(originally aired December 10, 2000)
I’ve unfortunately begun to lower my expectations at this point. All I ask is a few simple things: that the story mostly makes sense from beginning to end, characterization is stable, and that it’s consistently amusing. This episode would have been somewhat safe had it not been for the terrible way it started and the terrible way it ended, almost like bullshit bookends. On their way home from a magic show, the Simpson car is struck by a sturgeon that plummeted from the sky, which we see had fallen off the dinner plate of orbiting cosmonauts. To repair the car will run a hefty sum, and that’s what drives Homer and Bart to become grifters. Now, the spark of this story is that Homer needs cash after a freak accident, which really could have been anything. Absolutely anything. The list of normal, believable things that could have happened is endless. You can even add onto that a whole bunch of other improbable, even near impossible things that could happen on this planet. But instead we have a giant fish falling from space. Forget that it would have incinerated in the atmosphere, but the force it must have been falling at would have virtually obliterated whatever it landed on. And then we see the cosmonauts in their station with the fucking cabin door open. Part of me feels like a big moaner for this, but honestly, all I ask is for this stuff to make a little sense.

Homer and Bart as con men isn’t the most honorable of plots for these two, but at least I somewhat buy it. And the absolutely improbable cause of their money woes actually helps their justification of bilking people for cash to pay off the car. Most of their cons and the scenes connecting them garnered more smirks than actual laughs, but I found myself enjoying it at least. Then we get into our third act. One last big score turns into a disaster as Homer and Bart are caught by an FBI agent, who soon reveals that he’s a fellow con man and makes off with Homer’s car and his cash. As a cover, Homer claims he was carjacked by a mysterious, shady character. A police manhunt tracks down mysterious, shady character Willie, and he is put on trial. Bart urges his father to tell the truth, but Homer wants to see how everything will play out. Willie is sentenced to ten years in jail and proceeds to go mental, grabbing Wiggum’s gun and taking a shot at Skinner. It’s at that point that Homer comes clean about his charade. But then it turns out that everybody in the entire town, plus the fake FBI agent, was all in on it, all stopping their lives on a dime to teach Homer and Bart a lesson. Lisa has an explanation, but is cut off so everyone can go surfing.

I had to write the ending out in its entirety because there are so many things… so many things wrong with it. First, who organized this plan? I’m supposing it’s Marge and Lisa, but we never saw a scene of her being knowing or even being suspicious about what Homer and Bart were up to. Next, they would have no idea how Homer would describe the alleged car thief, it just so happened to match with Willie. He could have said anything, but I guess they could have just picked out the Springfield resident that closely matched his description. But then later it’s revealed in a joke that Willie was not involved, so that makes no sense at all. Then we have Homer drawing out his confession until a man is shot and presumably killed. Had this not been an act, he would have been partially responsible for Skinner’s death. Then we have the interrupted final explanation, which is basically the writers unzipping their pants and pissing in our faces. They know that we know that they could have written a logical ending, and an explanation that made sense. Maybe they think they’re oh-so clever pointing out how they wrote themselves into a corner and couldn’t come up with a satisfying ending, and that by acknowledging it will absolve themselves. Well it doesn’t. It absolutely fucking doesn’t. It just further points out how this episode was bullshit. I actually think this third act is even worse than “Menace Shoes,” since at least there it was wacky and impossible from the very start. Here they make you think it’s going somewhere, then they pull the rug out from under the viewers and tell them to fuck themselves. Class act, guys.

