We didn’t get the gift we wanted, a GL 50 9K Smart TV. The place we went was a dump, but isn’t Christmas really about being with your family and bartender?
– Bart

The 30th season of The Simpsons continues. The 10th episode of the season, “‘Tis the 30th Season“, is the 18th Christmas-themed episode of the show. And is also one of the best episodes of the season so far. It’s an hilarious, enjoyable combination of laughs, christmas and a travel episode. The best way to celebrate the show’s 29th anniversary, which will happen next week. This is also the last episode of the show… to air in 2018. New episodes will air starting in January 2019.

The episode opens after Thanksgiving dinner, when Bart and Lisa give Marge and Homer their Christmas present list, asking for a smart TV, which costs $2.400, but then a Black Friday offer at Sprawl-Mart is shown in TV, so Marge and Homer plan their shopping. Marge gets to Sprawl Mart, getting ready for the sale, and Homer fails to relieve her of the duty of standing in line by getting hit in the head by the door after getting his scarf stuck in it, felling unconscious. When the store opens, instead of getting the TV, Marge helps Gil get his Futon Friends toy for his grand-daughter, thus losing the chance to get the TV.

“‘TIS THE 30TH SEASON”

A

Marge is heavilly stressed about preparing a perfect Christmas, so Homer and the kids prepare a vacation for the family at the Kissimmee St. Nick Theme Park and Resort, but to take her there they have to sedate her. They arrive at the Resort, but its a completely ruined one. The theme park is even weirder, but they all try and show Marge they’re having some (faked) fun out of it, in order to make her happier, but in the morning Bart and Lisa complain to Jeanie, the manager of the place. Complaining about the fake appearance on the website, she explains that they can’t compete with the big ones, like Disney‘s new Family Guy World, and fends them off.

Back at the park, they go to the Tunnel of Love, the Gator Peeting Zoo and in the end at the Hall of Vice Presidents, where they all express their true feelings on the place. Bart manages to get their money back and they start their trip back to home. After finishing their fuel, they go by foot to town and discover Moe has been holding a dinner for the old and needy at his tavern and they join the dinner at the tavern, with Grampa too, realizing that “there is no place like Moe’s”. At the end Jeanie refunds them, and they buy the much desired smart TV and watch a burning log in a fireplace on it, in HD.

The episode, story by Jeff Westbrook, teleplay by John Frink and Joel H. Cohen and directed by Lance Kramer, is a solid mix of Christmas, family travel, Florida and smart TVs. This episode is one of the best episodes of the current season so far. And, while some episodes can be an unsure hit-or-miss, christmas episodes are usually an almost sure hit. These episodes appeal to family, generosity and they make you feel some seasonal joy and family warmness at the end. They’re like the perfect recipe.

This episode is very strong and very well-written. The originality of the story is quite notable, and it’s a sure laugh-generating episode. There are, as usual with this show, lots of freeze-frame jokes or some one-line jokes pretty well delivered. The episode also features the guest voice of Jane Lynch, who does a hilarious performance as Jeanie, the manager of the resort. The episode is packed with fun. The Simpsons will turn 29 years old next week, yet they are like Season 4, if that means something. This show is a master deliverer of THOH episodes, but it does even better when it comes to Christmas episodes, maybe because it was indeed a Christmas episode what started it all back in 1989? This show has always had a “thing” with Christmas-themed episodes.

This episode is a great, enjoyable episode that everyone must watch. In fact, everyone should watch all the episodes. Season 30 has raised its quality, both creative and technical, and has offered great, hilarious and most important of all, entertaining episodes so far. And let’s hope that will still happen in 2019 and beyond.

Stay tuned for more reviews!! And, as Comic Book Guy’s store sign says, have a Marvel Christmas and a DC New Year!!

Notes and Observations:

