R&R: The Bob Next Door

[lionelhutz123]

I've been too turned off by this episode to review it. It started out decent and then went way downhill after the face-switching scene. I think the ending was a cheap cop-out with the convenience of the off-screen 911 call and the drawing in Bob's apartment that lead everyone to the four corners. The jokes ranged from good to awful.

Overall in quick summary, this episode simply should have never even been produced. The content of the unnecessary face-switching scene is one thing to frown upon, but I'm even more upset that something like that played out in a canon episode. It's a shame how many people are calling this the best of the season, because IMO I think it's down there between the worst episode, "Greatest Story", and "Thursdays". 2/5, because it at least started off interesting and had some pretty amusing gags.

[Kiyosuki]

Well I'd been looking forward to the Bob episode alongside the Wiggum one...

I thought this was pretty alright. I was waiting for a joke about how they didn't even need to switch faces too because if timed right that could have been pretty hilarious. Kind of a waste, but still I don't have much to complain about. It's always nice to see Bob, although I can't help but feel like he's essentially become the series' equivalent to Wile E Coyote in every sense. He has no ulterior purpose and no real personality outside of just wanting to kill Bart. I guess it's kind of unavoidable at this point, and I have to admit I'm glad they seem to have phased his extended family out of the picture; I guess it's just kinda bittersweet because maybe...it's just a final confirmation that there's nothing left to do with Bob.

At least in an episodic format.

I liked the different cops in the different regions too. Part of me couldn't help but feel that having them all be basically Wiggum/Lou/Eddie with different outfits, accents and mannerisms could have been pretty hilarious too but it was probably better not to overdo that, keep it all distinct.

And by the way, the face thing doesn't bother me one bit. ;p

3 I guess

[qwertyuio]

I am again, amazed how people can actually vote this to be a 4/5 or a 5/5. I just don't understand it. Do you just don't like the earlier episodes? Do you rate the new one as just as good? The people giving 5/5 usually does it to every episode, so maybe that explains it.

I think rating 4/5 an episode with solid pacing and jokes, which keeps me entertained enough for an even better grade, despite having a single bad -actually, terrible- decision throughout its development as I have also implied in my review (which anyway doesn't affect my enjoyement of the whole show in the level of, say, NoOneFamous), it's not such a weird act to make it feel like the damn epitome of senseless vote. So keep your speculation out of this thread, please.

[jscottstroup]

Seasons 1 and 2 get a lot of hate for not being 'funny' enough.

Too bad. Season 2 is almost a masterpiece, as far as I'm concerned.

[Nauru-1]

It's a shame how many people are calling this the best of the season, because IMO I think it's down there between the worst episode, "Greatest Story", and "Thursdays". 2/5, because it at least started off interesting and had some pretty amusing gags.

To be fair, I've disliked most of the episodes this season and last, so it's not much of a compliment from me to call it one of the most interesting of the year. Any episode with amusing gags and interesting beginnings you speak of is more than I get most of the time.

[Walter Pembroke the Third]

3/5
The faces coming off as gags seemed kind of...wacky. So did Bob cutting off his own face twice. Other than that, fuuuuuuuuuun episode. I loved Bob's plan. It would be interesting if an actual murderer is inspired by this episode to use it.

Do you like Kesley Grammer and Sideshow Bob?
Do you like Suspense and good laughs?
Do you like waitress who like gay dudes or faceless dudes,.. or both?

Then boy, oh boy! do I have an episode for YOU! Its garden fresh and will air on Hulu sometime tomorrow. Don't miss it!
Gator gave it a 5 outta 5 .. cause it made me feel alive!

That's the magic of Gatorgod: he can overrate episodes without making you want to make death threats and questions of sexuality.

[Coach McGuirk]

4/5.

would have given it a 5/5 , but the face thing in act 3 was dumb.

great jokes all around. i liked milhouse's line, Mom, dad I got the part

marge with the down periscope ref.

clancy wiggim driving in teh cop car while sleeping

the whole taco bit.

pretty good writing all around.

and the waitress was hilarious.

i hope to see ted flanders in the future some more.

[CousinMerl]

I found this episode to be surprisingly good; it was great to finally have a true Sideshow Bob episode since his last apperance was a mere cameo (which was practically just a waste of screentime). The face switching plot itself is really good and while elements was a little predictable, it turned out to be a nice story with some good moments along the way; this Sideshow Bob episode wasn't at all a letdown in my opinion.

