(originally aired April 29, 2001)
I was getting a little worried about re-watching this one, but thankfully it was as clever and well-executed as I remembered, the solitary season 12 gem I was waiting for. I’m even more shocked that in a season where the writers can barely tell a single story competently, here they manage to string together three of them occurring on the same day, weaving between each other until they reach a mutual conclusion. This episode follows the events of an oddball day through the eyes of one character per act: Homer the first, Lisa the second and Bart the third. An accident in the kitchen leaves Homer with a severed thumb, resulting in Marge having to rush him to the hospital. This leaves Lisa without a ride to school, so she hoofs it, accidentally ending up at the unusually similar West Springfield Elementary. Meanwhile, Bart and Milhouse uncover a cave filled with illegal fireworks, and end up working as informants for Chief Wiggum to track out their supplier, Fat Tony.

Homer’s whole story is told in the first act, where we see bits of Bart and Lisa, but things happen without explanation that will be filled in later. Marge seemingly deserts Homer at Moe’s, Cletus’s truck gets stolen, Dr. Nick’s office explodes, and the grand finale of them all, Lisa’s grammar robot explodes off in the distance, leaving Homer in mourning. It really gets you hooked in, as you want to know how all the pieces fit together. Even with all the choice interactions and elements between stories, the episode never comes off feeling too gimmicky, it strikes the right balance. Lisa’s story hinges on her desperately trying to get to school, with her running montages set to the score of the great film Run Lola Run. Her story ends with Bart coming out of a manhole, which immediately perks your interest since we don’t know a thing about his exploits at all yet. Then by Bart’s story, all the rest of the blanks slowly start to get filled, culminating in an amazing finale on why Linguo blew up, and we have an ending that satisfies everyone. Except Mr. Teeney, he’s pretty pissed.

The three concurrent story structure leads to all new opportunities for setting up and paying off gags. The best may be the one revolving around 123 Fake Street. In act one, scared she might go to prison for her accidental thumb-cutting, Marge gives Wiggum the phony address, which of course he buys is authentic. In act two, he asks Mr. Teeney for directions to said address. Then in act three we see Bart and Milhouse run into a safe house, which before we even see the address, we know what it is: 123 Fake Street. Another great reveal is when Lisa overhears Wiggum’s stakeout in act two, where he blows his informants cover over the radio and seemingly gets him shot dead. Later in act three, when we see said informants are Bart and Milhouse, it feels even worse. Obviously we don’t think they’re going to get shot, but the comedy is even darker in that Wiggum almost got two ten-year-olds killed. Then we find the gunshots were actually fireworks Bart and Milhouse used as a distraction to escape. The episode is literally filled with these kinds of moments, and this experimental format is utilized to its fullest. Again, I’m stunned that they were able to pull off this kind of episode given what shit we’ve seen this season, but I appreciate them for trying something new, and even more so for putting so much care in it and succeeding.

