Tonight's episode was pretty good all around, except that the three plots all had to vie for airtime. Much as I was intrigued by the prospect of another Snowball II story, it might have been a better move to put that in another episode; it didn't even really get resolved (was the idea that the family fed her beer and got her fat, or let her go to Moe's? or what? I must be missing something), and was the biggest victim of the squeeze. On the other hand, the whole episode was both pretty funny and full of interesting plot development (Marge with the key stands out here, and it wasn't over-presented), though a little odd at points (e.g. very _long_ hold on mystery meat crate), and so it gets some good marks for that. Miscellaneous tidbits of fun include but are not limited to the animal prison lexicon and Homer's 7F06-esque fall off the ramp (animated well enough to make me feel slightly acrophobic). Very busy, but pretty good, I guess about B+.
DYN: ...the couch gag seems almost identical to one created for the season 3 DVDs? (Is this a first?) ...the Springfield Cultural Activities Board makes a (very confusing) acronym? ...Otto's urine has trace amounts of urine? (At first, I thought it was meant as a perverse drug, till I remembered what the test was...)
Previous episode references 4F22, CABF15: Marge's up-and-down opinion of shoes 9F10, 2F22: Shelbyville rivalry 1F08: Burns has a plan to save the town; his employees (and others now) work there CABF05, EABF19, FABF11: Charles Napier is back as yet someone else FABF11: Homer applies for prison guard position 5F14: Homer as a snitch 4F15: Antiquated laws brought back into effect 2F06: Heat-sensitive camera used from news chopper
Other references Peanuts (various forms of it): SLH as the Red Baron; Snoopy stationery "Loony Laws and Silly Statutes" (book by Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts): Though there are many books compiling silly and antiquated laws, this has to be the one they had in mind to judge by the title; the one in question lists the cities or states where the laws are in effect, but little else
FFF Here's what I managed to get from the book of laws; the rest was too hard to read in standard broadcast quality. (Dots indicate those parts.)
You may not tie an
alligator to a fire hydrant.
It is illegal to practice voodoo
........... Television reporters
may not throw candy to the
audience[?] during a parade.
........may be placed in...Other notes (rambling) Hooray for Frank Gehry! Among other things, he designed the Peter B. Lewis building at Case Western Reserve University, complete with wacky metallic roof and some curving brick walls. It was built and opened during my years there, though I never had occasion to go inside; on the other hand, it provided lots of entertainment during the winter when killer icicles (somewhat akin to killer umbrellas?) formed on the roof and started falling on the sidewalk, and said sidewalk had to be closed off. The PBL was also host of a crazy gunman spree in May 2003, which is interesting in its slight relation to tonight's episode. (The PBL and Mr. Gehry were also mentioned when "chunkylover53" noticed my address in a reply after EABF03 - I guess the architect is an interest of the writers.)
Just how long was Homer supposed to be in the clink? I know the point was to get him in there for as long as possible, but for his can-kicking infraction, they couldn't have expected it to last very long.