(originally aired February 10, 2002)
Well hands down, this is the best episode of the season so far, in that I didn’t want to claw my eyes out while watching it. Apart from a sloppy ending, it’s actually pretty decent, thanks in no small part to the great Jon Lovitz. They bring back an old character in a somewhat interesting way, and although they didn’t explore him as much as I’d hoped, I welcome this modern day Artie Ziff with open arms. Following the post-prom incident involving his busy hands, Artie became the fifth richest man in America, running a company that manufactures a plethora of various doo-dads. But through it all, he still harbors a deep, somewhat insanely obsessive yearning for the one that got away: Marge. Sparked by an email sent by a tipsy Marge (and punched up by her devious sisters), Artie pays Marge a visit, only to find she’s buckled down with a husband and kids. He offers she and Homer an unorthodox proposition: a million dollars to spend a weekend with Marge. Marge is initially resistant, but in dire need of cash to get a surgery to eliminate Homer’s snoring, she accepts.

I’d be surprised if Lovitz did it consciously, but I can feel a difference between this Ziff and his high school self from “The Way We Was.” Strangely it’s like an inverse of what you’d expect of a nerd: in high school, he felt more cool and collected, but here he seems more awkward and desperate. This makes sense for each story point though: “The Way We Was” has Artie be the steady pining best friend to Marge that’s in Homer’s way, but now in the present, he’s a man who seems to have it all, but is still unsatisfied. His twenty-year-old obsession with Marge seems a bit over-the-top, but I still buy it. It’s sort of like people who spends years dwelling over mistakes they made in the past and can never get over them. He may be successful financially, but it will never make him truly happy if he doesn’t move on. And in the end, he doesn’t (“Now, Homer, if there’s one thing that you should’ve learned from all this… it’s that I’m rich, rich, rich!“) But that’s okay. He’s a small man with a big ego, and I love him for it.

Artie recreates their high school prom for Marge, but she of course is not won over. So he reverts to his old standard: trying to stick his tongue down her throat. Unfortunately Homer spies on this from afar, misconstrues it, and by the time Marge returns home, he’s gone. It’s here that the episode starts to get wacky. He vows to leave Springfield and never return, along with Lenny for some reason, and the two end up on a dangerous oil rig in West Springfield. I’m all for the ending where Marge enlists Artie to save Homer, who assures him that he will never be able to buy his wife away from him, but it’s just way too silly and random that they’re on an oil rig up in flames. Lenny could care less where Homer drags him or even that he’s about to die. In the inferno he’s just standing there with a glazed look in his eyes. It’s just bizarre. But for the large part, I found myself enjoying this one. Jon Lovitz is amazing as always, and it ties in with a classic episode while still standing on its own. For an episode this late into the series, that’s quite a feat.

Tidbits and Quotes
– All the snoring bits at the beginning are okay, nothing exceptional though. The only great thing is the paper Marge gets hit with when she resorts to sleeping out on the stoop (“Sleep Important, Study Says.”)
– Nice Sex and the City parody, “Nookie in New York” (“It’s a cable show about four single women who act like gay men,”) and how Patty and Selma, like many women in America, so clearly identify with them (“This is so like our lives.” “It’s like they hid a camera in our apartment.”)
– No Jon Lovitz episode is complete without him singing, which we get twice here. First as part of his latest invention, a machine that changes the dial-up modem noise into easy-listening music (“Hey, com-puter geek, you will be connected in no time.”) Then at the end as a wonderful conclusion to the snoring problem, with Marge getting a similar device that converts Homer’s snoring to music, as well as an unwelcome live feed from Artie (“I traveled the worlds and the seven seas, I am watching you through a camera!”)
– Marge dictates her email to Artie, and Patty and Selma modify it accordingly (“Dear Artie…” “Dear Hottie…” “Congratulations on your recent TV appearance.” “I want to sex you up. Your love slave, Marge.”)
– Homer immediately becomes insecure about the illicit weekend at the bar, thinking Marge will definitely leave him for Artie (“I can’t get Artie out of my head. He’s like a spy in the House of Moe!”)
– I buy that the people of Springfield would pretend it’s the 70s for a thousand bucks. I mean, I would. And of course, Disco Stu is working pro bono. Also great is that Artie also hired Principal Dondelinger (“You’re not on the guest list, Simpson. Orders of Prom King Ziff. And have you been drinking?” “Just for twenty-five years!”)
– The Baron VonKissalot cut-away is so, so weird. It feels like a Family Guy joke, I have no idea what it’s doing here.
– Another weird third act bullet point is the further “development” of Lenny and Carl’s relationship, where basically they’re one step away from being gay lovers. Or maybe they have consummated, I don’t know. You don’t throw in stuff like Mount Carlmore without raising some questions (“I carved that one wonderful summer.” “What did Carl think?” “You know, we’ve never discussed it.”)
– The only bit I like on the oil rig is Homer’s shock when the fire starts (“Oh no! This is how Faceless Joe lost his legs!”)