• The episode title is a reference to ‘Tis the Season and the season 15 episode “‘Tis the Fifteenth Season“.
• In the Couch gag, Marge, Lisa, Maggie and Bart are upside down on the cieling. When wampa-Homer comes to attack them, Bart uses the force to grab the light saber and cut its hand. This scene is a reference to the scene in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, where Luke Skywalker, to save himself from the wampa, grabs the light saber with the force and cuts its hand with it, just like Bart. At a church, on the way back to Springfield, the wind caused by them passing by removes the letter from the billboard, making it say “New Star Wars“.
• The tv the kids want is branded “GL”, a parody of “LG Electronics”.
• The scene where Marge and Homer plot the Black Friday at Sprawl-Mart is reminescent of the scene of Adolf Hitler‘s outrage in the 2004 movie Downfall. Homer also mentions the nazis.
• Homer suggests calling Marge an Uber.
• Yankeess Fantasy Camp and Suck Fantasy Camp are some of the locations for the vacation, starring Wade Boggs.
• Kissimmee St. Nick Theme Park and Resort is a reference to the St Nicholas Anglican Church in Kissimmee, FL.
• Disney is shown creating Family Guy World, a new park theme created around Family Guy. The shows’ theme is heard while its creation is shown. This is also a reference to The Simpsons‘ theme park in Orlando, Florida.
• In the Hall of Vice Presidents, among the vice presidents are: Thomas Jefferson, Walter Mondale, Gerald Ford, Andrew Johnson, Spiro Agnew, Aaron Burr, Theodore Roosevelt, George W. Bush, Lyndon B. Johnson, Joe Biden, Adlai Stevenson II, Schuyler Colfax}}, Chester A. Arthur and Richard Nixon.
• Bart and Milhouse use FaceTime on their phones.
• The scene of the vice presidents’ heads under the cover is a reference to The Godfather scene with the horse head under the cover.
• Jeanie has a “as seen on COPS” shirt.
• The sign at the Android’s Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop says “Have a Marvel Christmas and a DC New Year”.
• At Sprawl-Mart, Professor Frink is dressed in his Iron Man suit.

“Give attention to Lisa, give attention to Bart. What am I, made of attention?”
– Homer

The 30th season of The Simpsons continues airing new episodes. The 9th episode of the season, “Daddicus Finch” is a sweet Homer-Lisa episode that is good but could have been slightly better.

The episode starts with a food-themed 2nd grade play at Springfield Elementary. Ralph is playing as broccoli, and fails to remember his colour (green) and says purple. Llewellyn Sinclair passes up to Nelson‘s origin of veal scene, consisting of him shooting a “cow” in the head with a captive-bolt gun, which Lisa (dressed as pork chop) protests about, claiming it should have been cut. Sinclair says the scene they were cutting was actually Lisa’s scene. Chalmers then proclaims show is over. Outside, Lisa is stuck in her pork-chop suit, something she hates. Marge nudges Homer to make her feel better. The next day, Marge asks Homer to make something with Lisa, so he takes her to the Springfield Mall, where he protects her dignity in a clothing store, and she sees him as Atticus Finch, the main character of the novel she’s reading, To Kill a Mockingbird.

“DADDICUS FINCH”

B

At home, father and daughter watch the movie (the actual black-and-white real movie) based on the novel. Bart then arrives and changes the channel to The Itchy & Scratchy Show. Lisa says to Homer he’s her hero. Bart asks Maggie if he’s her hero, but it turns out she prefers Santa’s Little Helper and Grampa instead. Homer and Lisa’s relationship is better than ever: Homer takes her to the Springfield Science Museum and Lisa talks greatly about him as her hero at school. Bart starts feeling more jealous about their new relationship, and seeks help from Dr. Jessup, the school therapist, who tells him to act out until someone pays attention to him.

At Shauna‘s Bat mitzvah, he changes all cars’ keys, creating chaos once people get out of the event, and makes Milhouse accuse him, which makes the people chase Bart as an angry mob. Bart gets home and asks for help. Homer, acting as Atticus does, defuses the mob. Lisa and Bart fight over Homer, so Marge goes to Dr. Jessup to seek help too, because Lisa is idolizing Homer too much and creating uneaseness in the family. As a result, Homer talks with Lisa to make her move on that phase. She finishes reading the book and moves on at the same time. Homer then feels a bit sad but Maggie comforts him. The episode closes with Marge saying to Bart that, since they treasure him too, she’ll let him do one thing just for himself. Bart initially wants to kick Homer in the butt, but Marge tells him to give it some thought. Bart takes lots of years to decide what does he want to do, only to finally decide, now as an old man, that he wants to kick Homer in the butt, which he does to a R2-D2-looking robot version of Homer.

The episode, written by showrunner Al Jean and directed by Steven Dean Moore, tries to tell yet another Homer-Lisa relationship plot. The emotional part of the episode is undeniably well delivered. The pace of the episode overall feels somehow too fast, specifically the plot resolution feels too rushed up. Credited to a vet writer who is also the showrunner of the show, the episode certainly doesn’t lack some cleverly comical freeze-frame jokes (jokes that you may need to pause the episode to see; store names, newspaper headlines, stuff written in blackboards, …) listed in the section below.

