Original airdate: November 1, 2026
The premise: In an attempt to get herself more time to take tests at school, Lisa gets herself evaluated for three different kinds of neurodivergency, as we see exemplified in side stories featuring Principal Skinner, Homer, and Comic Book Guy.
The reaction: As we learn more and more about the specificities of the neurological differences of our fellow men, this has led to people of older generations to wonder if they might have been diagnosed if we’d known then what we know now. This kind of stuff certainly wasn’t as commonly known back in the early 90s, let alone being discussed on television. So this is our neurodivergency episode where Lisa narrates different behaviors and symptoms as we see different adventures unfold with beloved Springfield residents and their conditions: Skinner gets bumped up to high school principal, but is thrown off by the radical change in routine, Homer tires his family out with his erratic ADHD pulling them in every which way, and Comic Book Guy frustrates Kumiko with his stubborn resistance to change the comic book store due to his OCD. I’m sure there are a lot of people on the spectrum who watch this show and would enjoy seeing themselves represented in this very direct manner, being called out directly in the end song (“You might see yourself in examples we gave, that make you think about how you behave!”) I certainly find it hard to be upset over someone having that kind of response. But on the other hand, this show used to be a masterclass at social satire, and there’s really nothing being said about this subject whatsoever on the subject matter that’s giving any unique insight or cleverness or anything. I’m certainly not looking for the show to dump on people with autism or whatever, but there’s really nothing of substance going on here. Each segment features Lisa reading off a different symptom or behavioral pattern, and then the character demonstrates it, and that’s it. What of each character’s personal journey? I guess you can make the case for Skinner having autism with his rigid routines and inability to detect sarcasm, but I see it more of him being an incredibly out-of-touch fuddy duddy. He realizes he can’t hack it at Springfield High after unintentionally unifying a Breakfast Club-type group in detention, but what is this saying about his condition? Same with segment two with Homer’s ADHD, flitting from one outdoor activity to the next to the annoyance of the rest of the family. As they are held in stocks at the Renaissance fair, they reflect on this (“I feel a little bad for yelling at your father for just being who he is.” “Yeah, a day with Dad can be a little challenging, but it’s never boring.”) I dunno, I feel like this is a topic I’m walking on eggshells over, but does this come off as infantilizing Homer? Like he can’t be held responsible for any of his bad behavior because that’s just how his brain works? This whole episode comes off as being fitted with kids gloves, especially when we get to the final song where everyone sings about how they all have their unique quirks and that’s okay! It’s like something out of Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue. It felt like the writers were so worried about writing about neurodivergency in any way that would come off “negative” that they swung the opposite way, being incredibly general with its portrayals and making sure everybody was as supportive and nice about it as possible. But because of this, it feels like it’s saying nothing on the subject.
Three items of note:
– When we cut to Skinner standing in the incredibly familiar library for detention, I couldn’t believe they were doing a Breakfast Club parody. It’s 2026! Who could possibly be charmed by this? Springfield High is also very much portrayed as a movie high school from the 80s, with bullies smushing kids’ faces into lunch trays and such. The Anthony Michael Hall-analogue yells, “Teenage angst!!” Could we get one of the younger writers on staff to do an episode about teenage characters? Maybe it’ll feel like something reminiscent of growing up in the last few decades.
– We get a lot of screen time from Kumiko in the final segment, but I still feel like I know next to nothing about her. Didn’t she get Comic Book Guy to agree to have a kid with her? Why not just do that? At least then they’d be forced to make a whole episode about it, although I imagine if they did, the Simpsons would be all over it and Kumiko would get like four lines. Why not try and flesh out this relationship a bit? Y’know, just for a giggle? Instead, we learn that both CBG and Kumiko have OCD and have been hiding it from each other because they’re too embarrassed. Who gives a shit? Does Kumiko work? Is she cool with living in the basement of this comic book shop for the rest of her life with a disgusting slob?
– Is it considered a joke that they got Rachel Bloom to do a voice in this episode and purposefully didn’t have her participate in the big end song? Is this their version of Paul McCartney not singing in “Lisa the Vegetarian”? Dang, made myself a little bit depressed by that comparison…
Not a good episode at all (coming from someone with autism).
Same, though I found the OCD segment to be the worst.
If there’s a term I’d use that accurately describe this episode it’d be this: Fucked from day one!
As someone who actually is neuodivergent (Autism), never once in any era of the show would this had been a good idea because I legitimately don’t believe anyone working on it past or present would’ve ever been capable enough to be handling this topic with the dignity it deserved, especially not the same writer behind Flanders’ Ladder. And well, what we got ultimately proved that their understanding of neurodiversity is so basic/flippant as it’s many used for a collection of ‘jokes’ that feel like they were rejected from FG for not being cruel enough (though a few come close mainly in Homer’s segment) that it results in the biggest piece of shit that I’ve seen all year not just from this show but in general!
I’ve already written one mega ass ripping of this episode elsewhere, but I’ll still sum up my thoughts on each segment:
Autism: The most obvious in terms of their lack of understanding this topic. The only way they could’ve made this even more blatant was if at some point they threw in the blue puzzle piece symbol that represents Autism Speaks completely oblivious of how cancerous they actually are! Also notice how never once did they ever say ‘Autism’ or ‘Autistic’, almost as if even they know how badly they screwed up here and desperately tried to save face by removing all mentions of it last minute.
ADHD: The ‘best’ of the three segments but that’s not saying much as most of it can be summed up as ‘ADHD = Stupid’ which honestly isn’t really far off from FG’s mindset of ‘All mental disorders = the ‘R’ word’!
OCD: The worst of the three and the point where the episode goes from bad to irredeemable. All of a sudden, out of nowhere Kumiko is revealed to also be OCD which makes her spout out some bullshit about how her culture considers it ‘quirky’ or however that asininely terrible line went. And just when they couldn’t sink any lower, we get a stupid song that trivializes the whole topic which goes on for what feels like a goddamn eternity and is honestly one of the worst things to come from the show in the last 10 years!
Some may try to say that at the very least this episode was ‘well intentioned’ and ‘their hearts were in the right place’. But I severely disagree as what I watched was less the former, and more something that was farted out in order to fill the episode quota even with that being shortened if we’re not counting the Disney Plus exclusives. It’s not a good sign when I can still say that Homer’s Adventures Through the Windshield Glass in comparison actually had it’s heart in the right place despite having a far more miserable ending once you stop and think about it.
At the end of the day, this is an episode where everyone is worse off for it simply existing. The fans who at best felt the execution left a lot to be desired and the actual people making the show for wasting nearly a year making something that’s an all-time low for the show depending on who you ask!