Rate and Review: "Homer Scissorhands" (NABF13)

[The Governor]

Homer Scissorhands (NABF13)
Homer's natural gift for hairdressing leads him to open his own salon, but can he handle having to work on talkative women all day?; Lisa spurns Milhouse yet again, only to become jealous of his new fifth-grade girlfriend

[The Governor]

I liked this one! With the exception of some over the top stupidity (like the bridge being cut down), it was well paced and both plots were entertaining enough, although I wish Milhouse would've fell a few feet (but wound up okay) instead of riding up on a bird. (WTF?)

4/5, or B+

EDIT: I still preferred Homer the Father over this.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Wow, I honestly don't know how to react. This was easily the second best of the season. Hell, it may even be on par with Homer the Father. Both stories were just about perfect. The only flaw in either was a few weak gags in the third act of Homer's story but still...this was great. Everyone was in character, plenty of great moments/funny gags, and are Lisa and Milhouse now...?wow.

Also, I get the sense the couch gag will be crushed here, but if it is please be aware that it was not technically a part of the episode itself. I don't know if I recognized the two writers of this episode but get them back for more!

Also, great callbacks to Jub-Jub and Martin's Lute

[IceDoesntHelp]

Couch gag was too long, other then that very funny. I thought Lisa's line "Like my boots?" was adorable.

[biffwestwood]

3/5

The first two acts were really funny with Lisa messing up a picture at the expense of Bart and later Homer discovering his hidden talent. Milhouse trying to show his affection for Lisa with a terrible song and then falling in love with another girl. But when it enters the third act, it turns all random. The writers can't seem to decide what they ultimately want regarding Milhouse's secret crush on Lisa. The later part of the main plot seems like they couldn't work out a proper finale or even how Homer successfully gets out of this business. I can easily relate to Homer hating to hear the ladies gossip. My favorite gag was all those white boxes with various bad habits stated on them.

[bradbradford]

Loved, loved this episode. Such a good time in the season to give us somr major millhouse, and he certainly delivered. "everythings coming up millhouse" line comeback!


Also can i say im a sucker for hans moleman, so that nudged this to a 5 for me ;-)

[lionelhutz123]

This was decent. The only things that hurt the Homer plot for me was a few bad jokes like the running with scissors scene and Wiggum's annoying voice. Other than that, it was actually a pretty toned down Homer story. Instead of having him embrace his newfound gift until the last second of an episode where he gets out of it through rushed execution, here we see him trying to get out of it early in the plot. This made the conflict more interesting, rather than it serving as an endless gagfest. Still, it wasn't anything too special, but definitely a good change of pace. The ending to it was alot more thought out than your standard episode and the dynamic with Homer and Marge was sweet, but ick, I could do without those primal noises Marge makes these days when she's wooed by Homer.

Lisa's plot was definitely the highlight for me. I thought it was decently written in a sense considering I was able to understand what was really going on without them making it too obvious OR without pretending like it was going to be some big reveal. I like how the story starts out with them acknowledging the fact that Milhouse proposing his love to Lisa is like beating a dead horse at this point, because it leads you on to think it's just a recycled premise to create a story about Milhouse sticking it to Lisa, but what you get is actually something more worthwhile for the series. It was sweet, believable, and had good structure from beginning to end. Also, Lisa showing Bart her boots was such a cute and funny moment. I'll give this a 3/5. It would have been better if some lame jokes were cut out.

Oh, and what was that thing Helen Lovejoy said about old Seinfeld episodes?? If anyone remembers that would be great.

[The Governor]

Helen said the Rev should quit basing his sermons on old Seinfeld episodes.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

^ She had to tell Tim to stop giving sermons about Old Seinfeld episodes, I believe.

EDIT: DAMN YOU JAKE!

[Jesse Pinkman]

that was great. one of the best episodes of the season for me, if not the best. there were some stupid parts, like homer running with the scissors, and milhouse and the eagle (but the return of 'everything's coming up milhouse!' got a chuckle out of me). both plots were pretty great and i found myself laughing quite a bit. well done. 4.5/5, maybe round up to a 5/5

[The Wiggs]

I really enjoyed that episode. A lot of funny stuff and both stories were actually interesting. Moe gave me 2 good laughs. The first with the fake smile at the bar and then him in the bush in the woods. Possibly the best episode of the season. 4/5

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Another thing about this episode is that almost every secondary character was used well! They were in character! Even Wiggum, the only one who, to me pushed it with that annoying noise gag. Anyone else notice Judge Harm at the party at the end though? I laughed way too hard at Moe in the bushes and Lisa's reaction to it btw.

