"The Daughter Also Rises" Rate/Review

[Cartoonnetwork]

The couch gag was a little long, but not that much. I thought it was ok.

As for the episode itself, well, they keep using this "perfect Lisa's boyfriend boys that we'll never see again" and Marge's opinion on the subject seemed underdeveloped. I got the idea that she still thinks of Lisa as her little child and she wants to have her around or something, but that's quite selfish on her part.

Other than that the episode was ok. The jokes and even the animation were pretty decent, and the subplot was pretty funny and different. Also a nice role for Grampa in the main plot and good 'pain' gags with Homer for once, maybe cause they didn't involve so much pain this time.

3,5/5

[jonnymack]

Third time's a charm!
2008: Cera played Nick O'Leary in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
2009: Cera played Nick Twisp in Youth in Revolt

Hmmmmm. I didn't even notice that. I was just thinking that there was a character "Nick" that was the protagonist for a multitude of Hemingway short stories.

[Comicshow MolemanBob]

Pretty funny episode, but it lost some points because the did the couch gag for the 500th episode too early. Wasn't that for the next episode?

[D DEBBS]

To: Marge Simpson

KIDS GROW UP! DEAL WITH IT...do you expect Lisa to be eight years old FOREVER?

Wait a minute...Lisa IS eight years old forever...OOPS!

FINALLY...A DECENT EPISODE! 3/5!

[Bert Stanton]

Okay well I found this a groin grabbingly hilarious episode. But to me (as always) the plotlines seem rushed. Whether that is due to FOX deadlines or whatever the writing obviously isn't what is was.
Very funny, if slightly underdeveloped - both Marge's attitude and Nick as a whole.

Overall gets a 9 from me. 5 on the poll.

[Comicshow MolemanBob]

Best line in the episode...

Lisa: (Walking up to Nick after seeing him through the crack in the wall) Is it you, are you my crack head?!

[Bert Stanton]

Oh and Moe calling Marge Midge. God I have missed that. Shouldn't enjoy it as much as I do but there you go

[Matty]

The password is: bad writing

Seriously, it was jarring how suddenly the Lisa plot changed directions and motivations every few minutes

2/5 for a couple of laughs

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

The Daughter Also Rises

Finally, after months of really bad episodes, we have one that's just mediocre. From the moment I read the episode description, I ended up thinking to myself that I wouldn't like this episode due to it's entirely unoriginal premise and it turns out that I didn't but not to the level that I thought I would. Bear with me on this one.

First thing you'll notice is that there are less zany stuff during the episode and more down-to-earth stuff. That doesn't mean that there isn't any zany stuff and that the episode is entirely down-to-earth; it just contains a somewhat realistic premise and jokes which aren't as zany/wacky. This does work well for the mood the writers want to set with the episode and the plot that they want to have; I mean you can't have a valentine's day episode (especially one with Lisa) be 100% zany and wacky, it just doesn't work out. However... Despite it being mostly replaced with a down-to-earth plot, there are a lot of moments and characters that seem out of place and that don't deliver their dialog effectively and believably; that fault is evident a lot of times; for example, the dialog between Lisa and Michael Cera seems clichish, almost as if Michael Cera (who doesn't try to sound like a kid, despite the fact that he was in a 2003 remake of "The Bernstein Bears".) is acting sophisticated/perfect (instead of acting as a cross between the two) and Lisa was just being attracted to him due to him being sophisticated; it'd be somewhat good if the character exhibited some subtle faults but it's like the writers were trying to set up a surprise, and they failed. Character wins over surprises every time...

It's clear that the plots have potential and the writers did try to do something good (The Lisa and Marge plot for example) but that potential/good is wasted. There isn't a clear balance between Lisa and Marge and Lisa and that Michael Cera character and as a result, none of it connects in a way that you'd want to. This translates into the characters themselves as Marge acts out of character for most of the episode and some characters even switch positions without any prior notice; consistency is key in episodes, if it ain't consistent then it ain't going to work out. There is also an attempt to make this as romantic as possible (even having a small background running joke where people leave their dates for similar dates and holding their hands) but even it doesn't work; granted some of the animation is impressive but it seems like they're overcompensating a bit for the faults of the episode. Even the moral of the episode is ruined because it feels like the writers had a few minutes to fill and decided to make up something that didn't fit his character nor was it even shown in his character before... (It does make him somewhat undesirable and it is unexpected (even somewhat hinted.) but still.) As I said before, character wins over surprises every time; though I can understand why they did that.

