8x10 The Springfield Files

[7.1/10] This one is mostly a gag-fest, but the gags are generally good, so it works. Aliens, even an alien fake out, is a bit too out there even for The Simpsons, but things move along well enough. Oddly, it feels a little like “Who Shot Mr. Burns” with the way the episode makes jokes but also takes care to note the time of day and other little details to plant the seeds for a mystery.

There’s the faintest thread of an arc here -- Homer struggling with the fact that no one believes him -- but really “The Springfield Files” is just a big excuse to have some crossover fun. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson do a good job, and the writers are clearly having fun at exhausting Mulder and Scully by making them deal with Springfield’s inanity. In the same vein, Leonard Nimoy is a laugh riot here, between bolting for his car and wanting to be surprised with his hotdog.

To that end, it’s the jokes that make this one click. Bits like “the bus that couldn’t slow down” or Moe hauling a whale out to see are ridiculous but fun. You can certainly feel the show growing a bit cartoonier here, but the laughs are solid enough to sustain it anyway.

Overall, not a standout episode of anything, but still plenty of laughs and plenty of fun.