Rate & Review "Sex, Pies, and Idiot Scrapes" (KABF17)

[Generic]

Another "Homer gets a new job after losing his own to somehow get that out of the way" plot which I've grown a bit bored with, but frankly anything that isn't a marriage crisis episode these days is fresh enough for me to be open minded about it. The opening joke about the green river was badly telegraphed and overexplained, it would've worked much better to pan over to the nuclear plant or have Burns mutter uncomfortably rather than gleefully announce it then threaten them.

The St Patrick's Day stuff was fairly ordinary, the shock humour with the IRA reference didn't offend me but fell a bit flat all the same. "Wolf the Bounty Hunter" felt a bit redundant, if you're going to have that obvious a parody you might as well try and get the real person to make a cameo. The explanation of how Homer could become a bounty hunter and his confrontation of Snake desperately tried to be witty but just felt like padding. Padding can work sometimes (I remain a huge fan of the rake scene) but it didn't work for me here.

Homer's characterisation was a bit shallow but Ned's was surprisingly good for the current era, with only the "harder to swallow than evolution" being a bit cringeworthy. Their teaming up was pretty fun though, Homer's failed attempt to get Ned to avoid using his "Flanderisms" (for lack of a better word) was entertaining and I loved the AC/DC parody. I cringed a little at first but then when Homer enthusiastically joined in it somehow became very funny. Go figure.

The montage was entertaining but if they hadn't padded so much with the St Patrick's Day opening, Homer's confrontation with Snake and a couple of overexplained jokes they could have used that time to better build towards the conflict between Homer and Ned. Still, I liked that Ned was then forced to hunt down Homer and while the action sequence was perhaps a bit much, it had its moments particularly the cut to Homer jumping in the elevator for no reason. Homer's expression while Ned quoted the Bible was hilarious too, I enjoyed that scene even if it was a little silly. The ending with Homer in jail was a bit abrupt and unresolved, but nice all the same.

Marge's subplot wasn't too bad but the risque humour felt a bit forced; not dirty enough to be funny, but about as dirty as The Simpsons can be with the tone of the show. The episode probably could have done without it, all the more time to flesh out the main plot and build the conflict up a little better than Ned being upset because Homer frequently resorts to putting a bag over people's heads.

All in all, a little better than I was expecting and it had some funny parts but on the whole I'd have to say it was a decent episode at best. Nothing horrible, but it could've been better. 3/5

[TriforceBun]

I have an odd request for you screen-grabbers out there: after Homer reflects on Ned helping him, it cuts out of the flashback/fantasy and you see him with this sort of dazed/joyous expression. I immediately laughed out loud when I saw it, as I don't think the show has ever used an expression like that (and it's been forever since the look on a character's face has made me laugh). Thanks in advance!

[Generic]

I have an odd request for you screen-grabbers out there: after Homer reflects on Ned helping him, it cuts out of the flashback/fantasy and you see him with this sort of dazed/joyous expression. I immediately laughed out loud when I saw it, as I don't think the show has ever used an expression like that (and it's been forever since the look on a character's face has made me laugh). Thanks in advance!

How's this?

http://img525.imageshack.us/my.php?i...erstaregj4.jpg

[tom cody]

4/5. I really enjoyed this episode and hope it's a sign of things to come for Season 20.

[XspookykidzX]

i think it was pretty good, i think though that they should have panned to the power plant when they asked why the river was green, instead of having burns sit there and explain the joke for us ( which seems like something there doing a lot now)

[Bumpy]

c-/d+

the plot sounded good on paper, but didn't turn out too well. too many lame jokes and south park did a better dog the bounty hunter parody

[lionelhutz123]

Not bad. The green river was the worst joke: should have simply cut away to the SNPP like someone else suggested. Other than that, I have no other major qualms. I seem to be one of the few that didn't take offense to either the Evolution nor the Smithers jokes. Neither seemed out of place to me. There we some nice and subtle parts along side the more blatant, in-your-face bits.

Has anyone noted that Springfield had a Monorail again?
Also, the promo image seemed to be an amalgam of two separate scenes, notice that?

