(originally aired November 30, 2003)
Homer fights a bear… okay. Here’s an episode that’s just a complete wash: it started, I watched it, it ended. Nothing memorable, nothing interesting, nothing uniquely offensive. We start on Mother’s Day as Homer and the kids do some last minute shopping for a gift that Homer takes full credit for. They run into Patty and Selma, who suggest they get her a Kitchen Carnival, a machine that makes carnival confections at home. Marge loves the gift, for some reason. Isn’t she normally the conscientious mother who ran a crusade against sugar? Now she’s happy as a clam letting her infant daughter eat caramel apples and cotton candy until she gets baby diabetes. In a maddening fit, Homer uses all the ingredients to make a gigantic sugar ball, which he spoons with like a new wife. It’s rather disturbing, and makes me pine for the days of him and his giant sandwich from “Selma’s Choice.”

Marge finally forces Homer to take the ball to the dump, at which point he is attacked by a bear. For some reason, this makes him the laughing stock of the town, with people calling him a cowardly wimp. I’m not entirely sure why this is. If I’m cornered and there’s a gigantic bear swiping its claws at my flesh, I’m going to be pretty terrified. But Homer has to restore his manliness, I guess, so he creates a rusty protective suit and vows to go off into the woods to fight the bear, and at this point I’m shaking my head since it’s clear that this really is the plot of this episode. Marge forbids her husband to go, but he goes anyway with Lenny, Carl and Bart, where he is ambushed by the bear again out of the suit. Marge enlists the help of the most rugged hunter alive Grant Connor (Charles Napier, doing the best he can with the material), and Homer discovers the bear is only irritable due to a tracking tag Connor placed on him.

So Homer and the bear are friends now and he now wants to help the animal to the wildlife sanctuary off in the woods. The sanctuary is pristine, rainbow covered sacred land, but they have to get past an entire line of hunters hiding in bushes to get there. Homer stuffs the bear into his protective suit, a really shoddy disguise that Marge initially falls for (“It’s Homer! Don’t shoot!”) The hunters then realize it’s the bear and start shooting at it. As tense music plays, the bear runs down a straight line, with every bullet hitting the armor, despite the fact there are plenty of exposed areas on it, until he gets to the sanctuary. Victory! This is one of the saddest endings of any episode in just how pathetic it is. I don’t give a shit about this bear, or anyone involved in this story, and this resolution is so fabricated and phony, with the sanctuary in the center of the map surrounded by “kill zones.” Characters spew lines out of obligation, lots of time-killing sequences, and everything just barely crawling to a total of nineteen minutes. But there’s nothing even to get upset about here. It’s just another episode that feels so inept and pointless that I can’t even get mad. It really is just pathetic.

