Category: Season 06

112. Homer Badman

~ Mike! ~ 10 Comments

(originally aired November 27, 1994)
Mob mentality is definitely a running theme of the show, as we’ve seen in many episodes in the past from “Bart’s Inner Child” to “Bart’s Girlfriend,” where one single perception is spread across an entire populous, making whoever’s in the crosshairs of that viewpoint a living hell. In this episode, we take a look at the media and how it can play exactly the same role, and because of its pervasiveness can be even more damaging and confusing. Homer’s supposed indiscretions from this episode are pushed and exaggerated to extreme degrees through television, to the point that by the end of the show it starts to confuse and beat down even him. A man with a love affair with television now finds it to be not only his enemy, but his undoing (“Maybe TV is right. TV’s always right.”) It’s an interesting portrait of how words can really destroy a man. It’s also funny as hell too. And on rather risque subject matter too, but counterbalanced by its goofiness.

We have our opening set piece of Homer going apeshit with excitement at a candy convention, using Marge as a drug mule to stow away as many goodies as he can in her custom made giant overcoat. During reconnaissance, he notices a glaring omission in his candy haul: the ultra rare, one-of-a-kind gummy Venus di Milo. While dropping off the babysitter Ashley Grant, a righteous college feminist, he notices that the candy was on the passenger seat and is now stuck to her pants. He reaches and grabs it off, which of course is mistaken by Ashley to be a lust-filled grope. This leads to a group of young activists camping outside the Simpson house in protest of Homer’s actions, which later sparks an insane media circus. What works here is that Ashley is a bit of a feminist caricature, but she is not vilified. From her perspective, we see a truly craven Homer reaching for her ass, so we see where she gets off, but it’s also hilarious to us that we know it’s over a candy. The rarest of all gummies, which he then eats in three seconds.

It’s not long before the entire television landscape is riddled with anti-Homer programming, from daytime talk shows, Letterman’s Top 10, Channel Ocho, and so on. It’s such an insane exaggeration of this situation: all Homer supposedly did was grab a girl’s ass, and Kent Brockman is doing 24-hour surveillance of his house. Such dramatic viewpoints from TV starts to create conflict in the Simpson house, as Lisa and Bart start to get mixed thoughts against their father (“It’s just hard not to listen to TV. It’s spent so much more time raising us than you have.”) In a last ditch effort to clear his name, Homer gives a plea of innocence on public access, which nobody watches. But thankfully, we get a truly random conclusion of Willie coming to Homer’s aid, who reveals that he videotapes couples in cars in his spare time, which is made great because it does feel like something Willie would do (“I dinna come forward because in this country, it makes you look like a pervert, but every single Scottish person does it!”) The end also features a great turn-around where the sleazy journalism show does a defamatory report on Willie, which Homer is immediately swayed by, despite him clearing his name. Homer is as quick to judge as everyone was to him, and fails to see the connection (“Marge, my friend, I haven’t learned a thing.”) He’s made up with TV, and that’s as happy as an ending as we can get.

