A review of "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife, and Her Homer (HABF15)"

[The long of it]

Tonight's premiere, "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife, and Her Homer," starts off well. After the first few minutes, though, it gradually loses appeal before ending with a technically well-done but slightly tired "Godfather" send-up. I hope I don't get whacked for that, but it needs to be said.

The opening few minutes are the show's high point. Lisa (!) accidentally breaks Otto's walkman, depriving him of his tunes. He does not take it well, and who can blame him with nothing to listen to but the children's juvenile song parodies? Even a chance meeting with one of his favorite bands, Metallica (guest-voicing as themselves), goes badly. At the end, one of their members yells at him, "Never listen to our music again!"

The school suspends Otto when Bart takes over the bus, forcing Marge to car-pool some of the children to school. One of the students is Michael, a quiet boy with an infamous father -- the notorious gangster Fat Tony. Most of the students shun him, for fear of reprisal from his old man. Lisa sympathizes with him; she isn't anything like her father, and she suspects that's true for Michael, as well. (It isn't said in the episode, but I think some of Lisa's sympathy comes from also knowing what it's like to be the class pariah.) She chances a conversation with the boy and, sure enough, Michael turns out to be a sensitive soul who just wants to become a gourmet chef.

I thought this was an intriguing setup even though broad concept of "child nothing like the parent" has been done a lot. (Heck, it's a central part of Lisa's character, and we see that in almost every "Simpsons" episode.) The writers don't explore it much, though, before the show drifts into the even more familiar territory of ordinary people becoming intimately familiar with the criminal underworld. Tony is injured in fighting with the Calabrizzi family (I'm almost certainly spelling that wrong), so Homer does his new pal a favor by stepping in. A couple of scenes of him bumbling follow, and soon he and Bart act like hardened criminals. (At least Bart has had some prior experience with this, in "Bart the Murderer (8F03).") There are some good jokes here and there, but nothing that spectacular.

Some more colorful, or at least more eccentric, bad guys might have helped. Even though Joe Pantoliano [sic] and Michael Imperioli [sic, again] are on board as the Calabrizzis, the characters themselves seem generic -- they could have been voiced by just about anybody.

As I said, the ending parody is technically well-done, and I give it points for its atmosphere and use of music. But it feels kind of rote, like someone thought, "uh, oh, story about Fat Tony; we need a 'Godfather' reference." I liked the bit where James Caan got gunned down at the tollbooth outside of Springfield better.

Oh, well, at least we can argue that the season premiere isn't a harbinger of the season to come. Now that I think about it, it's been a while since we've had a really knockout season opener (that wasn't a "TOH"). I'd say the last one was "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson (4F22)," from nearly nine years ago. I guess like some of the football teams who also opened their season this day, it takes a while to knock the summer rust off.

[The short of it]

The season premiere starts off well, but loses momentum as the show goes on. Otto's torment when he loses his Walkman is funny, and I liked the teaming of Lisa with shy mobster's son Michael. But most of the second half of the show falls into Mafia stereotypes, and we're left with the feeling we've seen this before, even if we haven't. As guest stars, Metallica outshines the "Sopranos" men, if only because they have funnier lines to say. I hope I don't get whacked for that, but it needs to be said. (C+)

[DYNs]

...	Lisa doesn't join in when the other children sing on the bus?
...	Bart actually drives the school bus to school, as opposed to
	something he'd consider more fun?
...	Lunchlady Doris has a spoken line, which hasn't happened in a
	while?
...	despite being in fourth grade, Bart still gets his "N"s
	backward?

[References]

"Old Macdonald Had a Farm" "The Wheels on the Bus" (children's songs) - kids make up parody lyrics for these two childhood classics

"Smoke on the Water" (song) - Otto says one of the subjects of a real song is "smoke in relation to water;" he's probably thinking of this hit

"The Sopranos" (song) - the theme song from this series plays as Fat Tony drives the children home from school

Chef Boyardee (line of canned pasta) - one of the Calabrizzi goons teases Fat Tony's son by calling him, "Chef Boy-are-gay"

[Previous Episode References]

[8F03] Bart involved in organized crime [DABF17] Theme song from "The Sopranos" heard

[FFF]

Nelson's science experience results:

    Squirrels
    don't Like
      rocks.

Newspaper headline:

    LOCAL MAN THINKS
    WRESTLING IS REAL

           [Homer at]
           [ringside]

The cafeteria's not-so-fresh ingredients:

    W W II
    BEANS

Bart's bootleg DVD:

    BatMAN
    BEGINS

Michael's recipe for revenge:

RECIPE

          - MEAT
          - SPICES
          - POISON

(SERVES 6-10 ENEMIES)

[Oops!]

Not to be too pedantic, but the fish on the "Finding Nemo" blanket are incorrectly colored. The red fish is blue in the movie, and the yellow-and-white fish should be orange-and-white.

[Personal Comments & Observations]

The SUV Fat Tony drives looks like a Lincoln Navigator. It suits him well; like Tony, the Navigator is big, upscale, and a more than a bit intimidating-looking.