13x13 The Old Man and the Key

[5.7/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] It’s such a tough time judging what I’d term the “Scully hangover” years of The Simpsons, where Al Jean had taken over as showrunner again, but the show hadn't fully shaken off the tone and sensibility of what had come before. This episode is written by Jon Vitti, one of the foundational writers of the series’s best years, but it’s also riddled with the kind of crud that sunk the show at its height.

But there’s good stuff here! This is the source of the famous “Old Man Yells at Cloud” meme! The way Homer says “cosmic” when Marge tells him that he’s trying to parent his own father has somehow slipped its way into my vocabulary. And there’s even a solid setup and payoff with Homer using a shoe on a stick to monitor his dad’s braking when Grampa gets behind the wheel again, only for Grampa and his senior citizen pals to use the same jury-rigged prod to get the upper hand in their death face against the “jaquitos.” This one isn’t devoid of laughs or cleverness.

In the same way, I actually like the basic idea behind this one. Doing a James Dean-esque story of teenage rebellion, through the lens of a grandfather rebelling against his son, is a solid setup for an episode. There’s some inherent irony to the premise that works on its own terms, and for another show, I could see it paying real dividends.

But man, “The Old Man and the Key” just hits the lowest-hanging fruit of senior citizen jokes time and time again, with only the midlest of chuckles to show for it. Olympia Dukakis is entirely forgettable as Zelda, the new It-girl of the Springfield Retirement Castle. And god help me when it comes to the extended jabs at Branson, Missouri, something the show skewered better in two minutes in “Bart on the Road” than it does in the overblown, under-funny third act of this outing.

The whole idea of Grampa trying to woo a fellow senior through his ability to drive is really underfed here. There’s no human core to any of this, with the characters coming off like ridiculous cartoons as part of a tongue-in-cheek Rebel without a Cause parody rather than anything approaching real emotions. It feels more like Scully’s handiwork than Jean’s, which typically at least aims for sentiment and human feeling, even if it doesn’t always hit the target. This just plays like an over-the-top goof-fest, with very little in terms of real comic dividends.

Overall, this one is still watchable, which counts for something, but it’s ultimately an idiotic episode where the characters act like alien morons most of the time. There’s a handful of smart bits and good laughs (Homer’s reluctance to get on the same bus as the Flanderses is a solid one), but they’re sadly few and far between.