Final Analysis/Rate and Review: Season 23

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

I personally didn't find "Holidays" and "The Book Job" as exciting as everybody else. Of course they were some of the best of the season, but I really think episodes like The Food Wife, The Man In The Blue Flannel Pants, How I Wet Your Mother, The D'ohcial Network, Exit Through The Kwik E-Mart and even At Long Last Leave are taking too much crap. Yes, they are flawed. Some of them are extremely forgettable. But I don't see such a huge difference between the two episodes everyone decided to "save" and these ones.

There is a huge difference, "Holidays" and "The Book Job" seem like episodes which have inspired plots, better then usual jokes and a sense of care and involvement that other episodes have not had; again, they may not be as good but those episodes could of helped starved off the notion that the Simpsons needed to die.

The Food Wife is not written in a very "classic era" style but it does have a down to earth premise that tries to include a new conflict and IMO it's comparable to pretty much the average episode of this kind in Jean era, in fact, it's one of the "quite good" ones. I have a love for this episode that most people doesn't seem to share, and it's quite simmilar to my defend of All Is Fair In Oven War when that was aired.

It's understandable why you'd like it, different tastes and whatnot and while it is true it has a down-to-earth premise, the premise doesn't matter if they manage to odd it up with Simpsons characters and whatnot.

I think the premise of Homer being the cool dad and Marge not was a new conflict after all these years,

I agree but it felt really awkwardly done to me with Homer & Marge trying to be cool and the kids reacting similarly to the situation; it was almost like watching a bad sitcom at times for lack of a better explination.

I thought the rap song was pretty damn funny and had clever lyrics

It'd be funnier if Tim & Eric wrote it and also if it wasn't a parody of "Empire State of Mind", It isn't terrible but the lyric lack punch and impact that successful Simspons song usually have and it sounds more like T&E trying to imitate "The Lonely Island" rather them being themselves.

and I thought the ending at the meth lab wasn't as crazy as the usual "action" endings.

It was something that was set up to make the episode as crazy as possible. Homer's actions were acting like he was aware that he wasn't supposed to be aware, acting like a jerkass for most of those scenes and then raising the stakes at the end because they needed an ending that would be super involving and action packed to show how super awesome Marge is to tie up the whole plot they had going on before and to end the episode on an unnecessarily explosive note. (unnecessary because the plot didn't even require a meth lab in the first place.)

"The Food Wife" is the type of good episode that "Beware my cheating" and "Daughter" tried to be. But those two, while tolerable, had the problem of making the relationships too shallow and unbelievable.

"Beware" and "Daughter" at least had characters acting sensibly and a capable romance plot but you're right, those relationships were shallow, unbelievable and lacked uniqueness. (especially "Daughter"). "Beware" had potential but they wasted it for the love plot.

"The Food Wife" may had some forced dialogues or typical Jean era problems but I was entertained, I found it funny enough and I find the way Marge and the kids bond quite believable, plus it included some satire about a subject that hadn't been explored too much before, high cuisine, and it's not like the jokes were super original, but they worked for the most part.

I understand if you like it but it felt more or so like a random mishmash of over-the-top jokes with a small number of decent jokes included; that's not to say it's completely bad but it's not as great as they claim it to be. The high cuisine thing felt more like a homage rather then a satire (due to Matt Selman's foodie obession) and Homer & Marge felt somewhat out of character due to the whole "cool mom/dad" thing. (especially in terms of emotion.)

The Man In The Blue Flannel Pants was an homage to Mad Men. I've only watch an episode of Mad Men and didn't especially love it. But is it really that bad that they decided to do an homage instead of a satire to a show that actually gets good reviews? And yes, Homer may be acting a little out of character, but it's kind of developed in the plot, it's not totally convincing but it's not like he is written like a totally different character out of the sudden as some of you want to make it look.

Homer is written as a totally different character; while it may appear to have some form of development, the truth is they stripped his character so they can make him into a Mad Men person for the sake of the homage/parody. Just think about what they could of done back then; they could of made Homer into a character who'd slowly get involved in his work, slowly become crazy but still retain something that makes him Homer.