Tidbits and Quotes
– The two gags at the start of the episode must have been tough to write, since they are repeated two more times at the start of each act. Any gag is going to lose its luster the third time around, but “Son of a diddly!” and the newspaper headline (“First Day of Spring: Ants, Picnicers Reach Last-Minute Accord”) are pretty good jokes.
– Homer ruins Lisa’s project by pouring beer down the robot’s throat, but it doesn’t feel so jerky here, as he’s acting more out of naivety than anything (“I’m sorry, I thought it was a party robot!”) It also gave us a Lisa line for the ages, which I use quite often (“This is why I can’t have nice things!”)
– Dr. Hibbert is of no help to Homer (“Your HMO doesn’t cover this type of injury.” “But I have finger insurance.” “A thumb is not a finger!” “Isn’t there anything you can do?” “Well, I could cut off the other thumb for a sense of symmetry.”) Upon leaving, Marge’s comment (“Hibbert’s really losing it…”) is a seemingly conscious line given how much wackier and less professional he’s gotten over the last two seasons.
– I love Homer attempting to hitchhike thumbless and not being able to figure out why it isn’t working.
– Great Dr. Nick line regarding his exploded office (“‘Inflammable’ means ‘flammable’?! What a country!”)
– The first act break is fantastic (“Linguo… dead!” “Linguo… is… dead…”) Homer shutting the robot’s eyes is a lovely touch.
– Lisa has some difficulty with her robotic creation upon repairing it (“Almost done, just lay still.” “Lie still.” “I knew that. Just testing.” “Sentence fragment.” “‘Sentence fragment’ is also a sentence fragment.” “…must conserve battery power.”) The eye shift on the robot just makes it.
– The whole bit with West Springfield Elementary being exactly the same building, or even existing at all, is a little silly, but given the silly episode, it doesn’t faze me. We have the “en francais!” laughing to show for it, and that’s enough for me. There’s also Thelonious, Lisa’s intellectual star-crossed love. Voiced by Frankie Muniz, he’s another throwaway guest star, but he’s fine for the scenes that he’s in (“You can’t sacrifice grades for romance. That’s not the girl I fell for.” “Will I ever see you again?” “Of course you will. At the magnet high school. Now go!”) I’m only bitter because his show Malcolm in the Middle usurped Futurama‘s 8:30pm slot, effectively dooming it to cancellation. A pox on thee, Muniz!!
– Marge sees Lisa and says she’d give her a ride but she has to wait for Homer. Then when she hears his drunken Blue Man Group ramblings inside, Marge figures she’s got a few hours to kill.
– Bart and Milhouse horsing around with the fireworks is a great montage. I especially love where they attach four to the front wheel of their bike, which causes it to shoot off down the street. It’s really neat visually, and plus that has a purpose as it shoots into Dr. Nick’s office, causing the explosion.
– God, I love the ending with Linguo, overloading with grammatical errors from Legs and Louie’s stereotypical gangster talk (“They’s throwing robots!” “They are throwing robots.” “He’s disrespecting us. Shut up-ah you face!” “Shut up your face.”)
– Ironic that the episode ends with Mr. Teeney screaming about how the plot made no sense, when it basically made the most sense of any plot this season, by a wide margin.

(originally aired April 1, 2001)
Travel episodes are normally best when they have a character-driven story behind them. “Bart vs. Australia” saw Bart’s prank as the epicenter of strife in American-Australian relations, “Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington” had Lisa go to the capitol for her award-winning essay on American, only to have her faith in America tainted by corrupt politicians. These episodes have some heft to them because they directly involve the family. But even if your show is just a series of culture-clash set pieces, that has a chance of working as well; that’s about all that “Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo” was, and that was a pretty good show. But this episode is pretty much DOA from the start: a ridiculously stupid first act brings our family to Africa, which is one nonsensical gag and plot turn after another. Absolutely none of the Africa material works. Since very few of the viewers know much about how the continent really is (myself included), they just made it over-the-top and silly stereotypes, except none of it is funny and it all sucks.

So here’s how we get to Africa: a bag boy strike causes a near-famine in Springfield. That’s the kind of gag that maybe works when you’re joking around in the writer’s room, but in execution it just feels so completely ridiculous. What about the Kwik-E-Mart? Or any gas station? There’s a myriad of places that you can find food. It’s just the right kind of illogical nonsense to get you in the mood for this kind of episode. Santa’s Little Helper uncovers an old box of animal crackers which contains a solid gold piece, as part of a contest where the winner is sent to Africa. Once the Simpsons are there, as I mentioned, it’s just one dumb reality-breaking gag after another: rhinos hatching from eggs, gigantic spiders, bees being used as blowing darts, hippos being afraid of water, Bart getting a lip disc… I could just keep going. Even worse is how clear it was that the writers put some of those jokes in to fuck with the viewers. Through most of the episode Lisa acts as kind of a narrator, giving out exposition and actively commenting on things not making sense (“Wait, rhinos don’t come from eggs.” “What did you just see, Lisa?”) I have no problem with writers wanting to fuck with fans once and a while, but it’s usually best if your show is actually good.