(originally aired January 27, 2002)
These reviews are getting harder and harder to start off. At some point I might just forgo trying to come up with an opening statement and just jump into the episode. It’s not like there are any overarching themes or interesting character stuff to talk about, these episodes are mostly just a bunch of stuff that happens. Here’s how this one starts: the Simpsons attend a gay pride parade. Then they go to a movie. That’s it. There’s literally no connection between the two, they leave the parade and show up at the theater without even mentioning it. It may not seem like a big deal, but it just makes me feel like the first two minutes I just watched was worthless since they couldn’t have been bothered to connect it to anything. It’s like it was lifted from another episode. Also the parade stuff itself is so unfunny and makes no sense. First, I don’t know any parades that go down a residential street. Second, Homer’s behavior. At first he’s very enthused by the parade, even giving a “Woo-hoo!” but then we see that he’s kind of nervous and uncomfortable by the floats. Characters have changed drastically from scene to scene before, but I can’t remember them changing mid-scene. It’s like they’re not even paying attention, or caring. And look, I blew this whole paragraph on the first fucking two minutes of the episode.

Let’s skip to the main plot. Homer makes a ruckus at the theater and is chased out by ushers. For some reason they continue chasing him even when they’ve gotten him out of the building, and Homer runs face-first into the fist of the newly christened statue of Drederick Tatum. His jaw busted, Homer must have it wired shut in order for it to heal, keeping him completely mute, and worst of all, unable to eat solid foods. Now, at this point I’m glad, because this looks to be an episode where Homer won’t be screaming. Unable to speak, Homer ends up becoming a pretty good listener, much to the delight of the family. Marge even feels confident enough that they can go to the formal ball at the country club. Which they do, with people like Mr. Burns and the wealthy dowager there. What is this event? How did they get tickets? A prior episode showed that the Simpsons were complete outsiders, financially and socially, from the high and mighty social elite at the country club, now all of a sudden they can get in with ease and rub elbows with the elite. It’s like stuff like this doesn’t matter anymore, just do whatever the story calls for, do it, regardless if it makes sense.

When Homer gets his wires removed, Marge fears he will revert back to his normal self, but the changes actually stick. They even end up on a The View-style show somehow to talk about Homer’s transformation. Marge complains that the old Homer was a complete glutton, and it’s not exactly addressed or explained why Homer doesn’t go back to eating a lot. But anyway, the weeks drag on and Marge finds herself completely bored without Homer causing some wacky, dangerous schemes for her to clean up. This whole conceit is very disturbing as it further clinches Homer’s new “character,” the reckless impulsive maniac as revealed in “Lost Our Lisa.” Here, we see he’s even forgone entering the demolition derby. Why would Homer want to participate in the derby? Real Homer would be sitting on his ass, drinking beer, and whooping it up in the stands, or watching on TV at home, not risking his life in the pit itself. So Marge enters the derby, wanting some excitement in her life, something she immediately regrets, and Homer has to save her by going back to his old reckless self. We end with Marge saying the family needs its live wire. Of all the fucking things I’d call Homer, “live wire” is not one of them. Homer is a lazy, lazy, lazy man, not Captain Daredevil as the writers apparently think he is now.