The episode has a great voice acting, with a mention to Yeardley Smith‘s performance of Lisa talking with southern accent. The episode also has the always laugh-provoking J. K. Simmons guest starring as Dr. Jessup, the school therapist who can only spend 45 seconds per patient due to budget cutbacks. Jon Lovitz also guest stars as the always hilarious Llewellyn Sinclair. The episode is good. But the way is dealt with the resolution of the plot is just too rushed. Apart from that, the re-using of the now classic Homer-Lisa plot is actually well-handled.

Re-using a type of plot is always fine as far as it ends up being a different story after all, and proofs that a story can be told within different points of view, circumstances or settings. One can say “It’s yet another Homer-Lisa plot. They’ve run out of ideas” or can say “It’s yet another Homer-Lisa plot. They must have thought of a new story related to that kind of plot”. I choose the latter. It is not a bad episode after all. It’s an episode not to be missed. Season 30 has had an overall high quality that makes it feel like it’s Season 4 again, and this episode would feel more like Season 12. Has this last sentence any sense at all? Probably not. All the seasons are great. Anyway, we want The Simpsons for more years and if they keep the quality level of this season (or increase it even more), we’ll be even happier.

Stay tuned for more reviews!!

Notes and Observations:

• The title of the episode is a reference to the fictional character “Atticus Finch” from the 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
• It was about time to have a chalkboard gag in Season 30. The gag: “My pre-Christmas behavior really helps the coal industry”.
• Freeze-frame gags spotted:
  • Springfield Elementary has this banners at the start of the episode: “Tonight Second Grade Play” and “2 hours shorter than last year’s”.
  • Springfield Mall has a banner that says “Rats control 3rd floor”.
  • The stores at the Mall:
    • Destitution Hardware
    • Poverty Barn is a parody of “Pottery Barn”.
    • Wage Gap
    • Toys Were Us is a parody of Toys “R” Us.
    • Goodbye Kitty is a parody of Hello Kitty.
    • Wee Madame
  • Clothing lines in Wee Madame:
    • Twerking Girl is a reference to Working Girl and twerking.
    • Ho Sweet Ho is a reference to the saying “home sweet home”.
    • Call of Booty is a reference to Call of Duty.
    • Raggedy Anorexic is a reference to Raggedy Ann.
    • The Edge of Thirteen is a reference to The Edge of Seventeen.
    • Jack the Stripper is a reference to Jack the Ripper.
  • The blackboard of Lisa’s class has “Surprise Quiz Tomorrow” written on it.
  • Lisa reads To Kill a Mockingbird throughout the episode. In one scene, Bart is seen reading a parody called To Mock a Killing Bird.
  • In the museum, Professor Farnsworth appears with an exhibit of “The Science of Futurama“.
• Miss Hoover mentions Wikipedia.
• Heisenberger and Fries is a reference to physicist Werner Heisenberg.
• In the school play, Nelson plays a parody of Anton Chigurh from the film No Country for Old Men.
• Duffman mentions Netflix.
• Grampa mentions Agatha Christie‘s books.
• At the end, Homer’s head is mounted on a R2-D2-looking robot.
• The episode was dedicated to Ricky Jay who passed away on November 24th, eight days before this episode aired.

“Dad, you were born to recap TV at a fourth-grade level.” – Lisa

The 30th season of The Simpsons continues offering enjoyable episodes with the 8th episode of the season, “Krusty the Clown“, a must-watch brilliant episode that is a result of mixing clowns and TV recaps in the same episode.

The episode opens with an editorial meeting for the Daily Fourth Gradian, where Skinner announces that the sales have gone down, so he hired a new editor, Billy, who announces the journal is going online only and assigns Lisa to be a simple TV recapper. At home, she asks Homer to help her do the job as they watch The Krusty the Clown Show, starting with the Itchy & Scratchy episode Death Shawarma-ed Over. Sideshow Mel notifies Krusty of the recap, and the low grades Homer gives it. Krusty gets really mad and tries to kill Homer with the car and they eventually struggle while driving, ending up in an accident. Bart arrives at the scene and is relieved Krusty is still alive, and takes him away (from police) to a circus, changing his name to Soggy the Clown, while Homer becomes famous because of his recaps.