The family ends up getting hopelessly lost and stumble upon the reserve of famed chimp researcher Dr. Bushwell, obviously a reference to Dr. Jane Goodall. Her compound is being threatened by poachers, but the “attackers” are eventually revealed to be from Greenpeace. Turns out Bushwell had put her animals into slavery, working in a diamond mine below her home. Clearly on the verge of cracking, she desperately offers everyone diamonds to hush up… and they take them. And then that’s the end. I suppose there’s some kind of story there, but it’s in the third act and had no set-up and anything I can latch onto. I feel I can’t comment at what point this episode went off the rails because it was pretty much awful at the start, and never let up. That the writers seem so pleased with themselves and their work that they feel they can directly say fuck you to their viewers is pretty ballsy, especially given the episode they’re doing it in. I guess you could say they’re underachievers… and proud of it? …seriously, fuck this episode.

Tidbits and Quotes
– The stupid jokes start almost immediately as we see Maggie has gone to the emergency room for swallowing an entire fucking magazine. An odd thing is the first time we see the X-ray, the title of the magazine is digitally blurred, which I thought maybe there was a title there and then they found out they didn’t have permission to use it and couldn’t reanimate. Then in the next shot you can clearly see it’s Time Magazine. Hmn.
– Homer incessantly pokes the bag boy with a baguette (“Hurry up! I can’t stand here jabbing you all day.” “Ow! Stop. Bag boys have feelings, too, you know.” “No, you don’t.”) Yep, that’s our lovable protagonist! It’s to the point that even the exasperated supermarket manager addresses him by name and asks him to leave, implying numerous instances in the past of him being an ass.
– I guess the whole bag boy strike leading to famine thing is supposed to be absurdist, but I just wasn’t buying it. Why couldn’t Lenny have put all his shit in a bag? And why were the striking bag boys allowed on the roof of the supermarket they’re protesting?
– When Homer is frantically looking through cabinets, we see Bart standing with the rest of the family. Then four seconds later, we see him out the back window with a bird’s nest. Guess he just teleported or something.
– The only thing I like in this episode is how they get to Africa. The animal crackers are so old that the company that made them doesn’t even make crackers anymore (“We make household poisons and Christmas lights.”) They’re about to throw Homer out until the string of the box the executive is holding snaps and accidentally swings into Homer’s eye (“He could sue us.” This defective string…” “Yeah, it’s got very sharp corners.”) The execs do damage control and agree to send them all to Africa.
– I know this has been present for the last few seasons, but it really bugged me here. I’m really kind of sick of Tress MacNeille voiced every single woman character. The old waitress, the female executive, the flight attendant, Dr. Bushwell… it’s all basically the same voice every time. Now, Tress is definitely very talented, and has done great work with many characters, like Agnes Skinner, the Crazy Cat Lady, Mom on Futurama, but some variety would be nice. With male incidentals, we have Castallaneta, Azaria and Shearer in rotation, so why not bring in at least one other female actress? Pamela Hayden could come and do some stuff, or Russi Taylor, or hell, just a woman from the office to deliver a few lines. Just so it’s not all Tress, all the time.
– The scene leading up to the warthog reveal is so drawn out, way too much time wasted for such a small gag. And you know it’s coming because Lisa’s hair is being pulled out of frame, you’re just waiting and waiting until the payoff so they can move on.
– Homer really couldn’t care less about any of the danger going on in the third act, he’s just this mindless cartoon character spouting stupid jokes. He even brings up the bagboy strike from the first act, which then later appears as a dedication at the end of the show, more of the writers acknowledging their shit makes no sense.
– The family ends up going down Victoria Falls, which is in Zimbabwe, nowhere near Tanzania. It could have just been a random giant waterfall, why did it have to be named at all? We see them falling straight down the water, then near the bottom we see they land in a gigantic flower a fair distance from the falls. Totally unharmed. Just landed comfortably in a giant fucking flower. Which then proceeds to “eat” them, and then Homer just pushes his way out. These are the jokes, people.
– So the Simpsons are rich now? You can’t just end your episode with them carrying armfuls of diamonds and just do a reset. This isn’t that kind of cartoon. At least I didn’t think it was…

