[7.4/10 on a semi-post-classic Simpsons scale] I forget how funny the Scully era is, even in the badlands of Season 11. The current incarnation of the show only has wisps of the series’s former sense of humor, but here, there’s still the comic chops to let you laugh at what the show’s doing.
The problem is that those gags are cheap or easy or betray the characters. Homer’s idiocy reaches ridiculous levels (i.e. him continually going into that Biker Bar). His thoughtlessness is extreme. And the whole thing devolves into a ridiculous fight where motorcycles are used like swords.
It’s not hard to see how people felt the show had lost its tether to reality. Something already as outsized as Homer winning a motorcycle in a dance competition turns into a standoff and then rescue mission with a gang of bikers. Don’t get me wrong, John Goodman and Henry Winkler deliver the material with aplomb and there’s good gags, but man the tone of the show is so off.
It’s just this wacky, off-the-wall, crazy stuff just sort of happens place. That means there’s still fun elements like Homer pretending to be a teenager inspired by a Rebel Without a Cause ripoff, with his, frankly, pathetic little biker gang. But it also means that the bikers destroying the Simpsons’ house and then being civilized by Marge veers into absurdity that feels out of step with the reality of the show.
The characters are meaner, with Homer being a Jerk to people who try to touch his bike, and Lisa being a scold and not just the voice of reason. Again, I laughed, more than I’d care to admit frankly, but it’s clear that the show is surviving on those laughs at this point in its run and having to strain harder and harder to get them while the characters get broader, the reality of the show gets stretched, and the stories get more wild and less focused. Being funny is great, but it’s also not enough.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-04-12T05:00:52Z
[7.4/10 on a semi-post-classic Simpsons scale] I forget how funny the Scully era is, even in the badlands of Season 11. The current incarnation of the show only has wisps of the series’s former sense of humor, but here, there’s still the comic chops to let you laugh at what the show’s doing.
The problem is that those gags are cheap or easy or betray the characters. Homer’s idiocy reaches ridiculous levels (i.e. him continually going into that Biker Bar). His thoughtlessness is extreme. And the whole thing devolves into a ridiculous fight where motorcycles are used like swords.
It’s not hard to see how people felt the show had lost its tether to reality. Something already as outsized as Homer winning a motorcycle in a dance competition turns into a standoff and then rescue mission with a gang of bikers. Don’t get me wrong, John Goodman and Henry Winkler deliver the material with aplomb and there’s good gags, but man the tone of the show is so off.
It’s just this wacky, off-the-wall, crazy stuff just sort of happens place. That means there’s still fun elements like Homer pretending to be a teenager inspired by a Rebel Without a Cause ripoff, with his, frankly, pathetic little biker gang. But it also means that the bikers destroying the Simpsons’ house and then being civilized by Marge veers into absurdity that feels out of step with the reality of the show.
The characters are meaner, with Homer being a Jerk to people who try to touch his bike, and Lisa being a scold and not just the voice of reason. Again, I laughed, more than I’d care to admit frankly, but it’s clear that the show is surviving on those laughs at this point in its run and having to strain harder and harder to get them while the characters get broader, the reality of the show gets stretched, and the stories get more wild and less focused. Being funny is great, but it’s also not enough.