Season Sixteen Best Episode: Finals (The Heartbroke Kid Wins)

[Channel Surfer]

"The Heartbroke Kid" for me, though with "Mommie Beerest", "Fat Man and Little Boy", and "Sleeping With the Enemy", it's not by the huge margin of the previous round.

[sung]

Since 'A Star Is Torn' couldn't make it to here, I'm going to go with 'Sleeping With The Enemy' here. The episode is just classic with good plot.

[Xt'Tapalatakettle]

Heartbroke Kid. Season 16 has some very above average episodes on the whole, but there is nothing that really jumps out at me as "Wow, this is amazing." I probably would've voted for "Doomsday" again if it had made it, as I think it may surpass Heartbroke Kid as my favorite of the season.

[Imperciph]

I do not like the fact that Thank God It's Doomsday is not here yet The Father, The Son and The Holy Guest Star is here.

The unrelated first act is full of material that consistently falls flat, the episode suffers from a too impressionable characterisation of Bart and an almost bigoted take on Marge. While Liam Neeson gave a great performance as Father Sean, the message this episode offers isn't particularly insightful but stuff we've have heard million times before. In fact, the commentary of the whole episode is actually delivered near the end by Bart in a "South Park" manner. (which doesn't work for OFF very well)

Compared to that, while Thank God Its Doomsday kind of dragged in the third act with the scenes between Homer and God and the portrayal of heaven not being particularly insightful it had some nice ambiguous commentary in how people approaches the concept of the rapture with increasingly contrived incidents finally convincing them. And the visual homage to The Last Supper with Homer finding heaven at Moe's is probably the best ending of the entire Jean Era.

I'll be voting later based on the poll results.

[Number 10767]

^ Preach it, bruthah.

Heartbroke Kid for me.

[hi]

sleeping

[Adam R]

Pretty poor bunch of episodes, but still Future-Drama gets a big, Moe-esque "whaaaa?". I may as well vote for Heartbroke again, but it's close with Beerest.

[hi]

i know what you mean, man. sthings, right?

[Rest your giant head]

"The heartbroke kid"

I'm suprised that so many people liked "Mommie beerest" and "Sleeping with an enemy". I found them both mediocre.

[George Cauldron]

^ Hmmmm....well, my opinion is the polar opposite of yours. Ya see, I found Mommie Beerest and Sleeping With The Enemy to be the best from this poll, and The Heartbroke Kid to be very mediocre. Well, not entirely mediocre - the first act was brilliant stuff, the best first act of the season, quite possibly. But acts 2 and 3 felt, to me, bland and unamusing, and didn't manage to maintain the high standards set by the first act. I didn't even find Tab Spangler all that interesting, compared to the likes of Scorpio, Jacques et al. And I really thought that Future-Drama was rubbish. Controversial words here, but I thought that even Bart to the Future was a better episode....Does anybody agree with me here?

Anyhow my vote is going to Mommie Beerest. It's not a brilliant episode, but it's quite a charming one and consistent with story and humour all the way through.

[Drunk Barney]

Sleeping With the Enemy

Fantastic episode. A very well plotted episode, which sees the best characterization of Marge in years. I think Lisa is fine as well, and its good they kept Homer out of the picture, and when did appear, he made hilarious comments. Nelson is characterized well, and we see a great look into his family, and at the same time exploring Marge's kindness. The ending slightly lets things down, it was a lazy way out, but it wasn't that bad. It was just a bit random, nothing else. A WINNER

Fat Man and Little Boy

Another very good episode, possibly the suprise of the Season. An episode with very good humour, which featured classic Homer. He had some good bonding scenes with Lisa and Bart. I thought the one time character was very good as well. Take out the slightly mangled plot, and a few pain gags this is classic. Infact it still is really. Oh and the ending is classic. A-

Mommie Beerest

Micheal Price is an extremly good writer, whether your looking at his last episode (My Fair Laddy) or his first episode (My Mother the Carjacker). This episode somewhere in the middle of his writing track was another excellent episode. Another further fresh look into Moe's life, as well as Marge's. Homer is in fine form as well. I think the episode was let down by the odd gag (health inspector dying) and the somewhat unexplained likeness of why Marge liked Moe. Still a very good episode, and a modern day classic. A-

Future-Drama

This did feel an excuse to just do a Simpsons type Futurama episode for the sake of it. 8 years in the future, yes 8 years. Not 80! Just complelty uncontrolled future gags unlike the classic Lisa's Wedding. In Lisa's Wedding the future gags served some purpose as well as they were funny. Future-Drama just seem to focus more on the gags, without looking at the meaning. Nonetheless I thought the developement of Bart and Lisa was really well done. Both still bonding as well as the fact that Homer and Bart were still friends. Milhouse was rather annoying and unfunny and just felt like an annoying object in the Lisa/Milhouse plot. Anyway, it was pretty good. It just felt like a waste of time, at times! The whole Marge and Homer breaking up was not needed. We get enough of these at the moment, and how does putting one in the future help make it fresh. Well, that means they can put a wacky gag in, living under the sea. I know it's a nice reference to Homer:Badman, but it's a joke which the writers forget it's 8 years in the future, as well as the fact that's they've gone off the very good Bart/Lisa plot. So was this break up plot, an idea to use jokes, that I don't even find funny anyway? Another problem I had were people looking older than they were. I can't remember who, but there were a few that looked much older than 8 years on. But don't get me wrong, I still rather liked this episode. Inbetween, a few annoying, excuse using jokes the Bart/Lisa plot was very well done. I was pleased they didn't include Maggie voice. Good episode, let down by some unncesery material. B-/C+

