Rate & Review: "The Tell-Tale Pants" (35ABF10)

How would you rate this episode?

  • Total voters
    29
B-Boy said:
Actually, she will. Jean has shared the next script he's writing and she's in it.
Click to expand...
I have since found out that Al Jean's tweet regarding the episode was an actual episode and not a image of a previously scrapped image/fake image. How I didn't notice that I don't know
 
As other user here usually says, "it wasn't too bad".

Act 1 was the best. With silly realistic Springie Awards*  dream (confess, none suspected such twist)  with decent continuity and other jokes. Then downhill with unnecessary Marge's bad day montage. That act went on easy, really imperceptibly.

Then quite good scenes from TV show to Marge trading, including meh Levins song. And Marge's dilemma - she is sick of getting all the money for family, but she doesn't know how to "reverse role", and become selfish. Pretty in-character.

Meanwhile we get almost useless, only to call Marge's random rage "I don't like baseball [and probably Homer never had asked me before], but when he didn't ask me go THIS time, I got mad". There could be more calm reason for Spiffany - she could involuntary see the shop (classic). Anyway, this grew the problem, I agree - she materialized her desire and did buy a ring. It should be taken more symbolic - as sign, she managed able to be selfish. And then her problem, how to hide that, as deeply inside she ashamed of self-satisfying. That stage and Homer's reaction, cause by Moe's weird Grinch song were very strange, - the 3rd act. By the way, Al, I understand you need to put quick joke about Moe and Marge, but in none continuity Moe matched Marge and Homer.:blunder:

Oh, I didn't finish my thought… Meanwhile we get almost useless SNPP and life rescue scene. I liked reference to Openhaimer\Barbie thing though, but, being honest, this is the case when without naming Barbie movie title, that joke become dated and not understood in years without Google, of course.

The ending (including Spiffany's reveal) was fine.

Undeveloped Marge's problem with holes into characters' develop (or just turning around), and, according to genre, with useless additional scenes. 2,5/5. After rewatching random moment, I lift it up to 3 for the poll.

*Interesting, a while ago we seeked for NHC Awards simple title. "Springie Awards" is good option.:leno:

P.S. Couldn't notice, but @Brad Lascelle I suggested "Al's Jeans" as "2/5" title. You put it to "5\5". Are them so good?😅
 
Last edited:
Bohdan said:
P.S. Couldn't notice, but @Brad Lascelle I suggested "Al's Jeans" as "2/5" title. You put it to "5\5". Are them so good?😅
Click to expand...
Al's Jeans will always rate a 5 out of 5 in my books. They may be well-worn and their best days are behind them but I can't think poorly of them no matter how torn and tattered they might get.

Would I prefer to see them framed and hung on the wall instead of being stuck wearing them 4 out of 22 days in the year? Sure. Would I prefer to see them relegated to jorts and only brought out for special occasions like May the 4th? Certainly. But they'll always hold a place near and dear to my heart.
 
Wow. A four-minute long opening that was just a dream. An "it was all a dream" scenario. FOUR MINUTES in this episode. I don't know man, at this point I'm tempted to say this is genius. Mad genius, that is.

I love the fact that Larry's death is carried over to this episode but Maya gets canned again because otherwise we wouldn't have a lovely joke about Moe being obsessed with Marge.

Oh, and two songs. Good, good. Also one that parodies 'You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch' for some reason.

Also a random one-minute long dialogue about the Barbenheimer phenomenon.

And because there's no time left since y'know all of the aforementioned was so important, zero development for a promising story, instead reducing the concerned characters to tools driven by unnatural dialogues ? You betcha.

I'm tired, boss.

1.5/5 rounded down.
 
Last edited:
Notes:
-So Homer and Marge are bickering right off the bat. I think I know where this is going...
-Lol @ the "Springie Awards". I love Springfrield's odd insular celebrity culture. Though what happened to the "Springfield Pride Awards"?
-Appreciated the musical sting of "Everybody Loves Ned Flanders".
-Wait, what?--okay, props for not seeing that twist coming. I guess it was a little far-fetched, even for modern self-referential Simpsons.
-Gee, writers, thanks for reminding me that the summer of 2023 happened. I'd almost forgotten the plot of Oppenheimer and how popular it was. I sure needed that recap.
-Yeah, I don't care that Homer didn't ask Marge to go to the baseball game. I get that this is supposed to set up Marge buying the ring, but this feels very contrived.
-I have to say I am enjoying this tense, dramatic music as Marge tries to hide the ring.
-Moe's fantasy taking a turn made me laugh. :lol:
-Not sure why we needed a second musical number this episode.
-This ending is cute, but the whole episode was just very disjointed and full of padding and this ending feels a little unearned.

