.
– I love Homer attempting to hitchhike thumbless and not being able to figure out why it isn’t working.
– Great Dr. Nick line regarding his exploded office (“‘Inflammable’ means ‘flammable’?! What a country!”)
– The first act break is fantastic (“Linguo… dead!” “Linguo… is… dead…”) Homer shutting the robot’s eyes is a lovely touch.
– Lisa has some difficulty with her robotic creation upon repairing it (“Almost done, just lay still.” “Lie still.” “I knew that. Just testing.” “Sentence fragment.” “‘Sentence fragment’ is also a sentence fragment.” “…must conserve battery power.”) The eye shift on the robot just makes it.
– The whole bit with West Springfield Elementary being exactly the same building, or even existing at all, is a little silly, but given the silly episode, it doesn’t faze me. We have the “en francais!” laughing to show for it, and that’s enough for me. There’s also Thelonious, Lisa’s intellectual star-crossed love. Voiced by Frankie Muniz, he’s another throwaway guest star, but he’s fine for the scenes that he’s in (“You can’t sacrifice grades for romance. That’s not the girl I fell for.” “Will I ever see you again?” “Of course you will. At the magnet high school. Now go!”) I’m only bitter because his show Malcolm in the Middle usurped Futurama‘s 8:30pm slot, effectively dooming it to cancellation. A pox on thee, Muniz!!
– Marge sees Lisa and says she’d give her a ride but she has to wait for Homer. Then when she hears his drunken Blue Man Group ramblings inside, Marge figures she’s got a few hours to kill.
– Bart and Milhouse horsing around with the fireworks is a great montage. I especially love where they attach four to the front wheel of their bike, which causes it to shoot off down the street. It’s really neat visually, and plus that has a purpose as it shoots into Dr. Nick’s office, causing the explosion.
– God, I love the ending with Linguo, overloading with grammatical errors from Legs and Louie’s stereotypical gangster talk (“They’s throwing robots!” “They are throwing robots.” “He’s disrespecting us. Shut up-ah you face!” “Shut up your face.”)
– Ironic that the episode ends with Mr. Teeney screaming about how the plot made no sense, when it basically made the most sense of any plot this season, by a wide margin.