R&R: Homer Vs. Dignity

[brody]

3/5. Not terrible, but the panda rape and the woman fainting really hurt it.

[ultraderecho]

4/5 Too good for that season

[Jayrayman]

B+ Very funny, but i havent seen it for about four years so i can only base that opinion on what i remember.

[amir05]

A very funny episode,with a few flaws 8/10

[Nameless]

Slightly above average and more coherent than usual for its season. Withstandable save one completely awful sequence near the end of act 2.

[Paul]

The panda rape scene, whilst arousing, was completely out of place in this Simpsons episode. As for the rest, it was okay... 6/10

[Corkus]

2/5

The panda rape scene was awful, as was mostly everything else except the beginning scene in the resaturant.

[beatles20147]

Are you guys serious? I give it a 1/5...D-.

[Green_Peaness]

The whole thing was pretty bad, with probably the worst Burns characterization up to that point, and Homer was pretty lame too. The panda rape just put its crappiness over the top.

Two of the worst quotes ever:

"Merry fishmas!"
"If I didn't reek of panda love...."

D-

[Rory Mitch]

3/5

Decent. Quite Funny. But not exactly fantastic.

[Grippa]

Not the worst, but not the best. 3/5

[Ihaveblink]

Lots of funny parts. 3/5

[Nebuchanezzar]

Does the fact that this episode has an average which hovers just under 3/5 bother anyone else? Anyone?

The episode has a nice overall premise, I'll give it that. Homer becomes drawn in by money and then realises that keeping his dignity is more important than money. How sweet. Unfortunately, after constant self depreciation at the request of Burns and his cash, Homer loses all dignity. That's not a cool thing.

Homer gets raped by a panda and seems proud of it when he tells his daughter. How grand. He also injures his friends for Mr. Burns and enjoys doing it. What a nice guy. He appears naked a few times, and sits on the floor of a bathroom asking for a diaper change. That makes me proud to be a fan of The Simpsons! The fact remains that Homer lost all dignity he had, and his character lost all sympathy from me in this episode as a result of his actions. I'd take jerkass Homer any day over a Homer who values money more than his own dignity. I'd prefer a strong, arrogant Homer over one who has little regard for his own image and appears naked on the floor of a bathroom.

Surely there's some humour in there that gives it some sympathy points right? No. I don't find Homer being electrocuted (seems like an Al Jean thing to me) funny, I don't find Homer being raped by a panda funny, I don't find a few cheap throwaway lines for Mr. Burns funny. In fact, I read through the Simpsins guide for this episode and I didn't find anything that was listed funny.

I also don't appreciate Burns in this episode. He's meant to be a God damned cruel boss because he's an old, conservative capatilist, not because he's an immature old man who enjoys peoples pain for no reason. It didn't quite destory Burns, but it was a brick in that wall (that was being knocked down).

Apart from the somewhat nice ending, there is nothing to redeem this episode. Nothing at all. 0.5/10

[Imperciph]

If an episode were to win an award for the worst characterization of Mr. Burns, this one would undoubtedly won it.

This episode lives up to its title by robbing both its protagonist and antagonist of their dignity.

I don't think anything before in the series indicated that Burns would be so easily amused by a man in a diaper and panda rapes; quite the opposite. Yes, he is a malicious person who loves to see other peoples' misfortunes but the misfortunes he laughed at were not of such immature extent as displayed in this episode. His idea of humour was tormenting a man with his job or making people fear for their lives. He was never someone who acknowledged being a "a bored and joyless old man"; rather he preferred to be a cold-hearted cynic who hated to be in touch with the common man.