Upon closer inspection it seems that the writers for this episode were Peter Gaffney and Steve Viksten. I havn't heard of either but apparantly they both worked on Nicktoons in the 90s and Gaffney also worked on Disney's Recess and the Simpsons until 2006. Maybe the show needs people who havn't seen it in several years to write good episodes again?

Also, we've had two hair themed episodes this year and the other aired for Valentine's Day. This one seems more appropriate though.

[lovebug]

Pretty good episode, there were a couple of laugh out loud moments. Like when Moe was next to the Duff slogan that said "killer" on it. I laughed pretty hard at that.

4/5

[Snaked]

Watched the first act. A bit of the 2nd act and stopped completely when Homer started clipping things down in favor of playing some good ol' MGS4. I did like the sequence when he was cutting the hair of the various women, though, due to it flowing so nicely.

Guess I should've watched the rest of it, eh?

[Gatorgod]

I want to see them continue to build on this comedy stressed Milhouse/Lisa relationship... 5/5

[Financial Panther]

This was really, really good! A bunch of laughs, and very original ideas. For once, it actually portrayed Lisa as an antagonist, which put a fresh spin on things, and Milhouse had a bigger part than he's had in a while. It lagged a bit toward the end, but picked up at the conclusion. Some of the voices were off, but that was it. 5/5!

[zartok-35]

Upon closer inspection it seems that the writers for this episode were Peter Gaffney and Steve Viksten. I havn't heard of either but apparantly they both worked on Nicktoons in the 90s and Gaffney also worked on Disney's Recess and the Simpsons until 2006.

Peter Gaffney wrote THOH XVII, which alot of people seem to hate.
Apparently the writers guild guidelines require the writing staff to farm out two episodes a season to freelancers, so we got these guys, and David Blasucci, who wrote last weeks episode.

[Semaj]

Up until tonight, there didn't seem to be a single memorable episode all season. This episode, written by two Classic Rugrats writers have given us a surprisingly good episode. The stories were focused, and nothing got bogged down by tired gags. A very funny story about Homer's hairstyling, though they did retcon the reason behind his balding.

Too early to speculate, but this does give new life to the notion that the show needs new blood in the writers' room, namely those with a successful track record.

4.5/5

[Mr.]

What a incredebly plesant episode!

"Edward Scissorhands" is one of my favorite movies (so I grow up a little bit emo - big deal) and I like the fact that refrences to the movie didn't end with the title (after all, what other movies you recal being center around a barber...? Other then "Sweeney Todd")

90% jokes and lines in this episodes work and made me luagh with very few moments that where "whatever" or felt too long (Millhouses song) The couch gag was a bit long as well but at the same time it was visualy entertaining to watch.

The ending of Lisa and Millhouse subtplot was very sweet and supprising, especially since I was expecting some clishe ending, here they actually made something that will have (smaller or biger) incpact on other episodes.


While many people put all the blame on script-writers for new episodes being not as good as the old, for me this episode had a perfect script but could work a little bit better in some parts - like when Lisa goes spying on Millhouse - if the director could made it more dramatic/create better tention by using more dramating ligts, camera angles ect. Heck! I think many of new episode are Ok as scripts but get screw up in the execution - just my few cents


Over all - It was good episode, very funny and propably my favorite this season!


EDIT : Ow! And one character from old episodes who makes a brief apperance - the mom who get's abuse by her son (from "Marge not Proud" and more) but sadly without her offsrping...

[bovine_university]

Not bad, pretty good in fact, one of the best of the season.

The main plot was pretty well paced overall. I liked the fact that right off the bat we know Homer has a gift, and how he got it. The sequence of him cutting the hair of all the ladies was very well directed and really got the feel of just how much of a curse Homer's talent had become. I kind of wish more had been done with the idea that not only was the job directly driving him crazy, but even hanging out with the guys was freaking him out what with the foibles and ticks he had heard. It seemed like it was going somewhere, but it really doesn't (though the bar scene itself was pretty funny). The final resolution actually worked quite well, we already knew about the police banquet ahead of time, and the plan that Marge and Homer came up with was funny and clever. The final scene with the two of them and Homer doing her hair was kind of romantic too, with some nice scenery shots.

The subplot worked pretty well also. Subplots have not been this season's strong suit at all, but this one worked quite well. Again it didn't waste time with Lisa or Milhouse, and it thankfully did not turn into a huge pathetic Milhouse keeps professing his love but Lisa keeps shooting him down plot. She says no right from the start, which leads him to Taffy, and soon she becomes the obsessive one. It made sense for her to be acting that way, and her final decision was not conclusive, but it didn't feel like a cheat either. If she ever did fully return the affection to him it would be a blow to