Mmm, OK. I'm kind of bewildered that we'd get a relationship episode like this with an odd framing device so soon after "Love Is a Many Splintered Thing" - especially since in production order they're *consecutive* (RABF07). I don't understand why this one was narrating fairly obvious plot points - maybe it was part of a reference to something else? Still, unnecessary. The Milhouse/Lisa plot was a little more interesting, at least. I'm still not a fan of the more bizarre things, like Abe's appearing/disappearing act and the sushi coda. On the other hand, "Jazz from J to Z" certainly made me chuckle.
DYN: ...this is rated TV-14-DLSV? (Why? Vaguely kinky sex stuff and a thing to please Marge that starts with F?) ...Akira's back (and voiced by George Takei)? ...Milhouse seems to retain the cupcake from the special Breaking Bad opening? ...another large number of looped lines?
Previous episode stuff BABF02: Marge wants swimming lessons for Maggie 2F19: Lisa's announcement that her and Bart's lunches got mixed up reminiscent of this 8F18, 1F20: Big "A Streetcar Named Desire" references (I have to admit I was not expecting "Fella!" later on - it was amusing) 3G03: Bart is apparently not the only one who's good at "whipping cupcakes"
Elsewhere on Fox Tonight's episode of The Cleveland Show (Fist and the Furious, 4APS15) just before this one included a tongue depressor (compare chopstick) walrus gag. It also heavily featured the recurring Bryan Cranston character (Dr. Fist), which is vaguely interesting considering the special opening here.
Bedbug alert So, I was prepared for something to happen during the credits when I noticed that they were in white; little did I expect that to be a very short promo for... something. It would seem to be a straight ad for the next new episode (which is in 2 weeks, as it said), though whether it has anything to do with a bedbug invasion I am not sure, and if it doesn't, is there a joke I'm missing? If it does, that's disconcerting. Promos for upcoming episodes *over* or *instead of* credits are one thing; this is *in* the credits. (I saw the same sort of thing on the 4/4 episode of Community, which used a promo for its next episode and was pretty confusing. Hmm.) Well, we'll see what happens now (in other episodes and repeats of this).
Don Payne There was no dedication to him in this episode - the first new one since he died. I guess the second airing of RABF02 a few weeks ago is all he gets. (I figured this might happen because Phil Hartman got one in the first repeat after his death as well as the first new episode.) Meh.