(originally aired April 5, 2009)
And now, another one of those schmaltzy sensitive Moe episodes. “Moe Baby Blues” was effective because it managed to balance the lecherous with the sweet, so it still felt like the same bottom feeder Moe, but we got to see a more tender side to him. Here, through almost the whole running time, he’s this sweet, vulnerable, inoffensive guy, which is always entertaining to watch. Moe gets into a relationship with a girl online and is preparing for their first face-to-face date. To his surprise, Maya (another Tress MacNeille voice we’ve heard a billion times) is a little person, something that Moe comes to terms with and accepts quickly. Their relationship advances normally. Just normally. Nothing particularly funny happens, it’s just Moe making out with someone Lisa’s size, which I have to admit is a little disturbing to see. There’s “conflict” in that Moe is hesitant in showing her to the barflies, thinking they would ridicule her, but nothing really ever comes from it.
After a non-disclosed period of time, Moe asks Maya to marry him, and she responds with a jovial crack about her height (“Are you asking me to be your little woman?”) Moe retorts with a few jokes himself, all seemingly in good fun, until Maya takes offense. You’d think at this point she would know he meant no offense; also it seems she’s a weird trickster herself, in one bizarre scene where pretends to be a lifeless doll to freak Moe out for no reason. Moe is crestfallen when Maya shuts him out, leaving him no other recourse… than to have surgery to reduce his height. Maya arrives at Dr. Nick’s to stop him (“Moe, if you have to be like me to love me, then you’re not seeing the real me!”) Moe then gives a heartfelt soliloquy about how much she really means to him… and then Maya just leaves him anyway. It just felt that considering Maya’s character (the very little of it we get to know), it made no sense that this relationship would fall apart. Moe had been nothing but earnest the entire episode, only joking around about her after she cracked wise first. It’s just a cop out ending, but considering Maya is voiced by MacNeille, they didn’t have to write her out. But then again, writing a new character is too much work, so get her out. A very boring, ineffectual outing.
Tidbits and Quotes
– The B-story involves Homer being a shitty father to Maggie. Discovering there’s a playground behind Moe’s (after Moe scrubs the back wall and finds a window there, which makes no sense), he dumps Maggie there every day so he can get plastered, leaving her at the mercy of infant bullies. Growing suspicious of what goes on during the day, Marge places a mini camera on Maggie’s bow, only to watch the footage at the end of the episode. Homer drops off Maggie, but then comes back to save the day from the bullies… but is beaten up himself, until Maggie saves him. He then says some sweet, sweet, completely natural-sounding words into the camera, which is enough to absolve the continued abandonment of his infant child in Marge’s eyes. Then we get his sweet wrap-up with Moe, which doesn’t work with me because it didn’t feel earned at all.
– I did like the initial awkwardness from Moe regarding Maya (“Oh, you’re a little person. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that, what’s the correct term?” “Little person.” “Woah! Look at me bein’ polite!”) and the bait-and-switch with the car seat.
– There’s not one but two make-out scenes between Moe and Maya, which is kind of uncomfortable to watch. I guess it’s just a lot easier to cut to the chase rather than see them talking and understanding why the two are in love.
– As is the case whenever we have a double date scene, we see Homer being a total ass of himself and embarrassing Marge, except the B-plot isn’t really about the two of them being at odds with each other. But basically whenever an episode is about a burgeoning relationship nowadays, we have to fix Homer and Marge’s for the ten thousandth time.
– So apparently Mr. Largo wanted a sex change operation. They’ve done this joke with Smithers too, him wanting estrogen pills; I guess the writers equate homosexuality with actually wanting to be the other sex, and that both topics are hysterical to make fun of.
– Despite it mostly feeling empty, I can’t help but think the ending is a little sweet, with Moe making a rose out of his bar rag and putting it on the frame. I’m not made of stone.
Me Blog Write Good 
hahahaha, not made of stone!
Hahahaha, a brick and you’re not made of… stone! HAHAHAHAHAH!
Overall, an entertaining but somewhat blah episode to watch with some plotholes in it.
Another overrated episode. It’s very light on laughs and the break-up of Maya and Moe felt contrived and seemed like a big double standard.
This episode is bafflingly praised everywhere, even by people who generally hate the era. I don’t know why.
I’ve learned not to listen to praises of recent episodes anymore. A couple seasons later I’d hear really good things about “Homer the Father”, which was also really underwhelming to me.
