Rate/Review "Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Three Times" (JABF05)

[Jesse Pinkman]

I said MOST PEOPLE would, those who think there are two eras {which come on, you can't say that the earlier episodes are same caliber as anything we've been getting with a straight face, so basically there is}

[D'ohmer]

I do think that the new episodes are as good as the earlier episodes.

[Jesse Pinkman]

I do think that the new episodes are as good as the earlier episodes.

"there's no emoticon for how i'm feeling"

[D'ohmer]

I'm sorry for making you mad, Bea, but it's just my opinion.

[Jesse Pinkman]

i know, and i try to respect it, but... it's hard when it's something i so strongly disagree with

[D'ohmer]

t's good that you're doing your best to respect it and I thank you. I understand that it's hard when you feel so strongly about something, but it's just a TV show, so I don't think it should be something to feel so strongly about. Still, thanks

[Jesse Pinkman]

but it's just a TV show, so I don't think it should be something to feel so strongly about.

but when it is a show you used to love a lot, and you think it is going downhill, but someone else doesn't, it's like... come on, after so many years, every show starts to go downhill. and comedy is such a hard genre to write for, because the writers need to think of stuff that makes them laugh as well as the viewer

[D'ohmer]

OK, I understand

I think we should leave it at the fact that we both have different opinions and we're doing our best to respect both of our opinions.

Anyway, I think this is a pretty good episode.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

4/5, if only for Poison Lenny.

[Bleedin' Gums Murphy]

Shite/Average 2/5

[Safety Inspector]

The Count of Monte Fatso- B+ (some good moments)
Revenge of the Geeks- F (just awful)
Bartman Begins- A (good...)

Average: 6.0\10, C+
S18 Rating: 19th place

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Three Times

They say that in order to maintain yourself, you have to commit of act of normalcy once in a while; It doesn't matter what the thing is, you just have to do something to get your mind off of current events. What this has to do with the episode itself? Zilch but it is a better way to start things off then to comment about the supposed revenge this episode offers, especially when it's served 3 times over.

This is the seasons trilogy episode and obviously there are going to be three segments, dedicated to revenge. Trilogy episodes in the past have ranged from good to really great and modern trilogy episodes have usually ranged from terrible to bad to mediocre; being that this is a modern trilogy episode, your expectations should be lowered from the offshoot but this isn't terrible... It's just really boring.

The episode's wraparounds are formed around a revenge plot involving Homer and the Rich Texan, much of which feels like your usual trilogy episode. They do try to hold your interest and some things that try to be funny but ultimately at the end of the day, these are just wraparounds with a really small initial purpose; forgettable but ultimately required. It does get in some comments on humanity itself (though obvious) and manages to add to the Rich Texan but the Rich Texan had very little to begin with and still, a lot of the stuff still applies here.

So let's get to the stories eh?


The Count of Monte Fatso

Our first story of the evening is a retelling of the infamous story "The Count of Monte Cristo" but with the usual Simpsons flair. The first thing you'll notice out the gate is the setting, it's rather interesting and it somewhat sets the mood of the story well; you'd think that with an interesting setting it would allow The Simpsons to thrive but they don't; instead they come across as mundane. It almost feels as if they want us to focus on the settings instead of the action on screen, which in my opinion is as important as the setting. There is barely anything about the story that's compelling; it's as if all of these characters are on autopilot, just doing what they usually do until the end of the story. It's a shame because they're in ancient France and they could of done stuff that couldn't be done; while they do take the opportunity to do some of that, it never feels like they did much with their characters rather then have them be Simpsons characters placed in ancient France.

The jokes also feel uninspired; there does seem to be an active attempt to make as many decent jokes as possible (newspaper spinning for one) but alot of these are ruined by either poor timing, time eating, joke pushing or just plain complacency (in the case of Homer, he is especially guilty of this.) There are some decent jokes though and it does seem like they at least tried somewhat so that's worth a mention, the only really good joke is Moe and his door, just for the concept of it; if you end it with Moe closing his door instead of taking the door with him then yeah, it's pretty good but as it is this is just an example of the writer's need to push the joke.

The really good thing; well the story is told well and it mostly follows it's source material with some twists here and there, so it does have something to hold you through it's 10 minute runtime. Plus if you're one of those people who like death scenes then yeah it contains one (personally, I wasn't feeling the death scenes; the initial revenge was okay though) and the kids are fun to watch. Personally, there isn't much in this segment that makes it stand out from the crowd; it feels like an average walk in the park, except set in ancient France and with some additional effort added to it.