And then, the conflict and jokes are pretty much average Jean era, but with a focused plot

The plot is shoddy because they had to throw out so many of the characteristics of Homer to make the Mad Men plot work, when we see Homer with the kids or Homer with Marge, we imagine what he could of done had he still retained some sense of dignity (caring for the kids, not being subjected to being a Mad Men-type character, etc) and the entire ending just screamed disjointed.

so I don't really see what makes this one so much worse than "Spy" for instance, which may be a little funnier but had bigger flaws IMO.

I didn't say it was terrible but I am irked at the fact that these characters are treated like replaceable movie characters.

Also, as far as Homer's problems at job goes, "Flannel Pants" is quite better than , say, something like "He Loves To Fly and He D'ohs", which I thought it had redeeming points but a totally absurd plot.

Note: comparing it to another episode doesn't excuse the faults of said particular episode, just because it's better then another episode does not mean it's a justifiable reason to use.

In the end, "Flannel Pants" is a little forgettable and dull but it was focused, it was playing an homage to a "quality" series (instead of something popular, like Twilight or Gaga or Avatar)

Mad Man is a quality series to some but it's status as a recent series who gets some pop culture recognition dilutes the homage thing; it would be different if they homaged a show that was long forgotten or even the pinnacle of quality but the episode seems like they're showing their love for a series that they all personally love. Hell they would homage True Blood if they had the chance.

and I kinda felt Homer's conflict even if he acted a little closer to the main character in Mad Men than he'd usually do...which wasn't that bad, cause it made Homer look a little more clever for once which it's sometimes good.

But it's not Homer, it's a Mad Men character inside Homer. He shouldn't have to act like someone else to be clever. It's pretty much about the same quality of "Falcon And The D'ohman" IMO. A forgettable but pleasant outing (as opossed to "The Ten Per Cent" or " Repleacable", which are forgettable and UNpleasant because of the bad jokes and horribly boring development). Nothing to be too ofended about.

How I Wet Your Mother has flaws, like making a whole premise about wetting the bed being considered a good idea or something that could lead to an emotional story about Homer and Mona, having an awful title, being too surreal for a non THOH episode or the actual conflict between Homer and Mona at the end not being as emotional as it could have been. It's also a very creative episode that includes things like the Tracey Ullman short and mostly good jokes during the whole episode. And it tells something when they make jokes about bed wetting and it kind of works.

It's creative in terms of the environment but it's not creative in terms of the plot or the worlds that they've ultimately built for themselves; while Homer's world does contain stuff that reflects himself, it's ultimately comparable to what Inception had in the movie itself and even then, the stuff that does reflect himself are mostly stuff that people commonly associate his character with, not stuff that truly reflects himself. The first act is decent and you're right in that there are some decent jokes but ultimately the jokes themselves become anomalies to the episode itself.

Fart jokes in THOH didn't quite work this way. And about the whole homages/parody thing and this being too close to Inception, that's the most unfair criticism of it all. The whole thing was Simpsonized. None of the characters acted like any of the characters of Inception.

Then why did Lisa suddenly sprout out stuff about levels like she knew what was happening? Simpsonizing it means putting them in a similar situation and having them act like themselves, not having them take shots at the movie while they do Inception-like stuff.

There were scenes from the movie, yes, but they also took almost every scene from the movie in The Shinning segment. And that was funnier and it had better jokes but did it really parody the movie a lot more than this did with Inception? It had more jokes and funnier ones but it didn't really make fun of the movie that much, cause the movie is actually a Kubrick masterpiece.

The Shinning actually gave it a Simpsons twist; It had stuff relating to Homer, it had the characters acting like themselves and it didn't attempt to make fun of a movie; they just took the shining, took those scenes and added a Simpsons twist and that's what made it so enjoyable was that they weren't actively trying to parody The Shinning, they were just putting The Simpsons characters in that situation and having them act like they normally do.

Going back to "How I Wet" , like I said, the whole thing was Simpsonized. Proffessor Frink was in it and not a spoof of some character from Inception

The same thing could be said for the Avatar spoof where Lisa took the place of some character from Avatar; just because there are Simpsons characters in there does not mean that the thing is Simpsonized; it's just Simspons characters playing the role of other characters.

besides it all, Homer dreams reflected his character, with the food town climax and Moe being on every corner.