Tidbits and Quotes
– I like Apu’s polite nature toward Homer, who has opened up hundreds of chocolate bars to find the candy convention tickets (“Hey! I have asked you nicely not to mangle my merchandise. You leave me no choice but to… ask you nicely again.”)
– There’s so many great bits at the Candy Convention, starting with Homer’s urging to get there quick so he can meet the two surviving Musketeers. Paging Mr. Goodbar, the barricades holding out all the immense crowd, Frink’s super sour lemon ball, exposing the uselessness of wax lips, and Marge’s thwarted attempt to eat healthy (“You’re going to have to put some sugar on that celery or get out, ma’am.”) I love Homer’s incredible enthusiasm, it’s his absolute paradise (“I feel like a kid in some kind of a store!”) Also the final scene is great, with Homer testing the urban legend of combining soda with pop rocks to make his exciting escape (“See you in hell, candy boys!”) The result is an explosion that would fit in any action movie, complete with Homer attempting to outrun it.
– The bit with Bart and Lisa swimming around Marge’s engorged coat finding candy, with Marge giggling at being tickled by them, is a really sweet scene, ending with the coat giving way to an avalanche of candy spilling to the floor.
– I like how quick it takes for Ashley to be turned off by Homer (“Hey, could you take the wheel for a second? I have to scratch myself in two places at once.”) He speaks out of innocence, but it makes sense that she would desperately want to be anywhere but inside this car with this disgusting man.
– Amongst the protesters is one that looks suspiciously like Velma from Scooby-Doo. We also see Marge’s activist friend from “The Way We Was,” who seems to not have aged at all since the 70s.
– Homer defends himself to his wife (“Marge, I swear I didn’t touch her. You know how bashful I am; I can’t even say the word ‘titmouse’ without giggling like a schoolgirl!”) What’s refreshing is that Marge immediately believes him. A horrible sitcom would have the wife be distrusting, but here Marge knows better that Homer would never do something like that.
– I like the scene where Bart and Lisa are understandably confused about the mature accusations about their father. Homer explains it the best he can, comparing it to a postcard Grampa sent of an alligator biting a woman’s bottom (“We all thought it was hilarious. But it turns out we were wrong: that alligator was sexually harassing that woman.”) When Bart asks about the dog in the Coppertone ad, Homer admits that’s a bit of a gray area.
– Great montage of the protestors harassing Homer in his driveway, then on the highway, then at his work console (one of them yells, “We ain’t crazy about nuclear power either!”)
– The Rock Bottom stuff is absolutely fantastic, a terrific parody of sensationalist tabloid news. It’s specifically a parody of Hard Copy, but it’s great that so many years later, the reference to such programming still works completely. The Homer interview segment has got to be one of the funniest things in the entire series, with the clock in the background quickly changing with each cut, even though we saw Homer taping the footage in less than a minute. Then the clearly paused video frame of Homer zooming in, apparently attacking the host, followed by the quick disclaimer, “Dramatization may not have happened.”
– Out of options, Homer proposes the family start a new life under the sea, which leads to a great quick musical number riffing on The Little Mermaid with Homer eating all the cute sea life. Marge assures Homer that it’s not going to happen, to which Homer retorts, “Not with that attitude.”
– Great bit with Homer getting spooked coming out of the shower by a news copter outside the window, slipping and falling, bringing the shower curtain with him (“Simpson scandal update: Homer sleeps nude in an oxygen tent which he believes gives him sexual powers.”) Homer is annoyed by the report (“Hey! That’s a half-truth!”)
– The various TV bits blasting Homer are all hilarious, from “Gentle Ben,” hosted by the bear of the same name, and the FOX made-for-TV movie “Portrait of an Ass-Grabber” starring Dennis Franz as Homer Simpson.
– Seemingly at the end of the line, Homer muses about his station in life (“This is so depressing, my only hope is this homemade Prozac.” He taste tests it. “Needs more ice cream.”)
– The scrolling Rock Bottom confessions is some great freeze frame fodder, but I’ve neither the time nor the energy to look through them. Luckily, more obsessive nerds online have done it for me, and the writers surely thank them for it (one reads, “The people who are writing this have no life.”) I particularly like “Licking an electrical outlet will not turn you into a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger” and “Quayle is familiar with common bathroom procedures.”

111. Lisa on Ice

~ Mike! ~ 10 Comments

(originally aired November 13, 1994)
Here’s another episode that feels very slice-of-life, one that’s really such a joy watching the characters react to a certain situation. Upon learning she’s failing gym class, Lisa is forced to participate in an outside sport to get a passing grade. Meanwhile, we see Bart is doing pretty well for himself in junior league hockey. While Homer greatly encourages and rewards his champion athlete son, Lisa is perturbed by the seemingly barbaric violent nature of the sport. But when it’s revealed that she’s pretty great at blocking, she is recruited by Apu’s team to be their goalie. At first she’s petrified in her position, but over time she gets more and more invested in the game until she’s just as viciously competitive as her brother, if not more so. Some might say this is out-of-character for Lisa, but I don’t think so. Firstly she’s pretty competitive in most things, priding herself on being the best, so whatever she sets out to do will have that effect. Second, I can completely relate to this; I’m not a sporty guy, but if I’m thrust into a game like that, I can get pretty pissed and riled up about it. You get swept up in that atmosphere, and the episode certainly addresses that.

People also might be bothered by Homer’s behavior in the show, goading and ramping up the antagonism between his two children and acting like a general ass. But here, Homer acts like your typical overzealous sports parent (Lisa references them herself when speaking of peewee teams, “You mean those leagues where parents push their kids into vicious competition to compensate for their own failed dreams of glory?”) It starts off when Lisa is being scolded for her one alert letter from school, Homer gleefully fills out Bart’s enormous pile of them and offers him a present. It’s both parental favoritism over something trivial, as well as like when schools give athletes special treatment to get out of classes to train or what-have-you. Lisa’s intellectualism is nowhere near as impressive as Bart’s hockey skills, so to get recognition from the school and her father, she must get into the game. By the end, Homer is completely swept up in the fight, pushing his wife to pick a side (“The winner will be showered with praise! The loser will be taunted and booed until my throat is sore!”)