Tidbits and Quotes
– The only good thing at the gay pride parade was this bit between the marchers and Lisa (“We’re here! We’re queer! Get used to it!” “You do this every year! We are used to it.” “Spoilsport!”) Then we have the bit with Smithers and Patty on a float hidden “in the closet.” The subtly for Smithers’s sexuality is basically gone at this point, but I guess Patty’s been officially outed. But what a lame way to do it. Go back to “Treehouse of Horror III,” where Homer runs naked through the kitchen, and Patty comments, “There goes the last lingering thread of my heterosexuality.” Classic.
– The movie theater pre-roll jumble at the theater is pretty good (“Otm Shank. He is India’s answer to Brian Dennehy.”)
– I don’t know what to think about the Soccer Mummy trailer and the bit with him getting a boner. The joke is that this is a terrible gag from a bad movie, but the movie they’re presenting looks like a family film, since it’s about a downtrodden little kid (with an adult voice, for some reason) and this supernatural being who’s helping him achieve his dreams. So what’s a sex joke doing in there? Again, no thought put into this.
– Why do the ushers keep chasing Homer outside? I worked at a movie theater, believe me, no one gave that much of a shit. No fucking way a staff of unqualified teens is going to go above and beyond the call of duty like that.
– The “So Your Life Is Ruined” pamphlet is basically reused from “I Married Marge,” except it was much funnier in regards to a pregnancy than having ones jaw wired shut for a few weeks. And then there’s a conveniently labeled suicide machine in Hibbert’s office for some reason. Okay.
– The scene at the bar with Duffman is alright (“Newsweek said you died of liver failure.” “Duffman can never die, only the actors who play him!”) The quiz is so unbelievably stupid, but that’s kind of the point, so I don’t mind.
– Here’s a scene that bothers me: Homer listens to Lisa’s complaints. She talks about a tiff she had with Ralph playing four-square, and how he basically ignored the rules because he’s a dumb kid. Considering how adult the writers make Lisa, you’d think she’d know that he’s special needs and not get so upset, but whatever. What bothers me most is what Homer thinks when he hugs his daughter: “Maybe a hug will cork her cry-hole.” What an awful thing to say. Or think, in this case. It made me think of one of the greatest Homer lines, “Just because I don’t care doesn’t mean I don’t understand,” which shows how he can be unintentionally offensive and misguided. “Maybe a hug will shut my daughter the fuck up” is different, it’s just mean.
– The only really funny line in the show comes from Grampa, following one of his long-winded stories (“Anyway, ‘long story short,’ is a phrase whose origins are complicated and rambling.”)
– We have Homer trying to tell Marge he’s horny, Moe on the phone with an escort wanting to be taken to “Orgasm-ville,” and Homer at the derby yelling, “Quit banging my wife!” I dunno, am I being too sensitive? I just don’t think this kind of humor fits with this show. I get they’re trying to chase after the current comedy trends of the early 2000s of being more risqué, but these jokes feel so uncomfortable.
– Homer and Marge go on “Afternoon Yak” to talk about Homer’s transformation. And they bring a clip with them of Homer making ostrich burgers, meaning he’s got ostriches in his backyard and he’s going to beat them to death to make burgers out of them. This bit kind of broke my brain. As if this show wasn’t further removed from reality, this shot it even more so. I can’t even be bothered to comment, who out there can tell me this bit, hell this episode, made any sense at all or was funny?
– Homer saves Marge by becoming Popeye, but at that point I don’t really care. Though there’s one exchange at the end that is so incredibly indicative of the outlook of the writers (“Isn’t it great to have the old Dad back?” “I thought you liked the new Dad.” “Whatever.”) There it is. If the writers can’t even be bothered to care about whether their show is good or makes sense, why should we?

