34x19 Write Off This Episode

[6.0/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] Here’s what kills me about this episode. “Write Off This Episode* is trying to do the things I ask for from The Simpsons. It’s trying to do the things it did in its classic years.

There is genuine bite to the episode’s critique of raising “awareness” in lieu of doing the work to perform acts of charity in this world. Rooting that criticism in a conflict between Lisa and Marge over what direction to take their charity helps ground the political in the personal admirably. And there is plenty of humor to be wrung from the charitable-industrial complex. You have plenty to work with here.

The problem is that...none of it is especially good. Most of it’s fine enough, but everything has enough flaws to where each part of the show’s project falters.

On the social commentary front, the episode’s heart is in the right place with this one. There’s some well-observed barbs about how at the highest rungs, charity is more about seeming fashionable for the wealthy and creating a veil that companies can hide behind. But nothing in the delivery or observations is especially witty or clever. The episode’s digs feel as much like the characters steadily reading an essay from the New Yorker as they do a comedy show using satire to skewer society’s excesses.

I do appreciate Marge calling out the poetic irony of a charity intended to help the unhoused building a headquarters that drives them away. But Mr. Burns of all people basically announcing the themes of the episode is awkward and in keeping with the bare bluntness of the episode’s points.

The Marge/Lisa conflict is underbaked as well. They rarely seem like human beings in this one, more like avatars for the philosophical disagreement at the heart of the story. You never really feel the mother-daughter connection being affirmed and then tested. And everything happens so fast between them. Marge goes from being on Lisa’s side in all of this to having been fully corrupted by the experienced charity-niks in about a minute, so the transformation and ensuing disagreement has little meaning. I wish the show spent less time on sojourns to a Buddhist baking soda facility or Homer’s pointless stages of unemployment to flesh out the personal element that ought to give this one more meaning.

Worst of all, god help me, I’m not sure I laughed once. There’s some minor gags I smiled at. Rich Texan’s accountant celebrating with an adding machine and stapler rather than pistols is cute, and PBR changing its name to “teal fabric bow” is stupid enough to be worth a yuk. For the most part, though, this was a surprisingly laughless installment. Even the song about hollow charities just raising awareness was forgettable without any good melodies or even chuckles.

Overall, this one is particularly frustrating because you can see the show getting the basics right. The core elements are there, and the foundation of “Write Off This Episode” is sound and in keeping with the show’s best years. But the execution is just so wobbly that even getting the core things right isn't enough to pull this into “good” territory.