The Simpson Files: Season Ten
Patrick M
to a few realizations about S10, and I decided that I need to do this while
they're still fresh in my mind.
Season Ten: The Rollercoaster Season
Wizard of Evergreen Terrace
A good premise, great story, and nice characterization of Homer. A good
amount of the rest of OFF (Especially Bart) make this not totally a Homer ep.
And there are even good lines. So why do I think it dead average? Simple. Not
my cup o' tea. It's kinda slow, has wierd continuity, and ends up with an
seemingly unfinished conclusion. Still, I admire what how it's written, as
well as the plot. Just not my thing. (C+)
Bart, the Mother
Bart eps are rare these days (Most of the time he ends up paired with
someone else to shore it up- most of the time Lisa or Homer). Here, he's
given a chance to go solo, and it's fruitful. Lots of character development
(Finally, Bart learns a different side to himself). The storyline is
relatively seamless from the Nelson/Bart plot to the Endangered Bird one. The
only obsticle to the maximum: That silly Lizard Infestation business (But the
irony of You killed one bird and was depressed/now you've killed thousands
was great). (A-)
Treehouse of Horror IX
Three more twisted tales for your amusement....
-Hell Toupee
Intreguing premise, good Snake performance, but a little too macabre
and violent without much of a payoff. The below-par animation for this
segment doesn't help matters much, either. Still, it's not that bad. (B-)
-The Horror of Tiny Toon
It's rare that we have a THoH segment solely as a parody, but here it
is. And it does nearly everything right. The setup, the gags (The
Pleasantvfille spoof; Poochie's appearance; I&S disparaging after Bart and
Lisa are amused by their violence), everything-incredibly solid. This might
be the first THoH sketch where the writing is placed on the same level as the
gags (A)
-Starship Pooper
Pure jokiness. This has a threadbare plot that's a setup for gags, but
every single gag is a laugh riot, the Freeze-Frames are exceptional, and the
Jerry Springer parody is classic. It's certainly refreshing to see a guest
star with substance (S10 lacks these). (A+)
Overall, this was a strong THoH, unusually gag-driven. But when the gags are
this funny, who am I to complain? (A)
When You Dish Upon a Star
Ach. This isn't that bad, but it's an uninspiring episode on the whole.
The guest stars are pretty good with the material, but the rest seems to be in
a mean-spirited vain. Homer is pretty stupid, and there are some horrendous
continuity errors. By the end, I was merely exhausted with the
ridiculousness. This wouldn't pass muster as a premise last season
(Explaining the holdover), and it doesn't fare too much better now. (C)
D'oh in the Wind
An interesting experiment, one that's quite hit-and-miss. The hits- the
great gags in the last act, the early scenes on the hippie commune, and
great, inobtrusive guest work. The misses-the no-brainerness of a lot of it,
revealing the mystery in act 1, and the way the company film is used to start
it off. As the first "true" S10 episode (Not counting holdovers and THoH),
it's kind of a nonstarter. (B-/C+)
Lisa Gets an "A"
Despite flaws (Like spending a little too much time on the Lobster
subplot), this is a great episode. In fact, the characterization is
wonderful, everything is good-spirited, and Lisa's dilemma is believable and
well fleshed-out. Even that kinda odd ending works thanks to sharp writing.
Before you criticize IMG yet again, remember he made this episode, one of
S10's most acclaimed. (A)
Homer Simpson in: Kidney Trouble
Oh, how the mighty (John Swartzwelder) have fallen. He went from sharp,
incisive fare to this. Here, gags replace writing, meanness replaces
atmosphere, and ridiculousness replaces plot. It's not as bad as the second
clip show or Bart Gets an Elephant, but oh, it is bad. Very, very bad. (F)
Mayored to the Mob
Wow. They made an "Homer Gets a New Job" ep that is smart, funny, and
even filled it with a guest appearance that was entertaining? Yes.
