7.5/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale. This episode told two fairly-well constructed stories that, as the episode itself called out in a pleasant little pun, dovetailed together nicely. Lisa's was the A-story and the better of the two. I liked the idea of her chance success at saving a raccoon (which was a little silly) spurred her to want to work with animals, and that the thrill of life or death decisions made her haughty and, to her own words, arrogant about working with living things. Bringing back Nibbles (who's survived quite a bit through Simpsons history!) as a reminder that she got so caught up in her savior complex that she neglected the little things and actually caused a living thing's death was a good beat for her, and added a shade of complexity to a pretty simple story all things considered.
Marge's B-story was less effective, mostly because it was implausible and there was weak motivation for Marge to get involved as a crime-scene cleaner, and even less of a progression from her seemingly amiable time doing the job to being dead inside. But the fact that it's Lisa's pain that snaps her out of it, and that Lisa finds comfort in her mother after the big lesson she learned is a nice enough ending that it sweeps some of the less-successful path the story took there under the rug.
The big problem is that the episode wasn't especially funny. There were a few cute gags, like Nelson's present thievery at Martin's party, or Dr. Bungie's line about England, but for the most part this was a "mild smile at best" sort of episode in the humor department, with some semi-cute animal gags, weak Wiggum humor, and a now trademark first act gag-off that has little to do with the rest of the episode. There was a sturdy enough structure to the story, but they just didn't hang enough good jokes on it.
(Oh, and the Bill Plympton couch gag was cute but kind of weird, which is what I think he was going for.)
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-03-12T06:47:28Z
7.5/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale. This episode told two fairly-well constructed stories that, as the episode itself called out in a pleasant little pun, dovetailed together nicely. Lisa's was the A-story and the better of the two. I liked the idea of her chance success at saving a raccoon (which was a little silly) spurred her to want to work with animals, and that the thrill of life or death decisions made her haughty and, to her own words, arrogant about working with living things. Bringing back Nibbles (who's survived quite a bit through Simpsons history!) as a reminder that she got so caught up in her savior complex that she neglected the little things and actually caused a living thing's death was a good beat for her, and added a shade of complexity to a pretty simple story all things considered.
Marge's B-story was less effective, mostly because it was implausible and there was weak motivation for Marge to get involved as a crime-scene cleaner, and even less of a progression from her seemingly amiable time doing the job to being dead inside. But the fact that it's Lisa's pain that snaps her out of it, and that Lisa finds comfort in her mother after the big lesson she learned is a nice enough ending that it sweeps some of the less-successful path the story took there under the rug.
The big problem is that the episode wasn't especially funny. There were a few cute gags, like Nelson's present thievery at Martin's party, or Dr. Bungie's line about England, but for the most part this was a "mild smile at best" sort of episode in the humor department, with some semi-cute animal gags, weak Wiggum humor, and a now trademark first act gag-off that has little to do with the rest of the episode. There was a sturdy enough structure to the story, but they just didn't hang enough good jokes on it.
(Oh, and the Bill Plympton couch gag was cute but kind of weird, which is what I think he was going for.)