Last night, both The Simpsons and Family Guy engaged in episodes that ran more on storytelling than on jokes. And while the laughs weren't as loud as a lot of people might have wanted, it made for a surprisingly engrossing night of television.

 

Guest starring John Slattery in essentially his role as Roger Sterling from Mad Men, this episode features drunken hijinks of a very different sort. From the first act featuring Absolut Krusty ("I used up my stuff poisoning deer") to Maggie's mock-DUI ("I got here after you did") this episode was as tipsy as it was effective.

 

Were there faults to be found? Certainly. It was an homage, a love letter to Mad Men, when we might have wanted a more effective satire. It is an episode which cried out for the late, lamented Frank Grimes. And it is an episode which several times tried to peg a laugh on the idea that Homer had been drinking "a lot." (Good luck with that.)

 

But what it lost in wacky hijinks and slapstick laughter it made up for everywhere else. Here's a weird compliment: the set design of this episode was absolutely superb. I know that sounds ultra-nerdy, but consider how much the sets and color palette influenced the story. I found myself grooving on everything from the view out Homer's office window to the plant tucked behind his office door. The art direction as a whole - from the color palette to the background music - was amazing, and it really carried this episode. 

 

I was less enchanted by the "B Plot," in which Lisa teaches Bart how to be a better reader. First of all, I know Bart isn't the world's best student, but surely he isn't as illiterate as this episode made him out to be. Second of all, if he was, I doubt Lisa could fix it so easily.

 

But it's really just an excuse to lead up to a sequence where Bart reads Little Women to the school bullies ("What's the name of this wedgie ticket?") who become engrossed in the story.  

 

The same can be said for the whitewater rafting expedition that brought the episode to a close. Whitewater rafting is such a sitcom cliche - why not ride burros down the Grand Canyon? Go parasailing? Deep sea marlin fishing? Corn maze? Anything but whitewater rafting, for pity's sake. But the tiki bar in "the other raft" was pretty funny, and the accidental DVD swap featuring "The Diversity Kittens on Melting Pot Mountain" was hilarious.

 

All in all, it was proof that the definition of "a good episode" can go far beyond just the lulz.