"Chief of Hearts" works as a cute episode without raising the bar. To be fair, this is the 21st year of The Simpson's existence, and it doesn't need to constantly reinvent the wheel in order to justify its existence. The budding friendship between Wiggum and Homer is alternatively charming (Wiggum letting Homer "spring clean" his criminal record) and clichéd (Wiggum excitedly asking Lou and Eddie if Homer's looking at him). I don't recall if the two characters have ever had a great deal of interaction in past episodes, and if this is the first where the two share significant time together, writers Carolyn Omine and William Wright could have done a much worse job.

The worse job was done in the B-story, which feels like it exists because it needs to exist. There's nothing particularly wrong with Bart's Battle Ball obsession (and Marge's fears), but it's so unremarkable that it's practically unmemorable. The only time the story actually feels like its doing something is when Marge searches Bart's room. Seeing his assortment of Russian dolls and cleverly-disguised itching powder (why else would Bart have a dictionary?) give the angle some sense of purpose that previous scenes failed to establish.

The best gags are reserved for the main storyline - Homer's pathetic refusal to do community service ("No! I wanna go to jail! Free food! Teardrop tattoos! Library books that come to you!"), Wiggum's confessing his relief to Homer at discovering "that was a tire iron poking me in the back! Oh, that clears up a lot!"), and the crème-de-la-crème, Homer, a police helicopter, a megaphone and a searchlight having some fun with Ned Flanders. It's these, plus other cute (even if a bit tried & tired) moments ("Officer up! Officer way, way up!") that save the episode from the scrap pile.

"Chief of Hearts" presents little in the way of being a memorable addition to The Simpsons legacy, and it's by no means a sheer dud. At the end of the day, it's a fun episode that, if anything, will be remember for Chief Clancy Wiggum giving Homer the absolutely pathetic and adorable cute puppydog look.