Tidbits and Quotes
– We have Homer grow a magic pocket in his shirt to put his keys in, which we’ve seen them do before, but then the next scene we see he has a buttoned shirt on so they can do the beer gut gag. One clothing modification is fine, but two in a row is slightly pushing it. A bit nit-picky, yeah, but it’s just something I noticed.
– I actually really like drunk Marge (“I’ll do it! I always end up doing it!”) and her interplay with the magician. The monkeys wearing Marge dresses and pearls make as much sense as the ending, but they’re just a quick dumb gag and I was amused regardless. And how can you not love a magic finale involving someone emerging from a giant prop banana?
– A truly heartless moment of Homer deserting Bart at the boardwalk. Even though he constantly strangles him, I just don’t see him doing that, it feels too mean.
– I was slightly bothered that Marge acted so distant about the mischief her husband and son was up to (“Should I just back out of the room?” “Would you?”) until I realized that she was still drunk. Makes sense to me.
– More heartless Homer as he tries to con Flanders by means of a gilded Bible that Maude “ordered” for him. Pretty sick stuff.
– It’s such a nothing role, but I think Edward Norton gave it his all as the fake agent. He even gets to adapt two phony voices, one as the old man disguise, and as the actor Devon Bradley (“Character actor, dancer, singer… I’m a triple threat!”)
– The sad part is is that there’s a lot of pretty good jokes in the third act: Homer chloroforming himself to escape his snowballing lies, and his time at the stand (“I told you, my memory is fuzzy!” “Fuzzy like Willie’s beard?!” “Yes, exactly! No, no, I mean, the whole incident is hazy.” “Hazy like the moors of Scotland?!”) Then again, why didn’t Homer just plainly say that he’s sure Willie was not the man he saw, or claim he had another distinguishing characteristic? Perhaps he was too dim to think of it. But anyway, the point is that there were some amusing bits and some effective building tension that is completely squandered by the cop-out ending to end all cop-out endings. There definitely needed to be a twist beyond Homer and Bart simply learning a lesson for sure, but anything, anything would have been better than the ending we have here.

(originally aired December 3, 2000)
Where “Homer vs. Dignity” perfectly displayed how characterization has completely gone to shit, this episode does the very same to proper and sensible storytelling. So far we’ve seen a bumper crop of insane and absolutely dreadful plot twists. An impromptu trip to Scotland to find the Loch Ness monster. Homer and pals get their ship attacked by pirates. Jockeys are revealed to be actual elves. But no episode comes even close to the ridiculous and insulting third act we have here. It’s just bonkers, taking one more giant leap away from anything even slightly resembling reality on this show. We start with Homer finally entering the digital age and getting his very own computer, but because he’s a big dummy, he has no idea how to use it. Whether he’s dragging his new desktop behind his car or somehow believing it has the power for murder Flanders, this show is full of cringe-worthy Homer moments. He even comes up with his own web page, which is chock full of ripped-off animated gifs and sound bites. Annoying, but it’s one of the few things here I buy Homer would do.

To get more hits on his home page, Homer tries his hand at guerrilla journalism, exposing the questionable doings and misdoings of the citizens of Springfield. The story so far actually isn’t too shoddy, but every single scene is just Homer either being brain dead, inconsiderate, or just a complete dickhead. His anonymous moniker “Mr. X” is eventually awarded the Pulitzer Prize for God knows why, but while his secret identity is unknown, it’s decided the cash prize will go toward starving children. So Homer freaks out and insists that he’s Mr. X. I mentioned this in the last review, that bit was bad enough, but they even follow it up in the next scene with Marge (“I do feed bad about the starving children.” “They’re with God now.”) As he’s counting his money. Honestly, are the writers just trying their hardest to make Homer a flaming asshole? When he finds he can’t perform espionage as well now that he’s outed himself, Homer starts making up stories for his site, with one lie in particular that lands him in some hot water. Which leads us to our third act…

Homer is kidnapped and winds up on a mysterious island with other prisoners who are known only by number. They’re kept there because they “know too much,” and Homer finds that his seemingly made up story about flu shots being used for mind control was actually true. While he’s stuck on the island being gassed repeatedly, a decoy Homer with a thick German accent is sent to the Simpson home to keep the family none the wiser. Now, what can I possibly say about this? This whole act is a parody of The Prisoner, an old TV series I’ve never seen, and something the writers seem to hide behind when it comes to criticism of this episode, that people just don’t get the reference. Well, one, that’s a poor excuse, because a reference should work on its own even if you don’t know the source, and two, the parody should make sense within the show’s universe. Where the fuck is this island? Who is the organization running it? Who do they work for? What are their plans, and to what end? Why do they continually gas Homer? Why do the Simpsons accept the fake Homer when he’s clearly a fake? What the fuck is happening? It’s just so much nonsense crammed in at the very end. As if the episode wasn’t already awful enough, here’s the worst, most disjointed and out-of-left-field third act in the show’s entire history. Absolute shit.