Well, this sure was the episode of all time. A very forgettable Jean venture that reminds me why even the lesser Selman efforts are preferable to this. This is Simpsons on autopilot. Did an AI write this episode? Okay, I'll try not to be too overly negative; I did genuinely think the ending was sweet, but it was preceded by a mishmash of ideas and loosely-connected scenes that felt like they were desperately trying to fill time. The Springie Awards scene was funny and established Marge wanting to feel appreciated, but it was non-canon, and took up a big part of the first act. It seemed then that they wanted to present a conflict between Homer and Marge by hinting at it in the opening scene, then having Marge get pissed at Homer over the missed texts and being unappreciated for the various things she did that day without his help, then hammering it again with the baseball game. The problem is, Homer missing texts through no fault of his own and inviting a co-worker to a game knowing Marge doesn't like baseball are not reasons for a marriage crisis. Marge feels unappreciated, fine, but don't try and act like Homer is to blame here when we hardly see him do anything wrong at all. By the time Moe sings his song, we're supposed to think Homer is awful and selfish, but that hasn't been reinforced throughout the episode. If anything, this was more a study of Marge's character than it was about Homer and Marge's relationship; she feels unappreciated, so she feels entitled to sell the jeans and spend the money on herself, and we even get an extended portrayal of her guilt as she tries to hide the ring (another scene I did like, especially with the soundtrack). I'm fine with "Marge comes into some money and wants to spend it on herself" as a premise, but the episode tried to mix that with "Homer doesn't appreciate Marge enough" (which we've seen a thousand times before) and it just wasn't done well here.

In addition, the episode was full of padding. Marge's dream, two musical sequences, and for some reason Burns and Smithers explaining Barbenheimer? Why did we need that in there? It was completely unnecessary and awkward. This episode could've benefited from a B-plot. It also could've benefited from not trying to make it a marriage crisis and just making it about Marge wanting to do something for herself and feeling guilt about it.

2/5
 
A very flawed episode. I don't mind seeing more Homer and Marge relationship/marriage crisis episodes if they do something new to stand out, but it ends up where they have Homer make Marge feel underappreciated and Marge feeling guilty to treat herself with a ring. Maybe this is an episode where having a subplot would have benefited to get both Homer and Marge to realise what they are doing within their own plot.

The first 4 minutes was  all just a dream ... that got me at least. It still had a good amount of jokes with the 35th ''Springie'' awards and using a good portion of secondary characters. I like how the awards where actual springs that were sticking out of Marge's bed. Apparently a beer brand can get ''too woke''. A nice very small cameo of Jacqueline Bouvier who we never see being visited by Marge. Abe interacting with SLH was pretty fun. Marge gets angry at Homer because of Moe's doing, it does set up for the main plot and it was somewhat cute that Homer was ''fixing'' Marge's hair.

Didn't care much for the musical song. Collectable Pants Dude took his time to buy Marge's pants. Also didn't care much for the Oppenheimer exposure and the voice of Burns get really rough. I wouldn't think that Marge would have been interested in baseball either. Its good to see the Yes Guy again and the suspenful music of Marge trying to hide the ring. I like how Moe fantasizes about Marge being introduced to a Homer look-a-like. The next music song felt very unnecesary. The ending was very nice and the extra credit scene made for a good gag.

My main issue I was having throughout the whole episode was its pacing. While the first 4 minutes of Marge's dream had some good moments to it, it doesn't do enough to establish the plot of the episode until the very end. A lot of scenes dragged on for too long like Marge watching TV and her selling the pants to CPD. The whole Oppenheimer scene at Homer's work was just unnecesary and it only needed Homer to save the power plant for the plot to progress, which was also for another small scene of Marge feeling left out for not being asked for baseball. Also it had 2 whole musical songs that is only hurting the pacing.

I do think this episode has a good amount of jokes and some sweet moments. The plot turns out to be nothing special and the way the episode plays out is all by the numbers. Making this another extremely average and forgettable episode. The best I can give it is a:

2/5
 
Last edited:
Okay, so I don't hate this (I had much lower expectations). But I can't say I'm not disappointed by the loss of potential of this idea. As cute as the ending is, I can't help but think that, this episode sums up one of my problems with Jean's marriage crisis plots. But first things first: the main problem with this episode is in the characterization of Marge, that she doesn't feel like she has much agency in this story. It's the basic outline of the character: bored, jaded, unappreciated housewife who finds herself covered up by the theme of parody (we'll get to that), to pretend that this is a completely original idea and never done before in the series ( to quote himself Jean on this). I think the nadir of this episode is in the right place; I actually like that bittersweet portrayal of Homer and Marge's relationship (with Homer always being portrayed as someone who can't give much, but will always try), but, none of the parts of this episode except by the end, it really feels like it will contribute or inform something new about the relationship. The reason Marge resents Homer is such a strange narrative decision where you just have to accept the premise, with Marge's dream continuing that character archetype, but instead of actually serving a purpose it feels stapled together to do a lot. of easy jokes about the awards and take away a lot of valuable time from this story. As such, the episode never gets a general idea of where she's going, let alone the character we're following. Is it a Marge story? Is it a Homer story? It's a story of both, I guess. Characters who are simply following the beats of the plot beat by beat and expecting us to fill in the gaps until the conclusion and it's sad because the idea of Marge being consumed by guilt, as basic as it is, had the potential to continue the trend from this season of Marge episodes. The idea is genuine in that sense, especially with Marge at the center of the action, but it's almost so unrecognizable that we don't spend long before the episode loses sight of that focus (with a lot of scenes that seem to work depending on the person).