Tidbits and Quotes
– The dichotomy here between the new and the old really is striking. The first act is Homer getting Marge a present that she really wouldn’t want or need, like the opening of “Life in the Fast Lane.” In that episode, she’s understandably upset by the thoughtless gift. Here, she thanks Homer for his graciousness and off she goes like a Stepford wife.
– We get our first appearance of SPRAWL-MART. Hey, is that anything like WAL-MART? It sure looks like it, and hey, Grampa works there as a greeter! Just like how WAL-MART was hiring old people to do that! Get it? Aren’t we so goddamn clever?
– Bart, a ten-year-old, knows who Jaclyn Smith is. Another example of how the writers don’t know how the hell to write for Bart anymore. I looked up the joke about her selling axe heads because I didn’t get it. Apparently she pioneered the concept of celebrities developing their own products instead of just endorsing them in the 80s. Oh, now I get it. Ha ha ha.
– “Marge, you’re gonna love my present. It is so thoughtful, it makes the kids’s gifts look like crap!” Nice to say, Homer, considering the kids tried to help you get a gift, and basically Lisa is the one who got Patty and Selma to recommend the gift. You did no work, and hog all the credit. Our loveable protagonist, folks!
– “That’s it, kids… Suckle Daddy’s sugar ball.” Maybe the most disturbing thing ever said or shown on the show ever.
– Homer is smacked down into a ditch at the dump and sees a giant bear ready to fucking maul him (“Oh my God, I’m gonna be killed by a bear! Well I guess I don’t have to worry anymore about the dangers of smoking.”) He then takes out a pipe and calmly smokes it. How does one come up with this joke? Not only does it evaporate any tension the scene had, it’s completely out of left field for Homer to have the pipe at all. It’s just another example of the show’s need to cram in gags everywhere, regardless if they’re funny or make sense whatsoever.
– I kind of like Smithers and Burns pranking Homer with the giant bear from his office. I’m not big on Burns laughing amongst his lowlife employees, but it was a nice use of resources since we’ve seen that bear throughout the entire series (“What a delightful practically-based joke!”)
– Homer’s bear hallucination is alright (“Are you a Care Bear?” “I’m an Intensive Care Bear.”)
– Grant Connor and his penchant for killing and eating every animal on the planet is so over the top I actually kind of like him. Also Charles Napier gives a good performance as always (“The bold grizzly is seven feet tall, weighs more than a Mazda Miata, and can tear through a tree like a Jewish mother through self-esteem.”)
– Homer electrocutes himself with the bear tag twice, because seeing him scream his head off and run around like a maniac is always funny.
– Homer unintentionally kills a lake of fish and a scuba diver, volunteers to castrate the bear, Marge instantly forgives her husband despite the fact that he almost got himself killed for an idiotic reason… whatever. I’ll say the best thing in the whole episode is when Marge and Connor are talking, you can see Lenny, Carl, Bart and Lisa chicken fighting in the background. It’s a really cute moment that I’m sure some bored animator thought up as he was contemplating getting a job on a better show.

(originally November 23, 2003)
I’ve touched on the devolution of travel episodes in the past, but just to quickly recap, what once were actual stories that prompted the family to go travel overseas to engage in some smart social commentary are now replaced with episodes that just want to get from tired set piece to tired set piece utilizing the most bargain basement stereotypes imaginable. A premise, or God forbid a heart, is lingering there somewhere, but both are pretty much abandoned the moment the family lands in Europe. But before that, our stupid ass first act, where Bart comes across a thousand dollar bill. What does he do with it? Start a museum in his treehouse, the Museum of Modern Bart. The scene with Hibbert talking to Marge about joining the “Friends of Bart” program at the “gift shop” with MoMB shirts on the wall particularly struck me that this show has departed from any semblance of reality. Of course that line has already been crossed many a time and shit upon, and it’s something I really shouldn’t get upset over anymore, but when the show feels it can just do anything regardless of whether it makes any sense, it just becomes groan-inducing, even when it comes to a dumb joke like that. The actual owner of the bill, Mr. Burns, reclaims his lost currency, but Bart has made a good three thousand bucks from the museum, and decides to spend it on Marge for a nice family vacation.

Why Great Britain? Grampa recalls having spent a wonderful night with an English girl before getting shipped off during World War II, so the Simpsons propose they go find her. They get to England, check in their hotel room, then Grampa is left behind. We don’t see him again until the very end of the episode, at which point we pathetically close off this “plot line.” The moment Homer shuts that door, the episode is without a purpose, just jumping from dumb bit after dumb bit. New Britain is high tech and advanced, like James Bond! Fish and chips, effeminate rich fops, double decker buses… None of this is particularly funny or original, and it all acts as killing time before we can get to the stupidness of act three. Plus, pile on the guest stars! Tony Blair, J.K. Rowling, Ian McKellan… all of their scenes start exactly the same way: Lisa introduces them and says what they do, then some mild ribbing and off they go. Even the motherfucking Joe Millionaire guy gets a single line. I’d look up his name, but I really don’t give a shit.

