I like how they helped Herb recover, it's a nice bowtie on his story.
I do hope he comes back later though.
"Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?" is a solid episode that sees the return of Herbert Powell, voiced by Danny DeVito. While the pacing of this episode isn't great, I felt this one had a good balance of humour and heart, with Homer making things right after the events of "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" and its jarring ending.
Overall, not the best, but a pretty good finale to finish a good season.
A reference to Hands Across America! Made me laugh.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2019-09-18T01:16:35Z
[7.8/10] The events of this episode are a little rushed, but damnit, if it doesn't spend the right amount of time on the right amount of things. Herb’s rags to riches story is good and important, but what’s more important is the emotional contingent of it, where he feels like a failure and, even more importantly than that, is angry and blames his brother for it. And Homer, for his part, feels despondent and admits to sensing a hole in his life, one that he attempts to fill with furniture, of all things, and ends up being happy and satisfied with regaining his brother’s love.
Alright, I’ll admit that this is probably going overbroad for an episode that starts with Lenny’s bare behind and whose inciting event and closing image centers on cartoony representations of Homer’s lethargic sperm. But I honestly think that central relationship gives “Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes” an extra boost, something that makes it more than just the sum of its very funny gags.
They’re great gags though. Even before the Herb stuff comes into play, Homer being that sad over his broken couch is the comic gift that keeps on giving, especially his fond flashback recollections of the important events in his life that happened there. Burns’ typically malevolent scheme to get his employees to waive the right to recover for the plant’s gross negligence, replete with a glitz fake awards show, is a continuing treat. And the show’s biggest laughs come from a baby’s wants and wishes communicated through a dry translation voiced with Danny DeVito’s most matter-of-fact tone. The laughs are superb in this one, as you’d expect from classic era Simpsons.
It has all the other trademarks of the classic era of the show as well. There’s a classic movie parody with Homer’s vibrating chair-based 2001 homage. There’s some brief but potent political commentary in Herb and Bart’s exchanges about the NRA. And there’s classic Homer buffoonery, like him being obsessed with a drinking bird, or falling off a balcony, or worrying about jinxing his chances to win an award he’s already won.
Still, there’s also that nice strain of heart that elevates the show beyond just a tapestry of laughs. Herb and Homer reconciling is not the height of emotion on The Simpsons (see: “Mother Simpson” and “Lisa’s Substitute”), and Herb’s return to wealth is not the most realistic thing in the world. But the show earns both of those things by focusing on them, by putting roadblocks in front of both, and by having our characters’ choices, funny or absurd or fantastical though they may be, be the thing that removes them.
It’s a trademark of the show’s golden years, and this episode firmly deserves to be counted within them.