Unbelievable as it sounds, it happened. This one would feel right at home
with mid-season Simpsons (Cape Feare, etc.) with it's writing. The only real
thing keeping this from being the season's best is the somewhat far-fetched
conclusion, but I can live with it. (A)
Viva Ned Flanders
Hmmm....bad. The writing is OK, but the plot is dull, and the
characterizations are way off. Another minus: Continuity. You can drive a
truck through the holes. Even though there's a good amount of laughs concerning
Act 1, it all goes to hell in act 2. By Act 3, there's no emotion. No
character. Nothing. Homer's merely a cariacture, and Ned has no room to
breathe. What keeps it from going lower are the few well-written scenes. Season
10 at it's worst here. (D)
Wild Barts Can't Be Broken
I maintain that this is a very good episode up until the last 5 minutes.
Up until that train wreck of a conclusion, it makes a good (albit exaggerated)
point on one of the most overrated legislations: Curfew for minors. They use
Wiggum as the springboard for their gags, and they set up some great setpieces
(The Bloodening, the "We know all your secrets" scene). But once the musical
number sets in, it's obvious they ran out of wonderful material and decided to
throw in a half-hearted musical number. This wouldn't be THAT awful if it
didn't end with such a dull whimper. What was great about early season Simpsons
is that it always managed to keep the material strong until the end. Now,
episodes have strong material that's sporadic or strong for 2 1/2 acts. It's
just too bad this started so strong.....(B-/C+)
Sunday, Cruddy Sunday
This is one of the two "100% laugh-driven" episodes of Season 10, and
thankfully, most of the stuff works. Although all the guest stars are a wash,
there are actually GOOD characterizations here (Marge, Bart, Dr Hibbert
especially), and the plot is strong to the end. Despite all of this, it's
really unnecessary, since this one only requires one thing: Good writing. That
it has, for the most part; it's too bad that they couldn't write scenes for
most of the guest stars (Especially Madden and Dolly Parton). Still, it's
worlds better than some people make it out to be. (B+)
Homer to the Max
Despite the fact that it gets better with each viewing, it's still
pretty bad, at least as Simpsons material. Why is that? It's too "psuedo-hip",
with the supposed insider jokes in the network meeting, the soured meta-humor,
and the character of Trent Steel. It tries so hard to be intelligent, but it
ends up pandering to its audience with gags like the Marge/Clinton scene. But
for every two failed attempts at humor, there are gags that work (Like Ed
Begley Jr., or the jokes about the voice acting salaries). It's a shame:
Executed correctly, this could work. Maybe it's time to give Swartzwelder a
permant rest as a consultant AND a writer: He seems to be doing more harm then
good. (C)
I'm with Cupid
Ahhhh....more like it. Everything "The Two Mrs. Nashapeemapetalons"
should've been and more. This has sharp writing, great characterizations, and a
believable problem. Homer never goes into Jerkassness, even when he's battling
a skywriter (The only weak point, IMO). Bonus points for a well thought-out
(And hilarious) Elton John cameo. This is what S10 should've been all the way,
dealing with previously off-limits issues, but with style and flair. (A-)
Marge Simpson in: Screaming Yellow Honkers
It begins well, with the funny Faculty Talent Show, and maintains a
decent amount of that energy through the first act. But the second act plummets
fast and far, decending into howling stupidity. By Act 3, I was almost bored to
tears by the ridiculousness. I mean, come on: A zoo animal riot? Homer chased
by rhinos? Marge going on a suicide SUV mission? Like Homer to the Max, this
could be good if executed correctly, and the first act had potential. But they
felt the need to tap the action-adventure vein for some reason, and it suffers
for it. Deeply. (D-)
Make Room for Lisa
This severely underrated gem is everything I wanted Lost Our Lisa to
be, but wasn't. It has a good (if disparate) subplot, and comes to a reasonable
conclusion between Lisa and Homer (They have a reason to be on the same level
here; the "stupid risks" speech that ended LOL seemed to be a tacked on way to
tie up the plot). As for accusations of Homer being a jerkass here, I think
they're unfounded. He's a little boorish, sure, but he's always been that way.