Homer drives through the gates of Buckingham Palace and rear-ends the Queen, getting him thrown in jail and facing a death sentence. It sounds serious, but the episode treats everything so callously and clumsily that it doesn’t even matter. The episode retains the same lame jokey tone from start to finish. Homer is being kept in the Tower of London for some fucking reason, then the rest of the family appears below his room at night, seemingly past all the guards, instructing him there’s a secret passage that will help him escape… right into the Queen’s bedroom. Homer bullshits his way out of trouble with the Queen and they all go home. But first we see that Grampa had an illegitimate child with his old flame and skedaddles. Whatever. The saddest parts of the episode revolve on the supposed “emotional” center, where Marge wishes for just one good family vacation, and Homer screws it up. “Itchy & Scratchy Land” this ain’t. Homer commits a heinous crime and is a loudmouth jackass in court, and Marge claims it’s partly her fault (“I’ve been nagging you so much on this trip, you couldn’t know which nags to focus on.”) Homer is an invincible asshole, always coming out on top with everyone loving him despite doing awful, awful, awful things. America embraces him, and now England does too. I’m so, so sorry, you guys.

Tidbits and Quotes
– Burns is a disoriented, weak, pathetic old man, and Smithers is a homosexual. Those are their characters now. I really need to stop complaining, since nothing’s going to change from this point, but any time I see either of them on screen, I’m just really bummed out.
– The first act is basically terrible. Why the fuck are people visiting Bart’s “museum”? Especially when it comes to folks like Krusty and Dr. Hibbert who I’m sure are very financially well-off. Between that and the aforementioned stupidity of the museum merchandise… it just sucks. We end the act with Homer standing at his gun cabinet that he apparently has now deciding which to bring with him overseas. Because Homer is apparently a violent insane madman, I guess.
– I smirked at this bit with Grampa on the phone (“Did you spend an unforgettable night with a soldier from the US Army in 1944? You did? Was he from the first infantry division? He was? And was he a gentle, caring lover? He was? Sorry I bothered you…”)
– Marge mentions that she nagged Homer a lot during the trip. We get that in one scene, where she “nags” him about punching out three people on the street. Really, when did the writers decide it okay that Homer is impulsively violent like this? There’s nothing that excuses this kind of behavior.
– The sweets freakout is a horse of a different color, but it just pales in comparison to the brilliant Squishee bender from “Boy Scoutz N the Hood.”
– The end of act two really doesn’t make any sense. They get caught in a roundabout, then Homer veers off across three lanes of traffic. Cut to Marge and the kids screaming. Homer smashes through the palace gates. Cut to Marge and the kids screaming again, the exact same animation. What, was Homer unable to hit the brakes during that long sequence? It just felt very clumsily put together.
– The only emotion I buy in this episode is Marge’s exasperation at her husband’s assholery (“Why did you let him be his own barrister?” “What difference could it make? He hit the frigging Queen!”) Of course in the next scene we see her apologize to Homer for some reason and everything’s right as rain, so it doesn’t matter.
– The Queen, who at the trial demanded Homer be locked up forever and ever, is swayed by Homer’s speech, which consists of calling Canada gay as swelling music plays in the background. She accepts in exchange for Homer returning Madonna to America, which he does so in a giant duffel bag. Then Grampa’s old lover shows up with a daughter that looks and acts just like Homer. The joke could not possibly be more obvious, but then we get this exchange (“This is my daughter, Abby. She’s fifty-eight years this month.” “Fifty-eight? Well, fifty-nine years ago, your mother and I were ha… oh.”) This episode fucking sucks.

(originally aired November 16, 2003)
This show has had its fair share of memorable tunes, but only one episode I could definitely call a musical, “Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala-D’oh!-cious.” That feels like the most obvious comparison to this episode, as they’re both parodies of specific musicals, with their stories and general melodies lifted and modified. The great difference here is contextual adaption. This episode tries to tackle Evita, with Lisa subbing for Eva Peron and their rises and falls from positions of power. Now, I have not seen Evita, but I know the broad strokes of the story, that she was a spiritual leader in Argentina, beloved by the people, but scorned by those in government for coming from the lower classes. Lisa, meanwhile, is a social outcast with little to no friends, so what people are going to adore her? She wins the election for student body president via musical number, then in the next scene, Skinner worries about how all the students will follow her every word. What? No one has ever given two shits about Lisa in that school, now all of a sudden she’s their savior. It just doesn’t gel well.