(originally aired January 20, 2002)
I think I need some medication or something, every episode this season so far has infuriated me in some way. I’ve got to calm down if I’m going to make it through eight (!) more of these. These few Al Jean episodes are just as bad as Scully’s, if not worse in some respects, but I can’t entirely place why. Maybe because it feels like they’re trying harder to be meaningful episodes with a point, but couldn’t fail harder at it. Despite having a consistent plot, this episode felt like an endless string of sketches that happened to have a story around it. By the end, I felt like I had watched nothing at all. We start at a library book sale where Homer comes upon the Duff Book of World Records. After exhausting everyone with reading off different records, he decides he want to make his own, but finds out the World Records council will only accept those done as a group. So Homer gets the entire town of Springfield together, somehow, to participate in the world’s largest human pyramid. Okay, sure, it’s a bit of a stretch, but Springfield is filled with a bunch of rubes like Homer that would love to have a record to their name, so I get it. Then the pyramid collapses, and the entire town forms a gigantic rolling ball that careens down the street. Honestly, how can I comment about this? I already had my aneurysm for the day, I’m not going to trigger it again.

The human ball lands on a truck weigh station scale, where the people of Springfield earn their record after all, as the World’s Fattest Town. Everyone is pretty psyched about this, save Marge, who is upset about the state of the townspeople’s health. She pays a visit to Garth Motherloving, owner of the local sugar manufacturer, to plead with him to rethink his business, but he’ll have none of it. Garth is voiced by Ben Stiller, and I’m glad they gave him an interesting comic character to play. Oh wait, never mind, he’s just a generic evil corporate head who does things because he’s evil. Another celebrity wasted. So Marge gathers signatures in order to file a class action suit against the company. Things appear to maybe get interesting when Professor Frink gives Marge a tip-off, and then testifies in court about the addictiveness of his top-secret sugar plan for Motherloving… but then that’s it. No interesting twist. I would’ve even gone for something stupid at this point. In the end, Judge Snyder rules in favor of Marge, and has all sugar products banned from the town.

It doesn’t take long before the entire town goes through sugar withdrawal, one of the worst being Homer. Eventually he falls into a secret group consisting of Mr. Burns, Motherloving, Apu and Count Fudgula, scheming to get sugar back to Springfield. Even though they could easily smuggle it from across the town borders, instead they have to go off shore to the island of San Glucose. Maybe it’s because they got it free of charge (“Okay, man, here’s the sugar. Now you give us the money.” “That wasn’t part of the deal!” “…he’s right. Who wrote this thing?”) Then it becomes wacky Homer antics as he goes with them on the boat, falling back off the boat and completing the deal. Why did they need him for this? Couldn’t Apu have done this? Or maybe Count Fudgula could have bitten them, because apparently he’s a real vampire. Or at least a deranged man who thinks he is. I want to see an episode about him. But, not really. Anyway, this whole third act is essentially Homer going behind Marge’s back and breaking the law to pull this con, but it’s never addressed. He ends up dumping the sugar to appease her, but the fact that he betrayed her in the first place is never brought up. He just reassures her with a paltry line, they kiss, Snyder shows up to revert things back to the status quo, and that’s the end. It just all felt so empty and meaningless, traits that would carry through the Jean years for many seasons. At least the Scully episodes evoked some kind of response.

Tidbits and Quotes
– Some of the library stuff is alright: Comic Book Guy buys Leonard Nimoy’s books, Dr. Nick’s complete shock at a real medical journal, and Cletus feeding his pigs torn up, unsold books. Then Marge shows Homer the Duff record book. When Bart asks why Duff would put out a book at all, Lisa pipes in, “It was originally published to settle arguments in taverns.” Now, why would she know that? How could she know that? It’s a small line, but feels telling to me, that now Lisa is just the know-it-all, and any time we need something explained or narrated, they’ll have her say it, regardless if it makes sense.
– Seeing Homer do a wacky dance before the Duff judges is absolutely painful. Then he grabs a banjo and cobra that he’s seemingly brought with him. He couldn’t be more removed from reality at this point. He is Captain Wacky now.
– I like Homer’s blueprints for the human pyramid: just a big triangle.
– The various products at the Kwik-E-Mart are great: Sugar, Free Donuts, Honey-Glazed Cauliflower, and Choco-Blasted Baby Aspirin.
– “Why don’t you file a class-action suit?” “Oh, yeah, like Erin Brockovich.” “The prostitute with a heart of gold.” Similar to the Lisa thing earlier, how would Bart know who Erin Brockovich is? I don’t buy it.
– There’s some nice bits of Marge going door-to-door, best of all being Disco Stu, who proceeds to do lines of sugar before boogie-ing down to “More More More” on a sugar high. It would have been funnier if he actually inhaled the stuff, but no way they could get away with that.
– Garth snapping in court and claiming he’ll kill everybody feels like such a hollow imitation of Freddy Quimby doing the same in “The Boy Who Knew Too Much.”
– After the sugar ban, the police burn all the sweets in town. They try to throw in some Butterfingers, but they’re not even singed (“Even the fire doesn’t want them.”) Butterfinger ended their contract with the show in 2001, so I guess this was their shot back at them. This show has always bit the hand that feeds, but this kind of felt really petty. Plus Butterfingers are delicious, fuck all y’all.
– Act three really is just a tour-de-force of stupid Homer shit: consciously licking a puddle of blood and Vapo-Rub, landing backwards on the lower deck, then on a whale, trying to use reverse-psychology on a bird, and “marking” his share of the sugar. Then he has a high-speed boat chase with the police, which is not tense at all or funny. Oh yeah, and Bart’s there too for some reason. Not really sure why.
– “Now that I think of it, I wildly exceeded my authority, and I declare the sugar ban over.” That’s how we resolve the story. That little thought was put into it. It’s the writers basically saying, “Oops,” and throwing that line in to fix the problem.