There are a couple of jokes in this episode as expected but most of them don't land and alot of them are overly visual. Case in point, we have various visual gags going on while Lisa and Michael are standing around doing stuff together; we have visual gags during the MythBusters subplot, we have visual gags during the Lisa and Marge plot, we have visual gags nearly everywhere and they take up over 75% of the episode, while some of the jokes are good (Grandpa for example, also MythBusters...); most of them seem really, really extravagant and the extravagance takes over whatever humor these gags have; even the best visual gags are the really simple ones; that can be a problem since most of these gags form the basis of the episode and while they can be taken out, the episode doesn't feel like one as a whole. Even the weak gag set to Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" (shows that the writers have really poor taste in songs) is needed to support the whole episode. The small amount of verbal jokes that do exist land though and some of them are even somewhat clever, only problem I would have is that there are some things where try to do something admirable but the stuff that has happened during the last few seasons or so give them less weight and impact.

The subplot that does serve the side of the episode is good and as Raspberry said, more enjoyable then the main plot. The parody of MythBusters earlier in the episode does serve to derail the sideplot but they actually do the show's premise well and alot of the moments in the sideplot serve as one of the best moments in the episode; it has a unique idea, it's cute, most of the people are in character and while it does face some plotting issues in the end, it is decently resolved (even though there are some unanswered questions.) It does contain some wacky looking moments but those are done in a somewhat down-to-earth way and there are barely any bad jokes (save for the candy cigarettes and Willie.), if people are going to remember something from this episode; it's going to be this.

If there's anything this episode proves, is that Season 23 slightly recovers but ends up meidocre rather then being anything incredible. The Lisa/Michael/Marge plot is servicable; there are some good jokes and the Bart/Milhouse MythBusters plot ends up being the best part of the episode. However, there are some bad jokes and the Lisa/Michael/Marge plot does have some problems. It's a shame, both plots had potential but they just had to be wasted; oh well...

5.0/10

[Bleedin' Gums Murphy]

I pretty much agree Zombies, I rated the episode 4.5/10 but for me I thought the B-plot was even worse than the main plot and pretty much all of the jokes - especially with the bullies who are just so cringeworthy these days - fell flat.

[Bartesque]

Episode 499 was the lowest rated episode in the history of the show, with just 4.33 million people watching. The previous record was "The Great Simpsina" at 5.00 million.

Sadly (or happily for some) the viewers have responded to the 500th episode hype with yawns. Angry yawns.

[Tubbb!]

Sadly (or happily for some) the viewers have responded to the 500th episode hype with yawns. Angry yawns.

That's kind of sad to hear, especially since this would be a very accessible episode for the average TV viewer. I can understand why it happened, though, what with so many turds in a row.

As for that review, I read the whole thing... and it's mostly the reviewer criticizing a joke / plot point that he either missed, or didn't get, which he fully covered in the first paragraph. There was no need to blather on about it in the third and fourth paragraph.

And, I'll add this now: I don't think that Nick "went through a sudden personality change." When it comes down to it, his bark is worse than his bite. He talked suave, but when it came to putting the moves on Lisa, he couldn't do it. Seemed perfectly cromulent to me.

I did like the chart from the review. So, I capped it and added some info to it.

I think you have to account for this episode airing against the Grammys. One, I might add, that was supposed to be a total baww fest for our most recent celebrity death. As soon as I heard Whitney died, I knew the ratings for this episode would dip.