Anyway, Skinner is pissed because he’s got an evil scheme brewed up that he feels Lisa will interfere with, so the entire faculty commiserates to distract Lisa with exclusive privileges like all-access to the study hall in lieu of pushing any policies. Ultimately, she ends up signing and approving the removal of gym, music and art classes from the school without even realizing it, and when news of this gets out, she’s cut down a peg by her people. The entire faculty, the little of it we have at this school, from Lunchlady Doris to Otto, all help transform Lisa and assist Skinner. But why do these characters care? We’ve seen the entire faculty is as eager for the bell to ring as the students, they don’t want to be there at all. Without those extracurriculars, maybe it means they can get bigger paychecks? It’s just so sporadic. Krabappel is thrilled to get Nelson’s answer key to the real estate license exam (“My ticket to freedom!”) then later she’s helping Skinner with his plot. Also, there was no need for Lisa to sign the agreement, it was all just to discredit her in the eyes of the student body. But what a backhanded and horrible thing for Skinner and the others to do, to vilify their top student, an innocent little eight-year-old, who barely has any friends to begin with? It really casts a dark shadow over Skinner, a character who has never been completely unfavorable before.

Outraged at her betrayal, Lisa calls for a student strike, one that escalates until the move is made by Chalmers to transfer her to another school, forcing her to leave her people behind. She’s supposedly devastated, but walks off the bus with a smile at Springfield Magnet School, an intellectual institution where she would thrive. But then Homer drives up and says she can’t go, as he doesn’t feel like taking the forty-five minute trip to get there. It’s as abrupt as an ending as you can fucking get, and the Evita parody just screeches to a halt. Protesting her father’s hasty arrival, Lisa cries out, “But this is my dream!” So Lisa never cared about her fellow students, she just wanted to go to a better school. That’s why this episode doesn’t work, because the parody doesn’t fit. “D’oh-cious” involved a Mary Poppins type coming in to make the Simpsons model citizens, and failing. There’s no bit of Homer being Dick Van Dyke and learning to be a better father, since that doesn’t fit the story being told. In the end, they acknowledge status quo is God, and they’re happy just as things are. In this episode, they crammed in the Evita stuff even though it didn’t fit the characters. Lisa is never popular and Skinner is not a pure-blood antagonist. It just doesn’t work.

