Original airdate: March 30, 2025
The premise: Ned Flanders finally reaches his breaking point with all of Homer’s shenanigans, enacting a vow of silence towards him. Homer is thrilled at first, but time starts to chip away at him and he must figure out how to get back into his saintly neighbor-eeno’s good graces again.
The reaction: The Homer/Flanders dynamic has been a constant in this show from the beginning, and subject to examination a handful of times, where Homer will occasionally be taken to task for abusing his neighbor’s hospitality too much, forcing him to make good. Here, we see Ned has had enough, following multiple sleepless nights due to Bart’s new nighttime DJ performances, he gives Homer the shirt off his back (the last item he’s “borrowed” from him) and swears he’ll never speak a word to him ever again. The conceit of the episode, and its namesake, comes from the wonderful 2022 film The Banshees of Inisherin, set on an Ireland isle in the early 1900s, where Brendan Gleeson seemingly out of the blue tells his longtime buddy Colin Ferrell he doesn’t want to be friends anymore. Ferrell plays kind of a simpleton of a character, so it seems fitting to put Homer into that role. It does always seem risky whenever the show does a direct parody to a fantastic movie, because I inevitably will be thinking how much better the film executes certain things versus the episode. Banshees is all about exploring these two characters and what they want out of life, and what their relationship to each other means to them. There’s certainly so much history between Homer and Ned, entire decades worth, that you could explore. The simple explanation of Homer’s seething hatred of Ned is of course he’s jealous of him. Ned has a seemingly perfect family, makes more money than he does, and generally seems happier than Homer, a better head of household than he could ever be, so Homer lashes out. But as I’ve mentioned before, that core element of the relationship went out the window when Ned lost Maude (and I guess doubly so later in losing Edna). Now Ned is a widower twice over, so the root of Homer’s animosity has been greatly affected. The episode could deal with this new wrinkle if it wanted, but it’s kind of heavy subject matter, especially since they did just talk about it head on in the Disney+ Christmas special. Meanwhile, what’s Ned’s side of things? It’s never been clear as to why Ned is endlessly turning the other cheek, is he just willfully oblivious to Homer’s abuse? Or does he actively choose to not respond to it? All of this stuff is not dealt with in the episode at all, until the very, very end when Homer and Ned are forced to go to therapy, have a mutual drug freakout and openly say out loud what they’ve learned about themselves and make amends. Homer admits to being jealous of Ned for the reasons I mentioned, although again, weirdly no mention about Ned’s two dead wives in Homer talking about being jealous of his perfect family. Meanwhile, Ned wishes he could savor life as much as Homer does, which I guess makes sense, as we saw from “Viva Ned Flanders,” but also says he likes feeling morally superior to Homer, thus subconsciously encouraging his worst behavior? It’s a weird thing to drop at the very end. As rough as it seems, I can kind of buy Ned feeling this, but I wish I had seen more of a build-up to this, or examine this pettier side of Ned more. Instead, the episode wraps up as the two agree they miss the status quo, and despite Homer and Ned being self-aware of their unhealthy dynamic, they awkwardly go through the motions of things anyway. I wouldn’t call this a bad episode, it just kinda made no real impression, which is weird when it involves a second act sequence of Ned shredding all of the Simpson family’s possessions (which is all stuff Homer borrowed from him, so this is his ultimate reclamation) and getting into a “car fight” with Homer in smashing their vehicles into each other over and over. Things escalate to a point never before seen in their 36-year on-screen relationship, which makes Homer and Ned’s ultimate reunion feel even more rushed and unsatisfying.
Three items of note:
– Todd Flanders is inexplicably voiced by Grey Griffin in this episode. His older brother Rod only has one line of dialogue speaking in tongues, but it kind of sounded like Nancy Cartwright to me. Rod was voiced by Pamela Hayden, so he needed to be recast, but Todd was voiced by Cartwright, so for some reason they bumped her up to older brother and recast Todd instead. Maybe they found that Griffin could hit the higher register for Todd better and decided to shuffle up the casting, but it more reminded me of older commentaries where Al Jean and the other crew would say how they always mix up some of the duo characters on the show and who voiced who, like Rod and Todd or Itchy and Scratchy.
