Rate/Review "Bart Has Two Mommies" (HABF07)

[Lady_Simpson]

4/5
Quite a good episode, but could have been better. Like many others are saying, I thought the Bart/Monkey gag to be a bit overdone. The monkey snatching Bart in the 3rd act and then climbing up to the steeple could have sufficed.
The beginning with the rubber duck race was...funny...but a bit drawn out. Although I must say I loved the part when Homer was fighting with the wrong duck, grabbed what he thought to be the rubber duck but was really a live duck....yeah.
I though the "Mr. Teeny is the son" was a bit too convenient...would have been better to take a little time focussing on finding Tootoo's (?) son. The monkey/tower part could have taken a bit more time, too.
"I'm gay, Daddy! Mrs. Simpson made me gay!" was priceless.

[Jerry P.]

Do you know something I've always found confusing about this episode? In the scene involving Rev. Lovejoy and the computer, if you look in the crowds you can see Ms Albright, Mrs Krabappel, Mrs Hibbert, Mrs Wiggum, Mrs Van Houten, Marge... but where is Helen? This always confused me, since they brought back all these random female characters and forgot the one who would definately be there.

Perhaps because she was working behind the scenes, and therefore disqualified from being in the contest.

[Dr. Bartley]

Best of the Season. Hilarious jokes like "Mrs. Simpson made me gay!", the duck race, and Homer being sarcastic. But IMO the best bit of the episode was seeing Marge bonding with Rod & Todd. There was nothing in this episode I really didn't like. 4.50/5

[Red Hot Homer Simpson]

5/5 A real Classic Episode Im sure to remember. The best bit was the Simpson To Flanders Dictionary Bit. Classic.

[Ryan_]

3/5

Not bad, not great.

[Super Comic Book Guy]

4/5 all in all pretty good episode, the whole Monkey stealing Bart thing was a bit silly for my taste. But i laughed my ass off when i think rod or todd says "I'm gay daddy the simpsons made me gay" hehe.

[Otis P Jivefunk]

I hated the Scully-esque Homer pain gags chasing that rubber duck at the beginning. That left a bad taste all the way through the episode. Luckily things picked up as we got to the main plot and it was interesting to see Marge babysitting Rod and Tod, although I think Lisa did a better job in 'My Sister, My Sitter'. The whole Monkey thing was terrible though...

[Jens. E]

4/5
A really good episode actually. Marge And Rod & Todd was pretty funny. The Bart and the monkey thing was a little bit wierd. Not perfect but it was pretty fun actually -

[Dieing Tickles]

I didn't like this at all. The plot was stupid and unfunny. 2/5

[Turambar]

3/5 Didn't really think too much of this episode.

[Gamblore]

Mrs. Simpson made me Gay!!!

lol

[tom cody]

2/5, the Bart/monkey plot was stupid but I liked the Marge/Flanders kids plot.

[Tamaki Suoh]

This episode really impressed me. I enjoyed it all the way through and it offered a noticeably large amount of great jokes and scenes. The storyline was multi-faceted and interesting, and Marge was actually in character! However, I feel the ending left the whole Bart/Marge tension unresolved, Flanders' characterization was a bit off (like usual in the post-classic era), and a few jokes missed their mark, but most of it was solidly well-written and -executed. 4/5

[Moe Nopoly]

The story wasn't bad but the best part of this episode were the jokes and funny moments for me, even when some of them were really weird.
And this quote i remembered quite well of course

"I'm gay, Daddy! I'm gay! Mrs. Simpson made me gay!

[Xt'Tapalatakettle]

However, I feel the ending left the whole Bart/Marge tension unresolved, Flanders' characterization was a bit off (like usual in the post-classic era), and a few jokes missed their mark, but most of it was solidly well-written and -executed. 4/5

The Bart/Marge tension? Really the episode was more about the Flanders' kids and Ned Flanders being overprotective of them. While they did exaggerate his character a bit, I thought it played well into the storyline and made for some great jokes (never did I think they could pull off Flanders singing Guns N' Roses, but they did). I really didn't see much of a Bart/Marge tension, more like Marge was busy so it's Homer's turn to take care of the kids (which he screws up, of course).

I'd like to also point out that this episode was written by Dana Gould (probably mentioned somewhere). His episodes were almost always great and he'll be a missed part of the Simpsons staff now that he's moved on.

It's episodes like this that make me realize season 17 isn't as bad as I make it out to be. I'd give it a 4.5/5

[Tamaki Suoh]

The Bart/Marge tension?

Well, it started when Bart overheard Marge being disappointed with Bart, and Bart began to cry. Then they left it alone for a while, but then it seemed that Bart was pretty open to receiving the monkey's affection and that Marge was feeling guilty for not being there for Bart...I don't know, it just seemed like a more subtle facet of the episode to me that should have had some type of resolution.

