I came to this episode biased from the start, because I hate Facebook more than anything. Well, not "anything," I guess. But I hate it more than a lot of things. Put it this way: I haven't seen the movie "The Social Network," because I know it wasn't as hard on Zuckerberg as I felt it should have been, and I know it would just make me angry.

 

At the same time, I have very little patience for people who make the same old litany of complaints: people just text each other! They don't talk anymore! Everyone's looking at their gadgets! Get a grip, elderly people of the world. Things change. We know you hate it. We know you want us kids off your lawn. Just relax, okay? Stop being so curmudgeonly!

 

This Simpsons episode therefore exists in the unenviable overlap between those two circles on the "Talkin' 'Bout Facebook" Venn diagram. In other words, they practically designed this episode specifically for me to dislike it.

 

I tried to remain even-tempered and dispassionate about it, I really did. Because it's unfair as a reviewer to bring all that baggage to the table. It's not the show's fault! But despite my best efforts, I just couldn't get past my feelings about Facebook and about people complaining about Life In These Modern Times.

 

Here is something that I liked about last night's episode: the driving force behind the episode, what sets the whole thing in motion, is Lisa's desperate desire to be liked. We have seen this side of Lisa several times in the past, to varying effect.

 

Lisa is a geek, which means that she will never be liked by the popular kids. That's just how the world works. But despite the fact that Lisa is liked by all the other geeks, she craves the approval of the popular kids. Like all of us, Lisa dismisses that which seems to come naturally to her (the approval of her fellow geeks). She wants the unobtainable, and she is willing to go to great lengths to get it. 

 

The cravenness of her desire to be liked by the pretty girls is as cringe-worthy as it is accurate. *Erika likes this.

 

Oh, and the Winkelvoss twins making out with each other at the end? SUPER CREEPY. *Erika likes this.

 

I also got a surprise laugh out of the ending, "A Simpson's "Show's Too Short" Story," which was a small but passionate tribute to the artwork and poetry of Edward Gorey. I never knew how badly I wanted to see the Simpsons get the Gorey treatment until I saw it! And it was awesome. *Erika likes this.