Definitely hitting the phase where the show was going for pure easy comedy, without nearly as much commitment to storytelling, emotion, or character. But the humor is still there, even if it's not as clever or trenchant, and that carries an episode like "Simpsons Bible Stories."
The Adam and Eve story is probably the strongest of the three here, with Homer-as-Adam's selfishness leading to Marge's and his exile working as a way to graft their usual dynamic into a fun twist on the creation story, with a wisecracking pig for good measure. Lisa's Moses story has some cute moments and good lines, and recapitulating Exodus as elementary school students against their teacher is a nice way to go. There's just not much of a real throughline or coherent take on the story.
The last segment (other than Homer as Solomon which was a fun, if brief, little lark) is Bart's action hero parody version of David vs. Goliath. It's a premise that should have a lot of juice, but the story itself is somewhat disjointed, and feels more like a show giving into cliches than making fun of them.
All of this undersells the episode a fair bit. There's a decent number of laughs and it's all fun-if-forgettable comedy. It's just clear the show was starting to lose its fastball here, and it's especially noticeable in the humor department, with the gags feeling cheaper and easier all-around.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-04-02T20:41:55Z
Definitely hitting the phase where the show was going for pure easy comedy, without nearly as much commitment to storytelling, emotion, or character. But the humor is still there, even if it's not as clever or trenchant, and that carries an episode like "Simpsons Bible Stories."
The Adam and Eve story is probably the strongest of the three here, with Homer-as-Adam's selfishness leading to Marge's and his exile working as a way to graft their usual dynamic into a fun twist on the creation story, with a wisecracking pig for good measure. Lisa's Moses story has some cute moments and good lines, and recapitulating Exodus as elementary school students against their teacher is a nice way to go. There's just not much of a real throughline or coherent take on the story.
The last segment (other than Homer as Solomon which was a fun, if brief, little lark) is Bart's action hero parody version of David vs. Goliath. It's a premise that should have a lot of juice, but the story itself is somewhat disjointed, and feels more like a show giving into cliches than making fun of them.
All of this undersells the episode a fair bit. There's a decent number of laughs and it's all fun-if-forgettable comedy. It's just clear the show was starting to lose its fastball here, and it's especially noticeable in the humor department, with the gags feeling cheaper and easier all-around.