“KRUSTY THE CLOWN”

A-

Krusty is a disaster in his new job and gets fired, but when one of the workers gets ill, he does a good performance and gets hired again. Unfortunately, the circus soon has to shut down because a terrible video (sold by the circus itself) got out. Meanwhile, Homer quits his job as a recapper when it starts ruinning his relationship with Marge, but then gets picked up by Google-Disney‘s CEO and brought to its office, where he is told that most of the current 400+ scripted shows are fake, as they just want to make people think they can watch them all and pay $13 to subscribe without seeing most of them. They want Homer to work for them making false recaps of the fake shows and he would have to give them a “B-” grade (“No one ever watches a B-minus.”-Homer). Homer instead decides to reveal that plan to the world by posting it online.

The circus where Krusty now works closes down, but the manager needs just “50 grand” to reopen it. To mantain it open, Krusty offers to turn himself in for the good of the circus and the police gives the reward to the circus crew. At the court, the jury finds Krusty not guilty. The circus leaves Springfield and Krusty bids farewell to them, as he then returns to his show. This time the show gets an “A” grade, making the clown happy again. Meanwhile, Billy gets mad with the DFG for publishing Homer and Lisa’s article revealing the plan of Peak TV, which gets replaced with an article about cooking scrambled eggs.

The episode, written by Ryan Koh and directed by Matthew Faughnan, delivers two brilliant comical stories in one episode. Krusty’s plot is a clever story as the clown has never been seen acting as… an actual clown (some circus-like performances have occurred throughout the past seasons, but he’s never acted as an actual clown to the extent he does in this episode. It should also be remarked that the story’s phasing is pleasantly written. The musical number is short but at least adds up to the story, as shows Krusty’s circus life.

The other plot is yet another “Homer finds he’s good at some unusual job but has to quit when either he discovers an evil plan from the boss (or co-workers) of the job or the job puts his marriage in danger” plot, but there’s greatness on sometimes repeating some “plot templates”, as the way of filling/using those templates needs to be original and preferably have a twisty or non-template conclusion each time. In other words, there is nothing bad in sometimes using plot templates as long as the non-template parts of the story keep being original, funny and enjoyable.

The episode also has the talented guest voices of Billy Eichner as Billy and Peter Serafinowicz as Google-Disney CEO. They both offer funny and well acted performances. Also, Dan Castellaneta needs some mention for his voiceover performances of Homer and Krusty. The other regular cast also made great performances (as always). The episode is a glorious, enjoyable episode that keeps the high quality Season 30 has proven so far. It’s a truly must-watch episode.

Stay tuned for more reviews!!

Notes and Observations:

• When Homer is brought to Google-Disney, a list of shows can be seen scrolling in a screen, and later a considerable number of TV shows are listed and their logos can be seen. The full list of shows referenced is already on our wiki.
• The woman with Comic Book Guy has a Firefly sweater on.
• Some of the shows that Homer recaps are:
  • This Is Us
  • The Walking Dead
  • Game of Thrones
  • Stranger Things
• Scuzzo mentions that he saw a circus do a Beatles tribute without permission.
• Patty says that Homer gave Outlander a “B-“.
• The Google-Disney CEO mentions “USA Network”, while Homer mentions its shows:
  • Royal Pains
  • Suits
  • White Collar
• Krusty had Chris Pine on his show and did a Star Trek segment.
• Remarkable quotes:
  • “You see, if people subscribe but don’t watch, then we don’t actually have to make the shows. We just need viewers to believe they can watch them.” - Google-Disney CEO.
    “Fake shows? But what if people try to see them?” - Homer
    “They won’t, because recappers like you will give those shows a B-minus.” – CEO
    “No one ever watches a B-minus” - Homer.
  • “Like my show!” - Krusty
    “Why? Is it season four again?” - Homer.
  • After Homer recaps the snuggling with Marge:
    “[..]And don’t you dare give me a letter grade.” - Marge
    “Okay, I’ll just let this be… minus.” - Homer.
• The clowns of the circus are called: Skitters, Bumpo, Wiggles, Scuzzo, Clabby, Dr. Pickles, Mr. Bindle, Barrels, Drooly, Trembles, Blitzy, Handsy, Boobsy, Mr. Boobsy, Baby Boobsy, the Boobsy Twins, Ding-a-ling, Bing-bong, Ring-a-ling, Flip-Flop, Fiddle-Faddle, Flap-Jack and Scene Blow.