There were some really funny moments in the episodes; some favorites being Wiggum's drawing, him driving the squad car in his sleep, the four teenage Bart's in Marge's vision, the Harry Potter spoiler gag (I pity the ones who watched this episode and got spoiled themselves by that moment) and Ned's cousing moving in next to the Simpsons; the taco exchange between Homer and the mexican vendor was also pretty amusing.

The face transplant scene was pretty dark but not over the top (still, it was a little graphic when they showed Bob cutting off Walt's face and lifting it off) and while the moments when Bob's and later Walt's faces falls off due to the waitress pulling out the loose threads were a bit gross, they were pretty silly and not so disturbing; however, the scene where Bob starts to cut his own face off infront of the mirror was a litte unsettling, but him accidentally sewing Walt's face on upside down was pretty funny so at least it had a good payoff. Walt was a good character and I hope he'll be back in another episode, I wonder what happened to him at the end since he just disappeared after Bob got arrested.

I liked that the Five Corners location was used again (only this time it looked drastically different than the last time); it was a nice callback and callbacks are always welcome in my opinion. I also hope that the next time Bob returns, he will have another evil plan in mind other than to kill Bart; I like the 'Bob is after Bart' plots, but it would be nice seeing another episode where he has other intentions. Overall, I think this was a really good Sideshow Bob episode; it was neither the best or the worst. I didn't have too high hopes of the episode and that might have had a good effect on my viewing of the episode.

4/5

[Bella Drape 'er]

Lou: Hey hey that Ralphie's getting to be a pretty fine artist.
Wiggum: I drew it.

^
One of the few good things about the episode.

Seriously, capturing Bart and going to shoot a gun at him in a wide open space? Yeah, that's definitely going to get the viewers intense and wondering how Bart could possibly getting out of this predicament - especially when Bob is actually worried about going back to prison, and is worried about what state he's in.

I must say although I'm glad Walter got distracted by that bee in his...face, the cheap resolution of Bart calling the cops of all five states (how did he knew they were going to go to the five corners? ) was an even bigger insult than Bob's time wasting on the five corners.


- The Italian Bob at least covered new ground and had a built-in vacation episode, so we wouldn't have to suffer with a whole one in that season.
- Funeral for a Fiend, though had missed loads of potential with the guest stars at least had a thrilling climax (Bob burning Bart in the coffin).
- This post-classic version of "Die! Bart Die!" was just a predictable and pedestrian outing, that will no doubt be disregarded by fans because it put a THOH segment in a non-THOH episode.

2/5

[Mr. Krikt]

Definitely agree with the comparison. Don't think they fell flat, though.

Considering they had to make up that hybrid cars are tracked by the government, I thought it was missing the finesse of the earlier ones, but perhaps that's nostalgia.
This one boiled down to Bart phoning the police and a flimsy plot device.

[Juiceloosener]

I think rating 4/5 an episode with solid pacing and jokes, which keeps me entertained enough for an even better grade, despite having a single bad -actually, terrible- decision throughout its development as I have also implied in my review (which anyway doesn't affect my enjoyement of the whole show in the level of, say, NoOneFamous), it's not such a weird act to make it feel like the damn epitome of senseless vote. So keep your speculation out of this thread, please.

Well, at least you are enjoying the new episodes, good for you. The thing that bothers me is just that the show used to be so good, but now has changed beyond recognition, for the worse (in my opionion, anyway). If you really feel that the new episodes are almost perfect, as you state in your signature, how do you feel about the episodes before season 10?

[Rest your giant head]

This has to be my absolute least favorite Sideshow Bob episode so far. I just think the writers desperately needed a story about Sideshow Bob for the sake of bringing him back this season, even if the story turned out to be a total mess. And it most certainly did.

The thing that bothered me the most in this episode was the outrageously ridiculous idea about switching faces. Not only that it was unrealistic, but it was painful to watch. The whole thing wasn’t even resolved at the end, with Bob being taken back to prison with Walt’s face.

What saved this episode from being a complete failure was a handful of good jokes, such as Marge walking through the prison hall, ‘’Man, that dude does not like Bart!’’, and Lou’s radar gun.

