Original airdate: November 19, 2023
The premise: Mr. Burns causes a town-wide blackout right before Thanksgiving, but Homer gets stuck with the blame. Now, not only does he have to deal with being the town pariah, but also the disbelief from his family of his innocence.
The reaction: This series has definitely seen a noticeable shift in the last few years, as certain episodes co-run by Matt Selman and Caroline Omine have attempted to shift to a more grounded, emotionally rich tone. It’s certainly something we haven’t seen from this show in a long time, and while I may not find them as effective as others, it’s still interesting overall to see the writers take big swings towards something different. But then you have episodes like this led by Al Jean, which are built upon rehashed elements of stuff we’ve seen hundreds of times over. With a framing device set sixty years in the future, for some reason, we’re regaled the story of when Homer almost took the fall for a town-wide disaster that, for once, he didn’t cause. Mr. Burns accidentally causes a fire in the plant offices, which somehow translates into it being a meltdown? But then we see that it was just the building that caught on fire and was put out, which then causes a massive blackout. Homer is quickly blamed by his co-workers, because of course he is, but nobody will believe he’s blameless, not even Marge. The whole episode feels like half-hearted versions of things we’ve seen before. The Simpsons become the town scapegoat, throwing bricks and cinder blocks through their windows. Marge doesn’t know if she can trust Homer is actually telling the truth, because she’s been burned for almost twenty-five years now. Most bizarrely, we get a wacky third act turn straight out of the Mike Scully years, where the town somehow manages to move the entire Simpson house and plop it on top of some precarious rock formation outside of town (as well as the Flanders house too, for the sake of one joke.) Hell, this episode might have even been worth a damn if it had been from season 10, but it feels so pointless as episode #757. Homer didn’t do a thing, then he proves he didn’t do a thing, then the episode is over. What’s the take-away from all this? Much like the Friday after Thanksgiving, it’s all just re-heated leftovers from when the show was a lot fresher. But even that’s an insult to actual Thanksgiving leftovers. Get yourself some turkey and mayo, nothing beats a nice leftover turkey sandwich. Meanwhile, I probably won’t even remember this episode by Christmas.
Three items of note:
– The guest couch gag is incredibly cute, with one of those hand turkeys coming to life with each finger becoming a Simpson. Looking it up, this is actually the work of two Swiss artists who have done a few couch gags for the show before. They first got on the staff’s radar with a YouTube video where they recreated Homer’s binge eating through New Orleans from the season 29 episode “Lisa Gets the Blues.” I always love when the show brings in incredibly creative and talented fans to do stuff for them, it’s such a breath of fresh air. Hell, I’d love it if they animated an entire episode for them.
– Strangely, Marge explicitly tells the family she’s excited this will be Maggie’s first Thanksgiving (“I’m finally not pregnant so I can drink!”) Of course the Simpsons have celebrated many, many Christmases, New Years, birthdays, and other annual occasions multiple times over, it’s just understood that we’re existing in a non-progressive timeline. It just was very funny to me that now, 34 seasons in, we’re pretending like this is the Simpsons “first” Thanksgiving as a family of five. And they don’t really even do anything with that tidbit, it’s not like Marge was particularly thrilled for this year’s holiday and the blackout just crushed her. This also feels like it stands in contrast with Marge’s disbelief of Homer, with her insistence that he’s heard every line in the book from him hundreds of times feeling like a reflection of his multiple decades of antics over the years on the show. Sure, Homer could have easily racked up that many lies just in the years they’d been together “before” the show began, but whatever.
– Mr. Burns throws a Hawaiian party for his staff, only to serve as a distraction for him hiring a new crew of non-union workers to do their jobs for them. Then he sings a song about them, and boy is it rough. I remember a couple seasons back in the episode where Marge runs for Mayor, they had her sing a little song, and it felt a little uncomfortable, with Julie Kavner screeching and scratching out the vocals, it just didn’t feel right to listen to. Now we have a nearly 80-year-old Harry Shearer, whose Mr. Burns voice is getting more and more tired as the years go on, attempt to sing, and it just comes out so low-register and lifeless. And it’s not his fault! Again, the man is turning 80 years old in December. His voice is not what it used to be, he’s an old man. Since recasting is out of the question, it feels like the writers should be extra aware of their cast’s limitations in their old age. Having Kristen Bell as Marge’s singing voice in “The Star of the Backstage” felt like an example of that. But I guess not in all case. I could barely even focus on the song itself, Burns just sounded so flat it was hard to register what he was even saying.
Me Blog Write Good 
I guess they just forgot all about Bart vs. Thanksgiving.
Fuck, this was the worst episode in a WHILE. Maybe the worst since season 32.
JUST PACK YOUR BAGS AND GO THE FUCK HOME, AL JEAN! WE DON’T WANT YOU!
I’m not even a big fan of that episode and I’ve never seen this one (and never will), but even without watching it I can say that the former episode is better.
This is peak Zombie Simpsons – a parade of recycled plot ideas, pointless framing devices, moronic non-sequiturs, and baffling story developments made even worse by how uncomfortable it was to see Homer crucified for something he didn’t do. Even Selman’s weakest episodes look like masterpieces next to this.
The one bit of positivity I have is that Homer reading to Lisa (and getting invested in the story) was really cute. Reminded me of when he outlived his favorite fictional wizard. So even the good stuff is reminiscent of episodes past. (Oh I made myself sad.)