“There’s no way to stop them, with their fleet of horseless, driverless carriages.” – Mr. Burns

The 30th season of The Simpsons keeps delivering great episodes with the 5th episode of the season, “Baby You Can’t Drive My Car“, a hilarious (and must-watch) episode that also manages to remind of a harsh reality.

The episode begins with Homer being fired (yet again) from the Power Plant, after he crashes his car into Mr. Burns‘ office. He soon learns that a new start-up company called “CarGo“, is moving to Springfield and is offering new jobs. So Homer applies as a tester for the self-driving cars. He goes to the interview, which is run by CarGo co-founders Antoine and Zoira. They like him due to his passiveness and poor driving record, so they give him the job after he sits around doing nothing for several hours. Homer quickly grows to like his new job, enjoying getting paid for sitting around doing nothing all day. He then grows to like it even more after finding out that the cafeteria offers free food.

“BABY YOU CAN’T DRIVE MY CAR”

A-

He shows Marge around the campus and together they inspire the programmers to have fun, which increases their creativity. Upon seeing this, Antoine and Zoira promote Homer and hire Marge as his partner, to keep their employees relaxed. Homer and Marge then get the employees together doing fun activities. Upon seeing how this new company is, many employees of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant quit. When they realize the reasons for the employees quitting, Mr. Burns and Smithers go undercover at CarGo and apply for jobs. Upon exploring the campus, they realize that the employee benefits and pleasant workplace is the problem they have with the Power Plant.

Meanwhile, Homer and Marge discover that their self-driving car listens to them and takes them to places they talk about. They then go to Antoine and Zoira to confront them about this, where they reveal to them that sponsors paid them to get the cars to take them to places. At home, Homer and Marge argue about what to do. Homer says they have to do something, while Marge says they shouldn’t as working there is so much fun. Homer leaves and goes to Moe’s, where Burns also is at. There they make up a plan to destroy the company.

Homer, Mr. Burns and Smithers then break into the server room to shut down the cars. Marge discovers them and tries to get them to stop because she insists she enjoys working at the company. When she realizes they won’t stop, she goes to Antoine and Zoira to tell them about it. They are in a meeting discussing their next step, microphones in the key fobs, so they can listen to their customers all the time. Marge is surprised at this and goes back to help shut down the cars. After this, the company then starts making talking tattoos to win customers over.

The episode, written by Rob LaZebnik and directed by Timothy Bailey, is a hilarious mix of humor, self-driving cars and Mr. Burns. In fact, the episode not only manages to make some great elaborate jokes, like the places the car takes Homer and Marge as a result of their talk (that part is a very enjoyable moment), but it also reminds us of a harsh reality: the importance of people’s data privacy, as we walk towards a future where some real-world companies might be seeking to get people’s data for ethically questionable purposes. After all, The Simpsons always do that. They always manage to get some laugh while also making one think about the world around. The episode also features a seconds-long cameo of Tracy Morgan voicing a tow-truck driver in the end.

This episode clearly evidences that the show is quite on-touch with present day trends while also proves it has never lost their generally great sense of humor that characterizes it, making a pleasant episode everyone should watch.

Stay tuned for more reviews!!

Notes and Observations:

• Homer and Marge’s car takes them to some places, including:
  • A Krusty Burger, after Homer says “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse”.
  • The church, after Homer says “Holy crap”.
  • A place called “Marcel’s Monkey Rentals”, after Marge says “this company is up to some kind of monkey business”.
• Moe buys the following keywords to make the cars bring people to his bar: “Roaches”, “Ennui”, “Rats”, “Bill W.”, “Maggots”, “Jukebox”, “Poison”, “Hell“, “Dank”, “Hole”, “Lenny“, “Hellhole” and “Despair”.
• Remarkable quotes:
  • “For the first time ever, I’m the lesser of two evils” – Mr. Burns.
  • “Homer, you want to destroy the best thing that ever happened to us? (quickly) Except for the three kids, of course.” – Marge.
• Homer and Marge both have “Alexa”. However, Homer’s one is only for cookies and Pop-Tarts.
• Burns and Smithers include in their job application that they “are fluent in SQL, Python and Javascript” and also that they have been working in Google’s AI department for 3 years.
• Mr. Burns thinks LGBT stands for “Lazy goof-off buffoons? And transgender”.
• The Christmas song written by an AI is a real song written by an AI.
• CarGo has a Nerfatorium.

