Rate and Review "How I Wet Your Mother" (PABF08)

[The Governor]

Man, this episode seemed really pointless. I know it's a parodyistic coy version of "Inception" with bed-wetting and I've seen inception, but this episode seemed like it was nudging you with "look, it's an Inception parody, huh, HUH!? Laugh, damnit!". Yeah, the Ullman short and Mona back for a moment was nice nostalgia, but this episode was too "it just happened for no reason" for my tastes--Frink just happens to land in front of Marge...Wiggum just happens to show up at the Simpson house, etc, and I know it's a cartoon so STFU.

Anyway, it was either too stupid, or it was actually funny, like when the crowd was throwing crap at the family in Lisa's dream, or Moe being used to slow up the gears, but Bart dancing in mid-air, ugh, or the urine alarm (it would've been funnier if Homer wet the sensor pad and got an electric shock for some negative reinforcement).

So, with the good and the bad, it comes out an average 3/5 for Zombie Simpsons, yes, I said ZOMBIE SIMPSONS and if you don't like it, don't go to bed angry and piss on your sheets!!!

EDIT: When, not if, a full-fledged SimpsonLand opens, you can bet the Homer-Coaster will look just like this on in the post above.

[bovine_university]

Man, this would have been the best episode of the season hands down if it weren't for a very weak start.

I wasn't really looking forward to this episode from the description, and for the first third or so of this episode my fears were coming true. Homer getting his friends in trouble and having him hammer home the karma stuff really didn't sit well with me, though I was pleasantly surprised to not only find out that wasn't what was to blame for Homer's incontinence, but it was quickly shoved out of the way and didn't take up too much of the story. Still, I wasn't really digging the first 8 minutes or so of the episode. There was a funny gag here or there, but so many of the jokes relied on urination humor. The puns, the visual of seeing Homer in a diaper, it was all pretty grating to me, and when the Inception parody began, I was only expecting things to get worse.

Thankfully I was very wrong. Things got much better as the episode went on and as the parody went on. There were some moments here and there that I thought were a little too on-the-nose with being a parody, but the various dreams they visited were actually a lot of fun. The classic look and Homer's Walter Matthau voice in Marge's dream really made me laugh, as did Lisa's dream getting completely glossed over. The final dream again was a little too close to what the movie was like, but it was still funny and great to look at. I could have done without the police showing up and putting urgency in the final dream (though multiple Moes clogging up the gears was a very funny sight), but I was genuinely surprised to see Mona Simpson appear at the end of the episode. If there was ever a way to being her back and have it make sense, this was the way to do it, and the final resolution and explanation was touching and made sense in the grand scheme of the episode. The final gag with Homer and Marge still thinking this was a dream was a pretty funny note to end on also.

I'm really kind of frustrated here. There was a lot of good stuff to be had here, from the animation, to the gags, to the eventual story. But I had to slog through a really bad first act and a half to get there, and if they had just found a better way to get the ball rolling instead of relying on jokes about wetting the bed, I might have given this a 5/5. As is, this was a really great episode held back by a really bad fault, and so I have to settle for a 4/5.

[The Governor]

Man, this would have been the best episode of the season hands down if it weren't for a very weak start.

I wasn't really looking forward to this episode from the description, and for the first third or so of this episode my fears were coming true. Homer getting his friends in trouble and having him hammer home the karma stuff really didn't sit well with me, though I was pleasantly surprised to not only find out that wasn't what was to blame for Homer's incontinence, but it was quickly shoved out of the way and didn't take up too much of the story. Still, I wasn't really digging the first 8 minutes or so of the episode.

Yeah, the first act did suck, but I didn't share your enthusiasm with the episode improving that much as it went on.

[NoOneFamous]

I wasn't sure what to think of basing an episode around an Inception parody. Its been done many times already, and its old news as that movie came out almost two years ago. However, in this case, I thought it worked well. It wasn't so much a "haha, Inception!" parody as it was using the premise of Inception to have some fun with the Simpson characters and universe that they don't normally get to do aside from THOH or "Simpsons characters act out stories" episodes, which this seemed way more inspired than. The Tracy Ulman dream world in particular was very funny, and I liked that they even mocked the "mouth twist".

However, everything leading up to the dream sequences was forgettable at best. Actually, no, I can't say that - the Portal joke was a nice surprise. The rest, meh. Its like they can't help but fill every episode with terrible one-liners from every character on screen.