But with that comes stuff like the woman protesting and fighting with each other, a sense of how great he is... Much of Homer's dream world does somewhat reflect him but it comes to reflect the character he is now, not the character that he was. With food, beer, girls, Moe and woman (also that Kwik-E-Mart thing) being that primary thing that makes Homer.

In some aspects it was reminiscent of "Send In The Clones" to me, cause it was a story that brought back some of the energy and creativity of classic THOH episodes, and both include allusions to Homer's naive nature and his love for food in creative ways (one includes a giant donut, the other a whole town made of food).

I remember seeing that, it wasn't anything special to me but think about this, if they truly had the energy and creativity; wouldn't they do more with what they have and not try to make it look 60% like Inception.

In visual terms it was a creative outing, it had fun jokes, it's not forgettable, it was entertaining and yes, it was true to the characters.

No it wasn't, the family barely acted like themselves in the episode and it was only near the end that some sort of trueness rang from the characters.

Incidentally it did have some satirical jabs to the movie as in the "dreams have rules?" dialogue or the ending.

Again, having the characters pick on the movie and having them mainly be a part of the Inception parody is different then placing characters in a situation similar to a movie and having them act like themselves. This is what irks me, why not just act like yourselves or make the source material more subtle; whenever you try to comment on the movie or show off something in an obvious way, you're not parodying the movie, you're just telling the audience what you thought of certain parts of the movie.

This should be considered one of the best of the season, as it was better than other format benders like 500 keys or The Color Yellow IMO, and probably close to Gone Maggie Gone or even the somewhat overrated Eternal Moonshine.

At least 500 Keys had a good Lisa plot that was true to herself even though the mystery plot and the other elements of it were disappointing.

Heck, I actually like this one better than The Book Job, which, to me, felt like a good South Park or American Dad episode more than The Simpsons, while "HIWYM" felt like a extended THOH Simpson episode or a Futurama episode, so it's more in the "Groening series" style. In fact, if it were a Futurama episode people would probably be a lot less nitpicky about it being "too close" to Inception or the ending not being emotional enough and it would just enjoy the ride.

If it were a Futurama episode it wouldn't have stuff like people snowboarding or a near exact recreation of the beach scene from Inception, it would be better written since it does have people that at least do care about what they put into the show, it would contain more heartfelt scenes and it wouldn't try to "jab" at Inception in a way that makes it seem like they're just making fun of certain parts of the movie rather then truly parodying the concept, the mechanics and the premise of it.

It's an interesting idea but the flaws that are beneath this episode manage to overwhelm the good intentions that the episode has and trying to brand it as something else is not going to hide those flaws the episode has ever so well.

The D'ohcial Network had awful story structure but it didn't really copy The Social Network that much either.

Yes it did, it had the court scenes, it has Lisa coming up with Springface, it had her befriending everybody and it even had the most recognizable scenes from the movie. There was nothing about it that was Simpsonzied, Lisa played the role of "Mark Zuckerberg" without any of her personality being shown.

It was watchable except for that awful scene at the end with the twin brothers. It wasn't a good episode, but I found it tolerable, and I don't really see what's the awful problem in referencing new technologies.

The Simpsons are not supposed to be pros with new technology. Homer uses a cellphone as if he knows the ins and outs of that thing, if he could do that then who's to say he can't easily hack into a computer system or operate a complex robot? If people are pros in using that technology then it just defeats the purpose of those characters and the referencing of new technology just seemed a bit desperate; they didn't make fun of it, they didn't even use it to parallel society in an original way, they just included it to seem relevant and hip. Remember, Facebook is all the rage, if The Simpsons didn't do it then well, they'd seem behind the times.

I didn't see how it looked so "outdated" or whatever.

The movie itself has been out for a long time, the episode itself just seems to be an outdated perception of what they thought that movie would of been like and there was no attempt to fully parody the movie despite the fact that it's been out for a year or two. Timing is everything when it comes to a parody, if you're not relevant then the parody is outdated but even then, an outdated parody would work if they just managed to create a decent plot.