-

Okay, let's talk about the episode's selling point (at least judging by the title), the parody of The Tell-Tale Heart. I would love to tell you that this was one of the more decent moments, but man, would it be unfair to say that I feel bad that the episode seems like it was written just to get to that moment? From the concept, to the tone and melody. The reference is not out of focus, it has a point and yet... These do not complement the script. Look, someone recently mentioned something about how Jean episodes that use existing material often come out extremely gimmicky (as if the parody overshadows the script). And I mean, I agree, but why? Well, using parody to complement the script is one thing...

And letting the parody fill the holes in the script is another thing, because this episode certainly makes that mistake, and I think it's worth highlighting that; adapting the material to the series is also knowing where to place the source. Yes, the parody of The Tell-Tale Heart is not all that bad (although it depends on who you ask), but why did I say that this episode doesn't know where to place the parody? Well, because before that there was no preparation for it, it just comes out of nowhere once Marge ends up buying the ring and her guilt trip begins (plot point I'm not buying). Lisa's Rival is a very organic example of this (and yes, I know that comparing an episode of s35 to one of s6 is stupid). While the parody is also wedged into the final act, it still had an establishment from long before. Is it simply a parody or is it the result of Lisa's insecurities towards Allison? (Lisa feeling nervous knowing that Allison is entering the school's diorama competition as a sign of that), not only does it have a building moment but it's also a thematic connection to Lisa's arc with her ultimately descending to the dark side. and deciding to sabotage Allison. It's the use of a reference that flows naturally, fits into the context of the characters, and really develops a thematic connection to the elements the episode brings up and doesn't just feel out of the blue.

My problem with the parody of The Tell-Tale Pants is that in the context of the story it comes out of nowhere. And instead it seems to act as a setup for Marge's guilt trip. And it does not work. Why does Marge go from being upset with her family in general to putting her down? To her just being angry solely and exclusively at Homer? Even before that scene, what's the point of showing Marge imagining what her children would do with the money if in the end the conflict was with her husband? Why does Marge go from selling Homer's pants without any guilt, to just a few minutes looking in luxury stores and saying "I thought having the money would make me happy"? How does she change her condition so quickly that she now feels miserable in the context of that scene, even though literally just a minute before she was shown selling the pants? How is Homer not inviting her to the baseball game enough for Marge to say that she "cleared things up" for him? And why a single second after Marge buys the ring is she already feeling guilty? As we go, we couldn't have at least a time interval instead of showing it the NEXT SCENE. The most damning thing is the fact that, the scene itself and tries to convince you that guilt is eating Marge's mind, which is not only in going against what was shown before, but is also terrible at the moment of place the parody. And it's sad because if there was more time to develop Marge's thought process, as simple as the parody is, it would have fit better but by that point the episode was just rushing the plot beats. And I don't buy that, because of course making random references to the phenomenon of Barbenheimer and the Gricnch was more important (I seriously hate checking references for the simple fact that they exist in Jean's episodes).

-

In general, an extremely thin plot adorned with a parody to give it more "flavor" and another example of Jean episodes that prioritize attempts at humor in favor of disconcerting jokes about secondary characters, ending up completely neglecting the plot, leaving plot threads underdeveloped, confusing and contradictory. A full-fledged Jean episode, right? But at the end of the day I didn't hate it and I guess the ending is nice in that sense but. Man, Jean's episodes just keep bringing down the season average.

2/5.
 
This wasn't the most terrible Marriage Crisis Episode had some good moments like the it was all a dream opening and the Barbenhiemer jokes and Moe's song was completely random I thought we were done with his obsession with Marge and the ending was kinda cute
 
Last edited:
That ending deserved to be attached to a much better episode. It's a genuinely beautiful moment - one of Jean's best in years - but to say it's unearned would be a colossal understatement. The core of this - Marge feeling unappreciated and secretly buying something for herself - is totally solid. Indeed, it's easily the most solid foundation for a Jean episode since Marge the Meanie. The problem, as others have pointed out, is that there's a ridiculous amount of padding (I swear Jean's non-sequiturs are getting longer and more frequent). You could easily trim up to 10 minutes of it and lose nothing of value, which should have been used to better illustrate and legitimise Marge's frustrations.