Tidbits and Quotes
– It’s casino night at Springfield Elementary, which means another gag about Marge’s gambling addiction. I hate when they do this. In “$pringfield,” the fact that Marge becomes an addict is not presented as funny, it’s everything around it that is. It was treated with a real severity, an uncomfortable issue with an open-ended non-solution. Now it’s just treated as a goof, where Marge going crazy on betting and splashing a drink in Ralph’s face is presented as comedy, instead of just being horrifying.
– Homer’s repeated “D’oh”s as the wheel spins is rather annoying. In fact, this whole episode he’s basically a humungous moron, prancing around the house with a tutu, making the faces on two sets of stamps “make out,” musing about never having married a businessman… the Scully seasons had Jerkass Homer, now we have Braindead Homer.
– I could be wrong, but I think this is the first time we’ve seen Lunchlady Doris since her last appearance after Doris Grau’s death. Thankfully, they kept her silent, until a few seasons later she’d randomly appear with Tress MacNeille attempting to mimic Grau’s voice. Aside the fact that it’s kind of disrespectful to break her silence, I just think of how completely unnecessary it was. How difficult is it to design a new cafeteria worker? It’s not like she’s a major character, make a new disgruntled employee and be done with it. Instead they stepped all over poor, poor Doris. But that’s not this episode.
– I like the Lisa vs. Nelson conceit, that it’s all just a big popularity contest, because that’s exactly how school elections are. And to some extent, general elections. Zing!
– Superintendent Chalmers appears to reside at the school now. He’s always there, glued to Skinner’s side. Doesn’t he have other schools to attend to? Also they’re really abusing the “Skinner!!” gag at this point.
– Skinner tricks Lisa into signing the orders, but then she quickly returns, wanting to read what she signed. Skinner shuts the door on her. Lisa returns again to complain, then Skinner shuts and locks the door. Lisa opens the door with the skeleton key he gave her and he groans. Scene over. So, wouldn’t Lisa have gotten to read the form and be outraged at that point? At least end your scene properly, guys.
– Why in the holy mother of fuck does Bart care about gym, music and art being cut from the school? And how does he know that Skinner is using Lisa? He’s been absent almost this entire episode, then he just kind of shows up and gets a few lines in some songs.
– Willie ripping the art room off the school building is as bad as Homer stealing Flanders’s guest room, but at least he’s hauling it off on a tracker here. With the kiln still running.
– The kids inexplicably have signs made at the protest that just started, Homer and Marge randomly appear at the school, the police show up on the drop of a dime ready to beat children, Michael Moore appears for a worthless cameo… the only thing in the third act I like is the title of Kent Brockman’s news segment, “Alphabet Coup.” But the rest sucks. But at least it matches the rest of the episode.

(originally aired November 9, 2003)
It’s undeniable that “Mother Simpson” is one of the most touching episodes of the entire series. To me, it’s only second to “Lisa’s Wedding.” The question of what happened to Homer’s mother had really been untouched prior to that, and that episode illuminated her character, her backstory, and her heartbreaking relationship with her son. So now eight years later, we have a followup with the return of Mona Simpson, an opportunity to tell another story and showcase a different side to her character. Or, we’ll just repeat the same beats as the first time. Things start on thin ice immediately with how Mona is reintroduced: desperately searching for a newspaper headline gaffe to win a T-shirt, Homer discovers a hidden message from Mona in an article by highlighting the first letter in each column, with the note telling him to meet under a local overpass at midnight. This plan is absolutely asinine, as the chances of Homer getting the paper, reading the article and decoding this bizarre puzzle are essentially slim to none. Apparently Mona had her friends at the “liberal media” (groan) pick an article about food to catch Homer’s eye, but I guess she also didn’t figure that her son is a complete dunce who could never figure this out unless by plot convenience.

Mona is still on the lam for her attacks on Mr. Burns’s germ warfare plant decades ago, and it isn’t long before she’s caught and finally stands trial. The jury is touched by a blubbering testimony from Homer, and Mona is found not guilty, free to live and catch up with her family. The middle act serves as an indicator of how much the show has strayed, because invariably you have to compare it to “Mother Simpson.” Genuinely sweet moments like Homer and Mona chuckling about dresser drawers and Lisa connecting with her enlightened grandmother are replaced with stupid shit like Homer forcing Marge to recreate the birth of Bart and Homer somehow ripping the entire guest room out of Flanders’s house to affix to his. When your show is filled with so many ridiculous gags and set pieces, it’s hard to really get any emotional reaction from anything because whatever moments like that there are, they’re given no breathing room. Upon meeting his mother again, Homer has an internal dilemma about whether he should emotionally open up to the woman who abandoned him twice. He then proceeds to hug her… then it’s revealed to be a bum. And Homer steals his wine. It basically obliterates any real emotional response I might have had.