At Long Last Leave failed at the ending and in the fact that they didn't manage to make Simpsons new life or their new neighbourghs interesting but the scenes at Springfield, both in the first act and the ...third act? (I think) were quite good. Not great, but good.

I somewhat agree, however I think that the episode was trying too hard to be cinematic and clever and because of that it just collapsed on itself.

Exit Through The Kwik E Mart was another average Jean era episode that I find funny and mainly focused for Jean era standards (yes, the conflict between Homer and Bart was a little weird and it had a kinda unrelated first act...nothing we have not seen in seasons 17-18 or maybe 13-16 at some points).

The first act went from good to awkward within a few seconds; in order for a plot to work you have to establish clearly what he's doing and I don't think putting Bart in a cage, having a rabbit or even having Homer mad at him gave him the clarity needed for the plot to work.

Yes, the graffiti guys weren't so necessary...but they weren't so problematic either and the episode was about this subject, so it's ok. If some guys who do crosswords can appear in Homer And Lisa Exchange Crosswords, I can take this.

The grafitti guys were shamelessly placed there in order to have guest stars that were related to the graffiti thing at hand; they even acted and promoted themselves without making any fun of themselves at all. They could of easily been removed and the episode would of been better for it.

Anyway, it has decent jokes and the story was a little more interesting than "The Spy Who Learned Me" for instance or even "Beware My Cheating" or "Daughter", and the conflict had Homer and Bart mostly in character

Bart & Milhouse eating spraypaint are decent jokes? That phone-line thing? Apu and Swapper Jacks? Alot of it felt painful, scully era painful to me. The few decent jokes are outnumbered by the bad jokes by a huge margin and the stuff that they're trying to satire seems more like something that's the basis for the episode rather then a deep satire of it.

Additionally the Homer & Bart conflict was dropped numerous times; for the middle of the plot Bart was doing graffiti art that wasn't related to Homer and it was only near the end of the act that it was brought up and resolved as quickly as possible just so they don't leave any lose ends.

I mean, Homer didn't become a crazy psycho like he did in "A Star Is Born Again", for instance.

Still...

So, overall,what I'm trying to say is ...no, it wasn't a very good season and there were awful episodes in it, and probably not a single episode that was "A" worthy...but it was not AS awful as some of you make it out to be, it wasn't season 11 or 12, or it wasn't one F episode after another. It was especially uneven and it had a bunch of bad episodes, but it also had a lot of them that were not so different to what Jean era has offered since season 17.

A majority of boring bland episodes with only two good episodes and a larger majority of terrible episodes that clearly show the state of the show. Season 17 at least had a number of good episodes that showed that the writers had good in them, this does not... When your season has two episodes that rate in the 8 area and tons of episodes that rate below 5, that's a sign that your season is awful.

Watching this season is like watching a riot happen, they've lost all sense of sanity and even apathy.

Don't get me wrong, it DOES deserve criticism as some of the stuff we are getting is unbelievably bad or mediocre but sometimes it looks like some unoffensive episodes get doomed for mostly unfair reasons.

We watch these episodes, we try to enjoy these episodes but it's not our fault that the production team keeps making episodes that waste potential, are poorly written and plotted, have no idea what they want to be, manipulate their characters to fit the parody and don't know which jokes are good from bad or how to end a good joke when it's still good.

We're not out to get the series but we can't help to feel shame when this is the best they've put out...

[Cartoonnetwork]

Thanks to take the time to read my post -as I read yours- and give answers to it, Zombies.

I mostly agree with your answers. But I don't agree with all the comments about How I Wet Your Mother. Stuff like Moe, girls (and Marge), beer and food are essential to what Homer is, now and in classic era too. It's not as if the character is more "simple" now and it's defined by these things. In fact when they simplify him today they do it by making him retarded, too agressive or making him suffer in disgusting slapstick and pain gags. The more innocent aspects of his character like being a food lover or having a childish imagination are something closer to classic era. Only thing that wasn't there was his love of TV. In fact The Shinning segment was mostly based on two simple characteristics of Homer: his love for beer and tv. But it worked fine because of that. There is also a classic episode (I don't remember which one now) in which he dreams about Donuts with girl legs and there is also his dream about food dancing Sugar, Sugar by The Archies in Boy Scoutz'N' The Hoods. I love this side of Homer and it doesn't really gets attention in all the modern episodes.