Then we have our ending, which of course is a penalty shot between Bart and Lisa. The entire crowd is out for blood, getting really worked up over this hockey game for 10-year-olds (with the amazing “Kill Bart!” and “Kill, Bart!” chants). In the final moment of truth, Bart and Lisa reflect on past moments of their lives and how much they mean to each other as brother and sister, then decide to hug it out and declare it a truce. Some people may think this is really sappy and manipulative, and to them, I say fuck you. It’s one of the sweetest moments in the entire series, and I get a bit teary eyed every time. Then like the show does, we get our beautiful moment of emotion combined with a beautiful moment of comedy. Marge is touched by the display, but Homer is devastated in a different way (“They’re both losers! Losers!!”) The crowd is so outraged by the tie game that they riot, destroying the stadium as Bart and Lisa skate off in the distance. Endings don’t get much better than this.

Tidbits and Quotes
– Great opening bit with extreme action news with Kent Brockman, who leaps into his chair screaming his name (“Our top stories tonight: a tremendous explosion in the price of lumber, President Reagan dyes… his hair, plus Garry Trudeau and his new musical comedy revue.”) It’s a brilliant parody of sensationalist news.
– Nice prank from Lisa tricking Bart to go outside thinking it’s a snow day. Jimbo’s taunt (“Nice PJs, Simpson. Did your mommy buy them for you!”) backfires when Bart responds plainly, “Of course she did. Who else would have?” Jimbo has no rejoinder.
– I love Skinner’s total displeasure about the unfortunately named Butt-Head Memorial Auditorium (“Dammit, I wish we hadn’t let the students name that one.”)
– This episode features what must be the most famous Ralph line, “Me fail English? That’s unpossible!” I also like during the big assembly, Nelson’s sheepishness over the public announcement of his doing well in Home Ec.
– A really great gag with Lisa’s spiky hair puncturing the volleyball (“Children, that was our only ball. There’ll be no team this year.”)
– Great joke that Apu’s team name is the Kwik-E-Mart Gougers, and Wiggum’s the Mighty Pigs. When Milhouse is rendered immobile, Apu hoists him up in front of the goal with ropes. The plan is kind of faulty, since he cannot move his arms to block, as a very slow moving puck easily enters the goal, despite Milhouse attempting to blow it away (Apu is annoyed, “Oh come on, you call that blowing?!”) I also like the gall of Apu to smack a puck really fast straight at Lisa’s face. She could have easily not caught it and knocked her teeth out, that would be horrifying. But Milhouse getting his teeth out? Hilarious. Marge is later revealed to have said teeth in her possession for no reason, and won’t give them back to the kid’s doctor. It’s a really weird joke, but hilarious in its weirdness.
– Great bit with Homer giddily chasing a naked Uter about the locker room (“Don’t make me run! I’m full of chocolate!”)
– The sequence of Homer and Bart laughing uncontrollably at a terrified Lisa in goal, on paper, sounds really really cruel, but for some reason, I love it. It’s the funniest thing in the whole show, especially when Homer says they’re laughing with her, followed by a scared yell from Lisa, then more laughing, and Homer instantly stopping to give a quick “With her” to Marge.
– Bart concludes if Lisa is taking his spot as the sporty one, he’ll be the brainy one. So, in a great fake-out of a potential new plot line, we get a quick montage of a grinning Bart raising his hand to answer every question of the day, only to be scolded by Mrs. Krabappel for getting them all wrong. Following this is a great scene of Nelson beating up Bart (“This is for wasting teacher’s valuable time!”) Lisa then accosts the bullies and gets them to disperse, emasculating Bart once again. I like the flow of these scenes; they could have easily had the bullies beat up Bart for no reason, but they had it tie in with the last scene. It makes everything fit together.
– Classic sequence with Bart and Lisa kicking and punching the air and walking toward each other, with great performances by Nancy Cartwright and Yeardley Smith fighting with each other. And the follow-up of Homer doing the same thing to get at a pie, but banging his head on the range hood, leaving a really sizable dent. Marge tries to stop the fight by flicking the lights on and off, which is a well animated bit, which works in the end (“Mom, that is really annoying!”) Marge reinforces that the two are not in competition with each other, only to have Homer run in with big news (“Apu just called. This Friday, Lisa’s team is playing Bart’s team! You’re in direct competition! And don’t go easy on each other just because you’re brother and sister. I want to see you both fighting for your parents’ love!”) To rev them up, he flicks the lights on and off (“Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!”) It’s one of the most perfect act breaks in the show’s history.
– Nice bit of Bart-Lisa rivalry passing and blocking condiments at the table. Homer asks for ketchup, but gets mustard instead (“I asked for ketchup! I’m eating salad here!”)
– Amazing, amazing, amazing scene with Moe infiltrating the Simpson house. It has nothing to do with the story at all, but is so damn hilarious, between Moe calling Marge “Midge” for the first time and Marge’s dissatisfied telling off to him (“You caught me at a real bad time, Moe. I hope you understand I’m too tense to pretend I like you.”) It’s just so crazy, another look at this seedy underhanded side of Moe, but showing he’s really a pathetic man (“I’m sixty-two grand in the hole! They’re gonna take my thumbs!”)
– Krusty blanking on the National Anthem and getting booed is a great scene (“I shouldn’t have turned down those cue cards.”)
– Jailbird Snake appears to be touched by Bart and Lisa’s display of affection (“Those kids are, like, so sweet. If only they had had peewee hockey when I was a lad.”) But nonetheless, he starts to riot like the others, using the crowbar he apparently brought with him to rip out a seat.