A fun episode, 4/5

I'm no expert on the difference between monorails, subways, and trains, but I believe Ned referred to it as a subway. Even though I thought subways were underground? I did notice that on the train it had a letter "M" possibly meaning it is a monorail. But also, I have the same kind of train tracks in my town. Since the elevation of the ground varies, they have to build those bridge tracks with stairs leading up to it for some people to get on, so it might be just a regular train.
I did notice the seperate scenes from the promo though. One was Homer at first jumping the fence, and the other was how Ned landed when he jumped from whatever planet in the planetarium that he jumped from.

Also did anyone notice that the music when Homer and Ned are jumping on those "building detonators" (forgot what they're called), is very simpsons movie-esque type of music? It had the same "multi-orchestra" (don't even know if thats a term) style to the regular "simpsons theme" just like in the movie.

[Mr Johannson]

Didn't really care for this episode. It had some gags I mostly enjoyed, like the Skinners/Chalmers scene, and the brief Hulk vs Thing fight. I enjoyed Snake and Gloria's continuing relationship, and the reveal that Snake would have another child.
The Homer/Ned chase scene was just weird. I didn't get it at all. They were just jumping all over the place. It was more annoying than funny. And Smither's commitment ceremony? I know it's just a pointless throwaway line, but I didn't like it.
But besides all that, it just wasn't funny.

Average 3/5

[Van]

The main story was fairly entertaining without ever threatening to reach any great heights. Homer and Ned went well together and I was happy to see Ned wasn't as irritating as he has been in recent times. Even though the majority of the time was spent on Homer and Ned, the episode still seemed to
fly by. The over-extending of gags, namely Ned's testament talk, the AC/DC parody, Homer with the taser, Skinner and Chalmers (I really am sick of
scenes involving them) and the plastic bag suffocation thing got pretty tiresome though. The 'Hulk' appearance should have been left as a quick visual gag only. I really didn't like the way Ned came out of nowhere carrying the glass window since his store wasn't exactly near that alley. I guess he could have been coming out of that open doorway which happened to be a glass store. My feelings about Marge's subplot are mixed. I would have liked another minute or two devoted to it to better resolve it, but it probably would have just churned out more bad sex jokes. As for the penis 'gag', the build up wasn't funny and neither was hearing the word out loud. It would've been a good time for a fake out gag like the one at the end. 3/5
"I'll use my one phone call to find out all about it!"

[TriforceBun]

How's this?

http://img525.imageshack.us/my.php?i...erstaregj4.jpg

YES! Thank you!

Hahaha, it's still making me laugh. Funniest expression from the show I've seen in years.

[lionelhutz123]

Haha that expression was creepy. It made it seem like he was getting a high off of thinking about his partnership with Ned.

[simpsonsfan20]

The Star Wars carbonite couch gag was genius, the plot was good, and it looks like The Simpsons could live another few more years.

[Green_Peaness]

Watching this episode again, I have to give a bit more kudos than I did in my first post for it being a step in the right direction. The joke style of season 19 was long, rambling awkwardness with no real punch line. It hardly ever made me laugh. This episode did have its share of that (an example is the bounty hunter line ending with "but you can work your way around that, congratulations Homer"). But it also had plenty of potent gags, which the show had been missing. Call me juvenile, but I lol'd at Homer going back to get his keys, keeping his tazer in his pants cuz it looks cool, his tit falling out of his dress and him having to charge his tazer while Ned gets strangled. So some good Homer stuff...yay! I'll raise my grade a little. 2.5/5

[IM A BRICK]

I liked this one, good start. Not supper but well worth my time. 4 of 5.
Also of course the chase scene was from Casino Royal what else would it be from?
And in case you didn't get that, that is why homer was jumping around in the elevator.
That had to be the craziest chase in any movie and it was just as over the top in the live action movie which was not played for laughs.

[Miss_Haruka]

C
It wasn't what I expeted but still somehow good.The Homer-Ned interaction were good.But the Marge subplot was really awful (I'm really sick of how overused can be Marge).As I said,there were a bunch o good jokes,but tje others were pretty stupid.

[überweiss]

there's only one 1/5 vote so far (presumably by Uberweiss)...

correct.

[WBadger]

Didnt the Skinner/Chalmers joke, kind of remind you of the Burns/Smithers joke in "Lisa the Vegetarian"? When Burns is saying how he will donate money to charity if pigs fly, and then one does.

