6th blog

This is the 6^th episode (albeit a bit late unfortunately) blog for the Simpsons and according to the schedule seems to the last. This week was new and it was the 17^th episode of the 22^nd season. The episode is entitled “Love Is a Many Strangled Thing.”

Homer inadvertently humiliates Bart in front of a stadium crowd. Marge not really outraged but more annoyed it seems encourages Homer to enroll in a fathering enrichment class. It is taught by therapist Dr. Zander. (voiced by Paul Rudd) He becomes shocked to learn that Homer often strangles Bart for mischievous behavior, Dr. Zander conducts a series of treatments with the help of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to teach Homer what it feels like to be young and small. When Bart learns that the therapy sessions have transformed Homer into a pushover, he takes advantage of Homer and becomes a school bully. Hoping therapy could also cure Bart of his bullying habits, Marge enlists Dr. Zander's help to patch their relationship.

I’m sorry. Is this a high quality episode nowadays? I understand that it is a cartoon clearly and so it lies completely in the world of fiction but there has to be some string of reality tied to all of it. Kareem was available to help a no name psychologist in treating a clearly volatile patient? I am sure when I was younger and used to watch this sow religiously I would have been laughing the entire time but it is just too much at this point. I am done.

Unfortunately, once again there is nothing that can be taken from this episode in terms of community. Just the way it was.

……If you really want something from this episode, don’t be violent towards others for every little thing.

5th blog

This is the 5^th episode (albeit a bit late unfortunately) blog for the Simpsons. This week was a repeat from earlier on this season. The episode in question is the 6^th episode for season 22 entitled “The Full Monty” and it originally aired Nov. 21^st, 2010.

The episode begins with a meeting of news station representatives that devise a plan to cause mass panic by fabricating a faux disease that is caused by household cats. They say that among other things, that there is a vaccine available but of course only in limited supply. (You can already tell this episode is going to be a winner folks. looks away and pulls at collar) At the hospital, Mr. Burns steals a significant portion of the “vaccine” for himself, running over the rest of the vaccine with his car in the process. Mr. Burns learns that he essentially has 6 weeks to live due to multiple illnesses. Naturally he becomes distraught by the town’s less-than-sensitive reaction to his announcement. (Gee, you think evil character for the last 20 years?) He then attempts suicide by leaping from a cliff, yet ends up surviving, albeit with some amnesia and delusional behavior. (May I interject real quick that this is a character who has over numerous occasions over the past been shown to be too weak already to even properly lift his toothbrush to his teeth?) Bart finds Mr. Burns weak and vulnerable in the wilderness and secretly takes him into the Simpsons' home. (See what the writers did there? They finally brought in the actual main characters of the show to tie it together. Good on them) When Homer and Marge learn about their new houseguest, they, along with the rest of Springfield, decide to get some payback for all the misery he has caused them over the years. (shocking.) When Lisa takes Burns back to his mansion, his memories return changing him back to his cruel, heartless self, and decides to put a dome over the town to get revenge on everyone who had treated him badly. (what this would actually do, I do not know. [So Monty’s greatest way to control the town of Springfield is to block out the sun, and to place a dome overhead. This guy has a weird affinity for blocking things.]) In the end, Mr. Burns flies away in his helicopter piloted by Smithers, who at first believed Mr. Burns had died and spent a brief time working for former Vice President Dick Cheney. The pair are immediately greeted by Nelson Muntz.  He threatens to crash the helicopter unless Mr. Burns agrees to attend a school play posing as Nelson's father. I am actually totally lost on the last part. What that has to do with anything else in the episode is far beyond me.

This was not a winner of an episode as you can tell. There is nothing even really to extrapolate from it in terms of dealing with national issues. The writers simply decided to give Monty and episode and it fell flat.