Episode 9: Thursdays with Abie

Our high streak for this season unfortunately comes to an end with this episode. It's a real shame because now I actually have to earn the dignity of being a reviewer by explaining why most of the second half of the season sucks. But I enjoyed this little ride while I could, and as it's known, all good things must come to an end. Let's begin our review.

We start this episode with the Simpsons going to a water park as Grampa keeps complaining so he's left behind for the aquatic show (There's quite a bit of padding but I'm not getting into it). The family then watches their cheap imitation Sea World show of "Slimu the octopus" *weak laugh*. The show is nothing special outside of another Obama joke (God I really hate these jokes and they only get worse as the series continues). A young reporter sits next to Grampa, interested in listening to his story. Grampa tells the reporter about how during WWII his ship sunk and his crew tamed some sharks so they could live (http://www.ussindianapolis.org/story.htm the story of the USS Indianapolis, I thought this sounded familiar).

Wheeee!!!!

After that uncomfortable realization, we cut to our subplot of Bart being assigned to spend the weekend with the class stuffed animal "Larry the Lamb" (I actually like this because I remember this back in elementary school with a stuffed bear). Bart doesn't want to look after Larry and Nelson acts as if Larry is his own son and tells Bart to love Larry. While Homer is cooking bacon, Flanders informs Homer of Grampa's story to which Homer claims that everything is backwards because his father is interesting ("That must mean Cathy is funny! ...nope" I loved that joke, pure funny). Act two begins with Marshall Goldman *The reporter* getting more stories out of Grampa including a story about Grampa giving Clark Gable "Gone With the Wind" before he became famous. After Lisa reads the article, Homer wonders why Grampa never told him (While Bart is cooking Larry in the background *snicker*) as Marge says he does and Homer just ignores him

                               

I'M! A! BUDDHIST!!!! *Kicks*

As Bart continues to torture Larry, Lisa finally intervenes and takes Larry away from Bart so she can take care of him. Lisa gets even angrier when Bart says she doesn't care when he tortures real animals and she goes "King Leonitus" when he calls her a Hindu. Lisa then loses Larry after losing control of the stroller he's in and Larry falls into the sewers (Great now even the Simpsons have a sewer level). We cut back to the Retirement Castle as Grampa is telling Marshall a new story and Mitch Albom appears to get a story from Grampa as well (The irony is pretty funny because the title of this episode is based on his book which he states as he comes in). Grampa tells Mitch to beat it and the other people in the room very slowly approach him just to boot him out. Homer tries to reconcile but fails since Grampa considers Marshall his new son now.

I'm your worst nightmare

As Bart and Lisa leave to go to school, Lisa tries to pass off glued cotton balls and toilet paper rolls as Larry. Bart gets upset as he explains that everyone in his class will kill him *especially Nelson* if he doesn't bring Larry back. Homer tries once again to reconcile but Grampa blocks him out as Homer claims that Grampa can't still be mad at him as he proves it by loving his reflection (Narcissist). Homer tries to find someone else to be his new father but gets run out of Burn's Mansion by a dog. Bart and Lisa decide to skip school so that they can rescue Larry. Bart grabs the gym rope so he can get into the sewer and find Larry, Lisa drops him by accident and Bart gets stuck in the sewer.

If I take a left I'll meet up with Raph and Mikey. Right will take me to Leo and Don. Hrm...

Back to Homer, we see him trying to get a story published to get revenge but he finds out that Marshall plans on killing Grampa so that he can win a Pulitzer prize for writing an article about him (Sure why not?). As Grampa and Marshall get on the train, Homer tries to warn Grampa but is unsuccessful in doing so. Back to Bart, as Bart is being chased by sewer rats; he encounters sewer cats and then finds Larry. He escapes using Larry on the pipe. However seeing as how he's made of cheap fibers, Larry tears in half and Bart is saddened by this (And he says rest of the weekend, when does this all take place? Grampa's on the train on a Monday and Bart and Lisa appear ready to go to school so what's going on? ~Let's do the Time Warp Again~). Marshall tries to kill Grampa but Homer breaks in (somehow catching up to the train and getting on top) and beats the snot out of Marshall.

Hatbox Power!

It's no use though as he's too tough to take down until Grampa stops the train and he gets buried under hat boxes. That's right: hat boxes are what beat him *drinks whiskey*. Grampa forgives Homer as he sees Clark Gable's ghost give him a ghost quarter for the shoe shine and the episode ends with Grampa telling the family what happened followed by Homer rambling on like Grampa.

Final Judgment: This episode is pretty good. It's not spectacular but both the main and subplots deliver just like they should. I don't think that the shark story was meant to (or did) insult anyone, but considering that there was a great tragedy in WWII involving sharks, I can't help but feel a little uncomfortable laughing at that joke.

Final Grade: 6.8/10 For modern standards, it's okay

Episode 8: O Brother Where Bart Thou?

In our 4-episode streak, we hit the best of the streak with this episode. Now at this point in the series I actually had hope that if this show were to end after this season, there could be a good chance that it would end with dignity. As I would find out though, those dreams were taken to the woodshed and beaten with a baseball bat. Let's begin this review.