– Following along the discussion of guest voices, we get Jane Kaczmarek returning as Judge Constance Harm. I was about to say this is her grand return after many decades, but apparently she was in the B-story of season 34’s “One Angry Lisa” when Lisa had to do jury duty, but I do not remember her at all. I thought maybe this was because Disney is doing that Malcolm in the Middle revival and someone from this show ran into her on the lot and thought about bringing her back. Whatever. Rachel Bloom guest stars as the therapist who works with Homer and Ned and facilitates their drug trip. It really is a nothing role for such a big talent. How do you have Bloom on your show and not have her do a song? Fiona Shaw also guest stars as “Mrs. McCormick,” the weird old crone who foretells doom in Homer and Ned’s relationship. In case you were confused, this is a direct lift from Banshees, which if you didn’t know, just go and watch that movie, it’s so, so good.
– Over the credits, we get an elaborate DJ remix of some of the show’s greatest musical showstoppers, which of course means that it’s 90% stuff from the first eight years of the series. The horrible song from Happy Little Elf Lizzo from a few seasons ago got a sound-up, as did “Weird” Al in his appearance in “That ’90s Show,” but the few other flashes of post-2000 seasons seemed to be mostly visual, like when Homer and some of the other guys were in that Covercraft band? Anyway, this always happens whenever the show does a retrospective montage type thing, it’s always almost exclusively stuff from the first ten years of the show. They know that’s the sweetest plum! They know it!
Me Blog Write Good 
So, another episode where they pick and choose beats from a movie someone liked and missed the point.
Malcolm in the Middle is returning? Good lord, how many children are they going to have made Lois pop out?!
Surprised you didn’t go into details about Bart being a DJ, which followed the typical beats of someone getting big and then goes back to being a nobody we have seen hundreds of times on this show.
The Homer/Flanders dynamic has changed drastically over the years, and a show that follows a very milquetoast formula where nothing ever changes will likely never examine the dichotomy legitimately. When the series began, Ned was presented as a more well-off person with better credit and all of the creature comforts a pharmacist (remember that?) could afford, such as full Christmas decorations back when Ned was primarily a secular character, and all that was tested when Ned attempted a passion project that failed miserably until Homer finally listened to his conscience and helped out Stupid Flanders. This contrasted with Homer being so broke he had to steal cable and use a rusty push lawnmower, but more than the financial disparity, Ned’s family genuinely liked each other while the Simpsons seemed to be acquaintances at best and forced roommates at worst usually. Once the religious aspect became Ned’s whole personality, they shifted to where Ned was happy because of his spiritual fulfillment, while Homer was often miserable at church, and in turn, elsewhere in life.
Of course, circumstances both within and beyond the writers’ control turned Ned into a pious fundamentalist, which wrecked the reason why Homer hated him. That, and being a twice-widower. Really, Ned’s life has gone down the toilet since the 2000s, what with losing two wives, his business failing, and having to take a job at a heathen public school before they punted all that, while they kept him as a man who valued biblical infallibility over anything else. Meanwhile, Homer’s life has remained its yo-yo between success and failure a show that manufactures convenience plots, thus making the argument more about why Homer *still* hates Ned if Homer’s life is now technically better, although because Homer is a protagonist and Flanders is a secondary character, it’s almost always Homer’s side of the dilemma the writers prefer examining. What does Homer gain from all this?
I dunno… you’d think a show that’s lasted long enough to officially be eligible to run for president would be willing to examine stuff they’ve goofed around with for ages.
“Surprised you didn’t go into details about Bart being a DJ, which followed the typical beats of someone getting big and then goes back to being a nobody we have seen hundreds of times on this show.”
I’m not, it’s only one of those “plots that kicks off the main plot” beats that ends just as it starts. Bringing it up would be pretty pointless since all it does is start the main conflict and nothing more.
“The Homer/Flanders dynamic has changed drastically over the years, and a show that follows a very milquetoast formula where nothing ever changes will likely never examine the dichotomy legitimately.”
It also doesn’t help neither Ned or the writers’ cases that he’s constantly, and near exclusively, portrayed as nothing but either a religious wingnut or a walk-on that becomes Homer’s verbal punching bag. And they refuse to do anything beyond that because “Evangelicalism bad, therefore Flanders has to be the worst of it while also trying to stick to the whole ‘Goody-Two-Shoes’ dynamic with Homer” formula they’ve been dealing with for 3, almost 4 decades at this point. At this point trying to do a legitimate look into the rivalry would be them having to rewrite Ned from the ground up (yet again).