Holidays does have a couple of scenes which some emotional resonance, one being Lisa and Bart at the Treehouse, but it is kind of undermined by that awful talking tree moment, and Homer and Grampa at the end. But the story wasn't that great, in fact, it was pretty over the place, and the humor was a little hit and miss.

And The Book Job has a clever structure and good use of the guest star. But other than that I don't find them a hell of a lot better than HIWYM and like I said I kinda enjoyed HIWYM more than TBJ even if I could agree that, on paper, the second one may be somewhat more clever.

Also I understand that comparing to a worse episode doesn't make one episode great or even good but most of the ones I mentioned were at least tolerable , and some of them good, to me. My point is that they were not worse than average for Jean. I understand people being disappointed when the season offers a combination of awful, forgettable and average episodes and only a few good ones but I'm not sure if that justifies being more critic than usual with the standard modern era episode. I just feel like some of them are suffering more criticism just because they were placed in this season and not in one that had a better track reccord.

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

Stuff like Moe, girls (and Marge), beer and food are essential to what Homer is, now and in classic era too. It's not as if the character is more "simple" now and it's defined by these things. In fact when they simplify him today they do it by making him retarded, too agressive or making him suffer in disgusting slapstick and pain gags.

The more innocent aspects of his character like being a food lover or having a childish imagination are something closer to classic era. Only thing that wasn't there was his love of TV. In fact The Shinning segment was mostly based on two simple characteristics of Homer: his love for beer and tv. But it worked fine because of that. There is also a classic episode (I don't remember which one now) in which he dreams about Donuts with girl legs and there is also his dream about food dancing Sugar, Sugar by The Archies in Boy Scoutz'N' The Hoods. I love this side of Homer and it doesn't really gets attention in all the modern episodes.

Even then, it just feel like those things are the primary things that make Homer; I mean back then Homer was addicted to rock, addicted to being cool, was mostly hip and was somewhat popular in the high-school crowd and those parts of his personality were something that was just a part of him, not the primary part of him. He may not seem that way today but it's a part of him as much as Marge, fertility issues, the power plant (contrary to popular belief, Moe is not the only thing) and the kids. To focus on food, beer, and Moe is just something that doesn't represent the full core of Homer. I think the problem is Homer can't be associated by anything else, When they see him eating tons of food, that's Homer; when they see him drinking, that's Homer; when they see him with Moe, that's Homer, when they see him being stupid, that's Homer. It's a representation of what the general public thinks rather then what Homer truly is, I mean among the girls; do you see any of them that look like Marge or are not fighting amongst each other?

They could of included a rock guitar, they could of included tons of stuff that Homer thinks is awesome but the others don't, they could of even included characters and imaginary friends from his past, they could of included a power plant and they could of made the coloring of the scenes even more weird; there is a ton of stuff that could of been included that could of represented Homer more then what is shown, which is the food & beer town where there's a Moe at every corner; had they not been bound to make the stuff look a lot like Inception, they could of done something truly amazing but as it is, it's something that's wasted potential.

[Cartoonnetwork]

Well, you're right, but then again you can always ask for more...Yes, this could have been as cartoony as the donut ingesting scene in The Devil and Homer Simpson or as trippy as El Misterioso Viaje de Nuestro Homer but truth is we don't get animation like that since decades. Maybe Eternal Moonshine was a little more creative in that aspect, but only slightly. And Lauren McMullan episodes, but she is not there anymore. This episode did have some creative backgrounds and the Tracey Ulman scene and those are probably some of the most creative things we have see in the last two or three seasons, visually, if we don't count the John K and Bill Plympton couch gags.

You're also right about Homer being more than those things, but those things are an important part of what made him funny and likeable. There are other aspects that make him more rounded up as a character or more believable as a human being. My point is that there was not a hint of the things that make him unlikeable or unfunny in his worst moments of the modern era. I totally agree they should use his job at SNPP more, but they are extremely inconsistent about this since the Scully era and it is hardly a problem of this episode.

