33x18 My Octopus and a Teacher

[6.4/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] Ughhhh, this one is trying, and I want to give it credit for that. Both the Bart and Lisa stories are founded on legitimate emotional trajectories for both characters. They take the characters’ psychology in the situation seriously. And the episode even finds a way to tie the two plots together thematically and logistically in a reasonably clever way.

But man, the execution in both is way off. Bart doesn’t feel like Bart here. I get him feeling uncomfortable about being embarrassed to have hurt someone who saved his life. I even get him feeling and acting extra awkward because he has a crush on his teacher. Yet, turning him into a kid who acts out by wrecking his own project out of jealousy or tearing a water fountain off the wall seems wildly out of character. You can maybe draw a line from it to him playing tug of war with Lisa’s Thanksgiving centerpiece many [gulp] decades ago, but it feels too different from Bart’s typical and a little too real for the tone the episode wants to strike.

Likewise, Lisa’s story is compelling, with her growing attached to something she can relate to and project herself onto, a la My Octopus Teacher, only to realize she needs to let it go and allow nature to take its course. There’s a solid emotional arc there. Plus, this is some of the best animation we’ve seen in a long time, with the movements and camouflage and interactions with the Octopus being especially fluid and expressive.

But this also plays so cartoony, with the Octopus’ escape attempts and Homer’s stupidity in mistaking it for a crazy ball. There’s a level of zaniness to this one that contrasts with the earnest tone it wants to take. It’s hard to take Bart’s behavior seriously when it amounts to an octopus muffling his face while he inadvertently causes a crowd full of parents to fall onto exercise balls and destroy replicas of the seven wonders of the world. The whole exercise is just too outsized to align with the sincere tone the episode intermittently goes for.

I’m also come-see-come-saw on Ms. Peyton. It’s nice to see them finally introducing new regular characters to the show, and Kerry Washington is game. But the material they give her isn’t very funny. (God help me with the hacky “My husband’s not great at oboe” jokes.) I can appreciate adding a character who seems competent and invested in their job into this town full of dummies, and her gentle approach with Bart. This just isn’t the most encouraging first outing for how they’re going to fit her into the show and the type of stories they’re going to build around her.

Overall, this is one I really wanted to like, because I admire what it’s going for. But the characters felt off, the laughs were few, and the stories ultimately became too zany to realize the potential.