5.0/10

Revenge of the Geeks

Well it replaces Nerds with Geeks so yeah, there's that... The second story revolves around the nerdy kids of Springfield Elementary who are constantly getting bullied and want some form of revenge; the entire thing could be summed up in one word, awkward; not because of the story but because of the way the story was plotted. It does start off well in the beginning with the nerds and the Power Glove (one of the good things of the segment) being introduced but it seems to fall apart at the halfway point with some of these things being forgotten. Now putting Milhouse (even though he's not technically a nerd) in a position of power has potential; he has been bullied on tons of times and well, it's natural for him to feel pleased when he has power and takes out revenge on someone but that potential is flat out wasted. Why? because it doesn't do much with it, it just uses the premise until it runs out of gas, showing us scenes of him getting revenge on various people in uninspired ways that could make you care less about him.

It even translates to the people in the segment itself, where there are a ton of people (including the very nerds) acting like they don't care with only a few exceptions; (Groundskeeper Willie for one, that power glove comment was decent.) I don't get why they're acting uninspired, usually these episodes bring out a sense of fun and excitement in the actors; odd... A surprising offender is Lisa who's acting is surprisingly uninspired. Seriously, it's like Yeardley Smith doesn't even care, reading every line with the wrong tone or a general sense of boredom, (Raspberry would just cringe if he watched this.) especially compared to the situation around her; she should be acting worried or at least really concerned but instead she sounds bored. The best thing has to be Milhouse's acting which though may be generic, is entertaining; I'm not saying he's like this 100% of the time but he is somewhat entertaining even though the scenes he's in are a waste.

I am beginning to notice a pattern with these segments having a death scene that's deadly, even if there isn't anything that leads to death; must be some form of running gag they have going on... Anyways, even though it starts off well enough, it collapses halfway through and ultimately reveals itself to be an excursion in awkwardness; the only thing that seems to save the thing is Milhouse but even he isn't enough... I guess this segment is left to rot in the pile of other uninspired awkward segments.

4.0/10

Bartman Begins

Bartman's origin story but really just a parody of pseudo parody of Batman Begins. It proves to be better then the last segment but it doesn't manage to be anything but a parody that doesn't parody itself much; they even left the city of the name intact... (I mean "Gotham", really? You couldn't come up with a name like "Big City"? And what's up with Bartman looking like a young muscular version of Batman; I understand it's being told from a kid's perspective but the comparisons are unavoidable.) What do you call a parody that doesn't parody itself much, a retelling. This is mostly a retelling of a portion of Batman Begins with Simpsons characters and while they do take some detours, there is ultimately the feeling that this is a retelling; complete with dramatic scenes and all.

It does try to parody itself though though those attempts are less then inspired; Bartman throwing his enemies to electricity just reminds me of a modern-day Treehouse of Horror episode, a parody that seems forced; like they're trying to get on the front page of a website or a blog. I mean watch it, all it has is Bart throwing people to electrical boxes without much wit or meaning; it's ultimately a scene with Simpsons characters and an obvious joke anybody would make, not something that pokes fun in a deep and satirical way. It does contain one of the better moments of the episode which is Grandpa's old-timey montage, even though it's just the montage from Batman done in an old-timey way; it is different and the writers made an actual attempt to include a lot of old-timey stuff that would fit the montage, however, it's ultimately nothing special when placed in context of the segment; still... it's decent.

Because of the segment being placed in an episode with a bunch of revenge stories, it has to have some form of revenge and it fulfills that by having Bart hunt for his parents killer. Though it's somewhat muddled in the retelling, it is well portrayed, leading to some decent moments and an okay ending where it at least tries to have some fun; even though the death scene was meh and I kind of saw the Bart twist coming, I can understand what they were trying to do though. One thing I have to mention, I noticed that they were trying to do something dramatic with the lighting of the scenes but they come out looking like crap; I mean they don't have the mood, feel or impact that they're supposed to provide. I guess the modern animation has gotten to a point where they're unable to do specific stuff decently like lighting, just the backgrounds. It's a shame because the lighting could of helped this one out.

While it proves itself to be better then the last segment, it's ultimately dragged down by the fact that it's a psuedo-parody of Batman Begins with barely any parody whatsoever; it's like we're seeing "Simpsons" characters play the role of Batman characters and Bartman playing the role of Batman. It doesn't help that it's boring as shit, just like the segments before it but look on the bright side, at least they didn't change Bartman's name to "Jeremy".

4.5/10


At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself this. Will you truly remember any of this minutes after it airs? I mean I'm not the only one who thinks of this as forgettable, a large majority of people on the board thinks this is bland forgettable fare and if a large majority of people thinks it's bland forgettable fare (including me) then it pretty much sums up the entire episode as a whole. This trilogy episode has some interesting ideas and some attempts at jokes but the entire thing isn't worth your time; it's not bad but your time would be better spent elsewhere.

5.0/10

[Murphy, You Are A Elf]

I usually forget this episode even exists, even when thinking about trilogy episodes. It isn't that bad, though. All three segments are solid. 5/10