“Possible side effects include: back spikes, protective plates, giant claws, fear of asteroids, being a precursor to our modern birds, a second tail brain, loss of ears and increased libido. If you are currently egg-laying or expect to be egg-laying, consult your paleontologist.

The Simpsons annual “Treehouse of Horror” installment keeps striking a great combination of humor, horror and pop references. This year’s episode, “Treehouse of Horror XXIX“, manages to maintain the high quality of THOH episodes, while offering new stories and parodies.

The episode starts with the Simpson family visiting Fogburyport, a dark and weird town, were Homer competes in an oyster-eating contest against mythical creature Cthulhu. Homer eventually wins the contest, as apparently hadn’t eaten breakfast. The monster faints and the family cooks and eats it. When Homer pricks the monster’s body, some sort of purple blood/ink writes the title card of the episode.

“TREEHOUSE OF HORROR XXIX”

B+

The first segment, “Intrusion of the Pod-Y Switchers” (a parody of Invasion of the Body Snatchers) sees the citizens of Springfield being attacked by plant-shaped aliens, who use the newest MyPhones (from Mapple) to distract the citizens and attack them with their spores that kill and then replace them as ‘zombified’ versions of the humans. Bart and Lisa try to escape from the plants, but they are eventually taken, only to realize the plants actually transfer their consciences to an utopic reality, where they get distracted by their phones as well.

The second segment, “MultipLisa-ty”, sees Bart, Nelson and Milhouse trapped and chained in a place after they had a sleepover at Milhouse’s. The person who has emprisoned them turns out to be Lisa, who acts in a very unusal way. Lisa is in some ‘crazy mode’ while also mad with the boys. The silly versions of Lisa are hilarious and fascinating, as Lisa isn’t usually seen with those personalities. Yeardley Smith‘s voice-acting as Lisa is always outstanding, but the talent she proves in this segment is masterful. Her performance of the Scottish Lisa is a must-see. At the end, Bart understands the reason why Lisa snapped. He succeeds in making an emotive fraternal speech that makes Lisa turn back to normal again, and save his life. The segment itself seemed a bit all over the place, but that also appeared to be the idea.

The third segment, “Geriatric Park” (a parody of classic Jurassic Park), revolves around Mr. Burns‘ new retirement home/park, in which the DNA of the senior citizens is combined with dinosaur DNA to somehow rejuvenile them, and in turn “giving them a better life”. When the Simpsons visit the park, Grampa claims they are always keeping the temperature cold there, so Homer (ignoring a warning post), increases the temperature with the thermostat. The temperature increase causes the old people to turn into dinosaurs, who go furious and start causing chaos. Eventually, Lisa appeals to the good heart of the senior people, calming them, just saying they only want more attention.

The episode, written by Joel H. Cohen and directed by Matthew Faughnan, is another great installment of one of the show’s most valuable traditions, the Treehouse of Horror episodes. There’s just some points the show could have delivered better. THOH segments have recently become more focused in pop culture parodies than in parodying horror stories or telling original stories. There’s nothing bad in that, but since the episodes are titled Treehouse of Horror, it’s expected to see horror stories comically parodied. This year’s show manages to do that quite well.

This show has started its unprecedented 30th season with well-crafted and enjoyable episodes. This year’s THOH has been exciting, surprising and humurous. It’s a funny, must-see episode that will sure get laughs.

Stay tuned for more reviews!!

Notes and Observations:

• *When Lisa is taken by the plants, she has some hallucinations, including a brief appearance of Luci, from the new Matt Groening show Disenchantment.
• In another hallucination, Lisa sees Homer and Bart dancing “you don’t win friends with salad”, from Season 7‘s “Lisa the Vegetarian“.
• When the spores are released, the Planet Express ship from Futurama can be seen carrying a flag that says “Bring Back Futurama“. Then the spaceship from The Orville show appears and attacks the Futurama ship.
• Again, Lisa with Groundskeeper Willie‘s scottish accent is dazzling and highly hilarious.
• Next year’s THOH (the 30th installment) has been confirmed to be the 666th episode of the show. There couldn’t be a better number for a THOH episode.
• In the third segment, the family flies over the doors of Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park 2, Jurassic Park 3, Jurassic World and Jurassic World 2 while traveling to the Geriatric Park by helicopter.
• In the second segment, the reason for Lisa snapping is that Bart changed her answers in an exam and made her fail. (Miss Hoover noticed someone had overwritten Lisa’s answers, but preferred to enjoy the feeling of making her fail).
• Although Kang and Kodos seem to not appear during the episode, they actually appear briefly as background characters in the utopic reality.