Ned’s outburst in Hurricane Neddy was fantastic because it felt like a payoff to his role in the entire series up to that point. Eight seasons of smiling and chuckling while Homer said and did all sorts of horrible shit towards him and now he finally snaps. Throughout all that he had never done anything like this before, and now that he is he’s making sure you know. It’s riveting and cathartic because it feels earned by over a hundred episodes’ worth of moments.
On paper, seeing him snap after 700+ episodes should be even bigger, but it’s not. It can’t be. One, because Ned hasn’t been a nice guy turning the other cheek that whole time. The asshole religious right side of him still rears its head occasionally. Two, Hurricane Neddy already happened. The novelty and surprise is gone. Both of those reasons make this episode an uphill battle. But most damning of all is reason three.
Three, because 36 seasons of The Simpsons is too much to watch it all and care.
I mean, people do care, but it tends to become more of an abstract investment in “The Simpsons” than a moment-to-moment interest in seeing what happens next in these characters’ lives. They don’t feel like people anymore. They only feel like concepts – vague ideas and outlines. This means each episode has to earn its payoff within just the 22 minutes it’s given, because ideas don’t have character growth and development, not even the subtle, sometimes accidental kind episodic shows like classic Simpsons have. Ideas are just … ideas. The characters and writing quality got too inconsistent for someone to watch from Season 1 to now and intrinsically feel that they’ve been following the same people all this time. Just the broadest outline of them. If these don’t feel like the same people, how can this episode feel like it pays off everything that came before? That’s simple. It can’t.
This is hardly even anyone’s fault. It’s basically inevitable when a show is on the air this long. The Simpsons was always episodic, but it didn’t originally feel like each episode was an alternate universe. Now it does. Because how else can the status quo change and reset that many times and still feel natural? The first time Bart got famous in season 5, it felt like something that could happen, reset, and leave him as the same guy he was last week. The 109th or so time Bart becomes an instant success in this episode, it’s hard to believe he goes back as the ordinary ten-year-old he was in 1990. Getting famous 109 times changes you. And on some level, we feel that dissonance in the audience. Of course the status quo only resets because it has to. Naturally flowing back into it isn’t possible anymore.
That’s why some fans want The Simpsons to stop fighting change so much. Unless it leans into how much time has passed, and the characters feel older than they supposedly are, it can’t have payoffs like Hurricane Neddy. I think the only one in the last 15 years is Pixelated and Afraid, and only because Homer and Marge feel like they’ve been married for decades. Which they have been. They’ve been married for 36 years. Not that The Simpsons will tell you that. It wants you to think they’ve been married for ten.
The ending especially felt like such a begrudging status quo reset, where Homer and Ned are self-consciously going through the motions, but what does this mean for their relationship going forward? Of course it means nothing, so what’s the point? We’re almost at episode 800 and despite the show’s greater focus on emotional stories or one-off experimental episodes, the series is unavoidably still spinning its wheels. The only thing to really make this show feel fresh is if they fundamentally changed something that every future episode would have to deal with. Hell, I was kind of hoping “O C’mon All Ye Faithful” would have done that with Ned renouncing his faith, or at the very least becoming more a spiritualist than a Christian. But no, we couldn’t do that. But why not?! You’ve been on the air for almost four decades, what’s the harm in taking big swings?!
But that’s just it, right? This show has been on the air so long it has to assume most people don’t keep up with it. So the status quo almost never changes for fear of confusing anyone.
Maybe if Disney+, a streaming service, is starting to consistently produce new episodes, the show could do a short serialized thing and play with the status quo a bit. Since it’d be presented to viewers as its own self-contained thing. But I don’t expect that. I get the feeling the writers don’t really have any creative desire to try that, and would rather keep doing what they already do.
Why not?
For the same reason that Beetle Bailey and Blondie don’t change things up in the funny pages. The uncharitable take would be that comics like those and shows like The Simpsons are creatively bankrupt enterprises only continuing to allow its creators (or their families) to make easy money. The more “optimistic” reason is that, as Aidan beautifully explained above, these characters are templates more than actual characters at this point.