Ever the vindictive one, Burns ends up getting Mona sent back to prison on a technical charge, and Homer can come up with no better plan than to bust her out by hijacking her prison bus. To save her son from facing a prison sentence himself, Mona pushes him from the vehicle and evades the police, before the bus careens off the road and into a lake. It then explodes, and is completely buried by an avalanche, all of which Homer sees with his own eyes. We know she’s not dead, but this is fucking horrifying for Homer. During her funeral, Homer tearfully holds his mother’s casket, saying that at least now he’ll never lose her again. Then the casket rolls away down the hill. I guess this is supposed to be a gag, but it’s just so absolutely terrible and in bad taste. Then the episode ends with Homer frantically looking through articles to find another coded message, and the family humors him by agreeing that Mona is still alive. It’s a really unsettling ending that doesn’t feel handled that right way, considering how jokey and callous the show is now. But in summation, this episode is basically running on nostalgia fumes, essentially retelling the same basic story we saw in “Mother Simpson,” except much more clumsily and crassly. But it’s nothing compared to the third Mona episode. My God… more on that dung heap later.

Tidbits and Quotes
– The Oops Patrol opening is basically an act-long extension of the “Ketchup Truck Hits Hamburger Stand, Three Dead” gag from “Lisa the Treehugger,” and the shot of Homer’s brain filled with black and white 30’s cartoon characters is straight from the Shary Bobbins episode. Hooray for recycling!
– Honestly, Mona could have just showed up at the Simpson house in a simple disguise. But then again, Lou instantly recognizes her and Eddie has her wanted poster in the car for some reason. In “Mother Simpson,” it made sense since Burns saw the poster on the old post office bulletin board, but here, not so much.
– Homer crashes his car through the police station, but of course there’s no repercussions for it. Although later he admits he’s due back in court multiple times the day of his mother’s trial, so maybe that’s part of it. But then, once again, Homer’s gone from everyman to maniac with repeat felonies who damages property and torches blood banks (!)
– Nice 19th century woodcut of Burns preying on young children.
– I really like Judge Snyder, I don’t know why. I also like we find out about his taunting sister and that he just got divorced, there’s a lot more to learn about him. Except now his airtime’s been cut down since we got Judge Judy… I mean, Judge Harm. This is the first time we’ve seen him since that episode, actually.
– The “I’m not a man who’s good with words…” silence bit goes on soooo long. Which then is immediately followed by Homer’s sniveling plea to save his mother. The two bits don’t gel together at all.
– Mona signing her name as “Anita Bonghit” is kind of juvenile, but I can see her having a raw sense of humor as an old hippie.
– The flipping though the highway warnings is another joke that goes on far too long. Know when to quit, guys.
– “Mom, I’m gonna hide you where there’s no one around for miles: Disney’s California Adventure!” Shot number two! Zing! Again, no one besides theme park geeks like me knew about or gave a shit about California Adventure in 2003.
– Mona’s funeral consists of each Simpson family member saying a punchline, instead of it actually being, you know, a heartfelt scene with a deeper meaning.

(originally aired November 2, 2003)
Another year, another Halloween show. John Swartzwelder takes the helm for all three segments here, and despite the decline in quality of his post-classic years episodes, I actually enjoyed this one, as it struck a fair balance between creepy and violent and delightfully silly. First in “Reaper Madness,” Homer offs the Grim Reaper, and by putting on his robe, he ends up becoming Death himself. Things are wonderfully weird right away that Homer cracks the Reaper’s skull with a bowling ball, then when he dumps his deceased bones and other remnants into the trash can outside, he gives his garments a try (“Check it out! I finally found a dead guy’s clothes that fit me!”) On his first assignment, we have an establishing shot of the Retirement Castle with Homer’s car parked out front, and I immediately chuckled thinking of him driving there in his robes, and walking through the front door as Death to kill Jasper. I’m sure no one batted an eye at him about that. The finale involves the powers that be commanding Homer kill Marge, but he gets out of it by tricking God and escaping on his motorcycle. It sounds really stupid… because it is, but it’s done in such a goofy fashion that it made it even funnier to me.