We start our episode with a snowstorm going on while Homer and Lisa watch TV (on their three-seater couch which now seems like a two-seater). We see them watching a show that delves into how candy is made as the show goes south after seeing how gelatin is made (Two things, 1: Why is Lisa shocked by how gelatin is made? Shouldn't she know something like this? And 2: I'm pretty sure they use the hooves of already dead horses instead of killing a horse just for its hooves). After Homer bumbles around with the remote, they finally get to another show; The Creative Arts Emmy Show *screams* (I really just love the expression by Homer and Lisa, it's just priceless).

This is what the old Simpsons had to say about these recent episodes

After that bit of padding, Homer insults Lisa's knowledge of global warming saying that it'll melt all the snow so he doesn't have to shovel. As he's skipping away mocking her, Lisa puts it aside in a way that I swear is just breaking the 4th wall a little *just seems like her reaction when told that this show gets another year*. After Bart goes through listening Skinner and Chalmers yank his chain about school closings (I thought that radio hosts did that, what are they doing there?) he celebrates like any kid would, not being able to go outside and instead stay indoors *Wait what?* After he is forced indoors, the power goes out leading into some okay jokes until you realize that in two years they've probably made more Obama jokes than they did Clinton Jokes in his entire administration (Seriously, I swear the writers are just getting lazy in terms of jokes so they just throw in an Obama joke to keep the episode going). After failing to be entertained by his balloon-powered TV (Seriously, there's snow outside you don't want to go outdoors?) he find Lisa and Maggie playing "runway" with Maggie as the Model and Lisa as the "Not-so-British" announcer.

The secret life of JonBenet Ramsey

When Bart asks to play, Lisa takes full advantage of this by putting Bart in girly clothes. Lisa exposits that Bart wanted to play because Lisa and Maggie share a bond stronger than friendship: "Sisterhood", and he doesn't have a brother so nyah, nyah. This does raise a good question that's bugged me for a while: since when have Lisa and Maggie been good friends? Last major episode between them, Lisa had homicidal thoughts involving her. This just seems to really come out of nowhere but it does make our plot so let's move on. As Bart is convinced that he doesn't need a brother we see a semi-montage of famous brothers including the Marx Brothers, the Blues Brothers, the Mario Brothers, Sideshow Bob and Cecil, the Wright Brothers, the Smith Brothers, the Mannings, and the Smothers Brothers.

Ah brotherly love, mock the oldest

My favorite scene has to be Eli and Peyton playing keep-away from Cooper *the oldest*, while I felt that the arguments for the Smothers Brothers just droned on a little too long. Bart wakes up, realizing he wants a brother as Lisa insults him yet again *it's a long way to go to get even there Lis*. After Homer and Bart clear the sidewalk and driveway, we get our South Park reference *which I love* as Bart *Stan*, Milhouse *Kyle*, Nelson *Cartman*, and Ralph *Kenny* talk to Bart about his parents having another boy (OMG Otto killed Kenny!! YOU BASTARD!).

All: Schooldays! Schooldays! Teacher's golden rules days.....

Bart puts his plan in motion as he cooks a five course romantic dinner (How he was able to cook all that is a mystery but I turn my suspension of disbelief up a notch for this scene). It backfires as Homer and Marge get too full and can't have sex, Bart enacts plan B which includes Milhouse giving Bart the Kama Sutra DVD to leave in Homer's TV in his room *Sure why not, Bart has his own TV* that backfires as they are middle age white people so they hurt themselves. Bart then gets the idea from the bullies to change out Marge's birth control pills with tic-tacs *See "Itchy and Scratchy Movie"* as Marge tells Bart that if she does get pregnant it could be with a girl *Cue the Sex and the City images*. Bart decides because of all this he'll go with a plan that cannot backfire; adopt a boy. It backfires as he cannot adopt and is kicked out, however a boy named Charlie follows him home to be his new brother.

Oh dear God! How much did I drink last night?!

After a pointless scene of Bart showing the school Charlie *as if he were a dog* we get our montage of the episode. You know, montages can be okay, if you use them sparingly; this season, I swear, is trying to average a montage an episode and it pisses me off. Afterward, we cut to Bart telling Lisa about Charlie and why she shouldn't say anything (We also get a nice red herring as Lisa looks at him weirdly but nothing ever comes of it; the scene sets up for Charlie to be evil or for Lisa to take him away herself). Bart and Charlie then go to a Saw parody *which is probably better than the recent Saw movies* and they are then jumped by Wiggum after the movie. Bart and Charlie escape as they hide in a snowbank in the middle of town to avoid everyone else. Lisa manages to find them, convince Bart to let Charlie go, and they all get encased by the Plow King *nostalgic feeling*. Bart and Charlie pee a hole open to free them (Wow that sounded better on the screen). Charlie is re-adopted by a new family and we end with Homer taking Bart to a movie.

Final Judgment: This episode does have some annoying features but in the greater picture, it is a very well written episode that I really like and I think you should watch more than once to appreciate it.

Final Grade: 7.8/10 Best episode of the season and almost worth buying the season DVD, ALMOST.

Episode 7: Rednecks and Broomsticks

So a week after you air your Christmas couch gag what do you do? Run a Thanksgiving gag, this did at first sour my view of this episode but because of good writing and plots that don't suck I was a changed man by the end of this. We continue into episode 2 of a 4 episode streak that in my opinion are the highlights of this season. Let's begin our review.

