(originally aired April 9, 2000)
So here we have our last of the “big change” episodes of this season, where Barney finally sobers up. And like all the other changes, it barely had any effect on the rest of the series. Barney was still always planted at Moe’s, only now they rotated in a less dissolved character design for him and gave him a coffee mug in place of a beer stein. And then a few seasons later he was off the wagon. So forget about the “impact” of this episode because there isn’t one, we’ll take it as its own story. I do feel like it could have been a lot worse… but similarly feel it could be a lot better too. So rock bottom for Barney is when he sees videotape of his birthday party, which he doesn’t remember, where he gets absolutely plastered, per usual. Seeing this footage horrifies him, and he vows to give up drinking. In its place, he challenges himself to take up helicopter lessons. It isn’t long before he and Homer have a falling out regarding Barney lamenting all the time he wasted at Moe’s, and the two must patch things up before show’s end.

To be honest, this isn’t really a story I cared much about seeing. It took us eleven seasons to come up with the concept that the town drunk should go sober? Maybe they thought it would tread over the same ground as “Duffless.” And now I have to compare this to that great episode now. Alcohol is Barney’s whole life, being drunk is his primary character trait. If done in an interesting way, taking that away from him could be interesting, to give him a whole new side of his personality. Bring back the academic Barney we’ve seen in flashbacks, but with a twist. Here, we barely see Barney actually struggling with wanting a beer. Compare this with the incredible suffering Homer had all throughout “Duffless.” Speaking of, Homer is all over this episode, and serves only to distract and annoy. A killer scene is when he and Barney have their falling out in the helicopter, where Homer basically acts like a petulant child. Barney explains to Homer that while he’ll always cherish his memories at Moe’s, he’d rather not spend his days getting smashed beyond belief. Homer’s reaction? “Oh, so you’re better than me, is that it!” He then tells Barney to take him home or he’ll scream, and runs upstairs crying like a little girl once home. It’s always good to make your hero a petty, insufferable baby, right?

Though there’s plenty of material you could have gotten from the A-story, the writers ran low I guess, so we have a B-story of Bart and Lisa going around town trying to find the perfect picture to enter to be the new Springfield phone book cover. It’s amusing enough as filler, but in the end it intertwines with the main story when the two are caught in a wildfire, and it’s up to Barney and his helicopter to save the day. The climax is a bit over the top, but dramatic enough. I do like the stupidness of how Barney almost relapses, and how Homer takes one for the team, and how touched Barney is (“You brave man. You took six silver bullets for me!”) With any other character, it wouldn’t work, but with Barney, who knows beer better than anyone, he knows the impact and the danger it has. So here I am once more at another impasse: an episode that’s sort of middle of the road. There are a few bits that I did enjoy about it, but the plot really could have been expounded on more to give us more insight into Barney and his addiction. Instead we got lots of dumb Homer jokes. Plus knowing the writers would do nothing with sober Barney, the feeling of it all being for naught lingers over this episode. So yeah, nothing special, but nothing horrible either.