I'm not fundamentally against marital conflict stories, but did this really need to be one? Why does the episode focus on Homer's failings and only pay lip service to the role the kids play? Why doesn't the resolution feature the whole family? If you have to make this a story about Homer being an insensitive and inattentive husband, shouldn't he actually be portrayed as such? Because Homer doesn't even do anything all that egregious here. It's not his fault he didn't get Marge's texts and it's mostly reasonable why he didn't invite her to the game. Jean sure has a hard-on lately for villainising a guiltless Homer (Manger Things, It's a Blunderful Life, and now this) and it suggests to me that Jean wants to tell stories about how horrible Homer can be, but is strongly averse to actually characterising him in any way that might be considered objectionable - i.e. the polar opposite of Jerkass Homer. The result is a weird incongruity. Homer is now too sanitised and you can't possibly sell the conflict to me if he's done nothing to earn Marge's ire. I just feel bad for Homer!

Shame. I really do love that ending. 2/5
 
Last edited:
B-Boy said:
I'm not fundamentally against marital conflict stories, but did this really need to be one? Why does the episode focus on Homer's failings and only pay lip service to the role the kids play? Why doesn't the resolution feature the whole family? If you have to make this a story about Homer being an insensitive and inattentive husband, shouldn't he actually be portrayed as such? Because Homer doesn't even do anything all that egregious here. It's not his fault he didn't get Marge's texts and it's mostly reasonable why he didn't invite her to the game. Jean sure has a hard-on lately for villainising a guiltless Homer (Manger Things, It's a Blunderful Life, and now this) and it suggests to me that Jean wants to tell stories about how horrible Homer can be, but is strongly averse to actually characterising him in any way that might be considered objectionable - i.e. the polar opposite of Jerkass Homer. The result is a weird incongruity. Homer is now too sanitised and, if he's done nothing to earn Marge's ire, you can't possibly sell the conflict to me. I just feel bad for Homer!
Click to expand...
This actually gets back to a point from Reiss' book I shared, where he mentions how they tried to "correct" the fan complaints about Jerkass Homer. Seems to me like this bizzare creative reasoning where Homer is shamed for doing things that are either not his fault or barely an issue is the direct result of that.
 
I havent been keeping up on who's doing what before airing lately but this was still me about 3 minutes into this:

1715044021358.png​

Really though, why does it feel like 75% of all Jean episodes nowadays involve Homer and Marge fighting over their marriage? I swear this feels like the third one this season. Not only that, there's this thing about the argument starting over something Homer didnt actually do, which also feels like it's the third time this has happened recently. So Homer can be cussed out for bad behaviour in the past but still be a good guy in the moment, or something. Odd.

Also I know this shouldnt be the case but all I could think about Marge selling the shirt for 2K is "hey dont you get 1K a month from the bank? I guess you already spent it?" I know each episode is basically a blank slate nowadays (especially between Jean and Selman) and it isnt something Im supposed to take for granted since Im sure it just gets folded into their regular budget. It doesnt matter, just musing.

I raised an eyebrow when I saw it was 18 minutes in and we were no closer to actually getting a conclusion and then Moe started what looked like an extended song sequence (which I guess is better than having a conclusion, I suppose, also the song wasnt that good) and then the episode resolves itself without Homer and Marge having any input on each other's stories in any way. Im a big "we get it Marge sounds off who cares" guy but yeah, this one was a bit rough. Also that extended Barbenheimer sequence is the kind of joke the early HD era used to get made fun of for.

Anyways around the time when Marge was talking to Lovejoy I got bored and turned the episode off to watch Grimsburg instead, so this is probably a 2/5.
​
 
Let me quote Real Jim from Recetera (yes, I see his post was already quoted here, but I really follow his one statement)
I respect Al Jean's work, but this episode is not good enough anymore. It brings literally nothing new to the table. You can't just throw in two songs and an Oppenheimer reference and call it fresh
Click to expand...
 
Watching this episode where the supposedly quit Duffman is selling Duff beer, Maya is still absent, Lisa is making comments about America losing to China and the Homer/Marge dynamic continues to be completely different in these episodes, and I realise Larry's death might be the character and change in canon that is shown and respected the most in the this era.
 
Smear-Gel said:
Watching this episode where the supposedly quit Duffman is selling Duff beer, Maya is still absent, Lisa is making comments about America losing to China and the Homer/Marge dynamic continues to be completely different in these episodes, and I realise Larry's death might be the character and change in canon that is shown and respected the most in the this era.
Click to expand...
It'll be funny seeing if his urn manages to top Mona Simpson, Maude Flanders, and Rabbi Krustofsky in terms of number of appearances in the series post-demise.
 