In “Frinkenstein,” Professor Frink finds he’s won the Nobel Prize, but is saddened that his father isn’t around to see his success… because his body is being kept alive in his freezer. Reanimated, John Frink, Sr. seeks to replace his new mechanical body parts with the real deal, ripping vital organs out of the people of Springfield. Seeing him rip Flanders’s heart out through his throat or tearing Skinner’s spine from his back are pretty horrifying to see, but it’s all so dumb and ridiculous that I still laughed at it, especially when we get to the point where Frink, Sr. is nothing but stolen body parts. He’s voiced by Jerry Lewis, in a great bit of casting considering he’s the basis of Frink’s voice. In his first scene when you go from Hank Azaria to him, it couldn’t be more clear, and just to hear Lewis go nuts and do the “hyuvin!” noises is pretty excellent. I wasn’t completely on board or understood what made Frink, Sr. such a maniac and go nuts at the end, but again, seeing him rip off people’s scalps and stuff brains into his head is such a bizarre sight, I just had to marvel at it.

Lastly we have “Clockstoppers.” Oh wait, I mean “Stop the World, I Want To Goof Off.” Bart gets a stopwatch from an ad in an old comic book that apparently can stop time, and wouldn’t you know, it actually works. He and Milhouse proceed to run wild, messing with the minds of everyone in town. Their pranks are all pretty entertaining to watch, going from pantsing Skinner (“My trousers! They’ve descended!”) to repeatedly putting costumes on Mayor Quimby, everything from a maid’s outfit to a gigantic sandwich. When the kids are found out, an angry mob quickly forms out for blood. Bart and Milhouse stop time, but destroy the watch in the process. After reaping the benefits of being the only two active people on Earth, they decide they need to try and fix things. Of course eight hours of watch repair takes the boys fifteen years to complete, leaving them worse-for-wear twenty-somethings. In a wonderfully cruel moment, they place Martin in front of the mob before they resume time, leaving him as the scapegoat to be pummeled mercilessly. All three segments were surprisingly strong, amusing and enjoyable; the best Halloween show since season 11.

Tidbits and Quotes
– I don’t care for the opening. Unlike the rest of the episode, the violence feels uncomfortable instead of goofy. But I do like the tag with Kang and Kodos commenting how the episode is being aired in November (“Who’s still thinking about Halloween? We already have our Christmas decorations up!”)
– I like the Benny Hill chase of Death and the Simpsons throughout the upstairs hallway. This setting and context works a hell of a lot better than the same gag in “A Star is Born Again.”
– Great bit with Frankie the Squealer unable to die, followed by a not-so-great bit with Moe hanging himself.
– I love the ending of “Reaper,” with God unable to identify Patty right away, and chasing Homer as a beam of light, which ultimately is stopped by a train whizzing by. He quickly gives up with an excellent, quotable line (“Doggone it, I am too old and too rich for this.”)
– I like the idea of Frink, Sr. as a more rugged, adventure-seeking scientist, like an Indiana Jones to regular Frink’s Nutty Professor. I kind of wish there had been another episode that developed this relationship seriously in the series proper. We’ve never had a Frink episode before. Pity.
– They must have recorded Jerry Lewis somewhere with sub-optimal acoustics. In the moments when he gets real loud, which is quite often, it sounds like he’s stuck in a shower.
– Frink wins the Nobel Prize for his hybrid hammer-screwdriver (“It was a slow year.”) I love that this not-very-impressive invention crux of why he decided just now to reanimate his father, that it would save him the inconvenience of switching tools.
– Even a throwaway role from Jennifer Garner becomes memorable when teamed with a no-nonsense Nobel laureate (“This is the most exciting Nobel Prize ceremony ever!” “I disagree.”)
– Jerry Lewis really did a great job, with his crazy noises accompanying Frink on stage, and his labored death sequence. I also like that Frink, Sr. asserts he’s going to hell so casually.
– I like the running gag of Milhouse’s non-response to Bart’s questions (“Yeah… but you say it first.”) It feels very in-character.
– Nice bit out front of Town Hall with the endlessly changing announcement board.
– Another throwaway role for Oscar de la Hoya, but considering it involves him brutally punching a defenseless ten-year-old, I’d say it’s worth it (“Dios mio! This kid is fun to hit!”)