(originally aired January 6, 2002)
We’re two episodes in and I’ve already given up hope of anything improving under the Jean era. Even as an indiscriminate teen who gave most episodes a pass, I remember not liking this one, mostly for its third act. But there’s a big fundamental issue here, one I hope I can articulate into words, something that really rubs me the wrong way, and seems incredibly telling of the show’s new sensibilities. As the first episode produced in this production season, if this episode is who they think the Simpson family is, we’re in for a long, long road ahead… We start with our tangential opening where the Republican party repeals all environmental laws. The headquarters is in the same spooky castle as “Sideshow Bob Roberts,” but any shred of subtlety that was once there is gone, with Burns directly asking what evil schemes the Republicans have up their sleeves. No real motives, just good old fashioned evil-doings. And Smithers is there, despite what we saw in “Roberts.” And how could they push these laws with the Democratic Quimby in office? We’re two minutes in and I’m already exhausted.

Hazardous smoke levels create a downpour of acid rain. With a dramatic swell of music, we think that this may be important. But nope, it’s just the catalyst for the Simpsons to stay inside and play Monopoly. How do we make this leap? The environmental story is ten times more interesting than what plays out, and it’s dropped completely. A petty squabble over the board game turns into a huge fight with the family, for some reason. A fight that seemingly is continuous for a good hour or so before the police arrive and use their negotiator robot to trap them in a giant wad of taffy. I don’t even need to comment on some of this stuff anymore; writing out the summary just highlights the shittiness by itself. A social worker, Gabriel, is assigned to help the Simpsons be a family again. But here’s the problem: the Simpsons have always been a loving family. Despite their squabbles and tiffs, they’ve always appreciated one another and been rather close-knit. Seeing them pushed to the point where they seem like a broken family feels disheartening and weird. The problems that are illuminated are ever present, but are played in an incredibly sad, unfunny light. So when Gabriel has them do their outdoor exercise, I believe the family would be able to figure it out. Instead, we have Homer acting like a wild man and bashing a tree over with his car. It just doesn’t work.

Anyway, here’s the horrible third act. Just as the family seems to have been repaired, who should reappear but Amber and Ginger, the two cocktail waitresses Homer and Ned married in “Viva Ned Flanders.” Now, there’s so many problems with this, starting with the fact that I never wanted to see these characters ever again. Second, it’s so out of left field, and especially so to those who haven’t seen that episode. Then it suddenly becomes a whole new story where Homer must deal with having two wives, it has nothing to do with the family working through a problem since this incident was all Homer’s fault. The ending of “Viva” was so sloppy and preposterous, like a terrible gag extended five minutes, but at least it was treated as such. Here, the idea of Homer’s second wife is almost given some seriousness, with Lisa and Bart talking to their “Vegas Mom” and Ned embracing his new wife because that’s what God would have wanted. Then apropos of nothing, Marge not only forgives Homer, but concocts an elaborate scheme with him: get Amber drunk and have her marry Abe. So they basically pull the same dirty trick the waitresses did to Homer and Ned, but doing it back to them is okay. And the Simpsons did it as a family, so yay, togetherness! The others turn on a dime in favor of the lecherous monster Homer, and everything turns out fine. Disjointed, unfunny, outlandish and crude, this episode is many things, but most egregious of all is its handling the Simpson family. We’ve seen many characters be pushed in awful directions over the last few seasons, but this is the first we’ve seen where the whole family, the crux of the entire series, be pushed and pulled with no regard for who these characters are or how they interact. Our once loving family has been reduced to ruin, then put back into place within the last two minutes for no particular reason. I actually find that more offensive than any of the Mike Scully stuff. Could this be the worst episode ever? I dunno, maybe.