Tidbits and Quotes
– The opening with Homer and the tiki god is absolute garbage, just more of him being an idiotic child. So he redirects the gas line, and ends up catching it on fire. He darts off to Moe’s as the fire is crawling down the line. The whole house could have caught on fire, perhaps triggered a reaction from something inside, and caused an explosion. Homer running from a raging fire at his home stranding his wife and children? Classic comedy!
– Great bit of Moe’s other videotape, desperately waiting for a mysterious package to be slipped through the mail slot. I can only imagine what filthy, awful thing he’s got in there…
– Carl’s “morning-after” stationary is fantastic (“I’m deeply sorry for…”)
– Act two we see Barney cleaning out his apartment of all liquor bottles and beer ephemera, going to start his life anew. Then he slides down a fireman’s pole into Moe’s, asking for a beer. Easy joke, yeah, but he lives above Moe’s? We’ve see the building hundreds of times, and it’s very clear there’s only one story. They could have just done a smash cut from Barney at the mirror to him rushing into Moe’s. It’s just another example of the mentality of, hey, we’ll throw this gag in here, who cares if it makes no sense or not?
– I like the asshole announcer for the phone book contest flashing the mailing address on the screen for mere seconds. Searching for a camera, Bart and Lisa check the elusive closet in the foyer, which is chock full of callbacks to previous episodes, from the Mr. Plow jacket to the town crier hat and bell.
– Nice shot of the Play-Doh factory. Feels like a good ol’ classic gag.
– Barney returns to Moe’s to make amends for his misdeeds (“I broke bar stools, befouled your broom closet, and made sweet love to your pool table, which I then befouled.” “Well, that would explain the drop-off in play.”)
– Firetrucks would be putting out the wildfire, but are all being used for Burt Reynold’s latest movie. Reynolds himself explains (“I play Jerry ‘Fireball’ Mudflap, a feisty Supreme Court justice searching for his birth mother while competing in a cross-country firetruck race. It’s… garbage.”)
– Even Barney’s new coffee addiction could have been expounded upon more than just a quick joke at the finale. It’s a good observation of how one could jump from one addiction to another, where the problem isn’t so much the substance itself, but one’s dependency on it. I think that kind of thinking might be too much for the show at this point though…

(originally aired March 19, 2000)
It almost seems unfair that this episode must inevitably be compared to “Lisa’s Wedding,” one of the greatest, perhaps the most touching episodes the series has ever done. But that’s the risk you run when you return to the well, I suppose. Certainly the writers can take another stab at interpreting the future of the Simpsons, go in a different direction and explore the family in a different time, place and mental state decades down the road. It may not be on the level of “Wedding,” but it could have been its own unique enjoyable experience. Or, we can get this episode, which is unimaginably lazy and completely devoid of anything interesting or funny to say about the future, or anything else for that matter. Our road to the vision of the future is even clunky; while “Wedding” spent time setting up the Renaissance fair, as well as Homer and Lisa’s strained relationship, this episode shifts gears on a dime to an Indian casino, where Bart ends up getting caught sneaking in by the management. The casino manager is then prompted to show Bart a vision of what his future holds if he does not change his bad boy ways.

Future Bart is a wanna-be musician and worthless bum, living with Ralph in a shitty bungalow by the sea. When they are booted from said residence, and all other attempts at mooching off loved ones proves fruitless, Bart is left with one option: move in with and incessantly bother Lisa, President of the United States seeking re-election. It makes for a great story when your main character is a pathetic loser who aggravates everyone for the entire running time, receives an unearned “success” at the end and learns nothing. Plus, what a boring interpretation of Bart. A slacker who still has his ten-year-old mentality? The Bart in “Wedding” makes a lot more sense. Hell, him as a Supreme Court Justice makes more sense than the Bart we have here. It’s just plain sad to see him like this. Everyone else is just as much of a bore. Lisa as President? Again, unoriginal and improbable characterization. And to pad the story out more, we’ll have Homer search for Lincoln’s gold. Brilliant work, guys.

Everything in this episode just feels lazy and off. Not only have none of the characters matured, but neither have their voices. Bart, Ralph and Milhouse in particular still sound like kids. Think back to the great voice Nancy Cartwright did for Bart in “Wedding.” What happened? I guess they figured it would be too much work. The future technology is not funny and too outlandish, providing no interesting or telling views for life in the future like “Wedding” did. …yeah, this whole review has just been comparisons to the other future episode, but what do you propose I do? The differences are clear as day how one is brilliant and the other is crap. “Wedding” created a vision of the future that was believable, both in terms of where we see the characters and of the universe it created and what societal differences there would be based on trends in our present. In this episode, it’s all just characters doing wacky things and old future jokes we’ve seen so many times before (Soylent Green! Outrageous!) Putting aside the comparison to the transcendent “Wedding,” this episode is just abysmal. It really felt like they were sleepwalking through it.