Mike from Me Blog Writing Good mentioned us and our "love" to Al Jean :lol: . Here is the review
The reaction: Homer being a selfish, inconsiderate dope may be an understood given, but it’s always good to re-establish these things in clear, direct ways when you’re writing these episodes. Instead, this episode where we should have the most sympathy towards Marge comes off looking kind of badly on her. We see her running herself ragged doing errands, ending with Bart needing to go to the hospital for two broken middle fingers. Marge frantically texts Homer, but gets no response. Why? That rascally Moe has set up a wi-fi blocker at the bar to keep his three best patrons from getting any contact from the outside world. A rat gnawing a cord breaks the machine, allowing Homer to finally get the messages, but when he gets home, Marge is incredibly pissed and has no interest in any explanations (nor does Homer even bother trying to give one.) It reminded me of an older episode “I Won’t Be Home for Christmas,” (curiously also written by Al Jean), where Marge is pissed Homer got home late from Moe’s, without knowing he only stayed because Moe was borderline suicidal and he basically kept him there. Very weird that Jean has used this same premise twice, giving Homer a very legitimate excuse that Marge has no interest in. Later, Mr. Burns gifts Homer tickets to a baseball game, and Marge is enraged Homer didn’t invite her along (“You don’t like baseball!” “Maybe, but more importantly, I like being asked!”) It should be an easy layup to make you empathize with Marge, so episodes like this where they so totally bungle it are very impressive to me. Marge blows the couple thousand bucks she got for Homer’s pants on an opulent diamond ring, but feels increasingly guilty for her extravagant purchase. The episode ends with Homer acknowledging how much Marge does for the family (including seeing she bought him more baseball tickets for some reason?) It just doesn’t narratively make any sense since we really don’t see him taking Marge for granted or doing anything to negatively affect her life at all. The episode is almost entirely focused on Marge’s turmoil, but we don’t get any deeper than “Marge bought a thing and feels bad about it.” It feels incredibly unfair to even attempt to compare this to something like “Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield,” where we see Marge actually go through a real emotional journey in trying to focus on herself for once, but this episode just has none of that. I find it really interesting how Al Jean, after running the show for almost 12 years, just started to write episodes every now and again (starting with the aforementioned “Christmas,”) and the episodes he’s written I recall being notably terrible (“Daddicus Finch,” “Mothers and Other Strangers.”) Jean seems to have less and less supporters amongst the dedicated viewership (if you consider No Homers a decent sample size), and I don’t think episodes like this do him any favors.
Click to expand...
 
Having watched this, I think it is a small wonder 'Daddicus Finch' (also written and showran by Jean) turned out fine like it did, because wow, this is in a lot of respects one of the most typical Jean episodes we've gotten in a while... at least since 'It's a Blunderful Life'.

So yeah, this is definitely another Jean episode with the typical trappings, being about a kinda forced and unconvincing marriage crisis of Homer & Marge and having a lot of the usual Jean-isms like overlong gags/scenes, lots of filler/padding & inorganic editing and a lack of focus on what is important with the story (plus wasting a big portion of it on nonsense that doesn't matter but just eats up time). Yet, the thing is that I do quite like the premise (Marge being secretly selfish and selling Homer's pants after finding the brand is rare & fetch a high price and in a moment of anger then splurging the money on something for herself and feeling guilty about it) and what it leads to (in terms of the conflict between Homer & Marge), but it is just that most of the episode do fall into the lazy stereotypical Jean plotting with extraneous scenes & jokes all over the places, plus their conflict itself feels artificial and hollow & essentially pointless, if mostly due to how Homer is actually portrayed yet vs. how the episode seem to want us to view him as, not selling Marge's point well. It's a confused, typical one, especially sad to see since there is a good premise that is failed badly by the padded and unfocused approach.

You know, I did kinda like the opening with the family attending an award show where everyone wins one of these spring-shaped awards except for the Simpsons; it did feel weirdly elaborate and I did not like the opening with Marge causing an argument between her and Homer because the latter doesn't get a shirt with a wider collar (I mean, that really set the stage for another contrived-ass marital conflict a lá Jean), but I kinda liked the cameos of various secondary characters (some of which haven't been seen in a while) and the idea itself of an award show for the town, in which Marge is the only Simpson to win (the category of most underappreciated person), was kinda silly fun.... but then it turns out it was all a dream, wasting four f*ckin' minutes of something that only happened in Marge's head (and apparently the spring theme was because the mattress is broken and there's springs coming up everywhere). I should've realized Jean pulling this, but really, they could've shortened it to maybe one minute tops and still have it be a dream & gotten the same effect, but this was just sad to see all that effort put into nearly 5 minutes that never actually ended up happening. What a lovely start to the episode (not really).

The rest of the plot is as basic in terms of marriage crisis plots as they come, with only some hints of something worthwhile underneath. It is the usual "Marge feels overworked and underappreciated by Homer who goofs off" with scenes like her having to take Santas Little Helper to the vet (which had yet another bizarre overlong joke of SLH & Grampa communicating), take Bart to an emergency room after he broke his middle fingers in a baseball game, etc. while Homer is off somewhere and then at Moe's with the guys (where Moe apparently blocks Marge's calls with a router that blocks wi-fi, which isn't a bad joke but makes Homer more sympathetic) before coming home late with his pants accidentally badly ripped after a tavern stunt, which kicks off the main glut of the plot when Marge is sewing the pants by the TV and learns a pair of the Leevis (get it?) brand is worth some $3000 and decides to keep that a secret from Homer & the kids as well. With the first four minutes being wasted on a pointless dream that could've been done in maybe a minute tops, this was very barebones.