Tidbits and Quotes
– How could they go so far as showing a catastrophic storm of acid rain and never mention it ever again? All we get out of it is this “hysterical” sequence: the rain melts the TV antenna, thus killing the reception. Homer screams bloody murder, then runs outside, and screams again upon feeling the acid rain. Runs back inside, sees the TV, screams. Runs back outside… and so on. Dan Castallenata’s vocal cords gets another workout.
– One of the only good bits from the episode is hearing the different types of Monopoly, including Rasta-Mon-opoly and Edna Krabapp-oly. Marge decides to stick with the original version (“The game’s crazy enough as it is. How can an iron be a landlord?”)
– The dialogue during the Monopoly game feels weird to me (“I’d like to trust you, Homer, but you’ve been in jail three times.” “They told me it would be like this on the outside.”) Homer’s not play-acting, so is the gag that he thinks it’s real? I don’t know. Plus how could Bart have put down fake hotels without anyone noticing? Although it looks like he’s the banker. I don’t know, I just think they could have had a better instigator for this story than this… Or not do it at all. That would also have worked.
– Homer joins his son in childishly taunting his daughter about not getting into an Ivy league school. He basically becomes Bart Sr. if the scene or joke warrants it.
– How fucking dumb is Homer that he thinks Gabriel is an actual angel? He’s stupid, but this is just too much.
– During the family exercise, Homer snaps and backs his car into the giant tree repeatedly, which falls forward towards him. Very slowly. We see Gabriel under it, who just stands there and doesn’t move. He gets caught in the branches, then the tree falls down a slope we never saw before into a chasm. Okay. Then the family comes up with a plan. Someone will go down to the tree and secure Gabriel in a harness to pull him up, and someone else drives the car to pull them to safety. Let’s have Homer do the complicated part, his extra hundred pounds won’t be a hindrance at all. And because Marge twists her “driving ankle,” Bart has to drive. She couldn’t have used her other foot? So really, only Homer and Bart saved the day, the Simpson women did nothing. Brilliant.
– “You know, we’ve been through some 280 adventures together, but our bond has never been stronger.” “Yep, our family is as functional as all get-out.” “Could this be the end of our series… of events?” Why must you tease me like this…
– Judge Harm reappears, which is annoying. Then we have discussion of “mouth-whoopie,” Homer’s lust-filled string of double entendres while Amber makes him a sandwich… so disgusting and wrong. With no home to go to, Homer crawls into the doghouse, gets it stuck on his head, and runs around like a maniac. Marge looks out the window at this and smiles admirably. This surely is one of the most pathetic things she’s ever seen, and this is why she forgives her husband. What?!

(originally aired December 16, 2001)
So here it is. Having run seasons 3 and 4 with Mike Reiss, and been a core member since the show’s beginning, Al Jean takes over as show runner. He’s remained in the position to this day, over ten seasons now, whereas all previous show runners had two, and Mike Scully having four. Now, a changing of the guard really does a series good; a Dave Mirkin show has a different feel than a Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein one, each run having a different strike at a tone. Hell, even Mike Scully shows have a distinct feel to them. What I get on the whole from Jean’s run is a general airless quality, a stagnation, if you will. There will be some alright episodes, and some terrible ones, but many of them will fall in the painfully average territory. This first outing definitely qualifies, though there are more specific things I dislike than like here. We start with Homer helping Bart build a model rocket, which ends up careening off course and crashing into the church. Are there any repercussions to this? Is Homer held responsible to pay off the massive amount of damage? Nope! We’re at the end of act one and my hope for change from Jean is fading already.

