This episode had something with Apu and Jamshed each accusing the other of being a stereotype. And it also had something with Bart behaving well for once at Homer's insistence, and then both he and his father feel conflicted when they need his pranking skills to help Apu. Those are legitimate and interesting story and character beats to follow, and in the middle act of the episode, where those elements were at the fore and the comedy perked up a bit too, this looked like a good episode.
Unfortunately, those positive aspects of the show were awash in a sea of lame humor and implausible plotting. While there were a few laughs, this felt like the peak of Al Jean lazy humor circa Season 18/19, where every joke was overly explained to make sure you got it, and the characters were frequently just harsh with each other. What's more a heretofore unknown scratch-off addiction from Apu that deus ex machinas the Kwik-E-Mart back to its old self at the end of the episode was a pretty weak attempt at a narrative. All-in-all, this is another post-classic episode where there's the germ of a good idea that gets botched in the execution.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-01-19T17:47:51Z
This episode had something with Apu and Jamshed each accusing the other of being a stereotype. And it also had something with Bart behaving well for once at Homer's insistence, and then both he and his father feel conflicted when they need his pranking skills to help Apu. Those are legitimate and interesting story and character beats to follow, and in the middle act of the episode, where those elements were at the fore and the comedy perked up a bit too, this looked like a good episode.
Unfortunately, those positive aspects of the show were awash in a sea of lame humor and implausible plotting. While there were a few laughs, this felt like the peak of Al Jean lazy humor circa Season 18/19, where every joke was overly explained to make sure you got it, and the characters were frequently just harsh with each other. What's more a heretofore unknown scratch-off addiction from Apu that deus ex machinas the Kwik-E-Mart back to its old self at the end of the episode was a pretty weak attempt at a narrative. All-in-all, this is another post-classic episode where there's the germ of a good idea that gets botched in the execution.