29x09 Gone Boy

[7.7/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] First things first, I’ll cop to really enjoying the Winter Wonderlanded version of the opening credits here. Reimagining The Simpsons as part of the North Pole was amusing and while some of the gags were easy, it’s a sign that however much the quality of the show’s writing may have waxed and waned over the years, the design and animation teams have always done consistently outstanding work.

As for the episode proper, it’s one of the better Sideshow Bob installments the show has done in a while. The structure of the episode is a little lumpy, as we jump between a trapped Bart, a worried rest-of-the-family, a tortured Bob, and a mendacious Milhouse with little nimbleness, but all of the parts work well and even come together nicely in the end.

The premise of Bart being lost and stumbling into an old 1950s military silo is a solid one, and while a little outsized, fits within the Hitchcock-esque grandiosity (that gets a well-done direct homage here) which tends to come along with Bob’s schemes. There’s also a nice throughline for Bob here, with the turn coming as he considers why exactly he’s so hellbent on killing Bart. Sure, it skips over some continuity on that front, and the tag with a beleaguered, bearded Bob in the future is a bit too much, but it adds texture to the story beyond just another wild attempt on Bart’s life.

At the same time, Milhouse and Bob as a pairing are surprisingly great, with Bob’s threats of Light Operetta being a bit cartoony but too much fun to be a bother. It’s a little odd that nothing really comes of Milhouse’s deceiving Lisa, though maybe Bob’s interference and kidnapping is Milhouse’s karmic comeuppance.

Plus the humor is mostly on point in this one. Visual gags like Bob emerging from behind bushes and mops are cute; Bart’s misadventures and attempts to pass the time in the silo have some of that classic “kids screwing around vibe” that the show captured so well when Bart bought a factory back in “Homer’s Enemy,” and Homer seeing Marge holding her own candelight vigil and warning her that she’ll never get Bart to come back if he thinks it’s church is a great one-liner.

Overall, the show is on a minor hot streak here, and it’s nice to see a Bob episode be a little ungainly in places, but still be wild, funny, and true to the spirit of the show’s prior dances with the character.