[7.5 /10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] This is definitely one of those episodes where you have to forget that The Simpsons takes place in the real world (or something approaching it). Homer gets maimed by robots and suffers grievous injuries only to be back in action in the next scene. He’s able to pretend to be a robot without Bart realizing or any of the robot competition’s judges noticing. And likewise, Marge is either unaware or doesn’t care about all of this.
But if you can set that aside, you have a surprisingly strong episode for the show’s fifteenth season. There’s a good emotional throughline to the main story, with Homer putting himself through a great physical toll in order to show his son that he can be handy and earn his respect. The beats of Homer trying to build a robot to prove his handiness, pretending to be that robot when it doesn’t work out, and eventually gaining Bart’s appreciation when he sees the lengths Homer went to for him are a little out there, but there’s a solid emotional trajectory there.
Likewise, this is a pretty funny episode! The gags veer on the absurd and exaggerated side, but there’s solid laughs and even some layers to the humor. The two Robot Rumble announcers have a nice Bill & Marty-esque vibe, and there’s a handful of clever lines and sharp bits.
The B-story is likewise pretty out there, with Snowball dying, a string of replacement cats also meeting their untimely ends, and Lisa fearing she’s cursed as having bad feline juju. It’s a little dark, and fairly truncated, but I like Lisa growing more and more despondent at her poor cat luck, only to find an unexpected answer when Crazy Cat Lady throws a suspiciously similar-looking black cat at her who turns out to be a “good luck kitty.” There’s some dark/transgressive gags here (mostly Gil’s apparent death and Marge chastising God), but they work in context. And I love the meta gag where Lisa refers to Skinner as “Principal Tamzarian” when he complains that calling the new cat “Snowball II” is a cheat.
Overall, this is definitely not an episode for Simpsons fans who like down-to-earth, realistic episodes. But if you can tolerate a little kookiness, there’s some heart and some laughs worth tuning in for here.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-04-08T01:04:31Z
[7.5 /10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] This is definitely one of those episodes where you have to forget that The Simpsons takes place in the real world (or something approaching it). Homer gets maimed by robots and suffers grievous injuries only to be back in action in the next scene. He’s able to pretend to be a robot without Bart realizing or any of the robot competition’s judges noticing. And likewise, Marge is either unaware or doesn’t care about all of this.
But if you can set that aside, you have a surprisingly strong episode for the show’s fifteenth season. There’s a good emotional throughline to the main story, with Homer putting himself through a great physical toll in order to show his son that he can be handy and earn his respect. The beats of Homer trying to build a robot to prove his handiness, pretending to be that robot when it doesn’t work out, and eventually gaining Bart’s appreciation when he sees the lengths Homer went to for him are a little out there, but there’s a solid emotional trajectory there.
Likewise, this is a pretty funny episode! The gags veer on the absurd and exaggerated side, but there’s solid laughs and even some layers to the humor. The two Robot Rumble announcers have a nice Bill & Marty-esque vibe, and there’s a handful of clever lines and sharp bits.
The B-story is likewise pretty out there, with Snowball dying, a string of replacement cats also meeting their untimely ends, and Lisa fearing she’s cursed as having bad feline juju. It’s a little dark, and fairly truncated, but I like Lisa growing more and more despondent at her poor cat luck, only to find an unexpected answer when Crazy Cat Lady throws a suspiciously similar-looking black cat at her who turns out to be a “good luck kitty.” There’s some dark/transgressive gags here (mostly Gil’s apparent death and Marge chastising God), but they work in context. And I love the meta gag where Lisa refers to Skinner as “Principal Tamzarian” when he complains that calling the new cat “Snowball II” is a cheat.
Overall, this is definitely not an episode for Simpsons fans who like down-to-earth, realistic episodes. But if you can tolerate a little kookiness, there’s some heart and some laughs worth tuning in for here.