(originally aired March 11, 2001)
Let’s talk about silly endings. As insane as episodes in the classic seasons got, they would always end in a way that was believable within the established context of the story, or at least worked as some kind of parody of something. But lately we’ve had a fair share of endings that are kind of random and stupid, and here it’s not just the ending, but the entire third act devoted to this conclusion. It feels like one of those things that you’re either on the train or off the train for, and I was most certainly off. Lisa attempts to make friends with the new girl Francine, only to be viciously bullied for her efforts. She attempts to make sense of why Francine seems to just target the nerdy kids, figuring there must be some logical explanation. The answer surprises her: it’s all chemical. She discovers that the smartest among us emit a certain chemical, which she dubs “poindextrose,” that attracts negative reaction from bullies. And yeah, that’s really the ending.

I do kind of like the first half of this episode, showing that Francine is just this stone wall that Lisa cannot get through to or understand why she’s abusing her so violently. It is, however, an enormous waste of guest star Kathy Griffin, who gets maybe five lines, which boil down to maybe twenty words. I like her bully voice and her screaming, and keeping her mostly mute works for her character, but if that’s the case, they could’ve had anyone do the voice. I like Lisa’s consultation with Nelson, and seeing how organized and efficient the world of bullying is, their rules and regulations, and their own code of ethics. Examining the psychological urges and motivations of bullies, but in an absurdist, comedic way, could have been great. But I really can’t get on board with this ending. Lisa spraying herself with salad dressing stopping Francine from her impending attack, leaving her acting like a confused animal is just plain bizarre. The whole final act is devoted to this ridiculously preposterous finale. I wasn’t so much annoyed as I was bored, I felt like they could’ve come up with a better ending but were apparently quite tickled by this one, I guess.

There’s also a side story here, but not much to report about it. After a visit from an eye-opening, but expensive, baby-proofer, Homer goes on a crusade to make the world a safe place for Springfield’s littlest ones. The reason? I’m not entirely sure, but you know that wacky Homer and all his crazy non-work-related adventures. There’s a strange scene before the baby-proofer shows up with him and Marge sitting at the kitchen table struggling to come up with something to talk about, with Marge about to point out that their marriage is suffering a bit before the doorbell rings. It’s a joke that kind of feels so sour and sad within this overly silly show. Be it filling a dangerous pool with Jell-O mix or bubble wrapping an entire playground, Homer is making waves in protecting youngins everywhere. So what’s the resolution? The answer is there isn’t one. Well, just barely. Homer sees on TV that many industries are being hurt by Homer’s crusade: Dr. Hibbert can’t afford a new boat because of healthy babies, the get-well-soon baby card factory has shut down, laying off hundreds. As such, Homer takes to the streets, calling for all infants to do their part and get injured. It’s not really an ending, it’s just an incredibly bizarre joke. Both stories in this episode has completely ridiculous climaxes, which takes away from any emotional connection or attempt at realism the plots had at the start. This episode had promise, but any goodwill basically evaporates come the third act.