Tidbits and Quotes
– How the Simpsons get to the casino is really astonishing. They turn back from the insect-overrun campground, there’s a brief pause in the car, then Bart announces impromptu, “Hey, look, a casino!” Homer immediately turns in, and there we are. I guess the impulsive nature of it is supposed to be the point, but it was just so fast and random. It just felt like they had no idea how to segue and just gave up.
– I guess I should address the return of Gabbo and Arthur Crandall. Or maybe I won’t, since there really isn’t anything to say about it other than it’s there.
– This future world doesn’t strike me from the start. Ralph rooming with Bart? I mean, realistically, I feel Ralph will need to be living with assistance since he’s mentally handicapped. But why have him in the episode at all? We don’t get into what his job is or what his future is like, he’s just there. It would have made more sense if Bart was mooching off Milhouse, who could have had a lucrative job and maybe a girlfriend or wife who convinced him to kick him out, then that starts the plot moving. I’d buy that. But instead, we have Milhouse as Lisa’s secretary for some Godforsaken reason. And Kearney’s part of the secret service? What? It’s like they desperately needed these familiar characters to fall back on rather than develop some new material that could stand on its own
– Future Bart really is just obnoxious. Seeing him bilk a blind Flanders out of more money is really disheartening. As is the cheap joke of making Rod and Todd gay.
– I guess the fanboy in me likes that Nelson’s outfit is kind of fitted like Biff’s from Back to the Future Part II. And I buy him as a sleazy nightclub owner. But then for no reason in the third act, he’s there with Bart at Camp David.
– There’s very, very little positive I can say about this episode, but I like this exchange explaining why the country is broke (“Remember when the last administration decided to invest in our nation’s children? Big mistake.” “The balanced breakfast program just created a generation of ultra-strong super-criminals.” “And midnight basketball taught them to function without sleep.”)
– The air of not giving a shit is so strong in this episode. The other Simpsons just appear in the White House for no reason, Bart manages to barge in on Lisa’s live address, and everywhere else for that matter. There’s also the scene where Homer axes through the floor, revealing he’s right above the Oval Office, which makes no sense, then our next scene starts with an expansive shot of said office, where we see the ceiling is completely intact. Amazing.
– Bart really is awful in this episode, almost effectively blowing Lisa’s re-election chances. Then he’s handled with kid gloves until the very end, where he “saves the day” by stalling the world’s leaders saying they’ve sent checks out to them. Even though that makes absolutely no sense and only “solves” the problem in the most temporary of ways. Lisa would have been better off accepting Kearney’s secret murder plan.
– The only other bit I like is the Chinese representative (“You pay now! Now!” “What happened to you, China? You used to be cool.” “Hey, China still cool! You pay later! Later!”) It’s not particularly funny, but it’s an amusing performance, and something I quoted with friends quite a lot for one reason or another.

(originally aired February 27, 2000)
After the last few clunkers, this episode is surprisingly a breath of fresh air. A solid enough story, nice characterization, humorous set pieces and gags… I thoroughly enjoyed a fair amount of this show. The beginning at Duff Days was really fabulous, not only as an opening gag fest, but it had a cynical, inappropriate edge that the show does best, from the barbed wire fence holding the sober guests and the glorification of getting kids drunk via a simulator. I don’t even mind Homer’s fake fire drill at the beginning, it feels more like a bonehead plan born out of his rampant enthusiasm for the event than him being a total jerk. The highlight of the festival is a bartending contest, hosted by the grand reintroduction of Duffman. Introduced right at the end of the Oakley/Weinstein era, Duffman feels like the last classic character, and I absolutely love him here, a bombastic, mindless corporate shill. Some of his best lines come from this episode (“Duffman can’t breathe! Oh no!”)

Moe competes and wins the competition, with the prize of having his face on the new Duff calendar. Put off by his ugly mug, the powers that be at Duff release the calendar with multiple stickers covering his face. This puts things in perspective for Moe, pondering whether he’s really that hideous. I feel this characterization of Moe of being a pathetic insecure mess to be pitied has been stretched further and further in later seasons, but here it still feels genuine, as you get a fair blend of the innocent and the bitter anger. Moe opts for plastic surgery, which gives him a glorious new handsome visage. What then? Find everyone who wronged him in his past and rub it in their faces, which feels like a true petty thing Moe would do. His last stop is at the local television studio, who turned him down for a soap opera role back in his acting days. And wouldn’t you know, he ends up getting hired for the exact part he tried out for when the current actor gives the producers too much grief. That’s some great timing, huh?