We start off the episode with the Simpsons leaving "The Snowed Inn" *laughs a little* after a ski weekend so that they can beat the traffic (which they don't). With the kids needing entertainment, Lisa suggests that they play "Bonk-It" (love the Bop-it reference), but Marge hides the batteries because anyone not playing it finds it the most annoying game ever. After the bit ends, Homer sends the car off the road and onto a frozen lake where he hits Bambi *Snicker*.

Ah annoying the parents, a classic pastime

As the Simpsons are about to freeze to death in the lake, Cletus goes to rescue them and gives them hospitality. I like that Cletus saved their lives and then offers Homer moonshine and never asks for anything in return. I guess that hillbillies are all right (As long as they aren't neo-Nazis)(Or live in the hills with nuclear testing). We are then introduced to our sub-plot of Homer being able to judge moonshine (This applies to a lot of other episodes but why is it that whenever a main character on the Simpsons does ONE thing ONE time, they are considered a genius at that craft, just saying.) Admittedly I do like the bear joke partially because they sound better than the real Country Bear Jamboree. After Bart plays around with some grenades *You know, For Kids!* Lisa plays hide-and-seek with the two daughters as neither of them can count and Lisa pays the price for expecting them to be able to count past 5.

Oh great, the new cult fad is in town

As she wanders around, she stumbles upon a Wicca ceremony and the act ends with a bad joke (This seems to be a running trend I forgot to mention before). Lisa talks to the three Wiccans as she is very skeptical of their powers and rituals. After the Wiccans leave, Homer finds Lisa and then has snow dumped on him turning him into another snowman pin for Bart's bowling (Love the expression Lisa gives as it takes her a while to realize there's a live grenade next to her.) As Lisa tries to do her pipe-cleaner project literally last minute (Who among us haven't tried to do an assignment for a class while in that class?) a substitute arrives and gives them all A's for their projects (My substitutes would always ask for the assignments but whatever).

Big deal this is how I viewed my teachers in 2nd grade

Lisa comes to the conclusion that Ms. Hoover was sick because of the Wiccans through the not so subtle hints dropped by Mrs. Plot Device. As we cut back to the sub-plot we see Homer and Cletus try other people's moonshine *Cue the predictable montage*. After the montage Moe gets angry that Homer brought Lenny and Carl to taste the moonshine and Moe thinks that these are the hillbillies from "Deliverance" and is disappointed that they will not have their way with him *weird*. As we see Lisa talk to the Wiccans we find out that Lisa's not quite as smart as we thought she was. When the girls tell her they worship nature she says so does she... (BUDDHISTS! DO! NOT! WORSHIP! NATURE! The worship of nature is most closely associated with being pagan, Druid, or Wiccan and last I checked, Lisa is none of these, yet)(P.S. no, being an environmentalist does not mean you worship nature. If that's true, then I worship pizza). I'm sorry but that's the one thing from this episode that is stuck in my mind; who wrote that garbage?

After several hours of Harry Potter, Lisa decided to try to change Snowball into a Prince

Anyways, we cut back to Lisa's room as she goes to the Wiccan's home site on her white computer that screams Mac (more on this later). Bart thinks Lisa's going evil but when told it's just Wiccan, Bart insults Wiccans saying they're all old miserable women to which Lisa replies by turning his prank around on him. As Lisa then imagines herself as a witch she puts on a cloak and pretends to chase Snowball around cursing her with a spell (I like this scene but there's something about her tone while talking to Snowball that seems off). Ned points out that his fear of her turning to Buddhism would lead to this (See, even the characters point out how stupid that line was) as it leads to a joke of him mistaking a Dell computer for a computer from Hell. If the computer didn't resemble a Mac so much we'd be continuing but why make it white? I think Dell has only a handful or so models with white desktops. Our next scene involves Homer judging a moonshine contest as they abandon their tills when they hear sirens (~Plot Point~).

Behold the 11th wonder of the world: Hillbillies voluntarily disposing booze

We then see Lisa about to be initiated as a Wiccan as the police stop the ceremony for no explained reason, except that this town functions under 17th century law. Act three begins with a scene outside the courthouse as the three Wiccans "Cast a spell" on the town to make them blind, and it works, about half the town becomes blind and it help fuel the hatred against them (Nice work gals). As the trial goes on we have a few jokes and the judge throws the case out because, well, do I need to give a reason? *this also leads to a cutaway gag that was used in the earlier seasons but it more popular now with Family Guy* The act ends with the citizens deciding to enforce justice by themselves which leads into Mayor Quimby making a joke about their laws.

A fate worse than death: Watching the Uwe Boll Film Festival *Screams*

As the Wiccans are about to be drowned a la "Salem Witch Trials" (Or "The Crucible" whichever floats your boat) Lisa comes in and connects the two plots together expositing what she didn't see about how the moonshine went into the water supply and blinded the citizens *BTW what is up with the expression Lisa gives when Homer calls her a witch, she looks at him as if he just said that he murdered a guy or something*. The mob lets them go, then they redirects their anger at Moe. Lisa is grateful for what the Wiccans did as Homer gets trapped into the river which leads to our final scene courtesy of "To Die For"

Final Verdict: This episode is probably one of the few bright spots to me for this sub par season. Admittedly there are a few head-slap moments but it seems like the writers actually put effort into this episode to try to preserve the legacy of the series rather than make a quick buck.