Tidbits and Quotes
– The Itchy & Scratchy cereal commercial is kinda fun, but I feel it goes on a little too long.
– Good Homer line when Marge is shocked that he’s not at work yet (“They said if I come in late again, I’m fired. I can’t take that chance!”)
– I know we’re well past the point that I should be annoyed at overly cartoony stuff happening in this show, but seeing Otto and Marge drag race in the aqueduct system still made me kind of sad, like this is what this series has come to. This is a believable thing that Marge would do now. I kind of like the payoff of Otto getting to the school, then realizing he had to pick up a new kid, and drives back around again, making it all for nothing. Then the kids wonder what the new kid is like, via three thought bubbles that I guess the writers forgot to write jokes for.
– I like how long and how much effort it takes the baby proofer to get the cap off the product under the sink, and her unfazed continuation of her shock spiel when she finally gets it open (“You see how quickly your baby could have been drinking this… Similac Baby Formula?”) Wrapped up in the theatrics, Homer is horrified and stomps the bottle flat (“This is such an eye-opener. I always pictured the kids dying in the living room.”)
– From what we’ve seen of Homer’s past, I don’t really see him as being a bully. Also he seems to be pummeling a nerdy-looking Smithers.
– The scene at the lockers with Lisa and Francine sports some pretty great animation. The low angle of the spit-out Malibu Stacey head, the fluid motion and posing of Francine shoving Lisa in her locker, it all seemed particularly strong.
– I really like the interplay of Lisa and Nelson discussing bullying, and how serious they take it. I almost wish he played a larger role in the third act. Instead, Lisa uses him as an unwitting guinea pig when he swabs Drederick Tatum with nerd sweat. Nelson’s fists have minds of their own and begin punching him and giving him a wedgie. I can’t stress how dumb this is. Though I like Tatum’s non-plussed reaction (“Please don’t hurt me!” “You leave me little recourse.”)
– Willie’s penchant for secretly videotaping people comes out again as we see his lair (labeled ‘Keep Oot’) with dozens of monitors (“Why does the school need to watch us all the time?” “School?”) I also love his shock at seeing one of the men’s rooms (“That roll of paper towels is nearing the end! It’s on double red stripe!!”)
– I have to say, whenever I think about or sing along to “The Safety Dance,” I always sub in Homer’s lyrics (“You can dance! You can dance! Everybody look at your pants!”)
– The only thing I like about the nerd conference is the one voice in the crowd or murmuring scientists audibly saying, “Let’s not listen!” But then they use the clip again after Lisa’s experiment is a success. Absurd? Or lazy?

(originally aired March 4, 2001)
I can’t tell how much this show has numbed me at this point. Here’s an episode that has very few of the glaring issues of the more recent seasons, and even a fair share of admirable ideas and scenes, but as a whole, it didn’t do much for me, and I’m having a little trouble pinpointing why. Maybe there were too many silly elements in what mostly was a more realistic down-to-earth story. Maybe it’s another episode that took way too long to get into the meat of the plot. But whatever it was, something kept this show from getting beyond anything from a slightly good-spirited thumbs up. We open with a family trip to BlockoLand, legally distinguishable from LEGO. When Homer confronts a shopkeep who sold Lisa a building set with a missing piece, he develops a newfound passion for standing up for the little guy. There’s one or two smirk-worthy moments, but this is the whole first act, and in terms of the main story, it’s wholly disposable, time wasted that could have been better spent in getting us to the point quicker.

In attempting to get a season ticket refund for Lenny, Homer discovers a terrible secret at the ballpark: the new owner of the Springfield Isotopes at the Duff corporation is planning on moving the team to Albuquerque. I think my favorite part of the episode is Stacey Keach as Henry K. Duff VIII. He gives a funny and interesting vocal performance, trying all he can to discredit the man in the way of his goals. No one will take Homer’s word over Duff’s, so he vows to go on a hungry strike to get them to fess up. Now, of course, Homer must be absolutely dedicated to do something this drastic, and we do believe his motives for doing this (“I don’t mind being called a liar when I’m lying, or about to lie, or just finished lying… but not when I’m telling the truth!”) He’s an earnest guy trying to do what’s right in his own stupid way. It’s almost a return to form of classic Homer, certainly a refreshing change from the moronic jackass we’ve been watching these last few seasons. For the first time in a while, I’m rooting for Homer to succeed, and when he finally proven right in the end, we’re as happy as he is with the big finale.

