[6.2/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] I get The Simpsons wanting to be relevant and topical sometimes, but when the show covers youth-skewing topics like e-sports, the sense that the show is written by a bunch of older men starts to be more exposed. It’s not like there’s anything so glaringly bad about the show’s take on competitive video gaming here, there’s just not anything particularly incisive about it. The show drops some lingo and matches a Clash of Clans-style game visually well enough, but the real story in the episode is about Homer’s parenting, which makes the e-sports set up seem like window dressing.
There’s also something weirdly...dramatic about the Simpson family here? I like it when the show feels down to Earth, but everything from Homer’s little speech about how he manipulates Marge to Lisa’s monologue about how she’s losing her grip on her sanity due to being overlooked just felt off in tone. Both were a different kind of dark and cynical than the show’s usual brand, and it made the proceedings a little weird. (See also: the extended masturbation joke.)
But hey, there’s a throughline here at least, with Homer becoming a stage dad to Bart until he realizes there’s more to life than competition and living through your kid. It’s a very meandering route to get to that point, but it’s something. The “live through your kid” song is cute enough, if a bit indulgent, and might play better but for the toothless e-sports parodies the show dispenses. Plus the whole Buddhist salt mandala thing comes out of nowhere and plays as too quick of a fix to the story’s central problem.
Overall, there’s some mildly amusing gags in here, and a complete, if herky jerky story told, but the lack of any real take on e-sports and some tonal issues bring this one down.