Who will step up and save the church? Why, Mr. Burns… of course? He intends to run the house of worship like a business, with Lindsay Naegle assisting, selling ad space and product placement in the church. Why the hell is Burns involved in this? I have absolutely no clue. It would work so much better to just have it be Naegle alone representing some conglomerate company, then the church can be like a subsidiary of Big Business, Inc. or something. All the Burns stuff is painful here. As I mentioned in “A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love,” when they’re not writing Burns as pathetically limp and feeble, he’s cartoonishly evil Burns, who does despicable, undermining things simply because he’s eeeeeeeviiilll. The new sensationalized church couldn’t be more sacrilegious, and it’s enough to cause Lisa to break down and leave in a huff, vowing never to return. She goes on a spiritual quest to find a new faith, finally landing upon Buddhism, with thanks to Lenny, Carl, and special guest star Richard Gere, who is looked upon in the holiest of lights. I guess at this point I really need to stop complaining about celebrities continuously showing up in Springfield to be fawned over for no reason, since it will never, ever stop. Ever.

What pulls this episode below being just average is the bitterness of the third act. Marge is concerned for her daughter’s soul, and enlists the help of the church to get her back to Christianity. I get where Marge is coming from to some degree, but in a lot of scenes she just comes off petty, almost cruel to her poor daughter. Eavesdropping on her prayers, insisting it’s just a phase, tossing out freshly made Christmas cookies in the garbage in front of her face, it all feels very mean spirited, and very un-Marge behavior. Then in the end, it’s not Marge who learns a lesson, but Lisa, who tells the family that she can still worship with them, but in her own way. If that’s what you were going for, what not make the episode more like “Lisa the Vegetarian” and have Lisa be more militant with her new faith? Instead Marge is clearly in the wrong, and remains stubborn and closed-minded until the very end. It kind of bummed me out, which is definitely not a good thing for your Christmas episode.

Tidbits and Quotes
– Homer enlists the college nerds to help assemble the working rocket. Then he proceeds to force them, and Milhouse, to leave during the launch, which really rubbed me the wrong way. He’s supposed to be friends with them, but now he’s a big jerkass, get those fucking nerds out of here after I’ve exploited their hard work.
– Nibbles the hamster from “Skinner’s Sense of Snow” makes a triumphant re-appearance. And his “wife” is dressed like Jackie O. Whatever.
– Nice bit between Lindsay Naegle and Lisa (“The old church was skewing pious. We prefer a faith-based emporium teeming with impulse buy items.” “I feel like I want to throw up.” “Then my work is done.”)
– Why is Burns wasting his time monitoring Lovejoy’s sermon? Doesn’t he have a nuclear fucking power plant to run? I honestly just don’t understand why he’s in this episode at all.
– I like the dramatic nature of this heated exchange between Lovejoy and Lisa (“Lisa, it’s still the same basic message, we’ve just dressed it up a little.” “Like the Whore of Babylon?” “That is a false analogy.” “No, it’s not. It’s apt. Apt!”)
– As a cartoon villain, Burns announces he’s keeping all the church profits for himself, laughs manically and attempts to disappear in a puff of smoke. When he doesn’t disappear as he intended, he just tosses the stack of money on the table and leaves. Would Burns ever do something like that?
– The fact that Marge and the other churchgoers are so petty in their attempts to win Lisa back really puts a sour spin on the ending. Lovejoy outside the window waiting for Lisa to take the candy cane comes off as creepy, and meanwhile Lisa is the one who makes a realization at the end, not anyone else. It’s the complete opposite of where it feels like they should have been going.
– All the Lenny/Carl/Gere stuff is pretty limp. We also get what I believe is the first Moe committing suicide “gag” of the series. He had his head in an oven at the end of “Grift of the Magi,” but that was for the purposes of the It’s a Wonderful Life parody, but this episode started this hilarious new character trait of Moe wanting to kill himself. Comedy gold! Now, even suicide can be made funny (I can think of several examples from “South Park”), but this show just doesn’t have it in it.