The Heartbroke Kid

extremly good episode, one of the best of the Season. An episode which fully focused on Bart (in the mainplot) and was done very well with an excellent appearance from Albert Brooks. The whole new credits were a good gag, full of plenty others. My only complaint from this fresh, funny classic was the subplot and the ending. The subplot, wasn't needed. It wasn't funny, it was rather silly and some more time on the main plot would of possibly made this episode an A+. The subplot wasn't too bad, infact it was even OK. But I just didn't seem the point of it. Moaning Lisa had a subplot of fun, the computer game. This balanced it out. What was this here for? I'm not saying there has to be a reason why a subplots there but for me there was no reason to cut the mainplot for this. I don't belive that they didn't have any ideas to extend it. The ending was good, but the actuall ending was pretty lame and cheap for me. How about seeing a gag where Bart becomes slim, or on the road to being slim (like King Size Homer) But overall this was a solid episode. An A or even A+ plot, with great everything from gags to charaterizations. The subplot was rather pointless and silly. Overall: A-

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star

The first few minutes, and the last few minutes needed to be fixed in the sense that we see Bart getting expelled was actualy funny, and that he went back at the end, the exact opposite of Whacking Day. But anyway, a good episode. Father Sean was a great one timer, and the whole divert in relgion was intresting to watch. It was very clever and penned out well. Homer involved here, was classic material turning it into a chase. I thought this was done well but it's a shame that we see an over the top Ned. Marge wasn't that great either. But it was a really enjoyable episode. it just needed a few things fixing. B+

[Jolly Bengali]

Does anyone understand that a boy of 10 having a heart attack is so fundamentally fucking ridiculous as to discredit an entire episode?

And I understand how much ridiculous shit happens in cartoons, and the Simpsons, and everything, but come on

[Kiyosuki]

Does anyone understand that a boy of 10 having a heart attack is so fundamentally fucking ridiculous as to discredit an entire episode?

And I understand how much ridiculous shit happens in cartoons, and the Simpsons, and everything, but come on

Actually its not ridiculous at all, its quite medically possible and it actually has happened.. I think this episode was inspired by this story that happened around that time, where a young boy actually had a heart attack. I think he was one of the youngest in recorded history. Of course, he was not only quite obese but also had an incredibly unhealthy lifestyle and excersized very little, if at all.

I can't remember the exact story, its been a while...but while I'm not sure if it was isolated this particular story really brought up the issue of how unhealthy the habits of a lot of children in developed countries has become lately, especially in America.

That was the satire behind this episode. That and the fact the fast food industry, especially here in America, has just become a bunch of real sharks over the past decade. Nothing is sacred.

[Veryjammy]

I had far more problems with The Heartbroke Kid than the fact that a ten year old was having a heart attack. It's just comical exaggeration; there are reports of overwight kids getting type 2 diabetes nowadays, and Bart having a heart attack is just a typically Simpson-esque extension of that. And it isn't like the heart attack itself is really dwelled on; there is far more emphasis put on the fact that Bart is unhealthy and overweight than the problems with his heart. Like I said before, the episode annoyed me more because of how bland Bart was and how meandering everything past the first act was.

Anyway, Sleeping With The Enemy is still the best episode here.

[Ryan_]

the heartbroke kid

[BrideofMoleman]

Does anyone understand that a boy of 10 having a heart attack is so fundamentally fucking ridiculous as to discredit an entire episode?

I asked my mother who was a nurse about that after watching the episode and she told me it was possible and she has seen it, though it is rare.


I went with The Father, The Son, and the Holy Guest Star. Hilarious all the way around, and gave good social commentary. I didn't vote for the Heartbroke Kid because some parts were a bit too exaggerated for my tastes, and some of the humor didn't appeal to me that much (e.g., German backpackers)

[Homer Jay]

There are a number of really good episode here. I didn't like Sleeping with the Enemy as much as other people do. I'm picking the Heartbroke Kid because it made me laugh more than any of the other ones, and it had a very strong plot and great direction as well

[TheForbiddenDonut]

Future-Drama's being here puzzles me, as I thought it was one of the season's worst. The rest, except for The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star, are pretty good though. I'll still vote Sleeping With the Enemy, with The Heartbroke Kid coming close behind.

[Harbinger]

am I the only one who thought "The Heartbroke Kid" was a really really bad episode?

I voted for "Fat Man and Little Boy".

[Flimpson Tide]

I'm really more for Don't Fear the Roofer, Thank God It's Doomsday and Home Away From Homer, but none of them are on here. I find The Heartbroke Kid to be overrated. There are positives like the redone opening theme, return of Albert Brooks and the hamburger in the car at the end, but the German tourists and fat camp scenes didn't get enough screentime and that bloody zipper scene is horrible. Future Drama and The Father, The Son and the Holy Guest Star are fun episodes, but Fat Man and Little Boy gets my vote.

[joe]

Might have to go with Future Drama... It is the one out of all of these that I consistantly watch.

[Dr. Bartley]

Mommie Beerest gets my vote.

[coltonwiggum]

The Heartbroke Kid! By the way, that was an excelent post Drunk Barney! It was fun to read.

[grissom]

The Heartbroke Kid. It's always been my hands-down favorite of season 16.

[lindsay]

All these episodes are pretty good, so it's a pretty hard choice. I think I'm gonna go with "Sleeping With the Enemy." I've always really liked Nelson, so it was great to see another episode where he had a big role.

[Simpsons Forever!]

Sleeping With The Enemy

[J-Spot]

While I agree with Veryjammy that The Heartbroke Kid had a pretty bland characterization of Bart, I could say the same about pretty much any Jean-era episode. But with several laugh out loud moments and the inspired reworking of the opening, it gets my vote.

[luben]

I'll go with Heartbroke Kid. I don't want to play the role of the provocateur, but if Bart is too bland in the Heartbroke Kid, what about Bart in SWTE ?