Rate & Review: "Fat Man and Little Boy" (FABF21)

[Cole]

From SNPP

When Bart loses his last baby tooth, his solution to his "ten-year-old's midlife crisis" is to start writing slogans on T-shirts, and soon he's a gag T-shirt salesman, much to the dismay of Homer, who thinks that with Bart bringing in income, Homer is no longer needed

You can view the preview/speculation thread for more details.

The thread and poll will open once the episode airs.

[Tomacco]

Despite so much going on in this episode, I can't find a single direct complaint to make on anything. The episode began strictly on the Bart dynamic and fluidly directed more attention to Homer's angle for the episode's second half, while certainly not forgetting Bart. The conclusion came a little sudden and undramatically, but it still was a good ending. In terms of humor, there was plenty. Homer put on a very very fine performance in this one. Laughs from him began right off the bat to his reactions to Lisa and Janey's clapping rhyme, and kept coming in scenes like where he's surfing the net and watching Declan Desmond's documentary on lions. The Goose Gladwell character was suitably wacky as well. The direction (while obviously not as good as say Lauren Macmullan's) was also noticeably good in this episode.

Also, two weeks in a row with cut scenes in the end credits. Can you say "new Simpsons tradition"? I hope so. And what a nice way to give Fox the finger for cutting their credits. This scene, like last week's, was also funny.

More thoughts later, but solid episode.

[#1stonecutter]

Meh. Not very good. There was a bad plot, but the jokes were ok. Like the joke about Korean animation was pretty funny...

[SeanOhio]

I really enjoyed this episode. It wasn't weird or confusing.

I also liked the "Hello Operator" line being reused!

[Eart]

Yeah, I thought this episode was really great. I laughed from the beginning to the end.

I don't have any complaints whatsoever.

[Random Viewer Guy]

I believe the Ms. Suzy had a Steamboat scene was something that was cut from When Flanders Failed, wasn't it? Nice to see it here fourteen years later.

[Jeremy]

I loved the episode, everything clicked in it. Definitely my favorite episode this season. Seeing Homer and Lisa work well together was heart-warming, and the whole ep just ruled.

[J.Re*]

great jokes. good main plot. lisa plot almost fucked it all up and was completely unnecessary, but they strayed away at a good time.
overall good. had me worried

[Necromancer]

Good jokes throughout. The plot chaged way too quickly in the third act. Overall it was pretty good. 4/5...maybe.

[Jake]

Quality episode and as mentioned above Homer's showing was strong, but there never really was a problem and all was well. 4/5.

[Galalimit]

This episode was pure genius. Tons of humor and a great plot. It was a nice change to have Bart in the spotlight for once. 5 out of 5. Hooray to the end of Marge Mania.

[kevin]

liked it a lot. funny, and a good story. kind of two differnt plots coming together, but it worked well. best so far of the short season. A-

[Spooner]

I had the feeling with the very first scene (Homer's reactions to Lisa's calpping game) that they were setting me up for a massive disappointement. And yet they didn't, it all turned around with the scene at the expo. Starting with the "Made for children, BY children" line.

Homer's "You broke in!" line made me laugh for some reason.

And the only other real memorable joke was the Krusty Brand Geiger Counter.

4 slash 5!!!!

[pat]

That was a pretty good episode. Funny, enjoyable story and solid laughs all the way through. While nothing really stood out as outstanding, what was there was funny and there really wasn't anything to complain about. One of the best of this early season, which really doesn't say much, but still a solid episode.

4/5, B+

[mayo]

4/5

pretty damn good. good plot and lots of jokes

[the simpsons brainiac]

5/5 This episode was amazing! nothing to complain about. The best part was Lisa and Janey's clap song that Homer fainted on. The animation thing was really funny too. I laughed from beginning to the end.

[HotMilhouse977]

It was a pretty good episode. However, I'm finding these end of episode cutaways weirder and weirder. The best joke was the joke about the Korean animation!

[vox]

I believe the Ms. Suzy had a Steamboat scene was something that was cut from When Flanders Failed, wasn't it? Nice to see it here fourteen years later.

Yeah, looks like they found the joke file.

[Dude in the Back Row]

Not bad. It gets a solid 5/5 IMO.

[The Governor]

Well, like the last few holdovers, the first 2.5 acts were good to great, but the last couple of minutes go fruity.

All I'll say is 3/5.

[Crotis Jivefunk]

Fox's ads are misleading. I was expecting a wacky disaster, but was treated to a well paced, fun episode. This was way ahead of last week's episode. The humor was top notch, making references to Calvin and Hobbes bootlegged merchandise, the fantasy sequences, Sea Captain reciting Robert Frost, Lisa and Janey's song, and lots of other touches.Goose Gladwell was a good one time character and loved his escaping at the end. The plot got started right at the beginning and even though it felt disjointed, it wasn't. It was also good to have an episode focusing on someone besides Marge for a change.