“You don’t fail at 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
– Marge

The Simpsons‘ 30th Season keeps going with the second episode of the season, “Heartbreak Hotel“. The episode is a well-crafted mix of reality competition shows, marriage crisis, and dream fullfillment (sort of).

The episode starts with the Simpsons watching Marge‘s favorite reality competition show, called The Amazing Place, which is a parody of The Amazing Race. When Bart and Lisa point out that Marge has an absolute knowledge of the show (plus some sort of obsession with it as well), they try to encourage her to audition for the show. Marge reveals that she and Homer have tried out to be on the show 46 times, getting rejected in all of them.

Lisa makes an audition video for her parents by editing together the videos from their past audition tapes, and she and Bart later go to the show’s auditions in the Squidport. There they convince the staff of the show to let Marge and Homer compete in an episode.

“HEARTBREAK HOTEL”

B+

Marge and Homer arrive at the place where the show takes place, thrilled by the idea of being in the show, only to immediately get eliminated (shelliminated) in the first challenge, the Suitcase Stowaway. However, the show doesn’t let them go home and they are forced to stay 6 months in a Hotel, in order to prevent fans from knowing they’ve been kicked off before the season airs. Marge is devastated by the feeling of being a “noob” and being the first couple eliminated. Homer, in the other hand, enjoys and quickly adapts to hotel life.

Marge finally adapts to hotel life, but they eventually find the show’s post-production room and they discover the fault of them being eliminated the first day is all Homer’s, as he ate a giant chocolate bar that was her Suitcase Stowaway. Marge then gets angry with Homer, therefore starting a marriage crisis. After that happens, they meet another eliminated couple in a scene that parodies the film ”Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, were a character from the film also appears (Nick, voiced by guest George Segal, who also portrayed him in the original film).

They are then surprised by the show when one of the eliminated couples is offered to re-enter the competition, only if one of the members teams up with a member from another couple. Marge rapidly forms a team with Nick. They almost win, but ultimately fail, making Homer enjoy the feeling of being the one people pity.

The episode, written by Matt Selman and Renee Ridgeley and directed by Steven Dean Moore, offers a new take of a classic plot of the show, a Marge-Homer marriage crisis. At this point, Marge and Homer’s marriage has proven to be indestructible. So, as always, their crisis is solved. Unlike other past episodes, in this occasion the crisis is quickly solved. The parody of The Amazing Race is amusing and funny. The show’s host, Tag Tuckerburg (voiced by guest Rhys Darby), is also a hilarious character that offer some enjoyable moments.

The guest stars of the episode, George Segal and Rhys Darby, both offer well-acted performances. For a show like The Simpsons, it’s now unusual to have episodes with only an A-plot, but this episode manages to handle a single plot within a very short amount of time. The unneeded sport talk at the end could have been replaced with a couch gag in the opening, maybe.

This episode is more than just another marriage crisis episode, as the marriage crisis plot doesn’t go quite far than a quarter of the episode’s time, to a greater or lesser extent. The episode sees Marge and Homer going to compete in a reality show, expecting to face some challenges, and at the end they actually have to face some challenges from reality (their real word).

Stay tuned for more reviews!!

Notes and Observations:

• Marge seemingly has an obsession with The Amazing Place. According to Lisa, she has watched all the episodes, even listening to the director’s commentaries. She even made the family play the “horrible” home game of the show.
• Homer enjoys the feeling of not being the one ‘who screws things up’.
• Bart wanted to put a pool in the backyard, with Milhouse, Nelson and Ralph digging the hole.
• Remarkable quotes:
  • “The fitness center only had an old NordicTrack, but it felt good to work out.” — Marge
    “I sat on a yoga ball and drank cucumber water. It’s nice to know I can still do that” — Homer
  • “This conversation is hereby terminated. You are each entitled to one capful of bubble bath.” — Blue-haired lawyer
    “Now, that’s parenting.” — Homer.

“As someone who has fallen off cliffs multiple times, the best thing we can do is teach him how to fall off cliffs.” — Homer

The Simpsons‘ yet record-breaking 30th Season Premiere episode, “Bart’s Not Dead“, not only does assure what the title says, but it also makes evident that the show itself is far from dead. The show’s creativity is still on a good level, no matter how much time passes.