Final Grade: 7.2/10 This is one of the few episodes of late that I actually want to watch multiple times, I have to wonder what deleted scenes were there and what the people working on it thought of particular scenes as well.

Episode 6: Pranks and Greens

So your episode airs the Sunday before Thanksgiving, what will your opening be? A parody of the 12 days of Christmas. I felt it was out of order to begin with, but considering that next week's couch gag involves Thanksgiving I really had to wonder if the production staff was on LSD or something. (Not much of an introduction I'm sorry). So let's begin our review.

The episode begins with Bart having a montage of his newest pranks at school as it ends with Bart destroying Skinner's car. Skinner then informs Bart that there was a better prankster than him but just leaves it at that for Bart to actually look him up himself. After that is our sub-plot about Marge having playdates with other mothers and babies, leading to Marge becoming such a conscious mother about what she provides as food. To be truthful I really, really hate this craze about how babies must eat certain foods, not drink out of certain cups and must be home educated a certain way.

How dare you bring milk and cookies as a snack?! You'll ruin our master plan!

As far as I'm concerned, having your 1 year old eat baby food with some milk from a plastic sippie cup will not prevent him from going to Harvard (I'd like to point out that I'm a National Merit Scholar who went to public school, drank out of BPA sippy cups, and gnawed on plastic toys. Just saying). We resume our main story with Bart finding out that the paper didn't publish for a week and spies Willie in the back of a picture showing an 'evil' Skinner. Bart then talks to Willie as he reveals he was a swim teacher and he taught the school the "Aberdeen Crawl" (I really don't care where he's from but here's a point towards Aberdeen).

Skinner felt that the kids should take a more serious interest in their summer reading projects

As Skinner takes his morning dip in the outdoor pool (Seriously that pool was better than my pool from high school and I really have to wonder how a school with budget troubles can afford an outdoor pool) he finds out the pool is filled with worms and then the prankster closes off the pool so Skinner can swim with the worms for the weekend *And Monday* (I guess Skinner never read "How to Eat Fried Worms"). After Willie frees him, Skinner tells him to "Shut this pool down Groundskeeper Willie". Willie then tells him it was Andy Hamilton and our search for him can now begin. We begin act two with Marge burning all the junk food because of the "Chemicals" and "Trans fats" (You know milk has chemicals in it to add Vitamin D. Food for thought) Homer being upset goes in and grabs Cool Whip which backfires because it's really propane in a spray can *nah it's Cool Whip but it'd have to have a high concentration of petroleum to be that flammable*.

Bart secretly replaced Homer's Cool Whip with propane let's watch

Bart and Milhouse go to Mr. Hamilton's house, and we get a gallery of his pranks outside and inside as Andy also shows off his pranks from school. When Bart tells Lisa about Andy, she calls him a loser in a rather annoying running gag (Although I did think that Lisa showing up both Bart and Homer was relatively funny). We then see the family *save Bart and Maggie* go to a health food store where the purpose is just to serve up lousy health food jokes (BTW at the beginning is Lisa having a petite mal seizure? Her head just keeps bobbing back and forth in a rhythmic pattern). We then get to see Bart tell Andy that he needs to straighten up and he can get him a job with Krusty (This leads into the running gag of Krusty never being able to remember Bart or Lisa which is established continuity so let's move on).

Her Facebook was down so she had to find a new way to update her status

Andy is then hired as a second assistant, which consists of him just driving erratically away from Krusty's enemies. The act ends with Bart and Lisa playing "Tiddly-Wank" as Bart berates Andy and Lisa calls him a loser. We begin act 3 with another playdate as Marge brings the guests Shit-cupcakes and sterile juice. But that's not good enough as Non-stick pans will be the deaths of us and the sippie cups with BPA will instantly stupify kids... excuse me a moment *Goes off to bang head against a cinder block* WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA!?!?!?! *returns* I'm sorry I just lost my sanity for a brief moment, let's continue. Bart gets Andy his job back as Andy promises to stay. We then see Marge find Homer's stash of junk food as they accept that society is stupid and it's better to live a short fulfilling life than a long miserable life (As much as I dislike the subplot, I like the moral. Of course, it's only implied...).

As the Mommy-and-me Nazi, I have to say: No fun for you!

We end the act with a delivery of worms being delivered to Andy which leads Bart to believe the worst. As Bart goes to find Andy we get a stage hand tell Bart that Andy's "20 years too late" of ruining the show (I think that was snuck in to admit what they are doing is crap.) Bart tries to save Krusty from jumping into the worms but fails and finds out that the worms were intentional as part of a bit. Andy goes to be with his new slutty girlfriend while Lisa calls him a loser for being a writer *as well as the producers*.

Final judgment: The main plot is actually written quite well but the sub-plot is where this episode falls flat of being considered a great. It has its ups and downs, but in the end it's a fairly good episode. This also teaches us that subplot needs to work as well as the main plot.