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

This episode did have some creative backgrounds and the Tracey Ulman scene and those are probably some of the most creative things we have see in the last two or three seasons

It does have some creative stuff but it's ultimately creative because it's different, not because it actually goes leaps and bonds with the scene that it has. (The Ullman scene utilizes the same HD animation of the show, now imagine if they actually went above and beyond with the animation instead of being bound by the stiffness; that scene can truly leap into true creativity instead of being creative for being different.

You're also right about Homer being more than those things, but those things are an important part of what made him funny and likeable. There are other aspects that make him more rounded up as a character or more believable as a human being. My point is that there was not a hint of the things that make him unlikeable or unfunny in his worst moments of the modern era.

True but would you have something that you can truly appreciate, or something that's likable because it portrays a character decently? Also there were moments where Homer seemed to be the main focus, things such as the roller coaster for example; while this is his world, the fact that he thinks highly of himself in this world does ultimately make the world a representation of the Modern Homer and not the Homer we've come to know and love.

I totally agree they should use his job at SNPP more, but they are extremely inconsistent about this since the Scully era and it is hardly a problem of this episode.

Still, even if they were inconsistent about it (which they were so they could get Homer onto any job the writers had for him for possible comedic gold that often failed more then succeeded.); it plays a part in Homer's life in a majority of the scenes. Chalking it up to inconsistencies in the Scully era is an excuse.

[Cartoonnetwork]

It does have some creative stuff but it's ultimately creative because it's different, not because it actually goes leaps and bonds with the scene that it has. (The Ullman scene utilizes the same HD animation of the show, now imagine if they actually went above and beyond with the animation instead of being bound by the stiffness; that scene can truly leap into true creativity instead of being creative for being different.


True but would you have something that you can truly appreciate, or something that's likable because it portrays a character decently? Also there were moments where Homer seemed to be the main focus, things such as the roller coaster for example; while this is his world, the fact that he thinks highly of himself in this world does ultimately make the world a representation of the Modern Homer and not the Homer we've come to know and love.


Still, even if they were inconsistent about it (which they were so they could get Homer onto any job the writers had for him for possible comedic gold that often failed more then succeeded.); it plays a part in Homer's life in a majority of the scenes. Chalking it up to inconsistencies in the Scully era is an excuse.

I basically agree with everything. About the last part I really didn't want to say that as an excuse for them to not using SNPP. I was simply saying that doesn't really stand out today as a bad thing since they hardly use SNPP now. And even in classic era I can imagine a THOH close to the Inception one and not using the SNPP. Although it's true that they used Burns in a majority of them when he was a more interesting and recurring character.

Anyway, I could easily gave a B+ to HIWYM, at least for modern standards.

[CollectorCharlie]

Juyst gonna mention a couple I have comments about.

The Falcon and D'ohman (S23E01) B+

Sutherlands rants in his sleep was the bigest laugh I had in a while in later seasons. The ending was really odd so It never became an A.

Bart Stops To Smell The Roosevelts B-

One of those episodes that isnt that funny but has a very good story.

Treehouse of Horror XXII
1) C+
2) B+
3) A-

The paralyzed Homer episode wasnt awful like some expected, The other two were far better though.

The Book Job A-

Well put together.

Holidays of Future Passed (S23E09) A+

One of the best & funniest episodes in a long time.

At Long Last Leave B-

Not what I expected, although okay. I thought this would be a huge clip show, but instead it turned into a redneck style episode which confused me. On top of that they attempt another town relocation which was confusing enough when they did it in Trash Of The Titans.

How I Wet Your Mother B

Very interesting stuff. Eps like this show theyre still thinking of quirky character based eps at least.

Them, Robots(S23E17) B

Recall this being bland for such an outlandish idea.

Lisa Goes Gaga C-

Not really a fan of Lisa episodes, but they must be tolerated occasionally. This one wasnt funny, except for Moe at the end hit by a train, and even then it happened so suddenly I was just confused at first.

[cinco]

The only episode I've seen this season is "Holidays of Future Passed".
I guess I'll keep it that way.