“The Simpsons”, Sundays at 8:00 P.M. on Fox
Written by Jon Vitti, Directed by Lauren Macmullen
The gist of it- Bart gets his first 100% on a test, and as per an agreement he made with Homer, Marge throws him a party, but embarrasses him the entire night. Marge questions her worth as a mother until she finds the troubled Nelson, who she bonds with. She drops him off home after a splendid day at the zoo, and sees how bad his situation is. Too make matters worse, Nelson’s mom ends up leaving Springfield to pursue an acting career, leaving Nelson homeless. He comes to the Simpson home, and Marge allows him to stay as a guest in Bart‘s room. Will Nelson find a true home?
Meanwhile Lisa gets teased by Sheri and Terri, and becomes extremely self-conscious.
Favorite moments-Willy defending Lisa, Hoomer drawing himself (how surreal is that?!!), Homer coping with his big ass, Skinner watermark, “I thought you too broke up?” Lisa’s mirror self and subsequent nightmare boyfriend, Ralp’s boyfriend, Martin’s drawing, Home’s encouraging speech to Marge, Nelson’s mothe’s dream, dropping computers from the freeway (Shades of the “Good Son”), “But that’s what a fat girl would say”, the creepy Tootsie Pop analogy, George Lopez advertisement, cake angels, Lisa’s lesson, and Home’s desire for a conclusion.
What flat out sucked- Just about everything after the first ten minutes. This episode, outside of the solid opening, was awful. Nelson Muntz should never be onscreen more than thirty seconds per episode. It’s ironic that a character whose catchphrase is “Haw Haw” can never evoke that response from me. And trying to humanize Nelson by making him something more than a bully always fails. The first episode that tried it, “Lisa’s Date With Destiny” was an unfunny piece of shit (save for the short Homer telemarketing subplot), and this was no different. When the Simpson’s sympathetically reach out to him, it borders on “the very special episode” spectrum of television that I try to avoid by watching quality shows like the Simpsons. If I want to see stupid poor kids picked up by well-meaning families I’ll watch grueling reruns of “Growing Pains or “Boy Meets World”. I have this one request to the shows writers: Please, please, please, for the sake of all that is good, don’t make any more Nelson-themed episodes.
Even the usually inventive Harry Shearer doing the voice of Nelson’s father was weak. I honestly couldn’t tell the difference between Papa Muntz’s voice and Seymour Skinners.
The musical number was terrible. It would’ve been more fitting if Krusty sang “Pappa Can You Hear Me”.
M.V.C.- Ralph Wiggum who is always competing with his father and our president for the national “Biggest Dumbass Award”, although watching him play duck, duck, goose alone was akin to watching Sideshow Bob get whacked with rakes; It goes on and on, but you can’t peel your eyes off of it.
Personal Thoughts- I think I said enough about Nelsonin the “what flat out sucked” section of the review, so I’ll take a second to discuss the Lisa subplot. I think that this is a very important issue to tackle, especially now considering how young some girls are who go under the knife in the name of looking better. I just don’t think that Lisa was the right person to this with. Her obsession with losing weight went well past the level of insanity, that we’re used to seeing deal with in desperate times. She is the rational, moral core of the show. It’s would’ve been better to see her comment on the subject from afar, rather then her being the subject of the subject.
3.Otto from “The Otto Show”- Homer found a slacker whose underachieving would put even Bart to shame when the slovenly Otto crashed in the Simpson basement while he was fired. Luckily, he was there long enough to loathe Homer as much as that ghoulish duo Patty and Selma, who passed him on his bus drive’s exam
2. Apu from, “Homer and Apu “- After losing his job at the Kwiki-Mart( and being replaced by James Woods no less, he stayed with the Simpsons, long enough to sing a rousing musical number, before getting his job back.
1. Roy from “The Itchie and Scratchie and Poochie Show”- Sure, Roy was just a running gag to show how unoriginal fans thought the show had become, but damn was he cool. “Heyyyyy Mrs. S!!”
Hope you enjoyed this weeks review. If you completely disagreed with my review, let me know. I want to believe that at least someone enjoyed this debacle.