Final Grade: 5.2/10 Probably would have been higher if not for the subplot

Episode 5: The Devil Wears Nada

To me, Marge Simpson is a typical 50's mother: a woman who has good moral values when it comes to families and probably would berate a kid for wearing their pants too low. Then Marge appeared on on the Playboy cover and a part of my childhood died. Now I can't really bash this because I know that not everyone feels this way, but this has to rank in my top 5 things that I never wanted to see associated with the Simpsons. Now onto the review.

We begin the episode with Homer's supervisor retiring which then leads Mr. Burns to hire Carl as the new supervisor after he is able to screw a lightbulb in *insert lightbulb gag here*. Marge then partakes in a rather pointless plot *will explain later* about her group trying to raise money. I did like the bake sale gag as it made me laugh at just the sight of Bart and his friends eating cakes. However, the rest of this plot is just to further remind us that Marge was in Playboy as well as the chalkboard gag. We cut to Marge and the "Charity Chicks" doing their photo shoot with perhaps the second most annoying character in the history of this show (Seriously who keeps lobbying to bring back this Latino guy for more episodes, he's just flat out annoying in every one.)

Golf hasn't been this interesting since the Tiger Woods controversy

*Hey look a reference to Tiger Woods before the scandal* After cutting to a pointless conversation of Homer and Carl we see Marge's calendars with photos I'm pretty sure she didn't authorize (which in real life would get the photographer and publisher arrested but what do I know?)(Yeah, that's grounds for a good lawsuit).

Who knew alcohol could do that to you?

Act 2 begins with Homer being promoted to Carl's assistant since apparently extortion is not a crime in Springfield. We then end the whole calendar plot with Marge being accepting of everyone just leering her after she hears praise from the church. Now this is where the calendar sub-plot proves to be pointless, I know somebody's going to say: "But it made Marge horny and fueled the fire for the main plot of Marge and Homer not being able to be together" and to that I say - Bullshit! If you take a look at Grampa Vs. Sexual Inadequacy, Marge and Homer couldn't be intimate before even though Marge wanted to, and it didn't require buildup. Here, it's just delayed so much by the padding that it just makes me angry at the episode.

Enough said

We then get to see our main plot as Homer is too involved in his work to be intimate with Marge (Yeah Homer actually cares about work...BULLSHIT!!!) Oh wait, I lied, apparently the writer were about a minute short for this episode and decided to throw the calendar back in just to enrage Bart *and the viewers who are asking for plot*. While Homer goes with Marge to a romantic weekend, Carl ruins it by calling Homer back for an expo in Paris. When Homer heads off in his cab, Marge hits Flanders with a mallet by mistake and so our plot for the rest of the episode kicks in (because as we all know, Marge does actually have the hots for Flanders). After Homer and Carl land in Paris, Carl decides he wants to stay longer and that causes Homer to miss Marge by hallucinating her as everything in Paris *save the gargoyle*

OMG the false tension is just leaping off the screen

When Ned goes over for dinner, Bart and Lisa decide to leave and Rod and Todd were grounded so it's just Marge and Ned *OMG TENSION!!!!*. Ned and Marge have a near moment but it's interrupted by a plot device - um, bell. Yeah, just a bell that wasn't conveniently timed at all. Homer then decides to go home after he is able to blackmail Carl, and Homer goes home to Marge and they finally get intimate.

Final Judgment: This episode was pretty stupid as it was just an excuse to say to America "Hey we're in Playboy, suck on it". With all we know about Marge and Homer, there is no true tension of either leaving the other and it just seemed like an old plot reused.

Final Grade: 3.2/10 It's not really worth watching the first time so why watch it again?

Episode 4: Treehouse of Horror XX

Is there such a thing as a bad Treehouse of Horror? The answer, no. Even though terrible writing has plagued this series as of late, it always seems like the Halloween special is immune to this disease that has afflicted countless episodes. Before we move on I'd like to make the statement that I am a huge Alfred Hitchcock fan and if you haven't seen his work, see it. His work is some of the most magnificent things ever to hit the big screen. Let's begin our review.

Even though the opening is sorta like a couch gag, I count this as part of my review because it really isn't that bad; plus, it has more to do with the episodes than many couch gags do. Our opening segment is "Dial "M" for Murder or Press '#' to Return to Main Menu" *stupidly long name but whatever* and it is essentially the plot from "Strangers on a Train" mixed in with other Hitchcock movies (I will note them out) *Note this segment is in black and white*. Our first Hitchcock references come in the title *Dial "M" for Murder" and the theme from "Psycho" *Hitchcock references: 2* Moving back to the story, Lisa is enraged when Ms. Hoover doesn't choose her for some school competition and gets detention for lashing out. Lisa then meets Bart in detention, and Bart gives her the idea to swap pranks to get revenge (Plot to Strangers on a Train). When she accepts, she ding-dong ditches Mrs. Krabappel as Bart sets up his alibi at the tennis match (Strangers on a Train and Psycho music again) *Hitchcock references: 5*. Lisa comes back happy about her part - until Bart reveals that he meant 'kill Mrs. K.', shocking Lisa (Bart's explanation for kill is very weak and not funny)(I thought she was more shocked by the sight of Ms. Hoover's head....).

