4x20 Whacking Day

[8.2/10] It’s funny, I absolutely did not remember what an utterly loony gag fest this is. That’s a little expected from star scribe John Swartzwelder, but still, anybody who complains that modern day Simpsons is not sufficiently down to earth and gets too wild and wacky (a complaint I’ve registered myself) should watch this episode and see how out there the show could be in its classic years.

I think that’s the not-so-stunning truth that arises when going back and revisiting classic episodes like this one. There’s definitely episodes that are better at story and character (or at least more devoted to them) than this one is, but the thing that lets an episode like “Whacking Day” succeed and last in everyone’s memories is that it’s so damn funny. It’s easy to forgive the episode for having a loose plot and tons of cutaway gags and imagine spots and totally unrealistic things when it’s making you laugh your ass off. A lot of what The Simpsons does here is not all that different, at least on paper, from the stuff the show would do in its worst years; the show just manages to craft better and funnier jokes and so manages to get away with a lot.

There are, however, two solid stories that intersect in the third act. For Bart, the episode involves him pulling a major prank, getting expelled, and then having to be home-schooled by Marge. It’s a solid throughline for the little hellraiser here. His interactions with the bullies are amusing, as is his conversation with Willy's tractor (just the first of many out there gags in this one0. But even better are the home-school gags, where Bart having his mom as his teacher leads to the sort of usual Simpson foolishness like a rambling Grampa story and Bart plying his usual monkeyshines in class only to declare “I didn’t do it” despite the lack of other students.

Despite all that silliness, there’s a good emotional throughline for him. Bart’s interest in Johnny Tremain and his Skinner-recognized applied learning shows that with the right attention and subject matter, even a proud underachiever can become fascinated with books and learning. I don’t know if Swatzwelder and company meant to make any kind of grand statement with this storyline, but it fits with a number of episodes that show Bart as clever and resourceful and a sharp thinker when his talents are fostered in the right way and pointed in the right direction. It definitely speaks to a time when young men are falling behind their distaff counterparts in school a quarter-century after this episode aired.

There’s a great, characteristic Lisa story too, as she’s saddened and repulsed by titular town holiday that invites Springfield citizens to beat the hell out of snakes. It’s an episode with that trademark Swarzwelder perspective, where traditions done without thought are poked fun at by having a little girl acknowledge the inherent insanity and hypocrisy for them, while trusted authority figures just hem and haw and give her unsatisfying ressurances. Making Homer super into Whacking Day is a nice way to communicate the idiocy of that, as always, and Lisa leading her crusade to save the poor snakes feels very on brand.

This is also just a great springfield citizen episode. Again, the idea of a holiday whose supposedly storied history was invented to paper over some distasteful ethnic bashing feel right in The SImpsons’s wheelhouse. And the town’s excitement and “we’ll cheer for anything” attitude shows how hollow the whole exercise is. Once again, there’s commentary there, about the way people mindlessly follow traditions, and how those who recognize the absurdity of them are often brushed aside by the usual raft of “fickle mush heads.”

Bart and Lisa teaming up to save the day is always a winning recipe. But here comes more ridiculousness. I love the fact that this scheme involves getting Barry White to sing so that his large bass vibrations will lure the snakes to safety. It’s goofy, but it totally works in context, and Bart swaying the crowd using his newfound knowledge of history is a nice way to tie his and Lisa’s storylines together in a satisfying way.

Though man, this one is just off the wall. Everything from Lisa imagining her dad dancing around in a devil costume, to a wave of snakes washing over Mr. Largo, to the show’s inevitable Richard Nixon-based gags (he must work there or something), there’s far less plot than there is random humor here. But as outsized as the humor is (see also: Ninja Homer), it’s all so glorious that it's nigh-impossible to complain.

Overall, this is an episode with so much random goofiness that would normally warrant admonition from ubernerds like me. But that goofiness is so damn funny, and the Bart and Lisa plots that support it so solid, that you can’t help but declare this one great.