I like the bits we see of “It Never Ends,” but I feel like what little we saw of Springfield’s other soap “Search for the Sun” in the past ripped on soaps a whole lot better. It’s later in the third act when the story starts to go awry. It feels like they wrote themselves to this late point and realized they had to wrap it up and panicked. Moe gets a delivery in his hands, a book conveniently labeled “Future Plot Lines,” and is shocked to find that they’re killing off his character. To get even, Moe has Homer sabotage the show as an “angel from the future” and reveal the premise of future scripts live on the air. Why would they broadcast a soap opera live? And why would the executives allow this? It just feels like an all-together rushed ending. And while it makes no sense for Moe’s face to turn back to normal after a gigantic wall falls on it, I’m not so bothered by it, since you know he’s going to be back to normal by the end anyway. Perhaps there could have been a better reason for it, but it’s not terrible. So despite some hiccups with the ending, I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. A pretty solid episode.

Tidbits and Quotes
– The Duff Days set piece is everything something like the skiing opening of “Little Big Mom” is not: consistently funny. From the front gates with Surly Duff (“Drink Duff! …responsibly,”) the internment camp-esque Duff Designated Drivers’ Rockin’ Fun Zone (“When we get home, there’s going to be a lot of opened pickle jars,”) surly robot Babe Ruth facing down surly robot Ben Franklin, and a tipsy Bart and Milhouse (“This guy… this is the guy…”) All funny, and on point about the questionable nature of the festival.
– Moe’s other two contestants are perfectly indicative of other bartender stereotypes: Michael Finn, the burly Irishman, and Titania, the Hooters-type waitress with a sizable chest. Or as Moe casually refers to them as, “the Mick and the chick with the rack.” The competition is great as well. Trick pouring easily goes to Titania, who overflows two taps as her natural assets bounce up and down. The quiz round goes to Titania as well, despite her not knowing the answer. By round three, it’s obvious there’s some jury tampering (“You said if I slept with you, I wouldn’t have to touch the drunk!” “Duffman says a lot of things! Oh yeah!”)
– The little running “plot line” with the pink elephant balloon is sort of empty, but an amusing time waster. The balloon itself is another great small detail from the fair, and the payoff is pretty good of it ending up at the gay Republican headquarters. Lisa receives a bumper sticker for her efforts (“‘A Gay President in 2084?'” “We’re realistic.”) In all honestly, where we are now, that feels like a little too soon.
– Another slight sore spot in this episode is Homer. Shocking, right? The writers seem to love making him an impulsive madman at this point: stealing money from Moe’s cash register, throwing a rock through a woman’s window, giddily dousing the soap opera set with kerosene. He’s like a big kid desperate for screen time in another man’s story. Those three instances were basically it, but they stand out as blights to this episode to me.
– We get a re-use of a classic Dr. Nick joke of anesthetic actually being “New Car Smell,” but it’s slightly saved when the nurse switches the machine dial, and we see “New Car Smell” and “Anesthetic” are the only two toggle options.
– This episode has a lot of small jokes that normally fall flat but are great here, like Snake helping his son with his first theft (“That’s my little dude!”)
– I love Dan Castellaneta’s voice for the actor playing Dr. Tad Winslow. It’s so overly theatrical, almost like a more pompous Sideshow Mel. I also love he has an eyepatch tan line on as he removes it for seemingly the first time in many years.
– Nice brief exchange between Lenny and Carl walking to the bar (“So, Lenny, how are things working out between you and that girl next door?” “Eh, it’s over. She got a window shade.”)
– I like how Moe being into acting is sort of a call back to when he was a child actor on the Little Rascals. It’s not totally random (“As a child, I was bitten by the acting bug. Then it burrowed under my skin and laid eggs in my heart. Now, those eggs are hatching and… the feeling is indescribable.” “I know what you mean. Our dog had that.”)
– As I said, the ending is dumb, but I like Marge taking notes and that after reading three plot lines, the producer screams that Homer has blown a whole year’s worth of programming. Makes total sense, since soap opera stories drag on, and on, and ooooonnn…