And with this, I find myself at the quarter mark. Only 333 episodes to go. Still quite a long haul, but hey, I’m impressed I made it this far.

110. Bart’s Girlfriend

~ Mike! ~ 13 Comments

(originally aired November 6, 1994)
This is yet another example of how an episode can be memorable and masterful with a relatively simple story. We’re so committed to these characters that we can be entertained by seeing them in any new situation, and can even come to learn a little more about them. Here we see Bart having to face off with a girl who pushes things too far, even by his standards. The girl in question is Jessica Lovejoy, unassuming daughter of the good Reverend, given a siren song of a voice by guest star Meryl Streep. Bart is instantly smitten with this girl who won’t pay him a moment’s notice. Assuming she’s a prim and proper religious girl, he assumes a good guy persona to attempt to impress her (a plot element that will be repeated many a time in the many stupid “Bart’s celebrity voiced love interest” episodes further down the road). But come to find out, she’s a baaaad girl, and she and Bart seem to be the perfect match.

Act two is interesting in how Jessica continues to mess with Bart’s mind and screw him over, with Bart turning mostly a blind eye to the affairs. Then we see the division between the two’s antics. Jessica is a true careless delinquent, which Bart is a loveable prankster. When Jessica steals money from the church collection plate, Bart calls her on it. He’ll deface property and pull overblown pranks, but theft is not the boy’s M.O. In the end, Bart’s left holding the bag, or rather the empty plate, and must carry the blame until Lisa comes to his aid and exposes Jessica’s thievery. Her mini-sermon about absolving of guilt is very true to her, and then we get the joke where Lisa just points Jessica out when she won’t come forward herself. We also get a nice telling bit at the end where we see Reverend Lovejoy turning a deaf ear to Jessica’s retellings of the harsh reality of her expulsion and past discretions. While I think it’d be neat to see the return of Jessica, I kind of like how that last scene sort of illustrated that Jessica is the Lovejoy’s little mistake that they’d like to sweep under the rug.

The plot’s so simple and perfect I don’t have much to delve into. Like I said, it’s just so naturally entertaining watching these characters do their thing. The opening with the parents corralling their kids (literally) a la Planet of the Apes is spectacular. We get more dim-witted Homer so oblivious to his son that he thinks he wears glasses, Lisa pining to make a changed man out of a James Dean-esque teenage librarian, Nelson pummeling Bart for apparently besmirching an honest woman’s name, and Ned Flanders singing in a high falsetto as we’ve heard in “Bart of Darkness.” These characters are so rich and familiar to us that we love seeing them in action. There’s so many hilarious bits in this one, and along with being a great character study for Bart, it’s one of the absolute classics.

