The Simpsons open their 20th season with a goofy, but entertaining episode. Homer and Flanders make an unusual combination, but the fact that they are actually competent together leads to some amusing bits. The erotic-cake subplot didn’t really lead to anything except a semi-sweet ending. I loved the whole chase sequence- it was really well animated, and I loved the bit with Homer doing “leaps” in the elevator.
Mayor Quimby reveals his full, fully-Irish name as Joseph Fitzgerald O’Malley Fitzpatrick O’Donald The Edge Quimby.
“It was such a lovely St. Patrick’s Day until the Irish showed up.”
“If you shoot me, I won’t be able to stop you and you’ll be free to go…but someone may come after you. Probably not, given your reputation for shooting people who come after you. What I’m trying to say is, not shooting me now would be the biggest mistake of your life.”
“You’re kind and smart. I’m cruel and strong. Together we’re nothing, but together we’re the perfect bounty hunters!”
Once again they’ve cobbled together a bunch of random story ideas. At least they were funny ideas, but could’ve been developed further. Marge and the erotic bakery could’ve been stretched to an a-plot.
The beginning of this episode begs for comparisons to Homer vs. The 18th Amendment, which has always been one of my favorite episodes. The main plot from last night’s episode doesn’t compare favorably to that one and the St. Patrick’s Day floats weren’t as good, but this one made me laugh out loud pretty hard a couple of times, including the Thing and the Hulk (err, Thung and the Mulk) getting involved in the green vs. orange riot. It was a good wacky episode instead of just being bizarre and the chase scene was funny and a very good action movie parody, even if it went on a little too long. I’m forgetting some of the specifics but I didn’t get to rewatch the episode last night.
I watched it this morning on DVR before work, unaware it had even been on last night. I thought it was the funniest new episode I had seen in quite a while. I thought the bit with Chalmers was hysterical.
I was probably ahead of everyone else as far as laughing at this episode. My husband is a Just Off the Boat Irishman. Not only that, but he’s from Belfast. He’s been here about 4 years now. He’s now officially the only guy in Iowa with a brogue.
So the “Dirty Protestant Orangies” (as he calls them) showing up and Lisa mentioning that there were “two kinds of Irish” threw us into fits of laughter, as did the comment about “where’s the IRA when you need them” or something to that effect. He gets a kick out of the way Americans view Irish culture so his rolling around on the living room floor made ME laugh and then the entire episode seemed hilarious.
But honestly, after the ethnic jokes tapered off, it was a bit of a snooze except for the Butt Cake. I agree that the bit about the erotic bakery could have really made a good episode in and of itself. And the episode of Family Guy where Peter goes to Ireland to seek his roots was really much funnier.
There were some comments that South Park did a story about a chicken pox party before The Simpsons did. However, that was only the subplot of the Simpsons episode- the main plot involved Bart and Milhouse trying to get Milhouse’s parents back together, but instead making Mrs. van Houten believe Marge and Mr. van Houten were having an affair.
I thought this was a reference to the Stan Lee episode “I am Furious Yellow” with Homer (Angry Dad) turning into a rampaging green Hulk-style monster, or would that be too clever?
I rarely watch the Simpsons as I am rarely in the US. I am shocked at how poor this episode was. None of the comedic threads were strong. There was just too little meat on the bones.
I was encouraged by last season, but I have to agree with **Paul in Saudi **that this was a pretty weak episode. Even the Irish jokes were pretty dull and obvious.
I didn’t like the episode much either. Most of the jokes were telegraphed, especially the one when Mr. Burns reveals that he was the one responsible for the green river. Last night’s King of the Hill was a much better episode, except for the poorly-done ending.