Tidbits and Quotes
– Lenny and Carl are just driving past the plant together on their day off. Really, I liked it better when they were just casual chums who were Homer’s work mates and drinking buddies. They have separate lives. Or not, I guess. Next season we’ll see Lenny’s masterpiece Mount Carlmore. Which now that I read it like that also could double for a sex joke, alluding to their questionable sexuality. Goddammit…
– More feeble Burns with him fumigating the plant with a bug bomb. Seriously, why is he doing this?
– Quality moments are few and far between here, and that’s being generous. I like the Springfield Police Department website (“If you’ve committed a crime, and want to confess, click ‘Yes.’ Otherwise, click ‘No.’ You have chosen ‘No,’ meaning you’ve committed a crime, but don’t want to confess. A paddy wagon is now speeding to your home. While you wait, why not buy a police cap or T-shirt? You have the right to remain fabulous!”)
– What is with the bit with Bart confessing to carrying switchblades, assaulting cops and getting suspended? And he says he’s “just mad all the time,” then the very next scene he’s happily getting himself some cookies and milk. Just more bullshit scenes placed together with no rhyme or reason as to what happened before them.
– I don’t know if I’m just actively seeking out sex jokes because they’re becoming so common, but Comic Book Guy is scouring through porn sites, like Lady Triple-X, then comes across “Mr. X.” He ponders, and finally decides to “cross the final frontier.” Like, he’s exhausted every porn video he can think of, so now maybe it’s time to try jerking it to some dudes? Am I reading too much into the line? Because I actually thought it was amusing in that regard. And also the classic “There is no emoticon for what I am feeling!”
– Ah, the days you could make jokes about selling uranium to Middle Eastern terrorists (“You are a credit to the great Satan!” “Oh, pshaw!”)
– I don’t know why people couldn’t figure out who Mr. X was, considering the gag earlier of Homer’s picture loading quicker than the bag over his head on the site. Maybe Comic Book Guy has a particularly slow computer, as we’ve seen before.
– The fake Kwik-E-Mart bit is awful. We see the concrete siding to the left of the building, then later we see it was all in the back of a truck. Where the fuck was the truck? It wasn’t there! They could’ve hid it better, but they apparently could care less.
– Just quick observations about the third act, because I really just want to wipe this entire affair from my memory: the writers seemed to love seeing Homer get gassed, it makes no sense why any of the Simpsons would put up with the fake Homer, and we’ve got real Homer stealing the escape raft that took another prisoner decades to build. He shoves him out of the way and takes off with it, after he said it can fit two people. Again, this is our fucking protagonist. Why are they going to such great lengths to make me want to punch him in the face?

(originally aired November 19, 2000)
As character degradation would continue throughout the years, Lisa will eventually turn into a rabble-rousing liberal mouth piece, where being morally indigent would become one of her new character traits. But Lisa was always socially conscious and took up moralistic causes for specific reasons, some even slightly naive or misguided. This episode certainly showcases her passionate activism but always within the realm of her being child. The show also takes a deft aim at youth environmentalism, part out of actual concern, but mostly in attempts to seem hip and ahead of the curve. There’s a lot of sharp things in this episode, but it mostly suffers from not having many laughs, and of course, lots of dumb Homer shit going on in the background.