I dunno, 3/5 for the interesting dream sequences, but still not an episode I'd ever care to watch again.

[zach]

but still not an episode I'd ever care to watch again.

yeah

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

An extremely nerdy question I know, but how does Homer remember his Ape form going after Marge if it is from a non-canon Halloween show? Maybe he's just fantasized about it before? I'm giving it more thought than I should...

[The Governor]

An extremely nerdy question I know, but how does Homer remember his Ape form going after Marge if it is from a non-canon Halloween show? Maybe he's just fantasized about it before? I'm giving it more thought than I should...

Homer, like Vin Diesel, is pretty much a shaved ape anyway.

EDIT: Speaking of this episode, I'm surprised a Locomotive didn't randomly appear.

[Friz]

Bart's twitch made me happy.

1/5.

[comeau]

2.5/5, it was really dumb but had some good visual gags. I especially loved the "Family Therapy" sort-of remake. I'm disappointed there was no "frosty chocolate milkshake".

I can live without the "frosty chocolate milkshakes" thing, since we got a Bart twister mouth. That was pretty awesome.

Everything else was boring background noise that I only paid attention to when that Ullman scene popped up.

[The Governor]

One last thing I'd like to add...

If they wanted to parody the train in Inception, Lisa's 'dream' should've been her at the train station where Mr. Bergstrom said goodbye, but in this version, the family would wake up as the train went by in the background and we got to see Lisa's reaction as she had to watch him pull away all over again...with a note that had the exclamation point.

[Bartesque]

The first act was so weak, I was ready to declare this as another bottom 20 abomination. No idea why Homer would buy a urine sensing alarm if he wanted to keep his problem a secret...

But this wasn't too bad in my opinion, maybe I'm being generous because I thought the idea was awful. The scenes with Homer and Bart fishing ended up being related to the conclusion, probably the first time in ages they bothered to reference an earlier scene later in an episode.

6/10

P.s. did anyone spot Zutroy in the plant? Must be his first appearance in years.

[Mozy]

I thought this was a pretty creative episode and as I stated in another thread, it was a pretty decent episode that had funny parts. Also, if I've seen the movie Inception, I'd understand the storyline better. As others have said in this thread, it was great seeing the retro Simpsons! I laughed pretty hard when Homer was in a diaper and Marge wasn't turned on by it.

[Brad Lascelle]

I'm not sure I've ever been more conflicted by an episode.

As an Inception parody it fell flat. Very hamfisted and blatant and lacked a lot of the subtleties of the South Park parody from a season ago which was hilarious.

Internal logic was thrown to the wayside in this episode (even moreso than usual). Stuff just happened because it fit the blueprint of Inception parody sequences they wanted to go through. What's worse is that a lot of the jokes fell flat which wasn't the case when Maxtone-Graham and Kimball parodied The DaVinci Code and 24. Hell, I even liked their Catch Me If You Can parody.

And yet I sort of want to give this episode points for effort because there were elements that were truly inspired. The Ullman homage was exceptional in terms of both writing and voicework. And the visuals of Homer's junk food skyscraper dream realm with the Moe's Tavern on every corner were amazing.

Unfortunately, I have to grade based on the entire episode as a whole and not two truly creative ideas contained within about three minutes of it. All of those other parody episodes were far superior to this one. And so, my final score is only 2/5.

[jordanwj]

The on;y thing I liked was the Tracy Ultman ref was nice but even that fell short.


1/10
I Voted 2.5 on the poll because it says "at least its better than South Park" No South Park's inception parody was hilarious....change that.

[The Angry Animated Comedy Nerd]

One last thing I'd like to add...

If they wanted to parody the train in Inception, Lisa's 'dream' should've been her at the train station where Mr. Bergstrom said goodbye, but in this version, the family would wake up as the train went by in the background and we got to see Lisa's reaction as she had to watch him pull away all over again...with a note that had the exclamation point.

No.. b/c that's good and not insane.

[jordanwj]

One last thing I'd like to add...

If they wanted to parody the train in Inception, Lisa's 'dream' should've been her at the train station where Mr. Bergstrom said goodbye, but in this version, the family would wake up as the train went by in the background and we got to see Lisa's reaction as she had to watch him pull away all over again...with a note that had the exclamation point.

