16x06 Midnight Rx

[7.6/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] The opening act to this one is a non-stop gagfest. Having the Simpsons pall around in a flight museum is, if not the most novel premise for a show that’s had a significant amount of fun around stuffy exhibits and even the Air and Space museum previously, it’s broadly pleasing. A stately video intro about stately video intros at flight museums is recursively hilarious, Homer’s enjoyment of the company festivities is amusing, and Mr. Burns’s “nasty surprise” is a good button to put on it.

The problem is that then the show tries to continue that gag fest spirit, with much weaker jokes. The beginning of the second act, where the show endeavors to riff on people having to go without their pills, is excruciatingly bad. Krusty’s “bipolar clown” routine is embarrassing and overlong, and Ralph’s “cucoo for contraband” line is ridiculous and dumb, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

At the same time, the commentary here is no great shakes. The episode has one move -- “prescription drug prices are high” -- and doesn't manage to explore the idea in any more depth than that five-word description. There’s a few decent lines about other differences between Canada and USA here and there, but the whole effort at satire is pretty shallow.

And yet, once the show kicks into gear, it tells a pretty solid (and funny) story! Homer being a drug smuggler with Grampa’s old war contact works as a spine for the episode. The group dynamic with the two of them, plus Apu and Flanders is surprisingly great. And the episode even tells a tidy little tale of Burns having a change of heart when he realizes the plant’s lack of a drug plan would harm Smithers (replete with a setup and payoff of his giant wooden plane), with an appropriately cynical button. The fact that the entire town stands up for Homer after his Canadian pill redistribution works as an out for that storyline too.

Sure, you have to tolerate some more dumb gags (Homer’s drug balloon bit for one), but once the show actually starts telling its story, things turn out pretty well!

Overall, it’s hard to recommend this one too strongly given the presence of some god awful bits of humor after the first act, and the weakness of the commentary, but there’s a good episode mired in a bad one here, and enough of the good shines through to make it an enjoyable ride.