Instead of all that, we have him dress up as a pirate, riding a float at Thanksgiving and chucking rotten fish guts at people while sprouting bad one-liners such as "Merry Fishmas" . ;-/

This extremely bad Burns characterization combined with a multitude of painfully tasteless gags like panda rape, "baby made a boom boom!", Homer's repeated electrocution, the skunks spraying Homer, the recurring pain gag with Lenny's eye (a gag which unfortunately has continued since then) makes for an extremely painful viewing experience. Only the somewhat heart-warming ending with Homer and Lisa serves as the only redeeming point. D+

[Homer^3]

Nebuchanezzar and Imperciph said pretty much everything I wanted to say about this terrible, irredeemable trash. I regularly use this episode as an example of The Simpsons at its worst when discussing the show's decline with my friends. Nothing about it worked for me, so it gets an F, or 0/5.

[Sniper Squirrel]

It's one of the better season 12 episodes, although not great, I'll give it a C+

[TriforceBun]

Eh, it's not THAT terrible. I enjoyed several of the beginning scenes, but when the pranks started to escalate near the end of the second act, there were indeed some cringe-worthy moments. The ending is gross, but not bad.

Haven't seen this one in full since I became a big fan of the show, but from what I remember, it's about a C/C-.

[Marge For President]

It has some good jokes but overall I found it to be highly out of chracter for everyone except Lisa and the Yes Guy

[Tamaki Suoh]

The Burns characterization was awful: that point has been established. Classic era Burns was never one to be so ridiculously childish and so unreasonably sadistic. Sure, he enjoys inflicting pain on others, but not in such an immature and unwarranted way. There used to usually be at least some reasoning behind Burns, and if not always reasoning, at least sophistication. This episode desecrates Burns, as many post-classic Burns-centric episodes do.

However, looking past such a flawed portrayal of Burns, the episode did have actually a lot of humorous jokes and gags, good Homer and Lisa characterizations, a fairly well-paced plot that actually showed the Simpsons' financial trouble the way the show used to, and a decent internal conflict for Homer. There were a some jokes that fell flat but there were about an equal amount that were pretty good, including the Kent/Liza banter, Smithers' musical, and the beginning with Bart, Skinner, and Edna. 3/5

[sacrelicious]

Does the fact that this episode has an average which hovers just under 3/5 bother anyone else? Anyone?

It bothers me.

I think everyone gives it better than it deserves because when it isn't being horrible it is actually funny. But when it is being horrible it is horrible--topped off with the panda rape bit. And I don't like the characterization at all. Lisa's is tolerable, but her part is mostly a reaction to Homer and Burns who drive the plot. Their characterization is way off.

Overall it's a C- episode.

[Simpsonsfan1981]

I rank this episode as being on my list of "all time worst episodes". The characterization of Mr. Burns was way over the top, Homer acting as a "prank monkey" was stupid and unfunny and most of the jokes were unnecessarily cruel and lame. Lisa was the only redeeming feature of this episode

It almost seemed like the writers couldn't come up with any good ideas for an episode so they gave us this instead. 1/5 and that's only because of Lisa's involvement

[Theres Always a Bigger Fish]

This is one of my least favorite episodes.

F

[tom cody]

1/5, one of the worst episodes ever. The panda rape scene was disgusting.

[Moe Nopoly]

Some part of it was funny imo,
but most of the story was dumb and some jokes were pretty cheap.
Not the kind of humor i like about this show.

2/5

[Green_Peaness]

Shit episode with a couple good jokes. 1.5/5

[Speedy Boris]

...Am I the only one who doesn't think this episode is THAT bad?

[Tamaki Suoh]

...Am I the only one who doesn't think this episode is THAT bad?

As my above review says, I don't think it's tremendously horrible. It's definitely not good though.

[Semaj]

"Baby made a boom-boom."

One of the funniest episodes ever.

[Starman]

People are being a bit too harsh on this episode, although it is within reason. It is very crappy, and is a classic collection of pretty much every single one of Scully's flaws. There are tonnes of painful scenes, and to tell you the truth, I can't remember a time when Panda rape might have been considered funny, but there are quite a few funny gags, so it's lowered from a 'C-', to a 'C'. My favorite moments from this episode:

[Fox Executive]

Not much to say about it, can't complain: 3/5