Yes.....YES. You sir are amazing. These are the suddle things the writes don't think or care about, thinking like this and adapting South Park's writing template would make a much better show. Byt hey, I don't work at FOX or Grace Films so....whatevs.

[Brad Lascelle]

I didn't mention it earlier but I felt the chosen catalyst of Homer's bedwetting being him going fishing with Bart was weak seeing how he's taken Bart out fishing at least once before - at the end of I Am Furious (Yellow). This could have been addressed by events in the boat "replicating" Homer's fishing experience with Abe (i.e. the boat being overturned and them falling in the lake) but they felt that time was better served to have Homer yell about karma for 20 seconds.

[Homer I Am]

I loved this episode, decent overall. I thought it was going to be a shitty episode and that the reason Homer had bed wetting problems is because he got brain damage by some magical thing. I was surprised, 4/5! The most noticeable gag is the one where they are drawn, acted out and sounded like The Tracey Ullman Show style. There were a few gags were they were just plain annoying, like the gag where Bart was dancing. That gag lasted way too long and annoyed me to the point that I wanted stop watching it.

[EthanRunt]

Funny, sweet, well crafted, felt continually interesting, engaging and entertaining, a really strong episode actually.

[Tubbb!]

I never saw Inception, so maybe that's why I liked this episode. (I wasn't distracted by comparing it to the movie, perhaps?) To me, it was just a funny episode. I even enjoyed it on the second viewing.

I don't get all the hate for this one, but to each his own.

[The Governor]

Slightly off-topic, but...I'm surprised no one mentioned this, but with this episode being the most THoH-esque "normal" episode, would this sway you to believe the producers should drop the four-story THoHs and concentrate on one long story for Halloween?

I don't get all the hate for this one, but to each his own.

Like I said earlier, there was too many "convenient" moments--how Frink ran into Marge, Wiggum's "Dream Police" and as Brad said above, the story was forced to fit an Inception parody 'template.' Also the first act was filled with everyone acting like a jackass and felt about as "classic" as a Pinto being tailgated.

[Tubbb!]

...the producers should drop the four-story THoHs and concentrate on one long story for Halloween?

I wouldn't be hurt if they dropped THoH altogether.

Like I said earlier, there was too many "convenient" moments--how Frink ran into Marge, Wiggum's "Dream Police" and as Brad said above, the story was forced to fit an Inception parody 'template.' Also the first act was filled with everyone acting like a jackass and felt about as "classic" as a Pinto being tailgated.

I don't see any reason for you to pick apart Marge running into Frink, but if it bugs you... it bugs you. As for Wiggum busting in for no reason, while making a Jack Kevorkian reference no less, yeah... that was awkward.

And I never saw Inception, so....

How was everybody acting like jackasses in the first act?

[That Don Guy]

4/5 - I didn't expect this to go in as many different directions as it did, although the ending did tend to slow things down a little.

Written by Billy Kimball & Ian Maxtone-Graham
Directed by Lance Kramer
Blackboard: none
Couch: everyone lies on a piece of rice-covered seaweed on the floor in front of the couch, which is then rolled up and chopped into sushi
Special Guest Voice: David Byrne, Glenn Close
Also Starring: Chris Edgerly, Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille
Overseas Animation: Akom
TV Rating: TV-PG-LSV

The supply closet has paba-free sunscreen, emergency pants, silly putty, serious putty, spare pyloric valves, liquid paper, solid paper, pens, paper clips, and plutonium rods (which are probably still jealous that none of them have been named "worker of the week" like some inert carbon rod was)

When Bart and Homer are fishing, the silo Homer dumped into the lake in the movie is in the background

Texts to Homer:
HMR-I H8 U
SCRU U 4EVER
CU N HELL F@SO
U R A F@WAD
TR8OR!
I WANT 2 GR8 YOUR {smiley face}!
WANT 2 ST8 MY GR8 H8RED 4 U

What's wrong with the Yellow Pages? I for one actually used them about a month ago to find a plumber (there's a story that goes with this, but let's just say, it's much easier to find local businesses this way than online)

Somebody remembered that Maggie sleeps in a white "baggie"

Ullman-era Bart does a "Bart Twitch", and there was a Maggie fall in the Homer's fantasy world section

Homer's fantasy world includes "Pork Tarts"

Mitch Miller had gone off of TV before Homer's mother left him and his father (which happened just after Super Bowl III)

The closing music was a variation of "Dream Operator" (originally by Talking Heads, and I assume that was David Byrne and Glenn Close doing the singing):
When you were little, you dreamed you were big
You must have been something, a real tiny kid
When you were big, and needed advice
You reached for you mom; you dreamed me alive
And your dream had a name
And the name told your story
It's called "growing up"
You're the dream operator

(Okay, if you must know the story about me and the yellow pages; I got a new, how does Marge put it, "washing machine", but the water taps were so old that they were frozen open and the installer couldn't turn them shut, so I had to get a plumber to my home that day to replace them, and Yellow Pages ads tend to be more descriptive of local business services than the online kind.)

