Rate and Review "500 Keys" (NABF14)

[The Governor]

Lisa tries to unravel the mystery of the mysterious classroom underneath Springfield Elementary that disappears after Lisa unlocks its door with the set of keys to every door in town.

[Financial Panther]

Nobody has opened this thread yet. If it's been opened by the time I post this, you can lock it.

I was confused by this episode. It jumped from one plot point to the other. It could have easily done without the C Plot. Some of the jokes were truly hilarious, but some went on too long. It was easy to tell that guy was Otto, and overall, this episode was just strange. 2/5.

[Jesse Pinkman]

i wondered when someone would make a new thread.

anyways i liked this episode. bart trying to cause mischief, and failing, and lisa's plot with the classroom, were my favorite parts. homer in the blimp was alright (i think it would've been funnier if he texted chacha instead of lenny), and marge's plot bored me (but the scene in the irritable bowel meeting was humorous). otherwise there was nothing really wrong with the episode. the nelson joke with him repeating that same thing got old quick, but oh well. 4/5. pretty decent episode imo in terms of plot and comedy

[Captain Squid]

Loved it!

[Tomacco]

Gotta admit, wasn't too interested or impressed with the episode. More than a few plot points and jokes were predictable, and for a multi-story episode idea, none of the stories were fun or interesting to me.

[Old painty-can Ned]

There's already a thread made.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Yeah alright, if the other thread is eventually opened I can just copy me impressions in there.

Anywho I really liked this episode. The plots were reminiscent of format-bending episodes like Trilogy of Error. Every Simpson had a pretty good story to tell and I thought many jokes hit. I laughed pretty hard when Bart hoped nobody heard Gil call him his naked fairy savior, or something like that, and the next scene Mayor Quimby was calling him it. Lisa's story was a bit lighter on laughs but it was interesting. The mystery man who helped her was obviously Otto from the start. I didn't care too much for the mystery itself though, but it wasn't bad. Liked the resolution with the train and Homer having to buy Marge a new anniversary gift. Scorpio flying intro gag was also pretty good.

Didn't like the umbilical chord joke, found it pretty bad. Nelson repeating himself got annoying pretty fast as well. Harry Shearer's Otto also sounded pretty terrible here.

4/5 on the poll. Not the best, but in this season I'll take it.

[Captain Squid]

Duff Brewery was a highlight. I love episodes that stay in Springfield and move about the town. Brings me back to the good ol days of that Virtual Springfield computer game.

Not groundbreaking, but each story was a lot of fun and the concept came naturally. I'll need to freeze frame Homer's job keys.

[Wavy Gravy]

I hardly remember Seasons 14 through 16 and I've barely seen any episodes from Seasons 17 through 22, but I remain fairly confident that there's no gag in the history of the show worse than Brandine and the umbilical cord. That was like the anti-funny.

I can't shake the feeling that this episode was trying to be "22 Short Films About Springfield", but didn't have the chops to pull it off. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either - it just sat there, begging me to laugh at it. Every so often, a potentially good joke would come along and then fall flat on its face. For instance, Chief Wiggum being too fat to bend over ("Stuff on the ground is outside my jurisdiction") and not being able to apprehend Snake crawling between his legs could have been funny if it had stopped there...but then he has to lose his hat, and his pen, and his pants, and then his high school girlfriend has to walk by. Sorry, writers, you killed it.

All the money this show makes, I'm surprised they can't splurge on better CGI. There was a lot of it in this episode, especially on the Duff blimp, and it all looked like something out of a PlayStation 1 cutscene.

I think the only big laughs I got were from Homer sucking the frosting off Maggie's head, and Nelson making a wooden "Haw Haw" in shop class. It says a lot about the writing quality of an episode when only the sight gags make me laugh.

[Tomacco]

Lisa sure has a habit of finding secret closets that disappear when she tries to expose them to others.

[Tomacco]

Just putting it out there - I thought the umbilical cord joke was maybe the best gag in the episode.

