I feel like if The Simpsons really care (and there is some debate about whether or not the show's production team is just phoning it in on purpose or not), they would hire some really outrageous script doctors. Every script has these moments, these scenes, where I can think of at least three or four things that would have been better. Funnier, more interesting, more edgy, more… watchable.

At first I couldn't help but cynically compare this episode with past Simpsons episodes. But while it is true that this episode is composed with the same bricks and pieces that have been used repeatedly in the past, I forgive it, because it managed to rise above it and be utterly charming in the process.

 

We begin in a movie theater. Homer ticks off Marge by repeatedly yelling jokes (puns, mostly) at the screen. Lenny and Carl are encouraging him, and it's worth emphasizing that their approval means more to Homer than Marge's disapproval. 

You know, everyone's going to have their own answer to this question, but to me, this week's episode of The Simpsons was all about how insufferably self-centered people can be. And how blind to the effect and inconvenience it has on other people.

 

In the main plot, Jimbo Jones (the bully with the skull printed on his t-shirt) insists that Bart chaperone his girlfriend. As if Bart, who as he points out is comfortably pre-adolescent, is tantamount to a eunuch. Bart is nervous and annoyed at being strong-armed into this time-consuming, unpaid, and (so he thinks) boring assignment against his will. Then he (predictably) gets a crush on Jimbo's girlfriend, and it all goes haywire.

I know it's fashionable to hate on The Simpsons, but I genuinely like the show, and I enjoy watching most episodes. I have to start this review with a caveat, because that is how trite it is to complain about a Simpsons episode. If you want to do it, you have to start with an explanatory preamble.

 

Typically when I watch an episode of anything, I get involved in the show. It's not until after the episode is over that I take time to reflect on what I have seen, which parts worked, which parts didn't, what made me laugh, and so forth. In other words, I suspend the critical mind while watching, and just try to enjoy myself.

You know how sometimes I (like all Simpsons fans) complain that the show isn't edgy enough? That it lacks bite? That it pulls its punches, particularly compared to shows like Family Guy and South Park? Well, I was wrong, and I am sorry. Last night's episode was as edgy and biting and dark as they come, and - in between laughing myself half to death - I was like, EEEEWWW NO MAKE IT STOP!!!

 

It turns out that, as with so many things in life, when you get what you always thought you wanted, it turns out you didn't really want it. Also, now I kinda feel like the show's producers were just lulling us into a false sense of complacency with the last few episodes.