Tidbits and Quotes
– The cowboys and Indians game the kids play is usurped by Nelson in cyborg garb shooting at them with a futuristic weapon. When Bart complains that his “Killmatic 3000” is not historically accurate, Nelson retorts, “Records from that era are spotty at best!”
– I love Bart singing a retooled “Soul Man” while playing with a Troll doll, as well as Marge chastising him for playing with a toy with such bizarre hair.
– We get the greatest appearance by the Sea Captain here. A shining angelic light appears behind Jessica… which we reveal is actually coming from a lighthouse. A man atop it yells to Captain McAllister that it should be pointing to sea, but the captain shoots him down. A ship in darkened waters crashes into some rocks. McAllister pats down his pipe and comments, “Yarr, I hate the sea and everything in it.”
– A great quick line from the Sunday School teacher (“Ralph, Jesus did not have wheels.”)
– I like the minor detail of the church hamster’s little house has a cross atop it.
– Bart forces himself to be good, but is literally handed temptation in the form of a “replica” of David’s slingshot. Taking aim at the teacher’s behind, he experiences a moral crisis (“Must… fight… Satan… make it… up to him… later!”)
– When his efforts to be good are a bust, Bart musses up his hair and untucks his clothes, and I love how he slaps some dirt on himself for good measure.
– Wonderful appearance by Willie at a school festival explaining Scottish customs, when Bart rigs his kilt to fly away on balloons (“‘Tis no more than what God gave me, you puritan pukes!”) The whole thing was actually an elaborate sting to catch Bart. Skinner admits there’s no such thing as Scotchtoberfest, but no one told Willie this (“Yah used me, Skinner! Yah usssssed me!!“)
– Dinner at the Lovejoys is a great scene. I love how suspect the Reverend is at having Bart at the house, as well as the slow rhythm of which Bart sets up his raunchy anecdote (“Watching FOX last night, I heard a rather amusing story. This character named Martin was feeling rather… randy, and he was heard to remark…”) He was already in hot water, that just clinched it.
– Poor Sarah plain and tall. S’all I gotta say.
– I don’t know if I care for the scene of Bart and Jessica TPing the Jebediah Springfield statue, considering the respect Bart exhibited for the town founder in “The Telltale Head.” I guess it’s the first sign of Jessica pushing Bart into things he wouldn’t normally do.
– The big skateboard scene is pretty damn great, where at first you anticipate the jokes, then they turn on you. Bart talks to himself how he’ll be fine as long as the terrain is steady, then he runs straight into an oil slick and a field of ball bearings. A damaged glue truck seems to be his salvation, but sadly it remains intact as he passes it by. Bart eventually wipes out when hitting a seed an ant is carrying, violently tumbles to the bottom, and then the glue truck ruptures, completely entombing Bart under a flood of sticky glue.
– As mentioned earlier, I love the glasses bit with Homer, along with when Marge worries about smothering Bart, he responds that they would get the chair for that. Marge retorts, “That isn’t what I meant,” and Homer responds, “It was, Marge, admit it.” I don’t know why, but that whole exchange may be one of my favorite bits of the whole series.
– I take offense to Bart’s analogy about Jessica (“She’s like a Milk Dud, Lis: sweet on the outside, poison on the inside.”) Milk Duds are delicious, how dare he.
– Getting caught with the empty collection plate, Bart assures himself everything will be fine if he tells the truth. He barely gets an “I” out before he is immediately accused (Moe shouts, “He confessed it!”) Out of options, he leaps out the window, and a slow-to-react Homer yells, “Stop him! He’s heading for the window!”
– Great Doppler effect with the car going by and a guy quickly yelling, “You stole money from the church collection plate!”
– My favorite scene of this show is probably when Bart confronts Jessica, who is twirling a baton on the front lawn. It gives visual interest to this dialogue heavy scene, but also is symbolic of Jessica’s carefree guilt-less nature, and toying with the baton mirrors his continued toying with Bart (“No one will believe you. Remember I’m the sweet, perfect minister’s daughter, and you’re just yellow trash.”)
– On the pulpit, Lisa quotes the Bible, “Judge not lest ye be judged.” Lovejoy mutters, “I think it might be somewhere towards the back.”
– When Lisa reveals Jessica to be the thief, Homer announces, “To the little girl’s room!” Rather than simply lift the girl’s mattress, Moe uses a jack to lift it, and confirms the pile of money to be the stolen goods (“Oh yeah, smells like church.”) I also like Lovejoy’s last ditch effort to make up an explaination (“I guess it’s obvious what’s happened here. Bart Simpson has somehow managed to sneak his bedroom into my house. …well, come on! Use your imaginations!”)
– Lastly, I like at the end Jessica heads off with her new boy toy… the bad boy librarian Lisa was pining for.

109. Treehouse of Horror V

~ Mike! ~ 7 Comments

(originally aired October 30, 1994)
The writers had pretty big shoes to fill after the last Halloween show, but wouldn’t you know, they managed to come back with a new one that’s just as phenomenal as last year’s, if not more so. First we have our The Shining parody, one of those most, if not the most, famous of all Treehouse of Horrors. Now, it’s basically a re-telling of the film with the Simpsons, so what makes it so great? First, it recreates the visuals, but also the tension. The scenery, the camera angles, the overall tone emulates the creepy, ominous nature of the film. Second, we turn character motivations on their ass. Jack Nicholson was a man tortured by his writer’s block, between that and his strenuous marriage drove him to madness. Here, all it takes to set Homer off is cut off his access to beer and cable TV. While supernatural forces persuade Jack to off his family, a ghostly Moe and a motley crew of famous horror icons have to drag an easily distracted Homer to carry out his mission. Third, the segment sports some spectacular animation, particularly Homer going mad, one of the best pieces the series has ever seen (done by, who else, David Silverman). Between all this, a ton of great jokes, a fair share poking at the original film (“Yah wanna get sued?”) and a great twist to the original ending, it’s a segment in everyone’s top five list.