[Tubbb!]

I assume that was David Byrne and Glenn Close doing the singing

It was. He's credited as a special guest voice.

[The Governor]

I don't see any reason for you to pick apart Marge running into Frink, but if it bugs you... it bugs you.

If the mcguffin is to invade someone's dreams, then at least make an effort to have the real world...seem kind of real? Frink falling out of the sky after an explosion could've just as easily happened in Homer's REM-Land (and would have been more at home) as Homer and the other members of Homer's Posse were exploring around. I'd rather have Frink and his machine be introduced by Dr. Hibbert as being a last resort that's "too technical to be covered by insurance, but we'll do it anyway!".

How was everybody acting like jackasses in the first act?

Everyone was acting like an obnoxious/giddy 12yr old on a sugar high at the sight of free office supplies. The characters's behavior set the tone for the rest of the episode, minus the down-time scenes with Mona in the Dream theater.

[The Wiggs]

One thing I noticed throughout the episode was how visually impressive it was. Very colorful and quickly jumping around between huge, extravagant scenes was very cool. The episode also had some good callbacks to earlier episodes and it had its share of laughs too. A touching ending to top it off and we've got ourselves a decent episode. This episode wasn't huge on story, but it was a refreshing and much needed change of pace. 4/5

[Tubbb!]

Le Jake, I respect your opinion... but we're just going to have to agree to disagree here. Both situations felt perfectly normal for the Simpsons universe to me.


EDIT (In the interest of not flooding the thread with another post):

EVERY sentence that Bart spoke during the "Ullman" dream level ended with the word "man!" Kind of giggled when I noticed it.

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

How I Wet Your Mother

This episode has been heavily hyped as a part of Fox's "Blockbuster Sunday" event and most of that has to do with the parody of Inception that takes up two halves of an episode; but the most anticipated part of all has been Homer's long awaited interation with Mona in dream form; just; how will they meet, will it be emotional, will it be sweet? Well... Let's just say that it'd be best to keep such things in the imagination realm.

The first and second acts of the episode are good; having Homer not mainly act like a crazy, moronic dumbass is a wise choice. Sure, he does act like a dumbass early on (during the scenes at the power plant) but they learn from their mistakes and manage to improve him for what could be called the best parts of the episodes. Seeing Homer bond with Bart in a natural way is pleasing and seeing Homer hiding and dealing with his bedwetting could be said to be entertaining. There is a sense of both worry and humor that precedes these scenes and even though alot of these scenes feel sitcommy, most of them work within the context of the episode. Homer's "I'm Sorry" Barbeque is some decent stuff and Homer at the Bedwetting shop is okay though they do miss some obvious opportunities for Jokes. The moment where they revel Homer's bedwetting seems like it leads to something better but instead it leads to Homer in a diaper. Really? (Note: Saying this because it's something that is referenced in the outskirts of fringe communities because of quick research I did; some things should be not be referenced to at all.) The third and fourth acts consist of the Inception parody that make the episode. Cartoonnetwork made a comment earlier about the dreams looking like dreams but the parody ultimately stuffers from "Epic Movie syndrome"; meaning that there are alot of scenes that just reference scenes from the movie. There are a lot of scenes where they could of done something different or done more but alot of the scenes here just "reference". Not helping matters much is the way Lisa explains "levels" as if she knew how dreams work, that is just out of character for her and helps to make this obvious that this is an Inception parody, I mean whatever happened to the days when parodies weren't trying to remind you which movie it was parodying? Even Homer's dream is reminiscent of the final scene of the movie, complete with a beach and everything; one could say that the beach is a manifestation of Homer's dream but the comparisons are just hard to ignore.