[lionelhutz123]

Yeah, now that I think of it, it does lol. I think the Skinners/Chalmers relation is the Smithers/Burns classic era relation of this modern Jean era. I mean without the hint of anyone being gay or Chalmers/Skinnersexual.

[dapper dan]

The whole Skinner cooking for Chalmers was a great throwback to 22 short stories as well, I thought

[Jerry P.]

I'm no expert on the difference between monorails, subways, and trains, but I believe Ned referred to it as a subway. Even though I thought subways were underground? I did notice that on the train it had a letter "M" possibly meaning it is a monorail. But also, I have the same kind of train tracks in my town. Since the elevation of the ground varies, they have to build those bridge tracks with stairs leading up to it for some people to get on, so it might be just a regular train.

It looked a lot like the above ground sections of subway in New York City. They're above ground because it was cheaper to build that way, but they connect to the underground parts, making them part of the subway system.

Also, monorails have one rail and subways usually have three (counting the electrified third rail). Light rails (trolleys) usually have two rails and an overhead power cable. I'm sure there are exceptions, but this is my understanding.

[Capt Hammer]

Finally got the chance to watch it AMAZING Episode here's to hopeing the rest of season 20 is like this

B+/A-
4.2/5

[Xt'Tapalatakettle]

It looked a lot like the above ground sections of subway in New York City. They're above ground because it was cheaper to build that way, but they connect to the underground parts, making them part of the subway system.

The above ground sections of the subway are remnants from when the entire system was done with elevated trains. Sections of the "el" trains were torn down because they were seen as obsolete and unnecessary as underground service was the wave of the future. If having cheaper trains was the goal, then the subway probably wouldn't have been built. Most of Manhattan has underground trains, but Manhattan used to be all above ground. Second and Third Avenue used to have el trains, but they were torn down to make way for a subway on Second Avenue. They have been trying to build it for the past 79 years and it's not even a quarter of the way there.

[Jerry P.]

Exactly. If there were the budget, all the above ground lines would have been replaced. I guess I oversimplified. We could go into the three separate systems and how they came together, but in the end, I'm just saying there are subways that go above ground.

[indivi]

I found nothing surprising about this season opener. The irrelevant opening scene, charming new character(s), jokes completely lacking in subtlety, some far too familiar plot elements, dumb plot elements, and wacky yet well-animated action sequence add up to make this episode just about exactly what I expect from The Simpsons based on the past few seasons: watchable, occasionally enjoyable fare that unfortunately tends to inspire more eye rolls than laughs.

I liked hearing the Irish voice acting - it was well-done and I always enjoy accents originating from that region of the world. The new character, the bakery owner, was a pretty chill guy. I also always like Flanders, and having him team up with Homer usually works pretty well. The line about Flanders not becoming as bad as the people he turns in was good. I also liked Flanders' explanation for knowing that Homer wouldn't be at Lisa's recital ("Lucky guess"). The action scene at the end was pretty decent despite its absurdity. edit: I read Triforcebun's review and I agree about the apparent foreshadowing in the episode. I liked how they brought back Snake's squeeze and showed her pregnant (though didn't Snake have a kid in an earlier episode?). The Bob reference was good, too. I also liked Homer's reflection sequence at the end.

There weren't many jokes that impressed me, though. The exchange regarding Dr. Hibbert's penis-cake was excruciating - that, and pretty much the whole first two or three minutes of the episode with the silly Quimby speech and the floats parodying Irish culture, are examples of what I feel is the modern show's tendency to beat viewers about the head with a joke. Few jokes require much thought or effort to "get", and I feel it kind of makes many episodes feel a bit boring. The plastic bag thing that Homer did was lame.

The subplot suffered a bit, too. Why did Marge hide her profession from Homer? It struck me that the show (and every other piece of entertainment media, for that example) has done the "character A hides something from or lies to character Y, then has to confess it" theme about a zillion times and I'm quite sick of it, especially in a case like this where there is no compelling reason for her to hide it from him. He likes sex, and he likes pastries. What gives? The main plot was actually pretty decent; nothing we haven't seen before in terms of the relationship between Homer and Flanders, but the setup to the ending action scene was pretty good (with Flanders waiting for Homer when he comes home) and Flanders and Homer usually make for a good pair. However, the main story still had some silly twists - like the bulletproof glass bit at the beginning of act 2, which made less than zero sense. Also, I struggle to believe that Ned would so quickly agree to be a bounty hunter just because of his slow business, but that's a minor point.