The episode sees Bart being dared by the school bullies but, after initially refusing the dare (and subsequently making Marge happier than ever), Bart later accepts to take a dare as he becomes the center of attention (in a bad sense) in school (even Ralph Wiggum tries to turn his back on Bart, only to face him again after a self spin). The bullies then dare Bart to jump into a reservoir. Bart fails the jump, thus falling into the floor and seemingly getting badly injured.

“BART’S NOT DEAD”

A-

In the hospital, Bart recovers and comes up with a lie to cover up with Marge, who again had hope of Bart being a good boy, and he tells he’s been on Heaven, and that Jesus told him a message for Marge, “things will get better”. The little lie suddenly turns into a big lie after three Christian movie producers (voiced by guests Pete Holmes, Dave Attell, and Kevin Michael Richardson) want to make a movie out of Bart’s story. Homer quickly gets a deal, and starts producing the film with Ned Flanders (credited as Homer’s assistant in the film’s credits). They go through some auditions, with guests Emily Deschanel and Gal Gadot, who audition for Marge and Lisa, respectively, in one of the episode’s funniest scenes.

The movie (with Jonathan Groff as Bart) is a huge success (scoring a 98% in “Rotten Communion Wafers”). But, after Lisa makes Bart feel guilty for his lie, he decides to tell the truth, which causes anger among the town’s citizens. After apologizing, Ned and Homer announce they’ll donnate all the profits of the film to charity. Bart and Lisa then have a talk in the roof where Bart asks Lisa if God will ever forgive him. Lisa answers that, if there’s a God, he’ll forgive him as long as he has enough remorse. The roof suddenly breaks and the siblings are saved by an actual miracle, Homer having raked the leaves for once.

The episode, written by Stephanie Gillis and directed by Bob Anderson, perfectly manages to deliver a nice story of Bart’s guilty feeling over his little lie becoming something much bigger that, like a balloon, has to explode sooner or later. Some of the best moments of the episode are the auditions for the movie. Homer’s jokes out of Emily Deschanel’s show ”Bones” and not being able to differenciate her playing Marge’s part from real Marge, even though he asked her to some particular moves when acting as Marge, sure can get some laughs. Homer’s lines about ”DC Comics” and ”Wonder Woman” during Gal Gadot’s audition is also a good, classic, Simpsons-style, fuuny pop-culture reference. Emily Deschanel and Gal Gadot both offer hilarious performances.

A weak point of the episode could be the Bart’s Not Dead movie itself, as only a couple of nice lines and a rather irrelevant musical number (well-performed by guest Jonathan Groff) are shown from it. The movie itself could have had more content. It had the potential to include more pop-culture references. Well, more from the film should have been shown. Having Homer written it, lots of Homer-esque humor could have fitted in the movie. Nevertheless, the movie is not an important point of the episode after all. Bart’s feelings are.

Another well-crafted part of the episode is the ability the show has to irreverently satirize religion, no matter which one. From Jesus telling Bart (during a dream) that “God is love” and immediately hitting the boy with a wood-made “Love” word, to Homer going to “Hindu Heaven” asking to be reincarnated (into a Turtle) instead of having to stay at Christian Heaven with Ned Flanders, the show has always had a compelling talent to joke about religion(s).

The episode not only says “Bart’s Not Dead”, but it also shows clearly that neither are ‘The Simpsons’, healthier than ever in their 30th Season.

Stay tuned for more reviews!!

Notes:

• Bart jumps into the reservoir from the “Dead Boy’s Ledge”, while the bullies watch it from the “Haw-Haw Heights”, both places within the “Echo Canyon”. “This Place sure has a lot of names”, points Jimbo.
• Among the protest signs: “B.S. is B.S.”, “That’s why I am a Wiccan” (Moe carries this one), “Never Trust Non-Hollywood Films”, “The Last Half Dragged”, “Bart Lies, Jesus Cries”, and “Kill The Father”(held by Patty and Selma).
• Apparently, Grampa Bouvier (Marge’s father) was missing a leg. He was still missing it in Heaven during Bart’s dream, as he seemingly lost it in a bet.
• Remarkable quotes:
  • “Like most of America, I think I know the movie business.” — Homer
  • “Our father who art in heaven, holler out your name. Thy kingdom come, I’m almost done.” — Homer’s prayers.
  • “Our movie is a hit and a lie.” — Marge
    “Oh, all hit movies are lies, Marge. Did you see Argo? None of that happened. And I have strong doubts about The Incredibles.” — Homer