[7.7/10] This one seems to have a solid progression to it. First, Marge gets invigorated after an encounter with a criminal and joins the police force. Then she deals with the changes in her life and how her friends and neighbors perceive her as a police officer. Finally, she gets disillusioned and quits, with Homer being her breaking point but eventual cheerleader.
It’s a little bumpy in there, mostly because Homer has his own little arc of not taking Marge seriously until he ends up needing her to save him from Herman and his counterfeit jeans ring. But on the whole, it’s a good Marge-focused episode that gives her a good emotional arc while eventually, as always, restoring the status quo.
But the real thing that stands out here is the humor. There’s so many iconic (for me at least) bits here, like Moe saying “car hole” instead of garage, or Homer’s misdirect line about the movie Police Academy, or even just Marge rolling under the garage door and cheering her own name. There’s a lot of laughs here, and so even when the story runs into the occasional speedbump, the yuks keep it going.
This is also a pretty great Homer episode. Granted, he’s a pretty big jerk here to Marge, which isn’t a great look, but he pays for it and eventually comes to appreciate her, which takes some of the edge off. Everything from him using pepper spray on eggs to uttering “not here!” when Marge cuffs him to drawing himself into a corner when he tries to divide the house brings the funny. There’s shades of jerkass Homer here, but the humor really works.
Likewise, there’s a larger number of running (or at least repeated gags) here than usual. Homer repeats Moe’s “car hole” description. They go back to the “police laugh at Marge’s comment but then say something serious” bit twice. Homer being painfully out of breath after running less than a block has a coda. I’m not complaining about these or other similar bits. They’re all funny and the repetition and variation even improves them. It’s just an interesting approach.
Overall, this is another winner from this era of the show, with funny gags galore and a good Marge story to build around.
Shout by Robert BeardsleyBlockedParent2021-05-18T07:03:12Z
So many Chief Wiggum continuity errors.