We follow with “Time and Punishment,” where Homer learns the dangers of time travel, and the ripple effect that can come about with even the slightest of changes. It’s a neat premise to start off, as it’s an interesting and heady theory that Homer swatting one bug causes a totalitarian future ruled by Ned Flanders. This is a segment I think could have lasted twice as long, I’d love to see all the other ridiculous incarnations of the Simpson family. The best moment is when Homer stumbles upon an affluent and well-educated version of his family (complete with dead sister-in-laws), but the caveat of a world with no donuts drives Homer off screaming. And since that’s not enough of a joke, we get the kick in the ass of revealing a donut rain storm. Homer eventually goes nuts, wrecking mad havoc on the past, which rolls through a variety of crazy futures, until he finally lands back to his reality… almost. It’s a really neat segment, with a bunch of laughs, and despite it being the lightest of the three, it retains a good level of creepiness in the storyline.

Last up is “Nightmare Cafeteria,” one of the most disturbing segments ever done in the series. Troublemaking kids create an incredibly overcrowded detention, and budget cuts have left Lunchlady Doris scrounging for food options. Skinner figures out how to kill two birds with one stone with the most logical solution: kill off some of the worst students and serve their steamed carcasses for lunch. Like most things with this show, it’s all way over the top, but the leering glances and satisfied lip smackings from Skinner and the teachers makes it all very disturbing. Any qualms about Skinner’s first kill are immediately diffused by a “Ha!” from Krabappel in the teacher’s lounge, and everyone’s on board with it. Even more macabre is how they name the dishes after the dead: Sloppy Jimbos, Uterbratten… like, why would they do that? It’s hilarious as well as utterly sadistic. Among the last survivors, Bart, Lisa, and Milhouse attempt to escape, but are left cornered above a high powered blender. Just when things look their most dire, Bart wakes up. It was all a horrible nightmare. Everything is a-okay… except that pesky mysterious fog that turns people inside-out. I don’t think this is a reference to anything, but it’s such a horrifying idea, and a wonderfully grotesque image of the family’s skin inverting itself, revealing their organs. Nothing left to do from that point but have a song and dance number. How else would you end a Treehouse of Horror? Truly among the very best. I think IV, V, and VI are like the trifecta of awesome Halloween shows.