Yet even with all of that, there’s still something that’s keeping me from loving this episode. There’s a lot of silly moments throughout that I’m kind of conflicted about. Like the big “PRIVATE” room that has all of the Albuquerque Isotopes merchandise and insignias properly displayed… it kind of felt a bit much, but then I laughed later when Homer opens the same door for a bunch of reporters and reveals a guy playing “wah-waaaaahhh” on the trombone. But what annoyed me most was the ending. I buy Homer identifying the southwestern ingredients on the new hot dog and that being the catalyst for the reveal. I buy Duff wanting to test his new product out and knowing the dummies of Springfield wouldn’t make the connection. But that they have the hot dog wrappers say ‘Alburquerque Isotopes’ on them… really? No one noticed this? They had to cap off Homer’s triumphant moment with that unbelievably dumb reveal. So, yeah, as unusually iffy as I am with this episode, I definitely place it in the better ones this season. Homer’s admirable behavior alone makes it notable amongst a season of him being an insufferable ass.

Tidbits and Quotes
– While I swear it’s been said on the show before, this episode gave us the formal introduction to “meh.” Very notable.
– BlockoLand has a few cute moments: the square wheels on the tram, the girl bumping down the block slide, Marge thinking “Squaresville” sounds cool, and security escorting Nelson out after winning a game of Rock-Em-Sock-Em Robots. The only jerky Homer thing here is him repeatedly splashing Lisa with blue blocks that make up the water in the boat ride, which he then manages to sink in somehow. But that gag is saved by the Blocko leeches.
– I’ll say that there were two gags here that I was expecting to go one way that they actually pushed one step further, which I really appreciate. Homer vows to stick up for the little guy, then notices cops beating down Snake in the road. He revs his car up and scatters the police away. I thought they would leave it at that, but they then reveal the cops were beating out Snake’s shirt fire (“My heart was in the right place, jerk!”) In a later scene, Duff calls in for a special brew of Duff which you’d think would erase Homer’s memory. Then Duffman injects him in the arm and he passes out, leaving Duff to his tasty beverage (“Man, that’s malty. But he’ll never know!”)
– The first act is really a blight on this episode. First we have Homer masquerading as a kid at the school that no one calls out and is never explained. Then later we have a servicable gag where Homer cross-checks the funds at Marge’s salon to see that they would be ruined if they honored her coupon. Then it’s coupled with Homer giving advice on how to lighten one’s loafers (a slightly questionable gag in and of itself) out of nowhere (“You get the same results with a mincing gel!”) These two scenes are precursors to horrible bullshit to come, where characters will just show up wherever and say whatever for whatever the scene or joke calls for, regardless if it makes sense for that specific character. Care used to be put into every scene in this show, whereas now I can’t chart this fumbling up to anything but laziness.
– Duffman is great in this show as Duff’s lackey (“Joel Duffman, ‘The Newsly Times.’  What’s with the smear campaign against this beloved brewer?  And weren’t you once in a loony bin? Oh yeah!”) His line toward the end is bonafide classic (“New feelings are brewing in Duffman! What would Jesus do?”)
– Nice gag with the discomforting omen of the other poor soul who protested against the stadium owners: a skeleton shackled to a pole similar to Homer’s with a sign reading “Clean the Ladies Room.”
– We see Skinner and Krabappel on a date. Krabappel assures the ice cream cone Skinner bought her will go straight to her thighs, and Skinner retorts that that won’t be the only thing. Not only is this too shrewd a line for a lameduck like Skinner, but really, this is twice this season we’ve had an awful sexual inneuendo coming from this guy. It’s a little bit disconcerting.
– I really like the plot turn of Duff having Homer transported to the outfield, and touting him as an Isotopes superfan, negating Homer’s entire platform. His callous attitude toward Marge regarding her husband’s well-being is great too (“We won’t let any harm come to your husband, Mrs. Simpson. He’s fine.” “He’s not moving!” “He’s probably resting from all the moving he did before you got here. He’ll start moving in a second, I’m sure of it.”)
– I criticized this show for being too silly at parts, but I still like the very end in Alburquerque. It still could have worked with the other silliness taken out as our sincere earned ending capped off with a final bit of craziness (“That town’s got too much spirit. Looks like we’ll have to steal some other baseball team. See what Dallas wants for the Cowboys.” “Uh, that’s a football team, sir.” “They’ll play what I tell ’em to play… for I am the Mayor of Albuquerque!”)