(originally aired February 20, 2000)
I guess at some point I’m just going to have to accept this show is just another cartoon now. I throw that term around a lot, and let it be known, I am in no way decrying cartoons. It’s all about context. I don’t expect to see an episode about sleazy public figures or marital spats on Dexter’s Laboratory, and nor do I expect to see superstrong babies or mythical creatures on The Simpsons. And yet, I have, and the series shows no signs of getting any less ridiculous and wacky. But I just can’t go along for the ride. I’m not saying the show has to be firmly grounded in reality all the time, it never was, but if you’re going to make that reach, at least have it make a little bit of sense, or at least be funny. This episode, like many this season, manages to do neither. Take the lead-in with this one, where Homer makes a phony donation to PBS to get them to stop interrupting programming with a pledge drive. When he’s exposed for not having the money, he’s chased by an angry mob, consisting of Mr. Rogers, Yo Yo Ma, Teletubbies who shoot fucking lasers, and Big Bird, who flies in like a hawk. I mean, this is like Family Guy-type shit. It’s ironic that the writers would take a shot at them at the end of the episode, considering that at this point, the series isn’t that much worse than them. Man, I never thought I would say that…

Reverend Lovejoy assists Homer in his escape from PBS in exchange for acting as a missionary on the small island of Microatia. Now, bizarre set-up aside, I don’t think this premise makes much sense from a story point of view. Homer the missionary? What’s the point, other than to have him engage in wacky antics with native people? Maybe if he had been paired up with Flanders, who proceeds to curry the favor of the people, and Homer out of jealousy attempts to one-up him, and the two egos get the best of each other in the end. That might have been interesting, and made more sense as a basis of a episode. Here, it’s just silly and pointless storytelling. He builds a a casino for reasons that escape me, which ends up backfiring, and then he goes back to finishing off the chapel, which turns into a big disaster and then we have our PBS ending, which feels like less of a clever callback than just a cheap cop-out. It honestly seems like the writers are caring less and less about these episodes being somewhat meaningful or having a point. Just throw in a bunch of wacky shit, and we’re good.

Back at home, the rest of the Simpsons keep in touch with Homer via ham radio, which Marge seems to know how to use, and is able to get reception from where what must be on the other side of the planet. Also it’s daytime in both places during their call. But who cares, right? Homer makes Bart the man of the house, which of course means that now he has to go into work for him. And Lenny, Carl, and Burns can’t tell that it’s a kid. This stuff just really annoys me, and departs the series even further from the reality it once was in, if that were even possible. You’re telling me Burns doesn’t realize he’s talking to a ten-year-old? Lenny and Carl have met Homer’s son, they don’t recognize him? I’m putting more thought into this than the writers did, they just thought it’d be funny if Bart actually acted like the “man of the house.” Doesn’t Bart have school? How did he get to the power plant? Why would Marge put up with this bullshit? Doesn’t matter. None of this matters. I’m getting a headache. We’re done here.