Tidbits and Quotes
– We have the final pre-show warning, here of Marge being interrupted that this year’s episode is so scary, Congress forbids them to air it. Instead, we’re treated to the classic Glenn Ford film 200 Miles to Oregon. I was surprised to find out later it’s not a real movie. So this isn’t real and Paint Your Wagon is? Shocking.
– The opening bits with Moe being hanged and Skinner willfully approving his decapitation are quite brutal. Overall this is one of the more violent Treehouse of Horrors, but I like that. Something this show kind of lost in the later years was these shows should be pretty chilling and disturbing. You have free license to do whatever you choose, something I feel was kind of squandered later on.
– Classic bit with the family’s multiple back-and-forth trips, going back to lock the front door, then the back door… and then not going back for Grampa.
– I like how the hedge maze, a prominent part of the original film, is diffused in one moment where we see Bart chainsawed his way through the whole thing. Willie is perterbed, then surprised Bart can read his thoughts, which of course leads to the great line, “But don’t be reading my mind between four and five. That’s Willie’s time!” So he’s predesignated that hour for his dirty thoughts?
– I love how angry and vindictive ghost Moe is about getting Homer to kill his family; the line reading of his “I’m happy, I’m very happy!” bit is a fantastic mood whiplash. Then of course later he has to drag Homer out of his gorging session to speed things along, accompanied by Pinhead, Freddy Krueger and others for no real reason.
– Such an amazing fake out of the typewriter scene. “Feelin’ fine” is so absolutely perfect, as is the incredible 360 shot revealing the scribblings on the wall.
– Of course we have the great hat trick of Willie being killed in all three stories, first by Homer (“Is that the best you can do?”), then by Maggie, and finally by Skinner (at this point he seems to have some meta awareness, commenting, “Ach, I’m bad at this!”)
– The end of the first segment with the Simpsons frozen is hilarious, but I also love that it sets up the finale that early, as “A Chorus Line” playing on the TV.
– More great animation of Homer flailing wildly and manically trying to get the toaster off of his hand… twice.
– Great appearance by Sherman and Mr. Peabody (and again as they sub for Kang and Kodos). I don’t quite get Homer’s comment about being the first non-Brazilian person to travel through time. I’m guessing it’s a reference to something. I could look it up. …….naaah.
– “Stupid bug! You go squish now!” is my go-to response when a fly is whizzing about my head.
– Even though it’s the lightest of the three segments, seeing Marge and the kids lobotomized holding parts of their brains in jars is pretty…. jarring (“It’s bliiiiiiiiiss.”)
– Excellent guest performance by James Earl Jones as Maggie (“This is indeed a disturbing universe.”) I would have loved to see more of that world, a homicidal baby with the voice of Darth Vader.
– Homer’s rage-filled rampage of the past is another great animated segment. I love his passionate squishing of a fish with legs (possibly halting all genetic evolution for good), then how he cold cocks a giant bug and starts bashing it with a club.
– I like how Jimbo bemoans his favorite outfit has been ruined, when it’s the same thing he wears all the time. I also like how the drama of him being cooked alive is juxtaposed by his incredible stupidity (“It’s hard for me to clean this giant pot when you keep spilling meat tenderizer all over me. …oh, great, now I gotta work in the dark!”) Natural selection, only the strong survive.
– Along with the stupid nature of naming the foods after the students, I love how brazen and unguarded Skinner is about his infernal affairs. He tries to subtly crack wise about it with Bart and Lisa, until he realizes he’s gone too far (“In fact, you might even say we just ate Uter and he’s in our stomachs right now! …wait. Scratch that one.”)
– I love Marge’s brief appearance in the third segment (“You march right back to that school, look them straight in the eye, and say ‘Don’t eat me!'”)
– The last segment is the perfect blend of disturbing and hilarious, epitomized with Lunchlady Doris coming after the children, blood soaked and crazed, wielding… an egg beater. I’m sure killing so many kids has driven her mad, but damn, is it ever still funny.
– I love, love, love the ending. It may be my favorite thing ever done in a Treehouse of Horror. It’s so deliciously macabre, in its reformatting of the song One, how Willie reappears, and how the upbeat music contrasts Santa’s Little Helper ripping Bart’s organs out of his chest and pulling him off screen, leaving a trail of blood behind, and none of the rest of the family seems to mind. It’s the absolutely perfect end for such a tremendous show.

108. Sideshow Bob Roberts

~ Mike! ~ 11 Comments

(originally aired October 9, 1994)
This is the first of a few times we see the Springfield Republican Party headquarters, located in a creepy castle on a haunted hill, where seemingly demonic rituals and dastardly plans are formulated. Even Dracula himself is one of the representatives. What’s so amazing about this that, at least to me, this reads two ways: it’s poking fun at conservatives, but simultaneously poking fun at itself. This set piece is so ridiculously over the top that it’s laughable, but the nugget of satire works against its seeming target, and those who would bash said target. This episode aims at Democrats and Republicans, and pretty much everyone gets their head in a proverbial noose, but in a very hilarious way.

We open with Rush Limbaugh wannabe Birch Barlow spewing his brand of conservative garbage water over the Springfield airwaves, who makes a call to arms to free “political prisoner” Sideshow Bob. After Bob’s knock at Democrats at the end of “Black Widower,” it only makes sense he would be revealed a diehard Republican, but seemingly only as a means to an end Also ironic that his prior comments about Democratic leniency on prisoners got him out of jail multiple times at this point. Anyway, Bob is selected by the Republican party to run for mayor against incumbent Joe Quimby. Satire of general elections and currying public favor has been done, and quite expertly, in “Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish,” but we get lots of great material here, like Bob being fed questions that will make for clever sound bites, and a neat nod to the Kennedy-Nixon debates featuring a prim and proper Bob against a direly sick Quimby.

Bob wins, of course, but Lisa remains suspicious (“I can’t believe a convicted felon would get so many votes and another convicted felon would get so few.”) She and Bart helm an investigation on the election results, which almost feels nostalgic at this point, harkening back to earlier episodes like “Krusty Gets Busted” and “Like Father, Like Clown” when the two would tag team for a common goal. The reveal that the ballots have been stuffed by deceased voters is really great; Bart gets a classic line (“Oh my God. The dead have risen and they’re voting Republican!”) Bob’s undoing is also absolutely perfect. When Lisa claims in court that Birch Barlow was behind the election tampering, Bob’s pride gets the better of him and he gives a bombastic confession. I guess given the subject matter, people may have been expecting a more vicious political satire, but to me, this is really just a damn good Sideshow Bob episode.