No, no, no, I wanted you to get me a head of LETTUCE. How did you mix that up?

Bart says she has to hold up her end or else (Strangers on a Train much?). As Lisa goes to find Mrs. K, Krabappel drops her old lighter (Strangers on a Train again plus the music as well) *Hitchcock references: 8* and Lisa cannot bring herself to kill her. Bart then blackmails Lisa in the bathroom to kill Mrs. K but then Lisa decides that he must dies and we cut to our montage of Hitchcock's work (Vertigo: the vertigo scenes, North by Northwest: music and Mount Rushmore scene, Psycho: Bate's house, Spellbound: entire dream sequence, Strangers on a Train: Ferris Wheel, Alfred Hitchcock himself).

Get back here Bart. I want to help you with your vertigo and fear of knives

The segment ends with Lisa accidentally killing Bart (Seriously she chases him around with a knife just to end the chase with the statement: "I'm not a murderer and I never will be." It just seems like someone in editing didn't have their coffee) and she walks off with Mrs. K with a silhouette of Mr. Hitchcock ending it *Alfred Hitchcock references: 16*.

Our second segment is called "Don't Have a Cow Mankind" which is essentially an homage to "28 Days Later" (Which I have never seen so I'm sorry if I miss something) and "Children of Men" (Yet again no clue so I'll miss these references). The segment begins with Krusty unveiling a burger which turns out to infect people and turn them into zombies (They call them "Munchers" but I'm calling them zombies). 28 days later *weak laugh* we see basically all of Springfield has become zombies except the Simpsons (Really nobody bothered to attack them in the span of 28 days? It's not like their house is a fortress or anything.) Bart eats one of the burgers and doesn't become a zombie, making the family believe that he has something in his body that makes him immune (Yet again they call him "The Chosen One" but the payoff for that pisses me off so I just will say he has the "B-Antivirus"). After the terminator fails to save the family, Apu saves them and is later abandoned by the family. The car runs out of gas and they have to get to the safe zone by walking (What Lisa does to Bart brings back the nostalgic feeling when she poked the area of his tattoo in the first episode).

Sure why not have the savior of mankind within biting distance of a zombie. What could possibly happen?

As the Simpsons approach the safe zone, Homer becomes a zombie and is kept alive because they can cure him when they get there (Sure, why not keep someone who could be a potential threat to you if he were to bite you?). The Simpsons get to the safe zone where they are told that Bart needs to be killed in order to make a vaccine but Marge asks: "What kind of civilized people eat the body and blood of their savior?"... One minute *SCREAMS* Moving on, Bart decides that he can bathe in their food and that'll pass on the B-antivirus and the segment ends with Bart giving Lisa and a group of others Bart Soup.

Our final segment is called "There's no Business Like Moe Business" which is just a satire of "Sweeny Todd". I could sum up this entire segment in a sentence but I shouldn't so let's move onto the *Shudders* Halloween Musical (I can't believe I typed that). The segment begins with Moe singing about how ugly he is and nobody likes him. The tap isn't working which makes Moe go down to fix it which leads to Homer falling onto some pipes that lead to the beer tap. Moe uses the rest of the segment to seduce Marge by convincing her that Homer left her to be gay (Stupid musical).

Run for your lives! It's the attack of the pipe monsters!!!

As Homer's friends drink his blood beer Marge becomes sad and her tears raise him from the dead. Homer beats up "Moe" (well, a ragdoll version), and our Treehouse of Horror ends on the entire cast thanking the audience to which Kang (or Kodos) falls asleep.

Final Judgment: The opening segment is probably the strongest Treehouse of Horror segment in years while the final was one of the weakest. The 2nd segment was all right but the Jesus joke was really in poor taste and soured my mood a little. Altogether though the first segment strengthens my opinion of this and I like it altogether.

Final Grade: 7.8/10 Watch some of Hitchcock's works to see what I'm talking about, it makes watching that part even better.

Episode 3: The Great Wife Hope

What happens when you take the plot from Marge vs. Itchy and Scratchy but with a far less memorable plot and a much different matter? This episode! *smacks self* Sorry for the unoriginality of that but really when I watch this all I see is just that episode if it were less memorable. Let's continue on with the review.

We begin with Marge going "Crazy Bowling" as she admits that when she typed "girls having fun" on Google she encountered about a million porn sites. Marge then notices that there are no men at the bowling alley (save for the cashier in the background but we'll ignore that) where we then find out that all the men in Springfield are watching Ultimate Punch, Kick & Choke Championship (I'll just refer to it as MMA). During the scene there isn't really much to note with a few jokes that weren't worth mentioning here.

At Wrestlemainia Hulk-Hogan!! You and I will FOKE in the ring!!

The next day, Bart participates in a school version of MMA as he beats up Nelson under the dome jungle gym (I don't know what it's called, so sue me). While Bart is fighting we get to see Lisa in the most uninteresting moment for her as she just seems so monotone and forgettable while Marge goes to find Bart. Marge finds out about MMA and decides that a sport that is well-liked and well-funded should not be allowed in Springfield. (At least her campaign against Itchy and Scratchy was that it was targeting impressionable kids; this time it just seems petty). I would also like to note here that while I could care less for WWE and things like it *submit your hate-mail here* I was a wrestler in high school and having one-on-one fights is a perfectly legit sport that actually requires a lot more conditioning than people give credit for so I just did not like how Marge didn't like this sport because it's too gory (not like people don't lose teeth in NHL or break limbs in NFL). I did like how Marge bought Homer off with pie and that scene did make me laugh. Marge then protests outside the MMA building but fails so she decides to protest inside where the TV audience just realizes how stupid her campaign really is.

