First episode of the new year (though the plot sounds a little familiar 
).
Errrm, NEPA, is that North Eastern PennsylvaniA? 'Cos, if it is, you’re in America now, and in America, 7/1 is the First of July.
Anyway, what’s it about?
Marge missing the Barnacle Bay vacations of her youth. Wasn’t there an episode where the family stay at Flanders’s cottage there?
What’s new about that. The Simpsons have been repeating themselves for years. We’ve even had Homer and Marge fight episodes back to back. How many times is the dog gonna have puppies. It is criminal when these people repeat ideas instead of hiring writers that can come up with a new idea.
I mean it was one thing in the 60s but now with the computers and internet anyone has access to all the episode summaries so it should be easy to figure out why we keep having episodes about the dog but no episodes about the cat.
Sorry for the rant but when the writers have Lisa say “When you’ve been on as long as that show has you’re bound to repeat yourself.” Instead of accepting a legitimate critisism of their work they mock it.
No, Ned’s cottage was at Little Pwagmattasquarmsetport, “America’s Scrod Basket.” (No, Springfield isn’t “America’s Scrod Basket,” it’s “America’s Chum Bucket.”)
There has been an episode about their cat(s). I don’t really see the comparison with the Little Pwagmattysquamsetport episode, since that one was largely about Lisa discovering a new identity for herself.
Since Ned once had a serious moral dilemma over allowing one of his sons to buy a hot candy with a cartoon devil on the package, I’m surprised he wasn’t offended by the comedic depiction of Hell in the Keystone Kop-style film he chose to show the town. (Of course, comedic depictions of Hell were common in old films and cartoons, but this is Ned Flanders we’re talking about.)
“Pastafazool- I am a fool!”
What was the music that kept being played throughout the episode? I’ve heard it before but I can’t place it.
The “flashback theme” (which also accompanied Homer’s Atlantis hallucination) was “Aquarium” from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saens.
“America’s Crud Bucket,” actually. Love that line.
This was a weird episode - I thought the scene in the church was surprisingly emotional even though you knew nobody was dead - but I think I liked it. I liked the whole first part, from Comic Book Guy’s meta turn to the silent film, which was up there with Itchy Mouse in Manhattan Madness. They even made the piano properly out-of-tune and saloonish. Moe’s “Even I hope this isn’t porn” was funny, too. And the slam on Brazil was really nasty and funny. Beats the last one, for sure, even though it’s not the best of this season.
Mrs. Butler & I were wondering about one image…
Patty & Selma with the little chinese girl that one of them adopted. Didn’t they leave China without child after Homer’s infidelity issues?
While we’re talking about Springfieldian relationships, why are Milhouse’s parents back together again?
Nope. They were able to appeal to the Chinese adoption worker, bureaucrat to bureaucrat.
Best dialogue:
Lisa: This is the worst place we’ve ever been!
Bart: Worse than Brazil?
Lisa: After Brazil!
(The Brazilian government threatened to sue the Simpsons over their portrayal of the country in the “The Simpsons go to Brazil” episode.)