[Jesse Pinkman]

4/5, the ending with Rod saying "I'm gay Daddy! Mrs. Simpson made me gay!" was like, one of my favorite lines EVER! the rest was OK as well, but that one part... oh my God i wish this episode was on where i live more often

[Simpsonsfan1981]

This is a complex episode to review. I think the review that most closely and accurately reflects my feelings on this episode is probably VeryJammy's review

There were a lot of things to like about this episode. I liked the fact that Rod and Todd's personalities were fleshed out a bit more and given greater depth and dimension than they usually are. This episode's first act was excellent for the most part and the episode finished strongly as well -loved the Church scene and Maude looking down on her kids. The plot with Marge and the children was well done. Even though I am still not a fan of Ned's post-Maude characterization on the show, I think his character during this episode was given much more depth and substance than it usually is and I think this is one of the best episodes I've seen him in since she died.

That having been said, the sub-plot with Bart and Toot-Toot was absolutely terrible -it dragged on for waaaaay too long and wasn't particularly funny to begin with. Susan Sarandon, while excellent as a computer in the first act, was wasted during the subsequent acts. After being relatively funny in the first act, Homer reverted to jerkass mode when explaining Bart's absence and it was quite disappointing. "God" was not as funny as he usually is during his appearances on the show.

So I have mixed emotions about this one. I'll probably give it a 3/5

[Nauru-1]

Fairly weak. A couple of decent moments, but I'm just not a fan of this kind of episode in the first place. They might have been able to pull off Bart living in a monkey cage in the classic years, but it doesn't come off that well to me now. Not horrible though. 2/5 No way would I give this a 4 or 5 unless I actually felt it deserved to be up with the best of the series.

[Rest your giant head]

This episode turned out to be much better than I expected. I have nothing againgst crazy stories if they’re executed realisticly. I liked the link between the plots at the end, because I simply couldn’t decide which plot is the main one.

The first act was the weakest, mostly because of some terrble jokes, such as Homer’s trip through the mill. I found the gag with the dictionaries rather stupid, and Randy Johnson was unnecessary. Ned’s characterisation was quite interesting, though...

It got better from the moment Rod and Todd started to explore the world of fun. I wasn’t sure about monkey capturing Bart, because the security could’ve just tranquilize the monkey. However, Homer’s attempts to rescue Bart were hilarious, especialy swallowing the dart, and the peach full of antifreeze, but I didn’t like Homer being sarcastic in one of the scenes.

I liked the way Mr. Teeny turned out to be Toot-toot’s son, but the part with Rodd yelling out he’s gay was terrible.

B

[Uosdwis R. Jewoh]

1/5 stupid

[bartyboy]

2/5

[amr diab]

very good. I liked both (humor, moral) it has a good moral about how parents can damage/highten their kids sense of self worthiness..........

[Bella Drape 'er]

I liked it on the airing.

But now I have some bad vives about Ned's beginning plot and how it all ended.

2/5

[alex_on_ice]

This is pretty much the last episode I like (in airing order) in Season 17. Although I am quite fond of "Girls Just Want To Have Sums". Other than that the last 7-8 episodes in Season 17 are quite terrible if you ask me.

The beginning of this episode is fantastic! I've always loved it. The scene with Homer and his rubber duck is just hilarious. And I love his repeated "Protect the duck" sentence while he's being smashed into pieces by the inside of a windmill. Is the "feMac" a reference to the Apple company, I don't really know?

I find the writers connected the A story with the B story extremely well in this episode. And that's partly why I like it so much (the other part being that there are a lot of good jokes in this episode). The A story has Marge trying to convince Rod and Todd that they can accomplish great things without their father always needing to be there to aid them and the B story has Tutu (the Ape) not wanting to let go of Bart. The final showdown at the tower is brilliant in my opinion and this is where you can truely see the great connection between the two stories. Along side of all of this, there are many memorable lines in this episode. I'll probably type some in the "Quote of the day" thread this afternoon or tomorrow.

I'll give this episode a solid 4/5.

[The Governor]

I honestly can't remember a single thing from this, even after reading most of the original reviews.

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

Bart Has Two Mommies

Actually Not Bad. I did went though it thinking that it'd be overrated and all but it came out well... But it's still overrated to an extent.

While the episode name does reference a scene that happens later on in the episode, this episode is mainly focused on Marge and the pair of Flander's offspring known as Rodd and Todd... I have to say that they do make the moments with Rodd and Todd and Marge sweet, down-to-earth and reminiscent of classic era simpsons; in fact most of the episodes best moments resolve around them... I mean really, when have you seen Rodd and Todd act like this? and also Marge who I admit is really good in this episode, acting sweet and hitting the right spots.

