32x19 Panic on the Streets of Springfield

[6.7/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] This is another episode that I just don’t know what to do with. The B-plot is a giant waste. It’s not particularly funny. The imaginary friend conceit goes to some weird places. The Simpson family and their hangers on often feel out of character The whole thing just feels kind of off. And yet, the Morrissey and Smiths parodies are wonderfully realized. There’s tons of creativity in the animation and design work. And in the end, the episode lands on a pretty darn profound point, illustrated in a striking fashion. It’s such a mixed bag, and I don’t quite know how to grade it.

Let’s start with Homer’s nascent truck enthusiasm, which was just a big nothing. Satirizing big cars and their ability to make insecure men feel big and strong should be like shooting fish in a barrel. But other than the “Professor Killjoy” spelling gag, there was nary a chuckle to be had here. Homer just does generic dumb truck stuff, and there’s no point to it beyond Marge pointing out that it’s one big pose. I don’t mind inessential B-stories if they’re funny, but this one was dead on arrival.

The same goes for most of the humor here. There’s some solid spoofing of The Smiths here, but most of the gags in the episode made me go “That’s clever” rather than eliciting any actual laughter. There’s a million different shades of comedy, so I don’t want to slate things that simply make you smile with recognition rather than split your sides, but the episode feels so tepid in its gags the whole way through. Maybe it’s going for some dry, old school Morrisey-style humor all around? Who knows.

That said, I love Quilloughby as a thinly-veiled Morrisey parody here. He moves differently than pretty much any Simpsons character we’ve ever seen, floating and listing and jamming with every movement. Writer Tim Long comes up with some perfectly sardonic bon mots that feel true to the real life character. And the “Everything Is Horrid Except Me (And Possibly You)” song is a well-observed and catchy Smiths take-off, that’s just enough like the genuine article to feel legitimate and just exaggerated enough to feel like a spoof.

I also love the message of this one. Snarking and sneering at the world can be fun, particularly when you feel like the world deserves it. But going too far, devolving into disdain for anything and everyone beyond yourself, can turn you into a bitter husk who turns into the antithesis of everything you once stood for. Contrasting the young Morrisey equivalent and his effete literary persona and staunch veganism with modern day Morrisey as a brutish, xenophobic carnivore works as a nice warning to Lisa about where this road leads. And on a broader level, it also works as a well-observed take on how idolizing young cool artists can lead to disappointment and even disillusionment when you meet your heroes or see where they’ve ended up.

There’s even some nice perspective from Marge, who’s miffed at Lisa’s proto-teenager rebellion, but remembers her own rebellious phase and promises to be patient with and love her daughter through all the inevitable generational friction. That’s really sweet and true-to-life in its way, and it makes me appreciate this episode more by the end, which isn’t always the case for modern day Simpsons.

On the whole, this one is a true mixed bag, full of elements that weight the episode down (especially the humor or lack thereof), but also full of a certain creativity and understanding that are in short supply on the show these days. I’d probably still recommend that fans watch it, so that has to count for something.