25x04 YOLO

[7.6/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale.] I gotta be honest. Despite this only coming out six years ago, I’m not sure I remembered it at all. But that’s a shame since it’s not bad.

The A-story is a winner, with Homer seeing Kirk Van Houten’s midlife crisis, and having an innocuous (if heavy-handed) speech from give him a bit of an existential crisis when he realizes that he hasn’t achieved any of his dreams. The device of an old Spanish pen pal returned to snap him out of his funk is a little convenient, but the two of them have a good dynamic which helps paper over that. The two of them trying to make Homer’s silly boyhood dreams a reality is fun, and there’s the solid undercurrent of Homer trying to find peace with his life that helps give things a bit of emotional force.

The B-story is not great shakes, but not bad either. It sees Lisa trying to institute an honor code after Kent Brockman exposes a cheating epidemic at Springfield elementary. Most of the humor is cute more than guffaw-worthy, but it’s all amiable enough. (Though Lisa’s trick to get Nelson and Martin to sign it is an outstanding, layered comedy sequence.) I especially like the conflict in the story, where Lisa has to debate turning her own brother in because the code requires it, but turning him in would expose the flaw in her own idea. It puts legitimate pressure on Lisa, which makes things interesting.

The problem with both stories is their (related) endings. For some reason, Marge is suddenly against Homer’s dream-efforts, and it feels like a shoehorned-in conflict where none need exist. At the same time, tying the two stories together with Bart repenting thanks to a “sign from god” of Homer falling on it feels like a really lazy connection. The episode sets up a legitimately interesting story in both plots, but struggles to wrap them up with anything but fiat.

Still, there’s a lot of fun, silly gags here (like Marge thinking a goose is mocking her), and the ending with Homer joining his pen pal in Spain is sweet enough to ease some of the “huh?”-ness of the ending. Overall, a solid outing.