Monday, November 26, 2012

Episode 6: A Tree Grows in Springfield

With an episode as dull as last week's, could the tide possibly be turned with this episode? *Checks FOX promotions* Well apparently the writers think that Homer throwing Bart into a Lion's den is funny... yeah and throat cancer is equally as funny. *Sigh* Why do I even bother to pretend to care?

Opening sequence: 1:03 Not terrible, but am I the only one who  finds the chalkboard gag more confusing than funny? Bart says 20 days of shoplifting until Christmas, but at the time of the airing, it would be 30 until 12/25. It's not a reference to the Mayan Calender either as that ends after 12/15. I feel like I'm missing something.

The episode begins with Homer sleeping outside as he dreams about being in a crazy version of the World Series where the announcers are food and the pitcher is Santa on steroids and... am I seriously writing all this?! So anyways, Homer bursts the ceiling and the field begins to flood as he wakes up to find out that it's raining and the rain is ruining his house. Responsible man that he is, he heads off to Moe's to get some alone time. Naturally when Homer gets to Moe's he tells Moe that he's depressed with his current life and is unsatisfied with how his life is going... excuse me a moment *Goes off to scream in another room* I mean, you've seen what I've had to say about the way the writers treat Homer, right? The LAST thing the man deserves is a depression episode about how his life sucks, that would be like having an episode where Burns laments that he doesn't have enough money or Barney lamenting about not drinking enough. Ugh, this will be such a fun episode. So Moe brings Duffman over for a party and Homer sulks some more about how his life sucks. Afterwards, Homer's car gets impounded and when he gets home, his sprinklers go off (Which he apparently owns for this one episode).
You know, life sucks when I'm not typecasted as an instant expert
Marge informs Homer that they're going to the school fundraiser and as he is then informed that Santa's Little Helper has mumps and it'll cost $800 to fix (Because using a cliche line followed by a cliche is funny, right?). So after a bunch of 'eh' jokes at the fundraiser, Skinner informs everyone about the raffle for the latest 'Mapple MyPad'... You know how I feel about that fucking joke, so I will just refer to it as the IPad since there is no originality to it anyways. So after a callback to a non-classic episode (The song "You'll never stop the Simpsons" with the line about Moe getting a cell phone. I'd rather watch that right now. Yes, I'd rather watch a clipshow that glorifies the cameos than this trash) Lisa informs Homer that she bought him a raffle ticket, say it with me now; Homer- "I never win anything" Lovejoy- "And the winner is Homer Simpson". I'm being dead serious, all they do is add a couple of new words, but the feel is the exact same. So Homer accepts his new IPad and suddenly it's a big deal for everyone that he won this (This would be okay if it was done to someone like Flanders who usually gets screwed, but I could really care less about Homer here). So we then get a series of scenes where Homer is playing around with his new IPad as the highlights include him translating what Mr. Burns is saying to the zoo scene I referenced at the beginning which then culminates with Homer falling down an open manhole and getting seriously injured with his IPad getting destroyed. Wait, did I just summarize an entire act in a single sentence? Guess so, I mean how else can you talk about stale, repetitive, outdated technology jokes?
LOOK WE'VE GOT AN IPAD!
LOOK WE'RE MAKING IPAD JOKES THAT WERE MADE 2 YEARS AGO
DID WE MENTION THAT WE HAVE AN IPAD?!
IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE EVERYONE OWNS AN IPAD RIGHT?! 
WE'RE TOTALLY HIP AND COOL, RIGHT?!
We then find out that Homer's alright, but his IPad has been completely destroyed, despite Homer's pleas for it to not be true (Because the family in poverty needs to remind you that they can afford to destroy things like this on a weekly basis, wouldn't be surprised when the family gets a WiiU that gets dropped midway through the episode). However, because Homer's IPad is extremely important, God decides to grant Homer a miracle on his own IPad... I... Whu? WHAT?! My brain is hurting my head trying to escape the stupidity of that scene. I mean, why the fuck should God even give a crap about one guy and his lost IPad?! You know what? Let's see where this goes before I jump to any conclusions. So the next morning, Ned tells Homer that a miracle has happened and lo and behold, the word 'HOPE' has been written in sap on Homer's tree in the backyard. Okay, clearly a reference to the grilled cheese Jesus phenomenon in the recent years of *Checks Wikipedia* 2004... Okay, okay, there was the episode Lisa the Skeptic that came before that craze and maybe this is trying to be an homage to that. Too bad the staff is currently 0 for a million when it comes to doing good homages. So anyways, Homer goes to the bar and tells Moe that he's decided to believe that the tree is a miracle and he's in a much better mood.
Yeah, this isn't your father's Fossilized Angel
Later, he goes to church where he tells everyone about his tree and everyone is in shock and awe that the word 'HOPE' is on the tree. However, not everyone is buying it as we see that Kent is skeptical of the miracle. After Kent decides to make it his mission to expose the tree as a hoax (Totally never done before, right Lisa?) he tries to get information from the bar, but fails to get anything. Oh but we get a hilarious scene of Kent from his childhood where nothing funny happens as he finds out that "Not Mickey Mouse" is just a man in a mouse costume (Oh this episode is so comfortable, must be all the padding). So Kent Brockman reports about the tree as he shows footage of a person painting the 'HOPE' onto the tree with maple syrup and a paintbrush late at night. So after Brockman's arc of exposing the tree (Well that felt rushed and unsatisfying) the tree believers burn their hats and  are never heard of again... actually this is their first true mention, I mean they were in the scene where Kent was looking for information, but their formation and disband were the only 2 scenes we see them in. That sure doesn't sound lazy at all. So Homer sulks about his tree being a hoax as Marge tells Homer that he should feel good because the hope he got from the tree was real and somebody was looking out for him. The episode ends with us finding out that it was Homer writing the 'HOPE' on the tree as Steve Mobs (UUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH) tells God that his IPad is outdated and he cannot get Christmas off. You know, jokes like these might have been better if they were the focus rather than just throwaway jokes. Actually I lied, because 21 minutes is too long (Seriously?) the episode ends at 18:40 with a pointless bit at the very end that lasts for 2 minutes.