Additionally Ned Flanders manages to add to this episode. His worry about Rodd and Todd and his worry for their safety does work, even though we've seen most of it before; however since it is shown in full view in front of us, it's acceptable... He even gets in some good lines and even manages to show some decent personality. However, it seems like most of the plot takes up the episodes time; and the reason is because there are scenes that were made to waste time, I mean did we really need to have Homer and Marge flirting or Ned Flanders meeting a guest star in a convention that would of been better left unshown. I mean if we trimmed some time from those scenes then we could of had both the Flanders plot and the Bart and the ape plot and it could of worked out well... Speaking of which.

There is another plot involving Bart and an Ape with his mommy but that comes like really late in the episode. I mean the past 10 minutes of the episode have been dedicated to Marge and Flanders and yet they have to find a way to fit 10 minutes of Bart and the ape alongside Flanders and Marge... This could of lead to stuff like Marge worrying on whether or not he's treating Rodd and Todd like her own kids and whether or not she's a good parent and the contrast between Marge and the ape as parents but instead we get some scenes with Bart and the ape that seem sweet but without additional investment just seems to be something on the side rather then a part of the story.

The two plots also don't mend well together in the end. I mean just watching it unfold; it seems forced. Like they had two plots and they had to merge while making it seem like there were important plot points in the beginning. I admit I was surprised by the callback but I wasn't surprised by the callback to Rodd's climbing and the same effect being used twice; I mean just the shot of him being scared would of been enough. Also I don't know if Rodd climbing was even a good way to resolve the plot because I thought of it as just something fun Rodd was doing, not something important that would resolve the plot or even happen due to the fact that he'd have to get access to the roof... While it does work for the encouragement part, we could of had something better. The part where the ape and Mr. Teeny reunite worked well for their plot but again, with more work it could of been 10x more effective. The end with Bart and Rodd worked well I thought...

This wouldn't be a Simpsons episode without the jokes and it wouldn't be a modern-day Simpsons episode without jokes that tilt towards miss rather then hit. The christian carnival at the beginning was okay, containing the usual modern-day Simpsons gag the show is now known for (The what you'd look like in Hell mirror, FeeMac (which is better then Mapple by miles.) Homer getting hurt.) the duck race in the beginning was sweet but I'm guessing Homer getting hurt to get the duck to win was unneeded, even though it made a ton of people who like to see people getting hurt laugh. There were a good number of good fake-outs in the episode, fake-outs where I was genuinely surprised; so I have to give the writers props for that. Bart and Lisa had some good moments and lines and even Ned Flander's song was mildly entertaining, even though the montage had some parts which I didn't like... However we do have the zoo for retired animals which was never mentioned again (the girl did appear and the cage existed but it was never mentioned.) and there was some stupid stuff happening around the cage... The plot is good enough for me to gloss over this but still...

So this was better then I thought it would be but it's still overrated. I'm still wishing that both plots would be given equal treatment, at least that could of added up to something in the episode. But still, the Marge plot is the best plot in the episode and there is a Bart and Ape plot that is sweet even though it doesn't get fleshed out fully. Still, this is something that you should at least watch; I mean it's not bad but it's still overrated.

6.0/10

[cloneasaurus]

One of the few genuinely funny post-classics and some good insight in to Rod and Todd we hadn't seen before. It certainly wasn't perfect down to many small individual moments, as is the case with every post classic, but i found it very enjoyable and worthy of a generous 4/5, or B/B-. Top 15 post classic.

[Bleedin' Gums Murphy]

3/10 boring as hell

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Season 17 continues when Bart is ape-knapped err....kidnapped! This occurs when Homer takes he and Lisa to visit famous animals of the past. Marge isn't around because she's babysitting Rod and Todd Flanders. When Ned becomes concerned with their safety Rod decides to show his dad Marge was doing a fine job by saving Bart.

I like this episode from a story-telling standpoint. I like the story we get with Marge and the Flanders clan. It reminds me partially of "My Sister, My Sitter," but is different enough to stand out from that episode. Bart and Toot Toot isn't as good, but I consider that more of an aside anyway although it is incorporated rather well into the main story. Where this one is weaker though is the jokes. There are few laugh out loud moments and plenty of eye rollers. Homer's sarcasm bit at the dinner table is horrid. Surprisingly I enjoyed Homer's attempts at cheating with the rubber ducks at the beginning. That and his High School meetup with Marge at the Flanders' house were his best moments in the episode. I think that Jean has done a pretty good job of using Flanders throughout his tenure. I can see where some would complain about his overly religious turns, but they usually make for good jokes, at least for me. The use of "Ode to Glory" with the teeter-totter was really nice as was his singing while wrecking the backyard. Randy Johnson's cameo was pointless and unfunny.

Overall I do think this is a pretty forgettable episode typical of the season but there is certainly much to enjoy. 3/5