I was disappointed with the last couple of minutes as well, because I expected at least a good explanation at the end. Bart called the police before he went with Walt, still being suspicious – yeah, right. Bob’s plan about killing Bart intrigued me, although it wasn’t too realistic neither.

D

[The Governor]

3/5

That's the magic of Gatorgod: he can overrate episodes without making you want to make death threats and questions of sexuality.

We'll just turn him into Lousie Verton handbag and sell him for mint.

[Kayasith]

1/5

Well, this episode was a big disappointment for me, a couple of funny gags, but mostly, this episode really didn't entertain me , in fact, I was embarrased to watch it, from it's mediocre start, to it's half assed conclusion.

I am still surprised by the face transplant thing, with all the lame humor the writers throw at us, I still don't get why they did that gross out gag repeatedly, I guess that whole face transplant phase must've been a hilarious creation to the writers of this show.

Anyway, I'm done with watching any new episodes, I can't stand watching these, modern episodes that Al Jean allows to air on TV.

[Miss Diko]

3/5 Not the best Sideshow Bob episode, but I did like the idea of the personality/face switch, and the line "it's better than what the other inmates did to me in my sleep." The hop-skotch scene on the 5 corners was a bit drawn out too long though. Bob did a good job at acting out the good neighbor.

There's a Frasier episode where Kelsey Grammer prides himself on singing "Three Little maids from school" over the radio, and I liked seeing that in this episode with his little fan in the glove compartment.

[Monsteroids]

I actually liked the face switching and the gag it set up at the gas station, but overall I thought this episode was kinda poor and quick. A 2 of 5.

[qwertyuio]

Well, at least you are enjoying the new episodes, good for you. The thing that bothers me is just that the show used to be so good, but now has changed beyond recognition, for the worse (in my opionion, anyway). If you really feel that the new episodes are almost perfect, as you state in your signature, how do you feel about the episodes before season 10?

Have just seen this.

I enjoy a good portion of these new episodes, and don't feel they are almost perfect although my ratings could drive you to that conclusion. I'm not that kind of critic whose reviews are basically a list of praise notes ands end up giving the episode a 3/5 just because of one or two scenes. I am quite indulgent instead, and trust me there is a big difference between my classic and post-classic average, including season 21.

To put a right example, I have given my highest grade seven times in these last twelve seasons; compare it with my over ninety episodes list from seasons 1-9. And, again, there lies the problem of considering 10/10 a "perfect score", which I couldn't care less because my ratings respond to purely subjective enjoyment and not mathematical accuracy.

[Financial Panther]

I've already reviewed this, but I have a question: Why are so many people disturbed about the face joke? I was totally fine with it, and there are many, many worse things. I just think it's funny, because it's so outlandish, and I love the expression when the faces are ripped off.

[lionelhutz123]

It doesn't matter how many worse things the show has done, the face switching idea/execution is awful. It's beyond the universe of the show, it's unnecessary, and out of character for Bob. He's not that stupid to go through something as disturbing as switching his face with someone elses just to kill a 10 year old, which he fails at anyway. What's the point of going through so much trouble to hide your identity when he reveals to Bart who he is? The whole thing is just silly to me. One of the worst Bob episodes yet, and I can't believe people hyped this.

[Disgruntled Goat]

I don't care about the character stuff, the face switching was just gross. The Simpsons is (was) a realistic show, it's not a sci-fi show and it's not Family Guy.

Even if you stretch the "rubber band reality" to allow remotely plausible sci-fi concepts, there's still no excuse or explanation for Bob not dying after having his face unthreaded and ripped off in public. Even Face/Off wasn't as retarded as this episode.

[tvguy347]

The episode was.....decent. I didn't like how Bob switched faces with another person...it was disgusting. The other parts of the episode were decent, but not great. The episode lacked comedy which is the genre of the show so I was disappointed with that.

3.2/5

[qwertyuio]

I hate the switching faces scene, it's utterly disgusting and one of those moments that feel absolutely out of the mood of The Simpsons.

In fact it's up there among my least favorite scenes in the whole series, and maybe the only thing that keeps me from giving it the first place is that the episode is pretty much decent, even good, besides that gorey revelation. I think there are some redeeming qualities; good jokes, good pacing, etc. helping to make an entertaining experience of the episode in spite of that big, almost unforgivable flaw.