[Alex_Of_Darkness]

I finally watched this episode and I must say it is a very nice and surprise one. I was not expecting this at all before seeing it. This is proof that we should not judge an episode before seeing it. This is far from a masterpiece but I would not complain if all the episode would be as good as this one. Like most fans who have seen the episode, I preferred the story of Bart and Milhouse to the story of Lisa although it was still not bad. However, I must say that I did not worship Nick because you learn nothing to know him and I think it looks a lot older than his age but it does not bother me much. By the way, nice little reference to Bashir in season 20 when Nick asks Marge if she is the sister of Lisa. At least, I like Lisa in the episode and I think the scene towards the end of the episode with Marge on the island was really cute and well-placed. In addition, there was quite a joke in this story and in the other story so I enjoyed myself watching this episode. For the story of Bart and Milhouse, I really liked it and I think this story could have an episode in itself although it could also have been tiresome with too many myths in school. At least, he ends the episode by bringing a new myth yo the school was a great idea and I liked that Bart make Milhouse does all the test. In short, I put a good 3,5/5 to it.

[Jims]

I thought it started out good enough but halfway through it lost steam. I felt like the Lisa plot radically derailed halfway through for no apparent reason. I might have missed something, but the second act break where Marge suddenly and randomly told Lisa she doesn't want her to spend so much time with Nick came right out of nowhere and was incredibly forced and awkward. Everything that followed felt unmotivated, and Nick's quick transformation into a wuss and Lisa's forcefulness in their relationship hardly made sense to me. Overall it wasn't as bad as the last few episodes but it was pretty murky storytelling overall, and wound up being a really forgettable episode.

Co-signed.

The only thing I would add is that there seemed to be more self-awareness in the joke-writing in this episode, which really worked well. It's annoying when The Simpsons do the same joke over and over again... And to be fair, they did some of that in this episode (most notably Otto walking away from another store). But there were a lot of moments where they tweaked the joke a little to give it something new. It was stuff like Marge reading the card to Homer, or Marge waiting for the embarrassing thing to happen.

I didn't care that much for the candy cigarette joke with Nelson, but the callback joke with the Twix was executed nicely. It's just, "I thought you were quitting", "Hey, it's a Twix", and then the scene is over. A nice quick little callback.

Although others didn't care for it, I also liked the Sherri/Terri joke. The delivery and timing of "maybe you're going craaazy" sold the joke. It was also at a point in the episode where you start wondering if Marge is a little insane, so the surrealist nature of it works.

3.5/5.

[IceToSeeYou]

Best line in the episode...

Lisa: (Walking up to Nick after seeing him through the crack in the wall) Is it you, are you my crack head?!

Hmmm, 2 crack references in an episode that didn't have anything to do with drugs.

[Tomacco]

The Sherri/Terri joke didn't bug me aside from the fact that they held the shot of the 3 of them swapping for what felt like 10 seconds too long. Really weird.

[Kiyosuki]

I kinda laughed at the twin shuffle a little bit, if only because it was so...random and weird.

Other than that I guess this was...okay. I mean, it'd be an accomplishment to be as bad or worse as the episode before this but I thought the sub plot was mildly fun. I think it was weak that they revealed Michael Ceras' faults only at the very, very end of the episode rather than gradually build up to it though. He's like perfect for the whole episode, then only at the very very end he's suddenly like, allergic to everything, nervous, and selfish. There's no hint to it before whatsoever, so there's no real feel or even point to Lisa's dilemma. At least in say...I Love Lisa, they didn't just pack in Ralphs' better qualities for the very very end during the play they gradually showed that he's not just Lisa's doofusy classmate (at least back then), which makes it so you can kinda understand why Lisa's a bit annoyed since he is a doofus...but at the same time you can understand why she's still going along with it too since he does show some endearing qualities. With this, instead of maybe slowly hinting at Cera's (I don't even remember the character's name, not that it matters.) faults to eventually build up to him being revealed to be the fraud that he is and actually make an episode around it...it's just mostly a montage of how amazing their relationship is until the sudden NOPE at the very end so it kinda makes it seem like Lisa's actually sort of flimsy herself. That's just lazy. I know he's a disposable character but so were many other better ones, still no excuse. It also means lack of any real big humor, most of it coming from the still sort of lazy but at least mildly entertaining mythbusters subplot.

still not terrible or anything. Just flat.

