[3.3/10] What the hell is this? It’s such an off in la-la-land nonsense episode. I get the desire to riff on “creative punishments”, but this is so detached from reality and absurd that it loses all credibility. Fiber Optics wire tethers that can catch fire from anger? Parents being made to wear stocks? It’s ridiculous and not in a fun way.
There’s also a healthy dose of Jerkass Homer here. He literally nearly murders two people in this one, and doesn’t give a damn about it. He’s terrible to Bart and to Marge, tries to sleep with his wife while his son is sitting next to the bed, and is just an unfunny asshole through the whole thing.
There’s a couple decent throughlines, like Bart and Homer initially enjoying being closer to one another until they bristle against the hardships of being tethered, or Bart learning to take responsibility for his actions rather than letting his parents fall on the grenade. But those are minor, not particularly well-done parts of the episode, in contrast to a wall of crud.
While I like Jane Kaczmarek, the writing for this extreme take on a Judge Judy time feels too cartoonish to pass the smell test, with her dumb sayings and insane punishments. The humor overall is really tepid here, which stinks since sometimes the comedy can buoy episodes where nothing else is working.
Overall, this is a bad outing for the show -- perhaps a creative punishment for people could be being forced to watch it.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-11-05T02:29:46Z
[3.3/10] What the hell is this? It’s such an off in la-la-land nonsense episode. I get the desire to riff on “creative punishments”, but this is so detached from reality and absurd that it loses all credibility. Fiber Optics wire tethers that can catch fire from anger? Parents being made to wear stocks? It’s ridiculous and not in a fun way.
There’s also a healthy dose of Jerkass Homer here. He literally nearly murders two people in this one, and doesn’t give a damn about it. He’s terrible to Bart and to Marge, tries to sleep with his wife while his son is sitting next to the bed, and is just an unfunny asshole through the whole thing.
There’s a couple decent throughlines, like Bart and Homer initially enjoying being closer to one another until they bristle against the hardships of being tethered, or Bart learning to take responsibility for his actions rather than letting his parents fall on the grenade. But those are minor, not particularly well-done parts of the episode, in contrast to a wall of crud.
While I like Jane Kaczmarek, the writing for this extreme take on a Judge Judy time feels too cartoonish to pass the smell test, with her dumb sayings and insane punishments. The humor overall is really tepid here, which stinks since sometimes the comedy can buoy episodes where nothing else is working.
Overall, this is a bad outing for the show -- perhaps a creative punishment for people could be being forced to watch it.