[4.0/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] Woof, this was a rough outing. There was barely a plot in this one, and more of a thin excuse to riff on the current political and cultural states of Canada and America. The character are cardboard standees for the writers to poke fun at the USA and its neighbor to the north, to the point that it becomes a sort of freeform stand-up comedy riff than an actual Simpsons episode. Lisa’s feelings about her family, country, and adoptive homeland turn on a dime, and exist only to pave the way for a host of unfunny gags about each.
It’s hard to dissect comedy without killing the very notion of it, but suffice it to say this episode didn’t elicit more than a mild chuckle from yours truly. Far from its glory days, The Simpsons’s riffs of current political issues are mostly obvious and easy, without any real insight or trenchant commentary. There’s a fun episode to be built around Lisa de facto defecting and rediscovering her love for the United States as the imperfect but aspirational land that it is, but this episode does not even begin to capitalize on that.
Plus it just wastes so much time! Homer’s song about Upstate New York could have been hilarious, but it’s a bunch of surface-level gags that eats up a big chunk of the episode. Riffs on Newfoundland or Justin Trudeau’s handstands or Lisa’s visions of American greats luring her back don’t bring any more laughs but do act as filler to an already plot-thin episode. If these tangents were funny, this might be forgivable, but it’s like we take time away from an already threadbare and utterly implausible plot for a seriously unfunny comic break.
Overall, this is, barring a season finale swoon, the nadir of season 30, which left me wishing for the show’s take on Canada in season 16. The very fact that this episode had me yearning for a double-digit predecessor is a firm indication of how lacking this outing was.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2019-04-30T00:20:36Z
[4.0/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] Woof, this was a rough outing. There was barely a plot in this one, and more of a thin excuse to riff on the current political and cultural states of Canada and America. The character are cardboard standees for the writers to poke fun at the USA and its neighbor to the north, to the point that it becomes a sort of freeform stand-up comedy riff than an actual Simpsons episode. Lisa’s feelings about her family, country, and adoptive homeland turn on a dime, and exist only to pave the way for a host of unfunny gags about each.
It’s hard to dissect comedy without killing the very notion of it, but suffice it to say this episode didn’t elicit more than a mild chuckle from yours truly. Far from its glory days, The Simpsons’s riffs of current political issues are mostly obvious and easy, without any real insight or trenchant commentary. There’s a fun episode to be built around Lisa de facto defecting and rediscovering her love for the United States as the imperfect but aspirational land that it is, but this episode does not even begin to capitalize on that.
Plus it just wastes so much time! Homer’s song about Upstate New York could have been hilarious, but it’s a bunch of surface-level gags that eats up a big chunk of the episode. Riffs on Newfoundland or Justin Trudeau’s handstands or Lisa’s visions of American greats luring her back don’t bring any more laughs but do act as filler to an already plot-thin episode. If these tangents were funny, this might be forgivable, but it’s like we take time away from an already threadbare and utterly implausible plot for a seriously unfunny comic break.
Overall, this is, barring a season finale swoon, the nadir of season 30, which left me wishing for the show’s take on Canada in season 16. The very fact that this episode had me yearning for a double-digit predecessor is a firm indication of how lacking this outing was.