Lisa finds herself crushing over teen activist Jesse Grass after a radical protest at Krusty Burger with his organization Dirt First. The scene of her visiting him in jail is pretty great, where she tries desperately to prove how eco-friendly she is (“I started an organic compost pile at home.” “Only at home? You mean you don’t pocket-mulch?”) Jesse talks about how he was into yoga before it was cool and how Lisa can enter their group under the “poser” level, it all just shows how superficial he is under the surface. I also like that Jesse doesn’t even acknowledge who Lisa is that much, forgetting her name but then making how he knew her dearly upon her supposed death, complete with an amazing backhanded comment (“But, in death, she will do more for our cause than she ever could have done in life.”) In fact, now that I think about it, Jesse is kind of a mirror of what Lisa would turn in to, in a way. Overly self-righteous, looking to cause a scene over his beliefs, it sort of makes sense.

The largest redwood in Springfield is set to be chopped down, and Lisa volunteers to camp out in the tree to prevent it from happening. But when she becomes homesick and climbs down for the night, lightning strikes it down, leaving the town to believe she had gone down with it. Now Lisa must choose between lying low and letting her memorial nature preserve be built, or to come clean. It’s an interesting twist, and I do like how Lisa’s metal bucket was accidentally to blame for the tree coming down. Premise-wise, this episode is pretty solid, but it’s nothing too spectacular. The opening with Bart delivering menus is pretty superfluous, but it’s an adequate lead-in to our main story. Meanwhile, Homer is still deplorable. While Bart’s casual and callous attitude toward Lisa’s “death” works, Homer forcing her daughter to record a post-mortum message and wearing a shirt with her face with a halo on it to garner sympathy is pretty rough. So, not a spectacular episode, but nothing too major to bitch about. S’alright.

Tidbits and Quotes
– For some reason I’m kind of bothered they made the barber into a maniac. He’s been around since the Tracey Ullman shorts, he deserves a little respect.
– I found the name of the “You Thai Now” restaurant more amusing than all of the schtick from the owner. Also Bart ends up at the Watergate Hotel delivering menus somehow.
– Great bit of the police shooting the protesters down with beanbags, with mission accomplished thanks to some heavy artillery (“That’s nice work with the bag-zooka.” “Gotta love what you do, Chief.”)
– Kent Brockman reports on the protest (“The eco-radical group, Dirt First, staged a daring protest today at Krusty Burger. Krusty the Klown has issued the following statement: ‘This I don’t need.’ The group is led by teenage activist, Jesse Grass, a dreadlocked dreamboat whose Birken-stock is on the rise.”)
– I don’t understand the joke with Homer talking about saving the planet his own way, then proceeds to make donuts in the parking lot. Is it just that he’s wasting so much gas?
– Hilarious joke implicating Homer has drugs hidden in the house. Haven’t they done this joke before? And wasn’t it not funny then? The answer is yes. If you can remember the episode, no need to comment, because I don’t particularly care. But do it if you’d like.
– Kent Brockman again with another great report (“It’s day four for Springfield’s li’lest tree hugger. …excuse me, that’s littlest tree hugger. And whether you love or hate her politics, you’ve got to go gawk at this crazy idiot.”)
– Kent Brockman nails it again, reporting that Springfield’s oldest resident has died. He chuckles and assures us it’s not Mr. Burns. Cue a superimposed picture of Burns with the descriptor “NOT DEAD.” He’s pretty much the MVP of the episode.
– Marge is not on board with Lisa’s charade (“You are not pretending to be dead, young lady! This family has had nothing but bad luck when it comes to farce.”)
– I hate Homer cynically wringing sympathy at the bar, but I do like Moe’s attempt to be tactful in expressing condolences for Lisa’s death, or how he puts it, “riding the midnight train to Slab City.”
– Great bit with a crestfallen Milhouse grabbing Lisa’s sax, insisting they can clone her from the spit. He runs off, with Quimby shouting, “Good luck, Milhouse!”
– The Rich Texan dates all the way back to season 5, but somehow he’s been brought back in these later seasons quite a lot. He’s a veritable cartoon character, which is fine for one-off appearances, but I feel like he appears so many times from this point on and it’s the same joke every time.
– It’s a bit of a cheat that the people in the woods can see what the Lisa Log is crashing into miles away, but hey, whatever. I like Rich Texan taking pleasure in Hemp City being destroyed (“Yee-haw! Score one for the bad guys!”)