[Jesse Pinkman]

i forgot about the brandine gag. probably a good thing. that was disgusting and not funny imo

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Just putting it out there - I thought the umbilical cord joke was maybe the best gag in the episode.

I really hope that's sarcasm.

I compared this episode to other format benders but rest assured when I say it was nowhere near as good as them. Its just that this is probably in the upper echelon of Season 22 episodes, not that that's saying much of course.

EDIT: I also laughed at both of Lisa's obsolete detective book characters thought bubbles and Homer and Bart's exchange in the blimp, particularly Homer calling him spoiled. So there were some good jokes here.

[biffwestwood]

5/5

500 Keys = 500 Laughs

This episode centered on a lot of wackiness which is what you would expect for a format bending episode. Lisa has a lot of the spotlight here, but Homer, Marge, and Bart also are portrayed well. I thought the secret room was the most fascinating part of the episode. I actually thought the sunken bus was going to have real kids that drowned and was surprised when it was revealed they were mannequins. There was also a cool callback with the epilogue.

In the opening introduction, we saw Lisa playing a violin in band practice. I am beginning to wonder if this is going to become a new variation in the opening sequence such as next week we could even see Lisa playing an accordian?

[Jesse Pinkman]

i also just remembered, at the end of act 3, when lisa is falling into the river/lake, whatever it was. at first, she is screaming, then she sees the bus and isn't screaming anymore. uh... surely if you saw a bus in water you were about to fall into, you'd scream harder than you originally were, wouldn't you? with the thought that there could be bodies in there or something? i mean she started screaming at the beginning of act 4, but at the end of act 3, when she sees the bus, she seems to have a somewhat satisfied look on her face, no doubt of course from finding the bus, but... come on, wouldn't one continue to scream, if not screaming louder, at the thought of seeing a bus in water you were just about to fall into?

[Friz]

I liked the bit with the keys.

500 Keys = 500 Laughs

Please list all 500 times that you laughed.

[Snaked]

Well this episode was an absolute shitload of fuck.

1/5

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

i also just remembered, at the end of act 3, when lisa is falling into the river/lake, whatever it was. at first, she is screaming, then she sees the bus and isn't screaming anymore. uh... surely if you saw a bus in water you were about to fall into, you'd scream harder than you originally were, wouldn't you? with the thought that there could be bodies in there or something? i mean she started screaming at the beginning of act 4, but at the end of act 3, when she sees the bus, she seems to have a somewhat satisfied look on her face, no doubt of course from finding the bus, but... come on, wouldn't one continue to scream, if not screaming louder, at the thought of seeing a bus in water you were just about to fall into?

It's a joke. Not a particularly good joke, but a joke.

Also, Lisa has played the violin in the intro before and its returned to saxophone the next week. Granted the episodes where they change her instrument appear to be chosen at random.

[Jesse Pinkman]

but how is it a joke? lisa screaming, and then not screaming when she saw the bus, it didn't seem like a joke, it just seemed like a way for them to end the act, by having lisa find what she was looking for. like the end of act 2 to lisa the iconoclast; it ended with them all gasping looking at the grave of jebediah springfield. there's no joke or anything, and i think this act's ending follows that

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Pretty sure they've done it before, the humor is supposed to come from the fact that she saw something she was looking for and became excited enough to forget her peril and ooooo at the site, if only for a moment. Again, not funny but that's the thought behind it.

[Jesse Pinkman]

oh, i just saw that as a way of ending the act, and having it end on the note that lisa had found what she was looking for. i didn't think there was a joke behind it

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

I guess I could be over analyzing but that's how I interpreted it anyway.

[bartyboy]

was that the first time we've seen duffman's ass?

[JoshG]

It's a joke. Not a particularly good joke, but a joke.

Also, Lisa has played the violin in the intro before and its returned to saxophone the next week. Granted the episodes where they change her instrument appear to be chosen at random.

Nope, this was the first time she's played the violin. She's played the trumpet in the opening twice before.