Now, as said, I think there is an interesting premise here with Marge deciding to sell off the used pants to get a lot of cash to burn on something for herself (kind of turning the usual concept of Homer doing something like that on its head, plus I don't think she is in the wrong since she technically deserve to treat herself to something nice & get some extra money; also she could just buy Homer a new pair of pants and he wouldn't really notice), but that dang lazy and typical forced conflict plot between her and Homer is poorly executed, with Homer apparently being meant to seen as a selfish uncaring asshole but he's portrayed as kind of decent/okay-ish-like to a degree (even though he's his regular dumb oafish inattentive self) so Marge's burning anger at him comes off as an overreaction and she keep treating him as that bad and is bitter about it, but it doesn't really work as to us viewers, he's not really that awful at all in this one (and the Moe's scene had an explanation with the calls being blocked), yet the story want us to see him as terribl, which makes the conflict ring kinda hollow.

The subplot (of sorts) with Homer now wearing sweatpants to work instead and being happier than ever was kind of a decent idea (and the montage song cutting between Homer in the sweatpants and Marge happily driving to sell the pants was a bit amusing), but it also ended up being kind of a nothing story as really, what it all boils down to is a overlong Oppenheimer joke sequence involving Mr. Burns & Smithers (and ultimately sweatpants Homer saving the day), plus a really elbow nudging "Get it? Get it?" bit about the Barbenheimer phenomenon (with Smithers talking aobut his favorite movie of last year, obviously the Barbie live-action movie) which was just painfully on the nose cheese. Not to mention the way Homer winning two tickets to a baseball game and using it on himself and a new co worker from Ghana results in Marge becoming even more mad at him because he didn't ask her to come to the game (and it is well stated that she doesn't like the sport, but seem like a principle thing of "you should have asked me first!", which makes her seem ridiculously petty).

It's so weird the episode not only try demonize Homer when he's essentially far from Jerkass Homer and doesn't really do Marge any favors in having her be portrayed as sympathetic, but a bitter resentful shrew of a woman whom we should see as the "good one". It hurts the most due to Marge, aside from the conflict with Homer, actually being portrayed fairly decently with the back and forth, feeling bad and having some remorse and all, but when she blows her lid at her husband, it just doesn't work due to Homer not behaving that badly at all, showing that Jean have no real clue of how to do a conflict plot properly rather than to rely on the old ways we've seen over and over). That and the episode cuts between the plots in a choppy poorly edited fashion doesn't help (with that four minute dream really tripping the rest of the story) and there not being any room to properly show and develop marge's inner feelings and conflict on selling the pants for like 3000 bucks and then blowing it all on an hyper expensive ring to quietly spite Homer (after the baseball "incident").

That said, there were still some decent moments with Marge (and I liked her interactions with the Comic Book Guy relative who runs the retro clothing store, plus it was a bit fun to see the Yes Guy again, another character we haven't seen much of recently, when Marge bought the ring), but with the poorly realized marriage conflict (which made Marge look bad and Homer blamed to an extremely unfair degree, even for human mistakes such as not hearing Marge's phone calls due to being busy with his friends). the pacing issues due to Jean's poor structuring of the episode with wasting the opening four minutes on a dream scene plus the subplot on a drawn out Barbenheimer sequence (the incessant padding and drawn out jokes/gags in general, really), they were more like isolated OK incidents here and there. Then after all the messy nonsense we had witnessed, the episode got more into the Tell Tale Heart parody (with Marge feeling increasingly bad over having jumped the gun on using all the money on the ring without telling Homer and trying to hide it around the house).

The montage of Marge trying to hide the ring but never feeling content was not that bad and a bit fun due to the animation, but would've been so much better had the episode not being so poorly executed beforehand with the typical Jean-isms and poor storytelling decisions (including the forced and misguided one-sided crisis plot between Marge & Homer) & the small roles for Lisa & Bart felt kinda off & stilted (Lisa stifling through her report cards, talking of how A++ grades are forbidden now as to not make China jelaous was kinda bizarre & Bart hiding from the police in essentially plain sight was another unnecessary diverson joke): In fact, where the heck was Bart & Lisa in this one? while Marge had little own agency other than her being upset with Homer, but the kids were jarring no shows (other than this joke scenes and Marge earlier thinking they'd blow the $3000 on something she wouldn't like had she told the family about it, which was not flattering to her as she thought the worst of them like that, essentially letting her anger at Homer bleed over to the kids; why do Jean tend to be so negative about the depictions of the family?) & they didn't even factor into the ending. I kinda liked how the show acknowledged Maggie again (whom have been a no show in most episodes this season) as she showed up, sucking on the ring as a pacifier.

