harlequinade

"So we'll march day and night, by the big cooling tower. They have the plant, but we have the power"
- Lisa Simpson

Hi there superfans! Hold on tight for an enthralling round of reviews. Because I'm a technologically impaired gal, video reviews are experiencing a delay in appearing, but rest assured you will get to hear my beautiful Aussie accent soon enough. Mostly because I have a lot of spare time coming up, I am still super keen to do them!

Disc 1 of Season 4 appears to have made its way into the Springfield Mystery Spot, so I'm starting with Disc 4. What better episode to start my new reviews than this? When I think Classic Era, I think LETS. It an all-round crack up, with emotional moments to back it up with, and I think it's just really an example of the type of episodes that were being put out during this time period. You're totally welcome to disagree, but I find it's really just a stand up episode.

Highlights of the episode are (these aren't in order, just written as I see and recall them!):
- The trip to Burns' Manor (including the thousand monkeys and thousand typewriters - "blurst of times" is probably one of the funniest jokes in the history of the series for me, every time I hear it, I will without a doubt fall over laughing, I am laughing while I am typing)
-"backdoor shenanigans" in Burns' office
- Big Book of British Smiles
- BATMAN REFERENCE (in case you've failed to realise how hardcore into Batman I am, my user name is a reference to Harley Quinn)
- Grampa's old man rant: "I wore an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time!"
- "Lisa needs braces" "Dental Plan!" which is a classic 'repeat until it gets hilarious again' joke
- Homer punching Lenny in the head, Dr. Seuss reference with Mr. Burns as the Grinch (I love the Grinch!)
- the Purple Submersible
- Homer's resignation as the head of the union: "Wooooopwooopwooopwooopwooopwoopwoop!" Reminiscent of Dr. Zoidberg? I reckon it might be!
- Burns' attempt to hose down the strikers
- "Where's my burrito!"
- Homer on Smartline
- Lisa's school picture
- the Droopy Voiced man ("Nay!" "Who keeps saying that?" "It was him! Heh heh heh")
- Burns falling from the helicopter, and then hitting the chimney of the house opposite on his way off on the stretcher


If these great, memorable, quotable gags and jokes weren't enough to win you over, I also found the fact that Homer was doing this for his daughter (basically - yes, he was doing it so he didn't have to pay for her braces, but he could have left her with the headgear really if he was a buttlord about it) touching, and the song was just the icing on the incredibly amazing, delicious cake. Yeardley Smith is just my favourite person, and she has the most beautiful singing voice.

Another comment I can make about this episode is the amount of surrealism that is employed within the episode. There is a flashback from Burns to his childhood, a flashback from Homer to a previous strike, Homer's fantasy of the Godfather II, Lisa's dream sequence, the montage of Burns and Smithers working at the plant etc. I believe that it's these random, crazy fantasies and flashbacks that make Season 4 one of the most memorable seasons of the show.

Working in two industries where I am part of a union means that I could totally identify with the strike. Why bother helping a big guy who is going to stamp all over you? I also love the passive stance the strikers take, particularly in light of the fact that Springfieldians aren't the most reasonable lot, and will often resort to violence, riot and mob mentality very, very quickly, over very, very little.

One opinion I see a lot in those that aren't in the LETS camp is that the episode is overrated as it were. A lot of people do talk it up, and I can see how people would tire of that, but I think that it really just has a lot of the moments that make The Simpsons perfect as a show, and people can really see that and that's why they love it.

Final Rating: 5/5 from me! So many classic gags, and several of my favourites that I forgot were in this episode! Absolutely love it! Tell me what you think, dudes and dudettes. Love hearing your feedback, and love having debates about this kind of thing. Note I said debates, if you wanna get into an argument, you've got the wrong gal .

That's all I've got to chat about on this episode, but no doubt I'll be spammin' new blog posts again soon enough! Thank you Jay Kogan and Wally Wolodarsky (Oh wow, I just spelt that from memory, super nerd alert!) for a bucket of laughs
Lots of love,
harlequinade
xoxo