It’s like the joke about the chicken crossing the road. Whatever the punchline, the chicken is always crossing the road, because that’s what that joke template is.
Homer and Ned still don’t get along because that’s what their roles are. The writers’ job is to riff on that premise, not alter the premise itself.
I wish they’d change things up more–I’ve long supported aging up all the characters five or ten years–but it’s clear by this point that will never happen.
I too was thinking ‘been there, done that’ for the first however many of so minutes of the episode I did watch before it derailed itself by making Ned as much of an unsympathetic jackass as Homer.
As I was watching this episode before giving up at the end of act 2, I kept thinking of a recent video by captainmidnight which highlighted how the current season is indicative of the current rut the show is in where it’s constantly stuck in the past and doesn’t want to change which has been called out with the endings to this one and that Patty & Selma one shortly before the Christmas one.
First episode I’ve watched in more than 3 months, and only because this aired on my birthday which the last time that happened was back in 2014. And sadly, this was a new low from this show in that regard even though there’s been deminishing returns each time this has happened (which now so far is only three, with the first being back in 2008).
I’ll admit I was with the episode a little bit at first once the plot actually kicked in, but once Flanders starting destroying their/his stuff as his response to Homer’s sincere letter, that’s the point where I just gave up and turned the episode off because now the former had lost my sympathy by being just as bad (possibly worse), and I didn’t want to waste the last seven minutes watching not a ‘thought provoking study’ like some might claim this to be but rather two unlikable jackasses ‘reconciling’ but with a slight ‘subversion’ to try and not have this episode contain the full reek of the faux-Full House crap that the show’s been guilty of these last few years.
There was also “Scuse Me While I Miss The Sky” in 2003.
Huh, I must’ve forgotten about that one despite rewatching it a few years ago. With that in mind, here’s my rankings of my birthday episodes from best to worst:
Smoke on the Daughter (2008)
‘Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky (2003)
You Don’t Have to Live Like a Referee (2014)
This episode (2025)
Good thing the next time this’ll occur won’t be for at least six years because this was definitely a new low for episodes aired on March 30th.
So, another Flanders/Homer feud, but with another twist to it, then the constant callbacks to the golden age when the two are knocked out, as well as some in the credits. Isn’t that exactly what people criticized as one of the main reasons the show sucks now? The constant referencing of its past glory, reminding the audience of when the show was actually great.
If it’s “good again,” why is the show doing the same thing people complained about before—relying too much on golden-age references and reminding the audience of its former greatness?
Also, Todd is no longer voiced by Nancy Cartwright? Man, they just cannot get enough of changing things that don’t need to be changed, or give any reasons for it and expect the audience to not question it. Besides, didn’t Matt Selman say he’s against the idea of recasting?
It’s really hypocritical, especially considering how often now that stance has been proven wrong since he became the primary showrunner, particularly during this supposed “Renaissance.” But at this point, I’m starting to wonder if it’s even his decision. I’m starting to get the feeling that Disney is forcing them to do all these unnecessary changes. I mean, modern day Disney is a savage beast.
Selman is definitely in need of the same thing that happened to Jean after like a decade or so of showrunning where people reflect upon his tenure as such (even when he was only doing a few episodes a season) and come to the realization that he was never as great as he was made out to be because he’s always been no better than Jean (and in some areas he’s actually worse). The Selman era (33 onwards) is honestly the lowest point for the show currently…
As for this episode, it pretty much embodies that recent captainmidnight video I mentioned in a prior comment about being stuck in the past and not wanting to change.
God, I’ve never seen this, but I’m not surprised you keep making these comments here where no one can see you. You’re an insufferably pretentious and miserable person. lmfao.
As for the random decision to have Grey DeLise voicing Todd, I’m guessing it’s the same reason why they kept Megan as Sarah instead of returning to Pamela even after she reverted back to her original personality: They wanted a fresh new voice for the character, which was the reason why Ben Small was let go as the voice of Thomas in the UK dub of T&F.
