Episode 22: The Bob Next Door

What can I say about Sideshow Bob? Only the fact that his episodes are the only ones that can never suck and it stays true today. Sideshow Bob is easily my second favorite character (next to Lisa), I didn't expect this episode to be a great Bob episode but it did do better than what I expected it to do.

The episode starts off with a town meeting discussing how the town is broke so Quimby released some of the low threat inmates. This leads to a few unfunny jokes about what some of them do as it then leads into a new neighbor living next to the Simpsons (you know the house that never has a recurring character outside of Ruth from the early seasons). Marge and Lisa watch as the neighbor seems to be a high class guy based on what he has and Bart decides to humiliate him. Bart then approaches him as Walt then introduces himself to Bart causing him to immediately flash back to all the "Hello Bart" scenes including two pretty funny new ones. Bart then goes into a panic convinced that the neighbor is Sideshow Bob and nobody believes him. (Although I really have to question why Lisa never believed Bart, she always helped him against Bob, ok I'm getting carried away). Bart tries to get Walt to sing along to the song from "Cape Feare" as Walt is not inclined to do so. Marge tries to convince Bart that Bob is still in prison by taking him there to see Bob. Afterward Bob escapes from prison and Walt invites Bart to come to a baseball game with him. Here is where we get our twist (for anyone who didn't read wikipedia before this episode) Walt IS Sideshow Bob and Sideshow Bob is Walt. It is explained in a flashback that Sideshow Bob tore off Walt's face and tore his own face off so that Bob would go out as "Walt" and exact his revenge. I may not be a doctor but I'm pretty sure that the face-switching scene would cause them both to bleed to death and Bob would be screwed. Also, the whole face-switch gag sorta breaks the rule of the Simpsons not being a "Cartoony" cartoon. After going into Bob's house the Simpsons figure out that Bob is going to the five corners location originally from "Itchy and Scratchy Land" (Not the best idea to be showing us better episodes that we can be watching). Bob explains that he plans on standing in one state, shooting Bart two states over and having him fall in the fifth state so that he cannot be prosecuted under any jurisdiction. Although I'm pretty sure murder can be a federal crime so the FBI can arrest him and charge him but whatever. Walt stops Bob's plan temporarily while a waitress misleads the Simpsons to Mexico (just go with it I say that Springfield suffers from "Bowser's Castle Syndrome"). The police arrest Bob, Bart insults Lisa and the episode ends with the Simpsons having two Flanders neighbors.

Final Thoughts: The plot was good but the whole Face-transplant thing really detached me from this episode more than it should have. While it's not the worst Sideshow Bob episode, I can name 7 better ones.

Final Grade: 4.6/10 It's better than "Squirt and the Whale" I do recommend this if you like Sideshow Bob. He's the only character that bad writing cannot screw up.