[MagicalManFromHappyLand]

They've done that dynamic so many times with Bart and Lisa's partners where they realise why their partne'rs not right for them at the end of the episode, it would be interesting to see a different angle where their partner realises that Bart/Lisa aren't right for them (OK so they might have done that once or twice before, but it's been done fewer times than this scenario).
The episode would've been more interesting if you slowly realised that Lisa and Nick were actually really different instead of just right at the end, and then at the very end Nick decides that he doesn't want to be with Lisa, then ending with a scene where Marge is there to comfort Lisa. (That could actually be a very good idea for an episode, where Lisa/Bart meet a love interest who is too good for them).

Maybe they could've spent more time developing a plot if they hadn't spent 20~ seconds with Lisa covering and uncovering her eyes, and another 20~ seconds with Sherri and Terri doing their weird twin thing.

[Dobbie]

Another boring episode. I suppose this was better than the last 2-3 episodes that this show 'produced' but I still found it rather bland and uninteresting. It had potential like most of the modern episodes but the execution was poor. The plot moved too fast (all of a sudden Nick is a liar...OK, writers!) and I found Marge's characterization to be a bit off in this episode.

The subplot was alright. It wasn't overused and it had it's place. It was a bit bland itself but at least Bart and Milhouse were in character (boys will be boys).

I enjoyed the Sherri/Terri gag and Grandpa's 'notebook' about waiting for his death. Other then that a rather forgettable episode. 2/5.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

I enjoyed the Sherri/Terri gag

Ugh, that went on for an eternity.

[Dobbie]

Ugh, that went on for an eternity.

It started to go onto 'overused' territory but they ended it just in time for me to enjoy it a bit.

[mr9865]

loved the episode! Talking lunch lady Doris?

[Mr. Krikt]

Maybe they could've spent more time developing a plot if they hadn't spent 20~ seconds with Lisa covering and uncovering her eyes, and another 20~ seconds with Sherri and Terri doing their weird twin thing.

...Or the bit with Marge trying to walk to the island.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the direct references, I'd nearly believe I was watching a different episode based on all the reviews. It was such a boring episode and there was nothing new; another Bart/Lisa romance that falls apart right at the end of the episode.

[matisptfan]

Meh, didn't really liked it. Stories on Lisa's lovers that don't include Ralph usually aren't laughable. I believe it's the first time we saw Sherry and Terry's mum. Other than that, lousy episode.

[JoshG]

Thanks to the term's use in this week's "Raising Hope," I have discovered what Luigi's line "That's a spicy meat cute" actually refers to. Check it out, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_cute

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Huh, that's actually a little clever.

[Beth Sycamore]

I do have one question about this episode.

Are the characters of Moe and Nick possibly Father and son,or uncle and nephew?

Because they do look very much alike.

[Captain Squid]

I do have one question about this episode.

Are the characters of Moe and Nick possibly Father and son,or uncle and nephew?

Because they do look very much alike.

Well, when Nick gets up and heads to the buffet to meet Lisa, Marge appears to be talking to Moe through the same crack that Lisa talked to Nick through. I thought it was weird that Moe would be sitting with Nick, so I assumed he stole the seat when Nick and his invisible family got up. But Moe sitting with Nick because Nick is Moe's nephew, thats something I didn't think of!

[The Governor]

Well, when Nick gets up and heads to the buffet to meet Lisa, Marge appears to be talking to Moe through the same crack that Lisa talked to Nick through. I thought it was weird that Moe would be sitting with Nick, so I assumed he stole the seat when Nick and his invisible family got up. But Moe sitting with Nick because Nick is Moe's nephew, thats something I didn't think of!

Neither did the writers.

[J Dog]

As a MythBusters fan, this is a good/bad situation.

It's a "good" situation, because I always wanted them to do a "Simpsons"-themed episode and have one part focus on the scene from "Summer of 4''2" with Homer and the M-320 firework, and doing this episode may make that possible.

But, it's a "bad" situation because of the rest of the episode and it's main story. Cera wasn't that good and there was no character development, but the B-story at least kept Adam & Jamie on TV and not visiting Springfield to help Bart out like I thought they would've.

I gave it a 2/5.