[Old painty-can Ned]

Finally caugh this episode on TV and it was a pretty basic post classic era episode(especially the Jean era). It was filled with a few good gags (Bob in the car with Bart saying he can sing all the Gilbert and Sullivan I want, The rake scene(always a classic) and the Bob sounds like a lot of people(my mom even laughed at that one and she hasn't watched the show since season 8). It also had two decent acts ( the 2nd and the last). But overall it was filled with stupid humor: The Taco thing was flat out retardation,Marge walking through the jail,The new neighbor and the face thing . Overall the premise is good but once again the writers ruin something that could've been good/great(at least by post classic era standards). Sideshow bob episodes in the post classic era have been brutal with the exception of Jackanapes and this was wasn't brutal but it wasn't a good sideshow episode like they used to be ( but nothing about the show really is). It was nice to see El Barto back I dunno when the last time they used it it may have been recent and I just didn't pick it up.

Grade: C

[Solachinx]

*For full effect, imagine Comic Book Guy saying this.*

You could say that this is an allegory of The Simpsons' different styles (Classic in the begining, Scully-Brand wackiness in the middle, Early-Jean-Brend semi-classicness from diner scene to five corners, and Late-Jean-Brand mehness at the conclusion), but that's too smart for current Simpsons' writers.

The Begining to around the end of the prison scene felt almost like a classic episode, with it's good pacing, clever jokes (Cooking the books and fudging the numbers, the silouettes, Hello B.A.R.T., and the mentioning of Grammer's different roles), and excellent characterization. Then we get to the infamous face scene, which feels like something ripped out of a THoH or a Scully season (where it should've stayed) and the mystery is instantly ruined. Skip forward to the diner sequence where have more gratuitous gross-out humor and where the Scullyness thankfully dies (and why would the waitress lie?). Then we get to the five corners plan which is very clever (and I LOVE the taco joke, deff. a classic-type joke) which is pretty good until the solution to how Bob gets cought in the most cliched of ways. Oh, and Bart's joke about Lisa's face being replaced with a butt; that was stupid and unfunny.

It started out well, but the face scenes really ruined it for me. I don't mind stretching reality for jokes, but it needs to stay at least ten miles away from actual plot. 2/5, or a D.

[The Governor]

*For full effect, imagine Comic Book Guy saying this.*

Nah, there's really no need to perpetuate the antiquated, 1997 "CBG" stereotype. Nearly everyone uses the internet nowadays and many use it to sound off about...whatever, and the majority of them aren't fat, collect comic books, nor live in their parent's basements.

[Nameless]

I could just about take the face switching. Bob's entire face coming loose, exposing the internals was too much, and really ruined what would have been an OK episode for me. The callback to Krusty Gets Busted, the Five Corners plan and some other stuff I liked, but yeah... faces peeling off...

C

[fakename]

it was a pretty good episode. sideshow bob was pretty clever to switch faces, but that was kinda strange too. but i thought it was an interesting episode.

[Mr.]

For me this is by far the poorest Sideshow Bob episode. It was WAY too predictable and the plot was way to simple. What I like about “Brother From Another Series” for example is the fact that the viewers get surprise on the end as well where the Bob ends up being good all the long. Here the ending was obvious from the start. How ever...
On other hand there where some great jokes on the way.

Overall :
3/5

[MargeSimpson]

I loved this episode like i love any sideshow bob episode. great jokes and an interesting plot.
From the moment bart introduced himself to walt (bob) and heard that voice i loved the episode.
Sideshow bob slicing off his face was too graphic but that in no way ruined this episode for me. I enjoyed bart flipping through all of walt's (bob) magazines but my favourite scene was the prison one with marge and bart, "pretty lady in a strapless dress, nothing holding up the dress but her mellons!"
4.5/5


"You want the truth? you can't handle the truth. i derive your truth handling abilities!" Sideshow bob- Sideshow bob roberts

[Bartesque]

Slightly worse than Funeral For A Fiend, slightly better than Italian Bob.

The face switching was one of the most disgusting things I've seen on the show, and made worse by seeing the face loosen on both Bob and Walt (when around the diner). It simply kills any potential for this episode to be the likeable, tense Bob adventure it wants to be. The highlight: "someone switched your face, with a butt".

4/10