Episode ratings:
-THOH XV: B+
-All's Fair in Oven War: B-
-Sleeping With the Enemy: A
-She Used to Be My Girl: C+
-Fat Man and Little Boy: A-/B+

[Larson Something]

Very happy with this one. The first scene set the tone, and from there, just wonderful, wonderful stuff. The story flowed nicely, I loved Hank's performance as Goose, the T-shirt slogans were gold ("Body By Oreo"). I laughed a lot, and smiled the whole way through. 5/5.

And since when has Chalmers switched from Honda to Toyota?

[Sarcastic Guy II]

Very cute episode. Homer loving his kids, and finally, an episode where he isn't choking Bart for the slightest thing. It was nice to see him and Lisa enjoy terrorising Flanders too.

Osama Bin Scratchy was a bit risque, but still funny. Very solid episode.

4/5

[Homer Jay]

This was the best episode of the season. It was hysterical, and the plot flowed well. The opening scenes provided some great laughs, when it got to Bart having his crisis the episode improved (this storyline seems more like a Lisa one than a Bart one), after that point it flowed nicely to the marketing of the teeshirts and Homer retiring and helping his daughter with her science project, the ending while a little rushed fit in with the episode nicely.

Some of the biggest laughs were Homer building the reactor, Bart's tee-shirts, Grampa's lines and spitball fight.

Did anyone else notice that Mike Reiss mentioned that they were going to put the Lisa-Janey pattycake game in When Flanders Failed?

[JArthurtrain]

Burns and Smithers dialogue exchange was the funniest part of the episode, and one of many good jokes.

Put everything else this season to shame, didn't have to force laughter at all, just came out...

"Everyone is insolent today"

"Well it is Christmas sir..."

[Roger Myers III]

The "Freaky Friday" aspect of this show was a nice set-up and frame for what was a fantastic example of when "just a bunch of stuff that happens" works perfectly in this series. Very, very funny scenes.

Timeliness coup of the week: The Tim Burton version of "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory"'s trailer was released just last Tuesday.

Great Pixar/Nemo salute in the couch gag.

And in that "3-D animation" vein, I love the way the sneak in 3D shading very subtly recently, like as the kids are sleeping in this ep and light is coming in through the window.

The T-Shirt incident may have been inspired by a human-interest story that got coverage last April in which a young black woman started a very successful T-Shirt business which became huge after a few different black music artists wore her "Proud Nubian Princess" 'design' at big events. (The use of that actual T-Shirt reminded me.) I can't recall if she was keeping it private by turning down offers to buy it by big companies, or if she was swindled by one. Anyone remember this?

Can anyone list all the shirts?

My fave: Jew for Jebus

[Galalimit]

Put everything else this season to shame, didn't have to force laughter at all, just came out...

That's because with Bart and Homer ,you don't have to force laughter. They are just naturally funny.

[vox]

That's because with Bart and Homer ,you don't have to force laughter. They are just naturally funny.

ugh.

[Mira]

Fuck. I missed like the first 15 minutes. I saw it from the scene with the change machine (Does not actually sort change). but what I saw was good. The part with Homer playing with the car with Lisa was good.

[That Jerk]

Great couch gag, good solid episode. First the bad stuff.. the act breaks were terrible. They went off on the poorest jokes, and seemed very abrupt. There were a lot of great gags, but the pacing of them were just as slow as the previous Marge episodes.
I still don't know what to think about this return to real-world form for the Simpsons. As classic as it feels to have the family deal with relatable problems, i sometimes have that crazy rediculous bloodlust that needs to be quenched every few eps. Even the gags, while brilliant in this ep lacked the visual impulsiveness I've been used to from the simpsons. But hey, it's nice to keep seeing the show still keep coming up with original ways to tell jokes without competing with the louder cartoons that Simpsons haters prefer.
Anyway, the good stuff... Very intelligent dialogue in this episode. I'm forgetting some of them because there were so many great ones. Still in my mind is the insurance selling action figure coming back (the first appearance was lame, the second great). Krusty's P-inC t-shirt sales pitch. Moe's reference to the bastardization of Calvin & Hobbes by peddlers (I HATE those "Calvin pissing" stickers SO MUCH!). "Machine will not actually sort change" And what gave me the biggest laugh, a look into Goose Gladwell's dark mind with the short quip of Vietnam history. As for the visual gags, the rock key gag was great and funnier the second time. And i was expecting Homer to just punch Gladwell's lights out before he finished his "you better not hurt me" type speech, but they took the well paced route. It just all caught me off gaurd, but in a good way.
Good thing the gags were so great, because i didn't find myself excited about the story at all, although Bart writing on his t-shirts reminded me of being in Catholic school and finding ways to write on my uniform to get attention without detention (no rhyme intended, sorry). The only time i was really felt drawn in by the plot was after Homer quit the plant and began "retirement". Once the act break hit, it was back to enjoying each little moment for what it provided. But hey, they were really funny. Both of Flanders' lines were hilarious too.

3/5 - I'm probably being too hard on this one for having such a weak pace cuz i laughed the whole way through. Maybe it'll change after i download it tonight.