BTW: My Ren & Stimpy Reviews Blog is up: http://renandstimpyreviews.blog.com/
Cool, will check out your blog Ian, one of my all time favorite shows btw and good advice!
God help you when you get to the Games era cartoons, they’re just awful.
I’m actually somewhat of a Games apologist, but even I won’t deny that there were some bad outings in there. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Hello Ian, I’m not sure if your profile is still active or if you’d see this comment over 5 years later, but I loved your Ren and Stimpy blog and wanted to know if you have your reviews archived or if you have other content for fans to check out.
I hope this comment reaches you, and if so, thank you for reading it.
I wrote this on Toon Zone when this episode first aired…
“Maya breaking up with Moe was just really badly handled, which honestly didn’t surprise me. She seemed to have no problem poking fun at herself, even going as far as pretending she was a doll in order to scare Moe. Yet the instant Moe goes even a little too far with the short jokes Maya gets offended and throws their entire relationship away by breaking up with him. That just struck me as lazy writing, unless the writers have no idea about how real life relationships and break-ups work”
It’s possible Maya’s just a bitch who baits people by saying short jokes about herself to see how they “really” feel about her. Or, her attitude is just the double standard that little people can make short jokes but no one else can.
Yeah, I don’t think this episode is terrible, but there is really nothing memorable in it either. In fact, I think the one with the girl who Moe got Homer in jail for was a better episode than this.
Side note: I’m just glad the episode never devolved into this, but others have, it applies to mainly Family Guy, but The Simpsons as well:
“The series continues to devolve into a platform for the writer’s religious and political views rather than trying to actually be funny.”
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/BiggestComplaint/FamilyGuy
Worst Character of the Day: Maya
Why, because she dump Moe. She she doesn’t want to be seen as short, but so what. How can anyone not see her as short, especially when the vertical challenged have certain disadvantages over their height where people have to be considerate and treat them slightly differently than others. The only reason he attempted to make himself shorter is because he cared that much for her. But she has the nerve to reject him for that. The only person who could possibly appeal to her is Randall Curtis.
This of course, is the only time where I can plausibly defend Moe, while other times, he has been a jerkass to Homer on several occasions, and would be one of the FIRST people to join an angry mob against them. Yet we all have to feel sorry for him when he has low-esteem or suicidal tenancies.
I guess this is ‘overrated’ or whatever, but I enjoyed it enough as a Zombie Simpsons episode. I could see Maya ditching Moe, because A: Moe is ugly, B: Maya is a knockout, and C: Attractive women do this all the time, especially to ugly low status guys like Moe. Anyway, the show made me laugh and that’s all I ask with my low standards.
Hated this for all the reasons stated, also because it basically makes little people come off as right arse holes and women can play around with relationships with no consequence.
I’m not even sure whether Maya was supposed to be likeable or not.
a clumsily written and rather offensive episode of zombie Simpsons over all, and not even offensive in a good way :d.
“It’s just a cop out ending, but considering Maya is voiced by MacNeille, they didn’t have to write her out.” As bland as Married to the Blob was, you should at least give it a little credit for not writing Kumiko out and letting Comic Book Guy have her, since she is also voiced by Tress MacNeille.
Eeny Teeny Maya Moe may not be great, but it’s still a masterpiece compared to the previous episode, Wedding for Disaster, and has way more soul than that episode. You gotta admit it when you liked the initial awkwardness with Moe and Maya, and the ending where Moe made a rose out of his bar rag.
It’s strange to me that you take the time to make clear your displeasure with almost every gay joke, but then turn around and refer to couples like Maya and Moe or Selma and Abe in such openly derogatory terms.
“Nothing particularly funny happens, it’s just Moe making out with someone Lisa’s size, which I have to admit is a little disturbing to see.”
“On their honeymoon night when she tries to initiate… [shudder] things”
Like, little people are real people, many of them have relationships with people of average height. Couples of significantly different ages are a fairly standard occurrence. If you find the sight ‘disturbing’ then that’s up to you but it seems pretty unfair to slam the show for mocking one non-standard romantic orientation only to turn around and flag all the other ones that you personally dislike or find ‘disgusting’.
You know what, I completely agree. I apologize for any unfair judgement on my part. Just because the show ridicules doesn’t give me free license to do as well.