Possibly the best episode in a decade.
Marge: Our son's a good guy. A good guy!
Homer: But he's still stupid. So stupid.
OMG! The episode is months late but it actually is topical. Bart being able to control the world be forcing people to stop him from spoiling the summer blockbuster. It's been so long since I found a Simpson's plot topical and I really loved how Homer does not care. And in the spirit of the episode I hit the Spoiler Alert.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-03-05T22:51:36Z
[6.5/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] I like Matt Selman episode. I like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This episode should have been a slam dunk for me, but instead it left me underwhelmed.
It feels like Selman and company didn’t know what they wanted this one to be. Is it an Avengers parody? A spoiler-phobia commentary? An exploration of whether Bart’s good at heart or not? It tries to do all three, and each of these elements has its pluses and minuses, but the show has real trouble connecting them all together.
The parody elements are a real mixed bag. The show definitely has fun with some of the Avengers spoof material. It captures faux-Tony Stark’s vibe perfectly, and I’ll cop to being tickled by “Chinos” and his array of chins. None of the parody stuff is bad exactly, but there’s so many things to tweak the MCU on, and this episode only goes for obvious, easy gags. Some of the humor there is well-observed, but a lot of it feels pretty shallow.
My favorite part is the Bart the spoiler-demon plot. While the setup is a little contrived, I like Bart using his spoiler powers for both good and evil. And the notion that his spoiler knowledge is his own sort of superpower is a fun one conceptually. The fact that Homer and Lisa object until he uses his knowledge to help them is chuckle-worthy, and there’s even a nicely setup and paid off gag with Lunchlady Dora and Moe.
But the episode really runs aground with the “Is Bart good or evil?” bit at the end. It feels like it comes out of nowhere with little, if any, setup before the end. Plus the whole virtual reality shtick comes out of nowhere too, and is a weak way to conclude the story.
That said, I like the Christmas Carol-style tag with Bart reforming and giving away all his ill-gotten gains. The Russo Bros. and Kevin Feige do a surprisingly good job at playing evil-ish Hollywood execs and a galaxy-threatening supervillain respectively. And this at least feels more of the moment than some latter-day Simpsons spoofs.
Overall, this one is something of a disappointment given the creative people involved and the missed potential, but it has its laugh-worthy moments for Avengers fans and spoilerphobes like myself. It definitely plays like an episode that could have used another draft or two.