Par for the course. 2.5/5

[BatofZion]

Okay, guys, which line did you hate more? The one about Smithers' commitment ceremony or the "harder to swallow than evolution" line? The latter line was very forced and redundant, but the former--although a throwaway gag that probably doesn't carry any weight--still indicates what would be an important change in the status quo just for the sake of an equally redundant, unfunny joke.

But actually, upon thinking about it...seeing as we got a glimpse of Snake/Gloria and Sideshow Bob escaping as instances of foreshadowing, I wonder if there's a possibility that the Smithers line actually will be continued in a future plot and wasn't just a throwaway...

Concerning the Smithers line, I thought it was a good, quick line that for once only made a passing reference to his homosexuality. It might also be a good set-up for a great Burns/Smithers episode.

[but the evolution line...gag it on a monkey bone]

[Cartoonnetwork]

He likes sex, and he likes pastries. What gives?

Actually, it seemed as if Homer was kinda annoyed cause he does like pastries and sex, and he's offended Marge didn't tell him. Maybe you are asking why was she hiding it in the first place. I don't know, perhaps it's just that Marge is not too proud of working in it or something.

Anyway, pretty meh episode. The first act was quite lame and I think it's a bad idea to reuse some things. I guess you can make a Xmas episode every year and they could even mention Saint Patrick's Day again but another first act based on it after the fantastic one in Homer Vs The 18th Amendment is not a very good idea.

Second act was just average. I agree the plastic bag was lame, but not too offensive. Everything else was just ok, nothing great, nothing really bad either.

I actually found the third act quite enjoyable, silly as it was. There was finally some conflict there and the action scene was wacky in a good way IMO. It was obviously parodic and goofy, so that made it funnier . To me it was more similar to Homer's fight in Brother From The Same Planet rather than being too Scully-esque.

Flanders was pretty good, characterizations were more decent than usual, and Marge's subplot was ok but totally undeveloped. She was nice and there were a couple of decent jokes but they surely could have done a little more with it.

The level of the gags is getting better lately but the animation was boring as hell in this one. Too rigid, similar to He Loves To Flies and He D'ohes, it lacked the flexibility of some other recent episodes (I recall Apocalypse Cow being more fluid, for example). The action scene was pretty well done, but would it be too much to ask for some sort of changes in the character faces? Yep, that face of Homer in that link was kinda funny but even that one seems a little rigid, I can picture that drawing being funnier during season 5.

3-3,5/5

[SilverEagle]

The first act of this episode was so awful. I'm not sure if I laughed even once. The second and third acts were considerably better, but still not enough to bring the episode above mediocre. I can't seem to wrap my mind around the idea of Flanders going around and beating up criminals. It seems so insanely out of character. And Homer with that bag...ugh. Was Mike Scully somehow involved in the making of this episode?

I did enjoy Marge's subplot though. It wasn't superb, but she wasn't irritating, and there were some clever jokes.

It's between a 5 and a 6...I rounded it up to a 3/5 on the poll.

[Mt. Doom]

Well it was better than I was expecting it to be. I thought it made a great Homer/Flanders episode although the only points I'm taking off are for the Bakery sub-plot.

4/5

[lionelhutz123]

I should add that the animation of the simpsons house when Homer was about to see Ned, was really well done. I mean the fact that the trees surrounding it were moving from the wind was excellent. It also added a hint of "No one is home, but Homer, or is he?" kind of feeling, before he entered. Plus the fact that Homer was kind of looking behind his back when walking from his car to the front door was a nice touch. You can tell Homer was aware that he skipped his court date. He was probably looking out for Wolf lol.

[WBadger]

I should add that the animation of the simpsons house when Homer was about to see Ned, was really well done. I mean the fact that the trees surrounding it were moving from the wind was excellent. It also added a hint of "No one is home, but Homer, or is he?" kind of feeling, before he entered. Plus the fact that Homer was kind of looking behind his back when walking from his car to the front door was a nice touch. You can tell Homer was aware that he skipped his court date. He was probably looking out for Wolf lol.

Yeah! Good thing you brought that up, that was an excellent secne.