That's not to say there's variety in the dream itself. The Tracy Ullman like scene mimics the animation style well and Dan Castella mimics his old vocal style well (Bart and Lisa not feeling up to par.) but it feels like they updated the style to match the HD animation prevalent throughout the episode; what would of been good is if they'd recreated the scene exactly like they did it in the Tracy Ullman era; complete with hand drawn drawings and 4:3 aspect ratio. The medieval dream looks decent and it serves to prove somewhat of a point and Homer's dream isn't a 100% recreation of the dream in Inception; there are some minor differences and some stuff unique to Homer though some stuff seems to be added during the time when Scully was showrunner.

The characters here all play their roles well but there could of been more from every family member; including Homer. In the Inception parody, they just seem to be pushing the plot forwards and supporting the various random jokes that happen to come along the way. Homer's dialog as it goes on feels unfocused and I couldn't get a clear grasp of what he was saying at some times; this is a problem since he is the main star of the show and the climax of the episode revolves around him... We could of had more of his feelings and more of his actions as he tried to figure out what made him bedwet but instead it just feels like wasted potential that really could of help the episode but instead went towards the Inception parody. The moment where he does meet Mona is satisfying and the reveal is done well. This is another one of the episodes great moments because seeing Homer and Mona together is always a delight, even after their last appearance together; however, it could of been lengthened because trying to fit in the Inception parody just leaves for less time for the Mona/Homer plot, which is spent playing a film. While the film itself is nice, I couldn't understand how that film helped Homer cure his bedwetting but as a plus, there was some expinations behind it; even though they had to accompany a bunch of retcons to do so... I guess the point of the film is to be sweet and to show Homer that Mona will always be there for her, even leading up to the shots promoted in the promo shot though in the wrong context. Still, could of been more.

The jokes throughout the Inception part don't land (Bart dancing in the air for example.) and alot of them feel random rather then coherent; a problem of Modern Simpsons episodes unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, there are some jokes that land; a ton of moments in Homer's dream are entertaining and some of the moments involving Frink are decent but those moments in the Inception parody seem few. The fight involving Wiggum and Frink seem random but it's needed for the explosion part of the Inception parody to happen and the fight itself is okay but still... It feels like it's there to support the parody, not because it's actually funny. Additionally the end of the episode where they parody the spinning top just feels like it's there to reinforce the fact that this is a parody of Inception... The stuff that happens afterwards seems decent but it just doesn't work out in the end; unless you're the kind of person who likes this stuff...

So in the end... Homer's fears of Bedwetting are quelled; however the fears of this being mostly a reference to Inception are more then confirmed. This episode uses the four act structure well, two of the acts are dedicated to the bedwetting plot while two are dedicated to the Inception Parody; despite that it still feels like they couldn't manage to fit everything within the episode's timespan and therefore everything feels like they could of done more with it. (Compared to the movie Inception, this feels like 50x FF.) The first two acts of the episode are decent and it's always a delight to see Homer & Mona but again, there is that feeling that they could of done more with Homer & Mona. This isn't a terrible episode but it is disappointing...

4.0/10

[The Governor]

Le Jake, I respect your opinion... but we're just going to have to agree to disagree here. Both situations felt perfectly normal for the Simpsons universe to me.

The Simpsons's Universe wasn't defined by generic cartoon conventions and contrived storytelling where just about anything goes. IMO, that's why this episode had no real weight to it beyond the soon-to-be overrated scenes with Dream Mona and little Homer. Everything else when they weren't hooked up to the machine could've been in dreamland and the only way the REM-Land could've been more surreal was the meta-Ullman short joke. Nostalgia, or not, when the Simpsons has to uninvent itself to look surreal by it's own lack of standards, that's a sign you've pushed that rubber band reality beyond the point of no return....not that anyone truly cares anymore.

Although, I'm not sure what was worse, the actual ending to Inception, or this episode. Making fun of a stupid ending with an even more stupid ending isn't satire...hell, it's not even a parody. it's just an allusion unlearned people think is something more.

[NoOneFamous]

Regarding the ending - it would have worked better if just Homer went to ride his bike naked, like he gets up suddenly and leaves Marge in the room, who would see Homer out the window, naked, then see the top fall over, then - credits. But no, instead they had to have Marge do it too and have Homer get hit by a truck or something (I forgot already)

Though either way, its a cheap joke - setting up an obvious punchline and then having it play out exactly as you expect.