Tidbits and Quotes
– I like pretty much everything before the PBS mob: “Do Shut Up” being England’s longest running series (“And today, we’re showing all seven episodes,”) the pledge gifts of a tote bag, and an umbrella with a picture of the tote bag, and Betty White, who gives a great performance (“If you watch even one second of PBS and don’t contribute, you’re a thief! A common thief!”) I also like Homer’s contentment with thinking he’d get away with his anonymous contribution, then being hoisted by his own petard (“Ohh, why did I register with Insta-Trace!”)
– Lovejoy’s pretty good for the little screen time he has, wishing he had never taught Homer the word “sanctuary,” and this great bit (“Please help me, I’ll do anything! I’ll light a candle! I’ll help with your next charity scam!” “The word is drive.” “Sure, sure, Bob’s your uncle, let’s just get out of here!”)
– If nothing else, I can credit this episode with giving us the word “Jebus.”
– More dumb cartoony shit with the butterfly burrowing into Homer’s arm and crawling about his body. It’s like the penny thing in “Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo,” but even more disgusting.
– I kind of like the native girl Lisa, Jr., though I wish her relationship with Homer had been played up a bit more, acting as Lisa’s surrogate whose presence makes Homer want to do a good job in helping the natives. That’s sort of the case, but not really.
– It’s a small line, but I hate when Bart cuts off Homer’s nonsensical diatribe to ask him if he’s been licking toads. Like, why would Bart even know about that, let alone think to ask his father that question? To make the joke work, of course. Never mind that none of this sounds like actual dialogue a real person would say, we need to set up and pay off our clunky material.
– I hate his scene, but I do like Burns’s outrage that Homer apparently sold plutonium to the Iraqis, with no mark-up.
– This whole thing’s a cartoon now. They built that whole casino and roulette wheel and everything? And later one of them holds up actual playing cards, which came from God knows where. But through all of it, I liked the idea of Homer making his own beer, which to me feels like a call-back to “Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment.”
– I like this Homer line (“Well, I may not know much about God, but I have to say we built a pretty nice cage for Him.”)
– The pledge ending feels like a cop-out, like I said, but I do like the idea of it, and seeing all the other FOX stars waiting for your call, including Hank Hill, Bender, Thurgood Stubbs from The PJ’s, and of course Rupert Murdoch. And I do love the shot at Family Guy, but honestly, this show should not be throwing stones at “crude, low-brow programming” considering what I’ve been watching for the last two seasons.

(originally aired February 13, 2000)
In 1999, Maggie Roswell had a falling out with FOX regarding a pay dispute. This left the show in a minor pickle. While it’s not as devastating as losing one of their big six cast members, Roswell still voiced her fair share of memorable characters, including Helen Lovejoy and Maude Flanders. But her roles were at best tertiary, and keeping them mostly silent with a recurring replacement guest voice every now and then wouldn’t have been too difficult to pull off. Instead, this gave the writers the opportunity to pull off a big fat gimmick episode and kill off Ned’s beloved wife. I distinctly remember the promotion for this episode, making a big deal that someone on the show was going to die, and that it could be anyone. Rumor had it it was going to be one of Marge’s sisters, but it had already leaked that it was Maude. There’s something about this episode that’s terribly misguided, perhaps linked to the circumstances that led to its inception. It doesn’t feel like a story they particularly wanted to tell, and it’s certainly clear they can’t handle the heavy subject matter. All in all, it’s just incredibly clumsy.

Let’s start with talking about what killing off Maude means. Though his role has shifted slightly over time, Ned Flanders has always represented everything Homer is not. He’s got a wife and kids who adore him, is well-off financially, and things always seem to go his way. Ned always has a smile on his face and a kind word to say to his neighbor-eeno, as Homer toils away at a job he hates, with kids who don’t respect him and always finds himself at the butt end of fate’s cruel, cruel jokes. But in killing Maude, Ned is cut down a peg, his happy life burnt to cinders. He can no longer play this role anymore, and must be reborn in a way. This gave the writers the opportunity to build on this character in the future. …they didn’t, but that’s news for another time. So this could have been an interesting role reversal story, where Ned in his time of need takes solace in the dysfunctional Simpson family, who need to work together to get him on his feet and help him move on. Instead we get bonehead Homer making him a dating tape and hiding out in mailboxes.

Things feel so haphazard here, and the way in which they deal with Maude’s death is so crass. I don’t mean to bring the tone down, but this blog is about my specific reaction to each episode, and having not seen this one in years, re-watching it now struck me in a different way. My mother passed away last fall, and seeing this definitely brought up parallels. Some of Ned’s behavior reminded me of my dad, struggling of what to do with his life and how he could move on. But with stuff like the “Let ‘Er R.I.P.” T-shirt and Homer’s jerky behavior throughout, the episode felt so wrong, like it didn’t even try to blend the jokes with the serious story. I felt offended with how terribly out of place some of these bits were and the tonal clash they created. Now, don’t get me wrong, any subject is fair game for comedy. Hell, this show has done fabulous shows about death in the past. Episodes like “Old Money” and “‘Round Springfield” were thoughtful portrayals of how the death of a loved one affects us, and how we can go on with our lives without them, and on top of that, communicated all that in a funny way. What does this episode communicate? I haven’t a clue. If there’s any episode I can point to that truly shows how far the series has fallen, it may be this one. Sure, “Saddlesore Galactica” is absolute shit, but this is what the series now considers to be a meaningful, emotional episode. Play this one back to back with one of the episodes I just mentioned, and the differences could not be more stark. The former is a brilliant show, and the latter just has no idea what the hell it’s doing.