Tidbits and Quotes
– Harry Shearer does a great job voicing Birch Barlow, not really imitating Rush Limbaugh exactly, but mimicking his rhythm and vocal tics. I don’t think we ever heard from him again, but I wish we had.
– Kind of like showing Bart holding a bong in “Homer’s Barbershop Quartet,” I’m surprised they got away with showing Quimby watering a pot plant in his office.
– Great opening line by Bob, with the initial reveal of just his voice over the radio, with a line that proved to be just as relevant many years later (“Kudos for bringing the public back to the Republican party. It’s high time people realized we conservatives aren’t all Johnny Hatemongers, Charlie Bible Thumps, or even, God forbid, George Bushes.”
– Great quick appearance by Dr. Demento, who is apparently Bart’s other mortal enemy, after Bob. It’s another hilarious joke that leaves you to draw your own conclusions on where the rivalry came from. We also get Larry King hosting the mayoral debate. These guest roles may be small, but at least they’re funny and make sense. It’s not like Britney Spears randomly appearing to host a Springfield award show, or a celebrity randomly appearing on the street.
– Moe apparently has a drawer full of grenades under the bar, which he can pull out at a moment’s notice (“Hey, who pulled the pin out of this one?”)
– Fabulous line by Quimby responding to the Bob protests (“If that is the way the winds are blowing, let no one say I don’t also blow.”)
– I really love the scene where Bob uses his show business training to entertain the children. It’s a side we don’t see of him too often. He’s trained as a physical performer, as well as a thespian. I also like Bart and Lisa’s return fire of acting like cloying, adorable children, bullshitting how Quimby said kids are the city’s most important research (Kent Brockman incredulously asks, “More important than coal?!”)
– The campaign commercials are amazing: Quimby’s jingle and the slogan (“If you were running for mayor, he’d vote for you”), and then Bob’s ad condemning himself, but placing the blame on Quimby.
– Great bit with the bullies mummifying Milhouse with bumper stickers and pushing him down a hill in a shopping cart. Milhouse’s screams and the small animation of him being flung from the cart at the very bottom makes it even funnier.
– Barlow tosses Bob a softball question, then hits Quimby hard (“Mayor Quimby, you’re well-known, sir, for your lenient stance on crime. But suppose for a second that your house was ransacked by thugs, your family tied up in the basement with socks in their mouths, you try to open the door but there’s too much blood on the knob…”) Quimby interrupts asking what the question is. Barlow says it’s about the budget.
– The second act break is one of the best, featuring the greatest of all Bob laughs. It’s funny enough that it’s his victory speech, that he approaches the podium, ruffles his papers, then lets loose the most evil, maniacal laugh ever. Then even funnier when Kent jovially comments, “And just look how happy he is!”
– Homer reacts to the house shaking violently (“It’s the Rapture! Quick, get Bart out of the house before God comes!”)
– I love the Flintstone phone. It seems like one of those must exist, and if so, I want one. Also I’m not sure who did the voice of Fred Flintstone (I think Hank?) but it’s pretty spot on.
– Something I love about the classic episodes: callbacks. If a joke’s good enough for one laugh, you can bring it back for another. Homer getting thrown on his ass by the Archie gang is funny, then seeing him grumbling in the car reading an Archie comic is even funnier. Then you can make something that wasn’t too funny funny. At the opening, we get a quick bit with a man opening the card catalog at the library and bats fly out. Not too funny. Later during their investigation, we take a quick trip to the old Springfield library. This is seventeen minutes after that original joke, so you’ve probably forgotten it at this point. We get an establishing shot of the library. Lisa opens the catalog and bats fly out. Cut to them leaving. Get the joke, get out. A random joke at the start comes back to a twofer, making it even funnier.
– Just as we’ve seen George Washington and Albert Einstein are apparently buried in Springfield, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper are also buried there too (I love the inscription of the latter: “Goodbye, baaaaaaaby!”)
– Brilliant quick use of Lionel Hutz, clearly out of his element going up against Bob (“Mr. Mayor, did you rig the election?” “No, I did not.” “…kids, help.”)
– Bob quotes A Few Good Men, but unlike Homer’s ramblings in “Successful Marriage,” he twists it around and makes it funny (“No truth- handler, you. Bah! I deride your truth-handling abilities!”) When asked why he did it, Bob explains, in one of the best monologues of the series (“Your guilty conscience may force you to vote Democratic, but deep down inside you secretly long for a cold-hearted Republican to lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king. That’s why I did this: to protect you from yourselves!”) He’s then immediately arrested (“What? Oh yes, all that stuff I did.”)