"To Surveil With Love"

Mr. Burns has a problem: he's run out of space to dispose of his excess nuclear waste. The most logical alternative is to hide the spare plutonium on his employees, and that's where he has Problem #2: he hides the dangerously radioactive material on Homer Simpson. It sets off a chain of events that lead to Springfield going secure in "To Surveil With Love", the 20th episode of the 21st season of The Simpsons. Meanwhile, Lisa finds herself the victim of discrimination when her blonde hair leads to nobody taking her seriously.

While last week's "The Squirt and the Whale" went for slapstick, "To Surveil With Love" has some of the sharpest Simpsons humor we've seen in a while. When evaluating Homer's plutonium-carrying gym bag, a steely-voiced law enforcement official implies "I think we're gonna have to blow it up, and let the bleeding heart liberals answer questions later." A bleeding heart liberal then whines, "Well, now, why can't it be blown up by a woman of color?" When Springfield's citizens meet to discuss their brush with terrorism, the sign outside Town Hall reads "Tonight: Discuss Terrorist Threat. Tomorrow: Regret Actions Taken Tonight." Inside, Mayor Quimby admits that everything he said about terrorism in the past was fear-mongering, "but today, I monger the truth!"

The social commentary doesn't really make a splash (the population doesn't take too kindly to a Big Brother surveillance program? Really? Tell us more!), but the jokes fire on all cylinders. When Lisa protests that the framers of the Constitution would not support Nigel Bakerbutcher (Eddie Izzard) and his city-wide surveillance cameras, the man who framed the copy of the Constitution in the Town Hall says he heartily approves of the idea. With an almost-unanimous vote ("All opposed, say 'I hate America!'"), the town accepts the network of security cameras.

Frustrated with the enormity of watching hundreds of CCTVs, Chief Wiggum recruits Springfield's "prying but not pervy" citizens (all seven of them - it was going to be eight, but he downgraded it so he could have an extra chair for his office, to look like a "meetings person"). Wiggum gives the volunteers a list of instructions on how to monitor their fellow citizens (PBJ, ABC, and AAAA - you'll have to see it yourself, because the hilarity will kill you dead). Unsurprisingly, Ned Flanders takes a liking to his new role ("Excuse me, that's your salad fork! Wifi is for hotel guests only!"), and quickly drives the citizens of Springfield crazy. While mooning a camera ("Experimenting with my butt!"), Bart discovers a blind spot - conveniently covering the whole of the Simpson's back yard. Bart and Homer open the yard up to the town and charge people to do whatever they want, free from the eye of Ned.

Despite some good, cute moments, Lisa's B-story never really goes anywhere or does anything. Its abrupt (yet funny) end gives the impression that writer Michael Nobori ran out of ideas and just pulled the plug on it. Lisa's defense of Homer ("My father no longer has any functioning credit cards!") and the jarring ending of Marge's "Sally Circle" book all make for good moments, and it makes you wish that Lisa and her temporarily brown hair were given more time and better material ("Her brown hair does have a point."). With such a strong A-story, though, something had to give, and there's enough humor to ensure that Lisa's odyssey doesn't bring the episode down too many notches. The termination of the story ("This building cut me off!") is worth its short shelf-life.

Ned's epiphany comes a bit too suddenly (although seeing Supernintendo Chalmers in a dress will do that to anyone), and it's nice watching him and Homer willingly collaborate for once. Eddie Izzard gets the final punchline, with his Prince Charles regally commenting that his cat's breath smells like cat food. It sums up a powerful episode from The Simpsons. "To Surveil With Love" gets the formula right in many places, and the weaker B-story has enough humor to ensure that the episode rounds off very nicely indeed.