And if all of that wasn't enough, we get a second song (!) with Moe in focus for a Grinch-like sequence, singing to HOmer how he is a selfish uncaring man and having him thrown out by lenny and Carl so he can go make it up to Marge. While this scene was well animated (the grinchy expressions of Moe came across well) and Azaria did well with the voiceacting and singing (and thinking of it, I can see where Moe is coming from if we still think of him and Maya being a loving couple in the Jean episodes), it felt more like a Grinch/ Dr. Seuss parody for the sake of it (and it happened in an already wonkily paced episode that missed a huge opportunity on not letting it breathe more and focusing on Marge's internal conflict as its primary deal, instead choosing to pad the story with overlong gags and a parade of jokes & downright unnecessary scenes such as this one, which just happened because reasons), and it furthered the episode's belief that Homer behaved badly enough to totally deserve all of this. Had the script been good, Homer would've had his realization in more natural manner, maybe just Moe giving him advice (such as bringin his own relationship with Maya up and inspiring Homer)? But yeah, here's a musical number.

Now to be completely honest, this all did lead to the really nice, sweet ending with Marge giving up the secrecy and deciding to come clean due to her conscience getting the best of her, leaving the ring in its box (receipt and all) in plan sight for HOmer, leading to him come home and dfind it, at first being upset but then gradually, bit by bit understanding Marge and all what she does for the family as he heads to the bedroom, topped with him putting the ring onto her finger again & they share a loving moment after she wakes up. That payoff, while absolutely not making up with all the Jean-isms and the uninspired artificial conflict (which really should've laid more work into letting Homer actually come off as a bad husband to Marge, not a decent guy whom didn't really do anything so wrong), really had the right nuances and let the two feel like people who truly do love each other in spite of everything: It was strangely and unusually earnest coming from Al Jean, even though it does come off as weird considering how all over the place the prior story was structured.

In fact, that ending makes me upset that the rest of the episode wasn't handled with the same type of balance and nuance, with the rest was typical low-effor Jean; stilted, unnatural and poorly paced schlock with some shoddy characterizations (I mean, Homer and Marge were essentially portrayed in the opposite ways the story wanted us to view them as, pretty much, and that felt bizarre, kinda) and unconvincing flat or forced dialogue & yet another clichéd marital crisis, all of which that did no favors for the glimpses of a good premise and the odd okay or moment. And of course dat ending with the kinda genuine feels, which ended up working better as more of an isolated scene rather than a proper payoff to the rest of the story, due to how the latter was a big disappointment (much due to never showing Homer as bad, plu I guess starting out with that overlong dream which sees Marge starting to bicker with Homer over something trivial making it seems like she was always set on being angry with him for very little actual reasons), but obviously not without its moments in the end.

The premise was intriguing but deserved so, so much better than this which just threw away a good chance for Jean to actually try make a proper structured and paced episode and break away some from the usual marital crisis plots he loves so much, but yeah, we got this super wonky, confusing, ill-written, undeveloped mess that focused on the wrong things (such as irrelevant draggy jokes and bits from the supporting cast) and it just made the nice parts look wasteful (they deserved a much better episode, as did Homer & Marge).

I guess I'll give it a generous 2/5 (from a 1.5/5), much due to the ending which didn't make it all look like a ginormous waste of time, but actually as if this mess led somewhere good (and it actually had a proper ending rather than being left with a non-ending or somethinh thrown together at the last minute, which shows that Jean knew where it would go. Just a huge shame that the prior stuff were never fully thought through, which I think was what was missing from this one. If Jean would focus on story and cut it down to the essentials instead of being enamored with various little jokes and gags that stopping the plot, padding and extraneous scenes that add nothing to the plot, keep true to the characters and such, things could work out and in the case of this episode, it could have made the ending feel earnt.

But yeah, we got this thing where the poor balance of the story and characterizations made the premise and the promising elements suffer, ending up an exercise in poor storytelling. Moving on to a better episode next time, I hope...
 
Last edited:
I realize that Al Jean might be stuck with the idea that Homer is supposedly a bad person. I believe that during the commentary on 'Homer the Heretic', when came the brief gag with Homer imagining himself gleefully watching Ned's house burning down with him inside, he was all like "well how can there be a "jerkass Homer" when even during the classic era he had moments like this ?". So I have the feeling that he has to make him the designated antagonist / guy who's in the wrong no matter what, forgetting to give him proper context when he's made the supposedly unsympathetic person of the story in the way. It didn't work in this episode, it didn't work in 'Manger Things', it didn't work in 'It's a Blunderful Life' and so on because there is no real reason to fully believe Homer is the one in the wrong in each case. But because of slight events that have nothing to do with the point they're trying to convey, he's supposed to look bad ; in this case Homer for instance drinking at Moe's all afternoon... despite the fact that we see him checking on his phone and his unread messages, where there isn't anything because of Moe.

I dunno, Homer has got many many flaws, definitely, and he wasn't a saint in the classic era, sure. But it's always striking me that Al Jean's current batch of episodes are exaggerating his clumsy nature while at the same time commiting the mistake of making him too sympathetic for it to work. You can argue it's the polar opposite of Selman's Homer who has been decidedly sanitized for the most part.
 