The only major flaw here is the farfetchedness of Homer's "journey", which
seemed unnecessary. I think the reason that this got such blah reactions was
that it covers the Homer/Lisa ground, something that has been gone over
numerous times. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it a great deal. (B+)
Maximum Homerdrive
At first, I took this for a satire. It seemed so out there that that's
all I could come up with. "They can't expect us to believe Homer's THIS evil!"
I said to myself. But on second viewing, it seemed less likely that it was a
satire and more like they were being SINCERE about the entire thing. On third
viewing, it was clear: They meant everything here. That said, this was
alternately appalling and somewhat funny.The appalling bits are all with Homer:
He contemplates leaving Marge, he tries to run down children and the elderly,
and is violent, greedy, and stupid. The writing for Homer here is almost as bad
as Kidney Trouble. But it's not without it's merits. Marge's slight subplot has
it's moments (Gil aside), and there are some classic gags (The Monster That Ate
Everybody, the Jehovah's Witnesses). These keep this from D-Dom, but just
barely. (C-)
Simpsons Bible Stories
The best episode of S10 (and the best since Lisa's Sax) is setup like
a THoH segment...so let's take it down that way, hm?
-Marge's Dream
Marge dreams she and Homer are Adam and Eve, and (surprise!) Flanders
is God. This features gorgeous (and somewhat risque...the censors were asleep
at the wheel) animation and razor sharp writing. They handled the situation
well, theological inaccuracies aside. (A)
-Lisa's Dream
Lisa dreams that the children of Springfield are the tortured
Israelites, and Milhouse is Moses. The casting here was especially inspired for
the characters, and Skinner as a slavedriver is one of the funniest things on
the series, ever. Especially sacriligeous in how it shows the parting of the
sea. (A-)
-Homer's Dream (Short)
Homer briefly dreams he's King Solomon in a "People's Court" setting,
settling a dispute between Jesus and a chariot driver. Too short to grade, but
it had potential.
-Bart's Dream
The last of the dreams has Bart as David, facing Goliath...but then
getting beaten by Goliath II. He trains and wins the war in round 2, with a
little help from Ralph. Sharply written, rich with humor and a touch of irony,
this also features amazing animation and good FFFs. (A)
Overall, a wonderful, wonderful episode. S10 could've used more of
these. (A+)
Mom and Pop Art
S10's second best episode is this one, a fantastic exploration into
Homer's arrogance and the art community. I'll have to say that they added just
the right amount of "art world" jokes here, leaving tons of room for character
development for Homer. Here, he sets out on a project, gets enraged, and
suddenly it's "art". Homer, embued with a new arrogence thanks to his success,
crafts several samey art "sculptures", and the art world turns it's nose up.
Things hit a low point when Homer realizes he's a fluke, and that he's
alienated Marge. He then does something totally unexpected in a fit of
brainstorming, a sweet act that wins Marge back. This one goes through a
different range of emotions than your normal post-Season Six Homer episode.
Homer feels genuine remorse when he offends Marge, and Marge is rightly
offended by Homer. His solution is totally unexpected and illogical, but it's
definitely a suitable penance by Homer. But this one's not a dramatic episode,
really. It has a veritable ton of laughs. From the handyman's store Homer
visits to the guest work of Jasper Johns to the best sequence in years, Homer's
dream. This is the kind of episode that shows that the writers still have a lot
left. (A+)
The Old Man and the "C" Student
Just when I thought OFF was going to be on a complete roll, they hit
this episode. The opening is ridiculous, but it's not really terrible. The
second act-basically an extended riff on "One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest", is.