Incoming message from the big giant head

After getting in the main cage Chet Englebrit challenges her to a fight to determine the fate of the sport where she accepts. In order to get ready Marge prepares in the best way possible, by doing a routine that even dancers would laugh at. This scene also contains a great thing in what not to do "Show don't tell" as Lisa reminds us that's she a feminist needlessly. After Marge goes cutsie with the ribbon Homer decides that trainer her properly with training by Dredrick Tatum, Akira, Mr. Burns and the bullies. The Burns part proves to be unnecessary as it's just there for a pointless scene involving the fact that Burns is weak. Hey, newsflash: WE ALREADY KNEW THAT! The scene is nothing more than padding and the story would probably flow better without it. Chet decides to remind Marge about the fight and proves to have the most incompetent henchman as he doesn't know when to shoot off the fireworks (which is a little funny).

How do I explain to my friends I've got two moms now?

We then see Lisa try to convince Marge to get out as Homer tries to put himself in her place for the fight, that leads to the joke of Moe taking Homer as Marge to his class reunion which is rather funny. Marge then prepares for the fight as then the fight begins... with a cheap shot by Chet. Dick. Huge continuity gap, right before Marge gets punched, we see Barney in the crowd, while Marge is getting up, we then see Barney in Moe's Tavern (Betcha you didn't know Barney could teleport did you?). Bart then goes in to fight Chet even though Marge agreed to the fight and this should be some violation of a rule, oh well. After seeing Chet attack Bart, it makes Marge angry enough to start winning as Chet "taps out" but then tries to cheap shot her but fails. Marge then talks about how she won't fight anymore even though nobody's around anymore.

MORTAL KOMBAT!!!

Marge and Homer leave as Bart and Lisa decide to settle their sibling rivalry in the septagon, in which Lisa wins a la Mortal Kombat. (Or Batman-style: "ONE PUNCH!")

FATALITY

FLAWLESS VICTORY

Final Judgment: This isn't a bad episode, but the plot is near the same as Marge vs Itchy and Scratchy, showing a little bit of laziness by the writers. This episode is far better than last week's - but that's not a high standard.

Final grade: 6.2/10 It's not bad and it's actually something that might be worth re-watching when you get the chance.

Episode 2: Bart Gets a Z

I gotta admit, episodes like this one is why I do this. Even though I haven't seen this episode in 5 months before rewatching this episode for the review, I honestly felt sick just thinking about this. This is probably one of the best examples of lazy writing, cultural relevancy up the wazoo, and everything that is contributing to the decline of this series. With that out of the way onto the review. (I also want to point out this is one of Matt Selman's few bad episodes, as he is a good writer)

So we begin with Mrs. Krabappel's morning where then we see her at a red light with some high-schoolers make fun of her for singing an "old" song. (Two minutes in and already I look for drugs to calm me down. That's a bad sign people) In case anyone could tell that the Simpsons now takes place in 2009, the writers decide to remind us by having all the students have their cell phones out texting in class (I'm sorry, but considering that in my high school I would get detention just for having it out, I'm not buying this BS at all).

As we all know, schools allow kids to use their cell phones in class whenever they want

Mrs. Krabappel then decides to do the most logical thing: confiscate their phones, which pisses off Bart and the others (How dare she take away devices that hinder the class from learning and are usually banned during the day in most schools. Let's go burn her house down!). Bart then convinces the whole 4th grade to collect liquor to get Mrs. K drunk and their plan actually works; Mrs. K becomes really drunk the next day and is fired. Bart feels guilty for getting her fired but before his conscience can do anything we meet a candidate for most annoying character ever in a Simpson episode in Zachary Vaughn, who is apparently is from Tufts University (ooh, I really don't care and it doesn't sound the least bit impressive Mr. Jackass)(Tufts? Isn't that a brand of tissues?).

Wow, not even 5 seconds in and already I hate him

He then decides that, because the Simpsons didn't need to rely on gimmick cultural relevancy in order to be successful, he will place as many things culturally relevant in the span of 15 seconds (Seriously go back to when the Simpsons were good and see how many times they tried to shove into your face that they were with the times. For God's sake their car had an 8-track tape player for the longest time). Bart tells Marge and Lisa how cool he is and how he heard Mrs. K is doing all right in the 4-square court while Lisa points out that nobody plays 4-square anymore (Lisa is given 3 lines by the way, a recurring theme in this season). Mr. Vaughn then asks a question to which Martin answers it correctly but is scolded for actually remembering it rather than googling it (Because you're allowed to have a computer with you on your history test to look up answers. I should just hand him the award right now and be done with him). While Bart heads over to Mrs. K's apartment we see an obvious Rodney Dangerfield parody movie, which isn't too bad to be truthful.