I think this is the first true dud of the season, he says well aware of how mediocre the season has already been. It’s amazing they recycled so many plot beats and make them even worse than the first (or second) time.
And I get that everyone’s stupider than usual this episode, but even then you’d think they’d realize Burns was responsible from this to the get go, or that one of the non-union guys would, you know, actually try to clear things up. But nope, let’s have Burns (barely) get any repercussion only at the end and write out the non-uinoners the instant we can. Maybe it’s because we’ve had this whole “Homer Fucks Up” plot done several times before to diminishing returns with every instance of it happening, but I feel like they’re really not trying anymore to actually make any kind of sense in the way a movie will write in an asspull because they’re too lazy to actually give a damn.
Hell at this point, I’m wondering if the writers even remember that Springfield has neighboring towns, because I noticed that no one ever brings up Shelbyville or Ogdenville as possible exile locations when it comes to dragging anyone out in anger. Because unless it’s a case of “Well not even those towns want the Simpsons living in them”, there’s not really an excuse to keep ignoring them as much as they have.
I didn’t even watch this one as the premise was already pretty iffy, but the early bad reviews on Nohomers just further confirmed that this wasn’t worth watching unless you’re bored or a glutton for punishment because you hate scapegoat/gaslighter stories. But I can think of a million better things to do if I were bored, and I am a glutton for punishment but I don’t hate myself that much to force myself to sit through another shitty gaslighter episode this year after Hamster & Gretel!
So now Selman & Jean are both one for one in terms of each of them having an episode this season that there was no point in watching, and ironically both involve Burns to some extent.
“Marge explicitly tells the family she’s excited this will be Maggie’s first Thanksgiving (“I’m finally not pregnant so I can drink!”) ”
Hahahahhahahaha thats fucking surreal.
If a show had a rigorous structure, maybe you could buy that, but when you’ve been around across multiple presidencies and theoretically could have had followed someone born, grow up, graduate college, and become disillusioned with society in this time period of the show’s entire existence, not to mention have featured countless instances of the family celebrating Thanksgiving (including an episode in the *second season* built entirely around the holiday), suddenly the idea of a floating timeline becomes incredibly fragile and your idea of doing incredibly dumb jokes like this fall apart like anything you find at a Mexican flea market.
The Simpsons’ 30+ year history would be so much more interesting if the characters aged.
Even if the episodes were still consistently bad for about two decades, the passage of time would lend a consistent emotional reality to the whole experience.
Instead any satisfying evolution or development feels like cherry picking scraps.
I don’t agree, actually. The durability and resonance of The Simpsons stems from its use of the reset button. As I recently wrote on NoHomers:
“The world Homer inhabits resists if not rejects the possibility of real and lasting change or catharsis, more or less resetting to its original parameters each and every week. Homer himself tries over and over again to lose weight, give up alcohol, get a new job, and/or become a better husband and father. Other characters similarly struggle to grow and break free of their constraints. The breakthroughs they achieve never last, but that doesn’t stop them from trying anyway. They persevere in spite of that existential hopelessness, finding happiness and fulfilment in fleeting moments of transformation before that inevitable reset wipes them clean.
Therein lies what I consider to be the true pathos of this series – the never-ending pursuit to change for the better and the capacity to experience contentment (even, and perhaps especially, in the face of futility). This is nothing less than the stuff of archetypes, myths and dreams; the building blocks of our collective unconscious. We know Homer will go back to resenting Ned after When Flanders Failed, but that doesn’t mean his act of compassion is any less sincere. We know Homer and Bart will be at loggerheads again after Saturdays of Thunder, but that doesn’t negate the mutual respect and understanding they achieve. We know the family will fail to help Marge around the house after Homer Alone, but that doesn’t make them any less earnest. We know Homer will drink alcohol again after Duffless, but that doesn’t mean his bike ride with Marge is any less affecting. The reset button does not rob these episodes of their power, beauty and nobility. It enhances them precisely because it means something to try and to succeed even if only briefly.”
Holy fuck, this was terrible. Al “there is no God” Jean strikes again.
I feel like I just watched a nursing home full of old men collectively failing to get it up for half an hour. Except, you know, the comedy writing equivalent.
Monotonous. Incomprehensible. Meandering. Purposeless. These are all understatements when describing one of the worst half hours of television I’ve ever seen in my life.
I never thought I could palpably feel a TV show crave death before, and I watched all 700+ episodes of this shit.
I actually was thinking of making this my last Simpsons episode until the series finally ends. I watched the whole evolution over 34 years and got to experience the S34 holdovers in real time. That’s a decent place to wrap up my Simpsons experience. But I can’t bring myself to end my time with the show on this monumental a dud. Is next episode the last of 2023? Maybe I’ll stop there…
Good to know that Al Jean still doesn’t have what it takes to even make a mediocre episode. Also, this was most likely written by a freelance writer, so it further got pounded flatter than a pancake into sludge.
It was written by Elisabeth Kiernan Averick, for the record.
I really expected more from the writer of When Billie Met Lisa.
It’s probably been mentioned many times, but I laugh at how they made one successful episode over a decade ago (Holidays of Future Passed), which was a Christmas episode set in the future, so they repeatedly rehashed that and its failed every time.