Wile E. the Brain said:
I realize that Al Jean might be stuck with the idea that Homer is supposedly a bad person. I believe that during the commentary on 'Homer the Heretic', when came the brief gag with Homer imagining himself gleefully watching Ned's house burning down with him inside, he was all like "well how can there be a "jerkass Homer" when even during the classic era he had moments like this ?". So I have the feeling that he has to make him the designated antagonist / guy who's in the wrong no matter what, forgetting to give him proper context when he's made the supposedly unsympathetic person of the story in the way. It didn't work in this episode, it didn't work in 'Manger Things', it didn't work in 'It's a Blunderful Life' and so on because there is no real reason to fully believe Homer is the one in the wrong in each case. But because of slight events that have nothing to do with the point they're trying to convey, he's supposed to look bad ; in this case Homer for instance drinking at Moe's all afternoon... despite the fact that we see him checking on his phone and his unread messages, where there isn't anything because of Moe.
Click to expand...
And the same goes for Jean Marge. She’s always the designated martyr despite all the times they show us her being clearly petty, vindictive, and sometimes—I have to say it—abusive for no good reason.

The mental gymnastics people go through to justify crappy writing are exhausting.
 
Wile E. the Brain said:
I dunno, Homer has got many many flaws, definitely, and he wasn't a saint in the classic era, sure. But it's always striking me that Al Jean's current batch of episodes are exaggerating his clumsy nature while at the same time commiting the mistake of making him too sympathetic for it to work. You can argue it's the polar opposite of Selman's Homer who has been decidedly sanitized for the most part.
Click to expand...

I think the big question is "Why do Jean want to have the Homer cake and eat it too?" :lawl:

But yeah, I absolutely agree on what you are saying on Jean's view of Homer as the perpetual bad guy even when he doesn't at all act or come across as one. I can understand not wanting to have Homer portayed as too much of an asshat (treading into Jerkass Homer territory), but you simply cannot have a conflict plot where Marge and/or other characters are upset or mad at him & yet portray him as fundamentally a fairly decent or okay guy whom did nothing really wrong to deserve the treatment! It just upsets the balance of the story and hampers the conflict itself, making those angry at him come off as overreactive petty jerks, such as Marge in this episode.

So yeah, there is absolutely a time to have Homer have his flawed self played up, showing his more intentionally ignorant and selfish ways (but not too much to become completely unlikeable or despicable, so there is a limit) for a plot like this to even work. Don't have him be sympathetic when the plot calls for him not to really be that way (and this time they indeed blatantly showed he tried, but end up looking bad because outside interference due to Moe blocking the calls with the router; similarily, in 'Manger Things' we had Lenny & Carl spiking the punch that Homer drank from so it was another time there was outside interference, which tripped that conflict).

While it is definitely the opposite issue from how Selman portray Homer as too sanitized for the character's own good, I can also see some similarities as both Jean and Selman do have the character as too nice/decent to a fault. Jean is more likely to have Homer act bad and have his famous mood swings, but as episodes like these unfair conflict ones (that want us to see Homer as the bad one deserved of the angry treatment even when not being so bad at all) show, he is guilty of sanitizing Homer a bit much, too.
 
Last edited:
Gah, this episode makes me irrationally mad. I swear the ending is classic-tier (right down to that little piano bit at the very end). It's seriously up there with the best of them. What a waste.
 
Unfortunately the ending didn't really do much for me because I was already nearly asleep by that point.

First new episode I've watched since Lisa Gets An F1 because the premise had some potential, almost like a course correction for how depressing the ending to Homer's Adventures Through the Windshield Glass is. Too bad they didn't seem to want to do anything with it thus wasting the first few minutes on an extended dream sequence and not one, but two pointless song 'parodies'!

.5/5

Having not seen Thirst Trap: A Corporate Love Story, has Burns been this hoarse sounding for a while? It not, it's the first time I've seen a recent episode where it really stood out.
 
B-Boy said:
Gah, this episode makes me irrationally mad. I swear the ending is classic-tier (right down to that little piano bit at the very end). It's seriously up there with the best of them. What a waste.
Click to expand...

Felt like an ending to a Selman-Omine episode that got taken out of the original script and transplanted into a sucky Jean episode. But yeah, on its own it is a nice short scene and the sole reason why I didn't give this a flat 1/5 on the poll.
 
Stonecutter #7 said:
Yeah I can’t believe we haven’t seen mr. Burns in such a long time. Why has he been reduced to such a minor role?
Click to expand...
Probably due to Harry Shearer's age, not sure if you noticed or not but Mr. Burns voice has slowly been aging and Harry himself is in his 80s iirc
 
I mean, we already saw Mr. Burns back in 'Homer's Crossing', 'Thirst Trap: A Corporate Love Story', 'Treehouse of Horror XXXIV' and 'It's a Blunderful Life' throughout this season so far, Mr. Burns doesn't really need to appear in an episode sometimes when it comes to Harry Shearer's own age. Then again, Marge's voice kinda sounds all right recently, despite Julie Kavner's in her 70s
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top