[2.5/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] It’s amazing the show wasn’t canceled on the spot after this episode. Yeesh this was bad, with such embarrassing humor, such piss-poor storytelling, and such breaks from the traditional reality and tone of the show that it feels like something else entirely.
Let’s start with the one good thing here. The middle act is pretty good! It’s not much, but when Homer’s jaws get wired shut, and he listens to his family instead of talking to them, the scenes we get are very sweet. Homer realizes he has common dislike of Fladners with Marge. He delights in spending time with Maggie. He supports Lisa through her problems. He sees hidden depths in Bart. Somewhere buried in this drek is a tale of a man facing a major life change and it opening up a new world for him with the people closest to him. The little glimpses we get of that story are wonderful.
But good lord, the humor here is just so bad. The episode starts with the laziest gay pride jokes iaginable, and follows it with a bout of the dumbest movie theater humor in ages. Homer’s jaw wiring humor is pretty dub too, with him snorting a pork chop bite and flapping his leg like a dog when he gets his wiring polished. Some fo these bits break the reality of the show, but more than that they’re just stupid, easy, unfunny gags, which is somehow worse.
Don’t get me started on the plot here. The episode screws around pointlessly for the first act, with the whole thing climaxing in Homer running headlong into a statue of Drederick Tatum. Who thought this would make a good inciting incident? It’s not relatable as an injury and it’s not funny either.
The aforementioned jaw-wiring humor is dumb and shallow as well, and what follows in the third act is a toothless parody of The View and bizarre climactic homage to Popeye. What the hell is this episode about? Theoretically, it’s a story of Marge realizing that life is boring with a good guy Homer, but that doesn't show up until the third act, and progresses at lightning speed. This episode is so unbalanced and idiotic. Plus, the demolition derby climax is cartoony to the point of ridiculousness, even before Homer suddenly turns into Popeye for reasons unknown.
I’ll confess that the occasional gag here or there made me laugh. Homer being unable to answer Duffman’s trivia question was a laugh, and I appreciated the visual gag of Otto turning the bus upright using its stop sign. But for the most part, this is a comedy graveyard.
On the whole, this is a real nadir for The Simpsons at the dawn of the second Al Jean era (and from superstar post-classic scribe Matt Selman no less!) It’s a miracle executives didn’t look at this outing, decide the show was out of gas, and put it out of its misery on the spot.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-09-19T18:12:32Z
[2.5/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] It’s amazing the show wasn’t canceled on the spot after this episode. Yeesh this was bad, with such embarrassing humor, such piss-poor storytelling, and such breaks from the traditional reality and tone of the show that it feels like something else entirely.
Let’s start with the one good thing here. The middle act is pretty good! It’s not much, but when Homer’s jaws get wired shut, and he listens to his family instead of talking to them, the scenes we get are very sweet. Homer realizes he has common dislike of Fladners with Marge. He delights in spending time with Maggie. He supports Lisa through her problems. He sees hidden depths in Bart. Somewhere buried in this drek is a tale of a man facing a major life change and it opening up a new world for him with the people closest to him. The little glimpses we get of that story are wonderful.
But good lord, the humor here is just so bad. The episode starts with the laziest gay pride jokes iaginable, and follows it with a bout of the dumbest movie theater humor in ages. Homer’s jaw wiring humor is pretty dub too, with him snorting a pork chop bite and flapping his leg like a dog when he gets his wiring polished. Some fo these bits break the reality of the show, but more than that they’re just stupid, easy, unfunny gags, which is somehow worse.
Don’t get me started on the plot here. The episode screws around pointlessly for the first act, with the whole thing climaxing in Homer running headlong into a statue of Drederick Tatum. Who thought this would make a good inciting incident? It’s not relatable as an injury and it’s not funny either.
The aforementioned jaw-wiring humor is dumb and shallow as well, and what follows in the third act is a toothless parody of The View and bizarre climactic homage to Popeye. What the hell is this episode about? Theoretically, it’s a story of Marge realizing that life is boring with a good guy Homer, but that doesn't show up until the third act, and progresses at lightning speed. This episode is so unbalanced and idiotic. Plus, the demolition derby climax is cartoony to the point of ridiculousness, even before Homer suddenly turns into Popeye for reasons unknown.
I’ll confess that the occasional gag here or there made me laugh. Homer being unable to answer Duffman’s trivia question was a laugh, and I appreciated the visual gag of Otto turning the bus upright using its stop sign. But for the most part, this is a comedy graveyard.
On the whole, this is a real nadir for The Simpsons at the dawn of the second Al Jean era (and from superstar post-classic scribe Matt Selman no less!) It’s a miracle executives didn’t look at this outing, decide the show was out of gas, and put it out of its misery on the spot.