The difference with Selman, in contrast to all other showrunners, is his apparent desire to transform the show into a zany, wacky, run of the mill cartoon that completely disregards the established continuity of the characters, despite claiming that they remain the same, its almost like he just tells the writers “go crazy” while he just kicks back and has very little input. This marks a sharp departure from one of the core elements that made the show unique, beloved, and such a masterpiece: the characters, though animated, were always portrayed as being like real, nuanced individuals. Selman’s assertion that the characters remain unchanged is hard to take seriously, especially when many of his statements have been flagrantly false.
It almost seems like he has a habit of impulsively blurting out things without thinking, only to regret them later. Despite his long tenure with the show, he has never held this level of control before, up until a few years ago, and his lack of apparent care suggests that his motivations may not lie in the creative integrity of the series, but rather in financial gain and personal ego.
What’s even worse is that it almost feels as if Selman finds it amusing that fans invest so deeply in these characters. Now, even minor or less utilized characters are subjected to these drastic changes without any meaningful reason, and this often feels needlessly disrespectful—not just to the characters, but to the voice actors who breathe life into them, and for such a long time. Take Sarah’s situation for example—a clear indication of how little respect there is for the people behind the voices. It’s also ironic how Pamela chose to retire even after everything reverted back, but the damage had already been done, and it’s irreversible. Notice how stuff like that has all and still is occurring under Selman.
What’s next, Maggie Roswell’s characters are next in line for change or recasting, all for no discernible reason? This would be almost like a repeat—but not really necessarily, of the situation that occurred when her pay dispute with Fox led her to leave for a few years, resulting in the death of Maude—a decision that felt almost personal, though it stemmed from a network issue which than ultimately led to the show’s staff really unable to think of anything else besides killing her off, because they couldn’t find anyone that could really match her and Roswell’s other characters. While the killing off of Maude was a regrettable moment, it’s nothing compared to the disrespect seen now, especially when absolutely no reason is given. Like Sarah given a voice by some random celebrity who doesn’t even try, which ultimately defeats the purpose of voice over, unless you are playing yourself. The show, in its earlier years—even though Season 11 is more closer to the middle, would never have taken such drastic steps, particularly when it came to undermining the voice actor’s contribution to the character—limited or not, and to the audience.
In the end, it’s not just about the changes themselves, but about how these choices reflect an alarming disregard for both the characters and the people who help make the show what it is. The growing sense of disrespect for the very foundation of the series is something that fans can’t easily overlook. This is all happening under Selman, and when he became primary showrunner. It would be nice if Al Jean, or most definitely James Brooks and or Matt Groening stepped in and said this has gone to far and he needs to chill out on all these unnecessary changes. I’m sure James is also the one who allowed Selman to become role as showrunner as well.
He also transforms the show into something that it isn’t another way, that being the same kind of sappy sitcom that the show would’ve mocked opin it’s prime, though part of that could also be blamed on Omine which is why I’m probably the only person who was glad to see her involvement on the show be reduced.
I’m guessing the reason why Selman’s been able to get away with not being all that great either for so long is because when he began showrunning it was after a decade or so of Jean versus the three of four of Scully when Jean took over.
I wouldn’t be surprised if that does happen with Maggie’s characters because I’ve always been under the impression that a few people on the crew are still secretly resentful for the whole pay dispute fiasco. I mean, Luanne & Helen became nastier as time went on and more often than not Maude is only in an episode just for a cheap punchline about the fact that she’s dead.
This just in, The Simpsons has just been renewed through season 40 (Family Guy, American Dad and Bob’s Burgers also received four-season orders).
Unfortunately, this is not an April Fools joke.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/simpsons-family-guy-bobs-burgers-4-season-pickups-fox-1236179586/
Yay, four more years of fatigue . Though to be fair, of these three shows that I watch (I don’t watch Bob’s Burgers) this is the one that needs to be put to rest the least.
Assuming the show ends at season 40 (which it probably won’t), that means the show will have been HD for over half its run and the True Simpsons (seasons 1-8) will only take up one-fifth of the whole series.
Over 50% HD and 80% Zombie Simpsons.
Unbelievable.
I’ll probably end up quitting the show for good sometime during that timeframe since there’s a 50/50 of one of the six main cast members either retiring or passing and even with their characters being recast it just won’t be the same anymore.
This is pure hubris. I don’t expect this to end well.