(originally aired February 25, 2001)
Ah, boy bands. Meticulously manufactured pretty boys with non-offensive ballads about “true love” to generate huge amounts of profit from young girls. It’s the kind of thing that seems parody-proof, because it didn’t take long before the genuine articles felt like parodies unto themselves. But being the new hip thing, of course the series was going to take a stab at it, and of course they could get *NSYNC to do a guest spot. There’s plenty of this episode that makes no sense and is dumb, but I have to say I have a certain fondness toward it. It’s almost like they knew they had to put a ridiculous spin on it, and when shit goes off the rails in act three, it kind of feels wonderfully absurd, than just plain absurd. Same thing with *NSYNC; they’re unnecessary and crammed in the episode in every respect, but when they show up with their little theme music at the end as they land their speedboat on the aircraft carrier out of fucking nowhere, I’m laughing. Sometimes you push things too far and they become hilarious. This is one of those times.

Things start out randomly as Homer decides he’s going to run the Springfield Marathon, and it’s even more impromptu and head-scratching than you’d think. Bart pulls a “prank” by posing as a foreigner and cutting off the lead runners near the finish line and winning. He’s rescued from an angry mob by LT Smash, a record producer who thinks he’d be perfect for the new boy band he’s organizing, along with Nelson, Milhouse and Ralph. It’s not exactly clear why any of these boys want to be in the band, but I guess that doesn’t matter. The other three don’t even feel like themselves, they’re just thrown in the story because we need recognizable kids there. Boy band protocol usually calls for five members, but we only have four boy characters, so they’ll have to do. By the end when Nelson is commenting, “I can’t sing without dancing!” I’m wondering exactly who are these characters I’m watching. I’m not saying it couldn’t have worked with these kids, but perhaps injecting some of their actual personalities into the episode would have helped.

The episode’s saving grace comes from the twist. Lisa is suspect of the Party Posse’s new song and its eerie chorus, and comes to a shocking discovery: “Yvan eht nioj” is “Join the Navy” backwards! LT Smash is revealed to be Lt. Smash, who is using the band’s music to inject subliminal messages for naval recruitment. But when the navy orders the program to be shut down on the eve of a scathing parody of the band by MAD Magazine, Smash goes insane and hijacks an aircraft carrier to New York, aiming to take down MAD. The subliminal messages angle is an interesting one to go with involving the sinister motives behind boy bands, but it all becomes so incredibly silly. But part of me really likes that, it’s going overboard to the greatest degree. It’s a different kind of silliness than jockey elves or the Prisoner island in that the naval plot makes some modicum of sense, and we can go along that Smash is simply a maniac because he never seemed all that all together from the moment we met him (“Who are you?” “You’ll find out in due time.” “Well, it says here your name is L.T. Smash.” “The time has come. I’m L.T. Smash.”) The characterization in this show is garbage, and there’s a lot of nonsense, but a fair amount of that nonsense is actually really entertaining to me for some reason. As much as I should, I don’t hate this episode. It’s one of the better ones this season, that’s for sure, and for an episode featuring *NSYNC, that’s saying something.