14 days of not having a teacher's salary. I don't see a difference

After Bart drops off the stickers we see Homer talking to Mr Vaughn about Bart in a rather pointless scene... Moving on, we see Bart and Milhouse talking about how to help Mrs. K when they are approached by an employee who gives them a book called "The Answer" which then they give to Mrs. K to help her open a muffin store. After her business becomes successful Bart reveals that he got her fired and then she starts berating him about how the store isn't doing well and she wants to teach.

Hey good idea, I could go for a nice drink now

Bart assumes that if he gets Mr. Vaughn drunk, he'll get fired and that'll bring back Mrs. K. Bart tells Principal Skinner that he got Mrs. K Drunk, Mr Vaughn gets drunk by himself and gets fired, and Mrs. K comes back and ends this episode by giving her class bad muffins.

Final judgment: This episode is boring, annoying and above all stupid. While it's all right to have the occasional cultural relevant item in your plot, it's not a great idea to center a plot around an annoying teacher who would be laughed off from special ed students. And really Mr. Vaughn ranks in my top 5 WORST characters ever in Simpsons with just so many moments that make you want to hit something.

Final Grade: 2.3/10 a better title would have been The Simpsons get a 'Z'

Episode 1: Homer the Whopper

After a disappointing ending for season 20 I gotta admit, I had low expectations for this season really expecting this to be its last season. My hopes were not raised after finding out that Seth Rogen would be guest starring and partially writing this episode. After watching this, it really exceeded my expectations, but it is still just an above average episode that isn't too special. Let's begin our review into this new season.

We begin this episode with Bart and Milhouse mocking Comic Book Guy, causing him to go to his backroom to get away from them. Bart and Milhouse then find a comic book created by CBG called "Everyman" who's main power is to grab a comic book and take the powers of whatever the superhero of that comic has (The identity of "Avery Mann" is about as subtle as Peter Parker changing his name to "Arachnid web-slinger"). The comic itself isn't really worth mentioning, but after CBG gets praise for it, he decides to start selling "Everyman" comics and they become a hit (I wonder how Linkara would feel bout that?).

Before "Kick-Ass" infested our minds we had "Everyman"

The comic becomes so popular that movie rights are almost immediately bought by Ginormous Pictures (And yet comics like Blue Beetle, Aquaman, and Booster Gold are still not movies. Here's to Deadpool and Green Lantern becoming good movies next summer). CBG sells the rights to the movie only if he can pick who plays Everyman (small request, I would have wanted to direct it or had something to do with the script). After several failures for auditions, Homer comes in and CBG picks him as Everyman, leading into the main plot: Homer is now a movie star *cough*.

I don't know, I wouldn't want this guy doing my plumbing much less save me from evil

Homer tells his family about getting the role, and the Hollywood executives tell Homer that he needs to lose weight so that their movie can sell better (But I'm pretty sure the "Stared at the sun" comment was the fan reaction to season 20'd DVD). We are then introduced to Lyle McCarthy *Seth Rogen* who will be Homer's trainer while uttering some of the most unfunny dialogue known to man (It's not bad; it's just not funny). CBG goes Hollywood, since the writer felt they needed to show us in a pointless scene just to help pad out the length of this episode. Because Lyle doesn't know how to call Mr. Montage, we just skip a month that shows Homer in much better shape.

Yeah, you guys have room to talk, where's THE apology for "G.I. D'oh" and "Lisa the Drama Queen"?

During the shooting of the movie, we see the writers of last season working on the movie (These jokes just lend themselves to me so easily). One pointless bedroom scene later we see Mr. Lyle leave Homer to take on another client as Homer begins eating like a gluttonous fat man. We then start to see months of weight loss go down the drain as Homer begins to put on weight and ruins his scenes. We then see Homer in the bedroom and we realize that somehow he's even bigger than his normal 239 weight (I can assume considering how big he looks here and in future scenes).

Say I'm starting to see the inspiration for season 20

After Homer has some expired milk to lose weight *completely pointless* we see Homer's getting bigger as CBG gets disgruntled about this and is thrown away with other old studio heads. At the test screening we see how lazy the staff was: the editing in this movie makes "Alone in the Dark" *shooting scenes in particular* look like Avatar (Visually of course). I find this joke ironic because this season has a lot of editing mistakes which I will address in my final review. As everyone is pissed off with the movie, Homer blames Lyle, Lyle comforts him, the studio executives try to bribe CBG into giving it a good review which he basically says no and our episode ends with Homer on top of a mountain being cold.

Final Judgment: This episode wasn't strong but it laid the foundation for an adequate season. If only the rest of the season could have been this way. I'm not a Seth Rogen fan, but honestly his lines were not funny at all; they ranged from stupid to dull with no traces of funny to be found. Any hopes were dashed away with next week's episode, prompting a full-fit rage.

Final Grade: 5.3/10 nothing special but it's not bad either.

New Format

I've decided to redo my reviews of Season 21 as individual posts with the exceptions of the last few that I already did on an individual basis. I plan to do them so that I can introduce a new style in my reviews that includes pictures and some other features. I also plan to start actually tagging my post rather than ignoring that feature so that it'd be easier to find a specific review. I will do this with Season 20 after I release it and other new posts from now on. I hope you like it and continue to support this blog.