Tidbits and Quotes
– A lot of the set pieces in these later episodes are kind of hard to talk about, since there’s not that much there that’s funny or memorable. Lisa is shocked to find that part of the nature reserve has been gutted to build a new racetrack. So, they proceed to cross the road while race cars are speeding down it. I can see Homer doing this, but the rest of the family? The animals adapting to their new environments, racer Clay Babcock, the stuff at the actual race itself… I got nothing. It’s only offensive in that it’s not funny. The only good bit at the race was this exchange between Ralph and Chief Wiggum upon seeing Homer shirtless (“Mommy has bosoms like that!” “Yeah, I wish.”)
– Okay, so Maude’s death. I guess I don’t have a problem with the ridiculously absurd circumstances of her demise. I do take issue that Homer is indirectly responsible, but only in that it’s another sizable example of them setting something up and doing nothing with it. Even someone as thick as Homer has to realize that he was accidentally responsible for someone dying (don’t bother bringing up “Homer’s Enemy,” as that context is totally different). As such, you’d think this would affect him in some way. Maybe make his overenthusiastic desire to help Ned is a response to this sense of guilt. But instead Homer remains locked in jerk mode, where even at his nicest, he still feels like a creepy weirdo. Plus we get the high-larious joke about Homer parking in the ambulance space at the hospital delaying resuscitation that could have saved Maude’s life. That may be the worst line in the history of the series. Homer is basically a reprehensible monster at this point.
– The funeral also feels so wrong. Instead of being meaningful, it just becomes a big meta commentary about how Maude was a minor supporting character in life, and is one of the few major changes that has happened to the series like Apu getting married and having kids and the Van Houtens breaking up. It felt pathetic, like the writers crowing, “Look at all this stuff we changed! Aren’t we innovative!” Also the Fandamonium girls being there felt really wrong. They made a joke about it being part of their settlement due to the accident, but how inappropriate. It’s a cruel joke that maybe would work if it were geared toward a dislikable character, but Ned? The people indirectly responsible for his wife’s death are at her funeral, shooting off the very shirts that killed her. And Homer finally gets his fucking shirt with a fucking crass slogan on it and is oh so satisfied. UGH.
– There are glimmers of Homer being a nice guy here, like when he tucks Flanders in the first night, but it immediately flips back to him wanting to chuck rocks at him (and pocketing some in case he needs them for later).
– One of the few, few laughs here is the zoom-in on Ned’s pin number during Homer’s dating video. Which is then ruined by the next scene, Ned in the shower with pixellation obscuring his seemingly large genitals. A completely tasteless scene.
– I guess we get some foreshadowing to the whole Nedna thing with seeing the two of them on a date. …wait, what the hell am I saying, foreshadowing? That implies it was planned that they would get together, not another gimmicky ass pull. The scene’s not funny anyway.
– Ned’s crisis of faith and falling out with God is another interesting plot turn that could have happened in this episode, with the senseless death of his wife being the thing that finally breaks Ned, turning his back on the Almighty, and the citizens of Springfield needing to bring him back. But no, we’ll just make a quick joke out of it. No sense in doing a show about actual character development when we can have more silly Homer antics.
– So if this is the boat we’re in, Ned could do worse than Rachel Jordan. She reappeared next season in a disposable episode, so she doesn’t have much in the way of character, but she could have. In any case, we get our “hopeful” ending (“My name’s Ned Flanders, and I’m here every week. Rain or shine,”) with the writers hoping to garner some sentiment, but all it does is remind me how little there actually was.