Tidbits and Quotes
– The beginning is very confusing to me. The family is watching a TV program about great Olympic moments, causing Homer to announce that he’s going to run the local marathon. Never mind that we really didn’t need this at all, since the family could have just been watching the marathon for the plot to work. Then it’s as if he lost track of his own conversation, saying he’ll swap jobs with Marge and see who has it tougher, and storms out of the room. Marge and the kids exchange confused glances. So do I. What the fuck is happening? Does this man officially have brain damage?
– I like the quote on the marathon banner: “Ruin Your Knees for Charity.”
– Bart’s faux-Italian accent is a pretty cute bit, but then a bird takes off with his mustache and he’s revealed to be a fake. Not entirely sure why he wasn’t busted earlier, since I’m sure there was registration for this race, and also a whole bunch of people who would have seen him run in at the finish line, but whatever. Then, another problem: we see an angry mob is closing in on Bart on the town hall steps. Then L.T. Smash’s car pulls up in front, and we see from Bart’s POV that all of a sudden the stairs are empty, and the mob is all on his level. Then when he jumps to the car and drives off, we see there’s people lining the sides of the stairs allowing him to get away. Did no one notice how sloppy this scene was staged?
– The secret to the Party Posse’s sweet, sweet vocals? Studio magic. Or more accurately, a voice altering machine labeled ‘Studio Magic’ (“Thank you, NASA.”)
– Why would the Party Posse perform at the school where everybody knows who the kids are? It almost feels like a talent show, not the start of a superstar career. I like Smash’s interplay with Skinner though (“Man, they’re gonna be big. And you stood in their way.” “No, I didn’t. I even came in early and made orange drink.” “Orange drink? What, do you live with your momma?” “She lives with me.“)
– I really do like *NSYNC’s appearance, I gotta say. It’s just so dumb, with Justin Timberlake repeatedly saying, “Word!” and the other guy constantly calling stuff “old school!” And their little dance in to their theme song, and at the very end where they show up out of fucking nowhere, and say, “We heard what you said!” Somehow they heard, as they were randomly speeding around the bay. The dumbness of it all is staggering, but it’s hilarious nonetheless.
– The Party Posse’s songs are almost too good, since they basically sound like the real deal. The “Drop Da Bomb” video (directed by Ang Lee) is pretty amazing, as the boys lift a flag pole a la the soldiers at Iwo Jima, but only to play volleyball with some fine Iraqi girls. And ‘Yvan eht nioj’ is brilliant, one of the last truly inspired and memorable things the series would have to offer.
– The dumbness continues with the reveal of Lt. Smash. First he’s got a navy tattoo, then a nearby fan blows open his shirt to reveal another one on his chest reading “I [Heart] the Navy,” then Lisa removes the period from Smash’s nameplate to make “L.T.” into “Lt. Smash.” It kind of goes a bit too long with his fake wig and pant legs, but it continues to be a great scene, with Smash’s superliminal messaging and informing Lisa that he can’t let her leave… except she already did.
– Homer childishly teases Lisa, to which he rebutts, “Cut it out! You’re a grown man!” I’ve screamed that at the screen many a time in the last few seasons…
– Smash is confirmed to be truly insane as he imagines the mindless Party Posse fans into future soldiers, fighting the hippie menace, striding atop a giant praying mantis sling shotting deadly flowers at their enemies.
– Marge and Lisa escape the aircraft carrier as Smash takes off and they don’t seem to concerned about Bart. Also why did they have to leave Homer there? He proceeds to be a complete irritant in the background for the rest of the show.
– Like “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson,” this episode was pulled from syndication for a while following 9/11. Perhaps the finale of a maniac blowing up a building in New York City is somewhat offensive in hindsight… but at least no one was hurt. I like the look into the MAD writer’s room (“Why don’t we call it ‘Everyone Hates Raymond’?” “Well, we stayed up all night, but it was worth it.”)