Full of stale material, this basically rehashes jokes on Springfield's elderly
that we've heard too many times already ("You Sunk My Battleship!" was
especially tiresome). The third act isn't as bad, but still boring. I was
hoping that OFF would never do an extended reference on Titanic, but there you
go. Bart's dialogue is OK, but pretty typical. The worst stuff easily spews
from Homer's dull subplot, though. Who thought that up, anyway? That
spring-in-the-eye scene was almost painful to endure. (D)
Monty Can't Buy Me Love
A dull outing, but nothing truly awful. The first act is excellent, and
the rest has it's moments- like Willy's scottish family, and Homer's sentiment
in the second-to-last scene. Alas, the plot is strong but the execution is
borderline juvenile. Scenes like Monty dropping silver dollars on people below
and draining the lake to unearth the Loch Ness monster are just ridiculous. The
other scenes that fill this out- Burns donating money to a hospital and the
Howard Stern parody- are pretty boring, mainly because they're not fleshed out
properly. The biggest problem is that Homer is used here. He's not needed. I
say take this away from Swartzwelder and hand it to someone-anyone-who has a
better sense of parody and culture (Al Jean did a wonderful solo job with Mom
and Pop Art, so he probably could've pulled this off). (C)
They Saved Lisa's Brain
A great episode, this is far more than typical stuff dressed up in
intelligent trappings. Lisa is used brilliantly as she's first appalled by the
intelligence level of the town, then her complaints are recongnized by MENSA.
Once in MENSA, this one really takes off. We see that these are intelligent
people, but that their ideas are drastically different. So when they are given
control of Springfield, anarchy ensues because of their conflicting ideals.
This is all brilliantly handled, with class and a liberal amount of gags
(Despite being telegraphed, I liked the "Book burning mobile", as well as the
offending contest and Ralph's scene). And for once, it only becomes even
stronger at the end, thanks to a truly riotious guest spot by Steven Hawking
(The best guest of the past 4 seasons, IMO).Minuses? Well, there's an underuse
of Bart and the unclear circumstances from which MENSA gets control of the town
(Plus, a continuity error waiting to happen: The episode ends without a mayor).
Homer's subplot had the threat of ruining this one, but it ended up being
surprisingly well-done, executed with the same intelligent air that permeats
the rest of this one. Overall, a truly original and richly entertaining
episode. (A)
Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo
An erratic season concludes with.....a hit-and-miss episode. This one
follows the "Bart vs. Australia" model of basically making a plot to parody a
typically skewered American view of a foreign place. Thankfully, almost all of
the jokes connect here, especially Act 3, which REALLY lets loose with the
references. Still, there's one thing lacking- characterization. After Act 1,
OFF don't really show any indentifying characteristics (Sure, Homer attacked
the emperor and Lisa was concerned that they weren't doing anything Japanese,
but that's as far as it went). In the end, I laughed more consistantly than in
most Simpsons episodes, but it's not all it could be. With a rewrite connecting
it better and adding characterization, it'd be truly excellent. As it stands,
it's just extremely funny. (B+/A-)
Overall:
Season 10 was one of OFF's worst seasons, next to Season 7 and Season 2,
but it had a good deal of highlights. Many eps this year were great.....but
many weren't. I think that the unfavorableness will fade over the years, as we
do what we always do with seasons we supposedly hate: We will look at it with
the same rose-tinted glasses we look at past seasons with (Remember: When S8
was first here, it was terrible; now, it's the favorite of many ATSers). I
think that OFF is far from dead; rather, we go into every episode with high
expectations, and when those expectations aren't met we tend to exaggerate. I
say give S10 a few years, then look back.
Best episodes:
1) Simpsons Bible Stories
2) Mom and Pop Art
3) Lisa Gets an A
4) Mayored to the Mob
5) THoH IX
6) They Saved Lisa's Brain
7) Bart the Mother
8) I'm with Cupid
9) Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo
10) Make Room for Lisa
Worst episodes:
1) Homer Simpson in: Kidney Trouble
2) Marge Simpson in: Screaming Yellow Honkers
3) Viva Ned Flanders
4) The Old Man and the "C" Student
5) Maximum Homerdrive.
Overall Season Grade: (B/B-)
Patrick McGovern
"No matter how wrong I can be, I'll still insist I'm right"
"I have one more question for you: Have you even seen the sun set at THREE
p.m.?"
"Arrr....once, when I was sailin' the arctic seas..."