Final Thoughts: How does an episode with basically no plot still need 2 minutes of padding at the very end? I wish I could say that I could sum this episode up in a couple of words, but in reality this episode was all over the place and just really was a jumbled mess. Watching Homer sulk wasn't funny, watching a bad rehash of a decent episode wasn't funny and like a lot of recent episodes, a laugh or two does not redeem this piece of crap. Not to mention that a main focus of the episode is centered around a joke that I've hated since day 1. Horrible episode and I really can't think of where it'd rank for this season so far, probably pretty low.

9 comments:

  1. I just figured something about Homer .... he is such a spoiled brat that he makes Veruca Salt look hard done by.

    By reading this, you have a lot of endurance watching this show. Keep up the effort.

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  2. "Simpsons writers use IPad swipe for shot transition. F minus"

    There, I summed up the episode in 10 words for ya buddy.

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  3. Aww... This Is Homer's Favourite Location Of Inside Now.

    That's Good, "The School"

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  4. Aww... This Is The End Favourite Film Now.

    That's Good, "Cinderella"

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  5. Aww... This Is The End And The Credits And The Music Favourite Song Now.

    That's Good, "You'll Be In My Heart"

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  6. do you think 'worst episode of all time' is too soft on this ep? cause thats what i've called it

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    Replies
    1. Possibly, to each their own. I found it boring and jumbled, but I've seen worse

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  7. Sounds like utter trash and Mapple MyPad why even fucking bother it looks and works just like a real fucking iPad -.- sigh fuck this show DHS declared that i'm surprised you manage to keep going :O

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  8. Homer Sings Sadly the Song during the Closing Credits and Sings to "The Tree Is a Miracle as Sap as This Hope", He Sobs and Feels So Sad, Why Can’t He Is The Tree Is Name Is Miracle, He Cries and Apologizes What’s the Word, “Sap”, and He Goes To Miss His Tree and He Cries.

    ReplyDelete