Here it is, the first good episode of the season! Funny lines and such, and the typical sort of Simpsony satire (the Dreamworks CGI parody was dead-on) pad an interesting story about Marge and Moe. Yes, you heard that right. And Homer and Marge’s Love Will Keep Us Together was pretty funny, too. (And a clever Web-fan ref with Homer jokingly calling himself “Jerkass Homer.”)
Moe: Hey, hold the phone. An English pub? That just might work.
Chorus: d In song…d
Moe: d Oh, my pub could be British
instead of armpittish,
so why don’t we all…d ah, screw it. Let’s get renovatin’.
Homer (anxiously awaiting a kiss from Marge): Well, I might as well use this pucker for something. (Takes out trumpet and starts playing Greensleeves)
Homer: And the worst part is, this is brunch! So you’ve ruined two meals! See you all at lupper.
Homer: Moe’s: A Tribute.
M is for Moe, the owner of Moe’s.
O is for the O in the middle of “Moe’s.”
E is for ecceptance, the feeling I always got here at Moe’s.
Trailer announcer: Coming this summer from Dreamworks: Cards! Fifty-two jokers play the game of their lives!..
With Eddie Murphy as the Jack of Clubs!
(Jack of Clubs is pulled over by two card policemen)
Jack of Clubs: You don’t understand, officer. I thought that king was a queen!..
Eight of Clubs: Hey Jack, you got any twos?
Jack (Nicholson) of Diamonds: You can’t handle the twos!
Playing at the Springfield Googolplex:
3 Fast 3 Furious
Kill Bill Maher
Breast Camp
Explosion 2
Dude, Where’s My Prostate
Baby Cops 3: Tired and Cranky
Michael Eisner vs Michael Ovitz (referring to a current Disney-related lawsuit)
Disney’s “Stroller Rental: The Movie” (referring to Disney’s recent spate of theme-park-attraction-based movies: Country Bears, Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Carribean.)
This was the first new episode of the Simpsons I’ve watched since episode 150 or 200 or whatever the last milestone episode was a couple years ago, and while I didn’t really think it was good, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be.
I will say, though, that that Dreamworks parody was great.
The Simpsons is usually pretty good when it comes to dedications for previous guest stars, usually running a dedication card as soon as a former guest dies.
(I recently re-watched the episode Carson guested on a couple days ago in his memory. I found the line “Oh, I’d thought I’d lift this 1987 Buick Skylark over my head” funnier than ever.)
I liked it. Obviously, it wasn’t quite on the level that, say, the fourth and fifth season were, but it was one of the best new episodes I’ve seen in a while.
A pretty decent episode even if it was repetetive from older episodes. How many times have we seen “Moe get’s a new bar” (family diner, new wave club) and Homer and Marge’s marriage is on the rocks (Life on the Fast Lane, A Milhouse Divided, the Gay Episode).
But at least they made it funny.
The CARDS teaser was pretty funny.
Duffman’s thrusting at the wake.
Moe waiting for the tide.
The dead body still there and waiting for Trash Day.
I thought it was excellent, the best of the season so far, which is actually saying something, as this season has been better than two or trhee years ago. The bit with Homer pretending to be even dumber than he is so Marge would watch the kids was inspired (“Bart sleeps in the microwave, right?”).
But this is a new twist; I don’t know that we’ve ever seen Homer neglected before. Neglectful, yes. And sometimes he’s whined about Marge being busy with other things, but always unreasonably before now.