[9.8/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] Matt Selman forever! I’ve written about this before, but I gotta tell you, I guessed about halfway through that this was as an episode where he served as a substitute showrunner in place of Al Jean, and when you’ve been watching this stuff as long as I have, it’s no mystery why. Like most of the episodes under Selman’s supervision, “A Father’s Watch” is funnier, smarter, more incisive, and has more earned heart than the typical post-classic Simpsons episode.
It achieves this by blending two things that The Simpsons did extraordinarily well in the classic years – offering a cynical take on some topic or trend, and then relating it in a fractured-but-sincere way to the characters. Here, it has to do with the parenting equivalent of get rich quick schemes, where the moms and dads of Springfield sway like the wind at whatever new alleged parenting experts come to town.
So when one such expert comes to town saying positive reinforcement is the trick, every parent starts handing out trophies for damn near everything. When another (at Lisa’s behest) comes and tells them that overencouragement leads to soft kids, all the trophies are sucked back up and it’s tough love. The way the parents hang on every word, and the riffs on both trophy culture and “G.R.I.T.” parenting, not to mention the industry that pumps out this pablum, are sharp and funny.
But the episode also centers the effects of this on Bart, and ties the successes and failures of these trends to his own personal success. Bart is an underachiever (and lest we forget, proud of it) so Homer and Marge’s conflicting views on how/if he can be improved and motivated lead to some good stakes for him. The emotional arc is paced well, with Bart lazy but happy, encouraged but no more determined, confident and ebullient, and then ashamed and insecure. There’s instigating events for all these things, and it helps the audience invest in the journey.
I also like the heirloom watch from Grampa as the symbol of Bart’s pride and the knowledge that at least someone in his family believes in him. It’s a nice way to dramatize the ideas at play, and while the pop psychology of inheriting and passing on that sense of failure from father to son is a little simple, it works for what the show’s going for. Homer bouncing back from his (amusing) participation trophy business to buck up Bart with the watch Bart think he lost, even though it represents that same sort of parental approval Homer’s always been missing too, is a nice moment for all involved. It’s a nice capper to a story that feels reminiscent of Homer and Abe’s surprisingly warm exchange (literally and figuratively) about how they’re both screw-ups.
Meanwhile, Lisa gets a tidy little story about her frustration at both trophy culture and anti-trophy culture stymieing her and her legitimately earned awards. It mostly feeds back into the larger satire, but in the same way, it’s nice to put a human face on the broad cultural critique.
Throw in some of the show’s best laugh out loud jokes in some time (I particularly enjoyed the culturally sensitive amphibians in “Froggy Heaven”) and you have an outing that could be mixed in with the show’s classic years and (save for some different animation) blend in with the crowd. I don’t know what higher praise I could offer.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-03-30T03:31:20Z
[9.8/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] Matt Selman forever! I’ve written about this before, but I gotta tell you, I guessed about halfway through that this was as an episode where he served as a substitute showrunner in place of Al Jean, and when you’ve been watching this stuff as long as I have, it’s no mystery why. Like most of the episodes under Selman’s supervision, “A Father’s Watch” is funnier, smarter, more incisive, and has more earned heart than the typical post-classic Simpsons episode.
It achieves this by blending two things that The Simpsons did extraordinarily well in the classic years – offering a cynical take on some topic or trend, and then relating it in a fractured-but-sincere way to the characters. Here, it has to do with the parenting equivalent of get rich quick schemes, where the moms and dads of Springfield sway like the wind at whatever new alleged parenting experts come to town.
So when one such expert comes to town saying positive reinforcement is the trick, every parent starts handing out trophies for damn near everything. When another (at Lisa’s behest) comes and tells them that overencouragement leads to soft kids, all the trophies are sucked back up and it’s tough love. The way the parents hang on every word, and the riffs on both trophy culture and “G.R.I.T.” parenting, not to mention the industry that pumps out this pablum, are sharp and funny.
But the episode also centers the effects of this on Bart, and ties the successes and failures of these trends to his own personal success. Bart is an underachiever (and lest we forget, proud of it) so Homer and Marge’s conflicting views on how/if he can be improved and motivated lead to some good stakes for him. The emotional arc is paced well, with Bart lazy but happy, encouraged but no more determined, confident and ebullient, and then ashamed and insecure. There’s instigating events for all these things, and it helps the audience invest in the journey.
I also like the heirloom watch from Grampa as the symbol of Bart’s pride and the knowledge that at least someone in his family believes in him. It’s a nice way to dramatize the ideas at play, and while the pop psychology of inheriting and passing on that sense of failure from father to son is a little simple, it works for what the show’s going for. Homer bouncing back from his (amusing) participation trophy business to buck up Bart with the watch Bart think he lost, even though it represents that same sort of parental approval Homer’s always been missing too, is a nice moment for all involved. It’s a nice capper to a story that feels reminiscent of Homer and Abe’s surprisingly warm exchange (literally and figuratively) about how they’re both screw-ups.
Meanwhile, Lisa gets a tidy little story about her frustration at both trophy culture and anti-trophy culture stymieing her and her legitimately earned awards. It mostly feeds back into the larger satire, but in the same way, it’s nice to put a human face on the broad cultural critique.
Throw in some of the show’s best laugh out loud jokes in some time (I particularly enjoyed the culturally sensitive amphibians in “Froggy Heaven”) and you have an outing that could be mixed in with the show’s classic years and (save for some different animation) blend in with the crowd. I don’t know what higher praise I could offer.