DABF03 "Sweets and Sour Marge" Review by Ryan Irvine
Introduction However you look at DABF03, it is impossible to come away with any conclusion except for one: this was a very good episode. It is quite obvious that Al Jean is making some necessary changes behind the scenes to things that Mike Scully was either oblivious to, or proud of. For the first time sense God knows when, the episode wasn't focused entirely around Homer or one character, but rather the entire town of Springfield. This episode clearly featured the best use of supporting character since the golden era of the show, which I will define as seasons three through eight for these purposes. We saw Drederick Tatum, Martin Prince's dad, the very tall man from "22 Short Films," and a whole slew of others.
Since his tenure as executive producer began all but three episodes ago, Al Jean has noticeably decreased the wackiness factor of the show. As a result, the storytelling is much better, the humor has begun to revert back to something remotely intelligent, and the brilliant visual gags have begun to return in numbers. Because of these ingredients, two out of the past three episodes have been better than, with very few exceptions, anything in the past three seasons.
This was the third full-length episode written by Carolyn Omine, the other two being "Little Big Mom" and "The Great Money Caper." And I'm glad to be able to say that this is easily her best work so far. While Little Big Mom was enjoyable, something that could not be said about any of the other episodes from Season 11, it was just too wacky. The same, unfortunately, holds true with her second episode, "The Great Money Caper." And as cooincidence would have it, both featured horrible endings, and both episodes were produced by Mike Scully during the few years in which it was clear that he had gone criminally insane.
First Act The library sequence of the episode was quite well done, in my opinion. Homer's quote upon entering the library, "A library selling books? If I don't want it for free, why would I want to pay for them?" is brilliant because it's true. Ladies and gentlement, intelligent social commentary has returned to "The Simpsons." Right off the bat, we see several supporting characters that we don't see very often or at all anymore: Sanjay, Martin Prince's father, Helen Lovejoy, Comic Book Guy, Dr. Nick Riviera, and Cletus. It's great to hear that these people still exist. I enjoyed the way that the part with Homer looking at the Duff Book of World Records played out. "Wow, now that's a goider." Great! The transition to the next scene was very well done. Lisa explains that the book was originally published to settle arguments in Taverns, and in the next scene, we see Lenny and Carl arguing about that exact subject. Funny transition. So far, so good! Grade: 4/5
The Moe's Tavern scene was short but funny. Lenny and Carl arguing will never cease to be funny. When Homer shows them the actual record, the following dialogue is great. Lenny says "Geez I was wrong, but I ain't angry," and Carl says, "and I'm magnanimous in victory!" The only reason these quotes work so well is because they were set up by Lisa's quote about the purpose of the record book in the previous scene. Grade: 3.5/5
The breakfast scene is funny for several reasons. First, the fact that Homer has already exhausted all the records in the book on his family is just something that Homer would do. Second, the joke at the end of the scene where Homer exclaims, "The Simpsons are going to Mars! So pack your....or maybe I'll think of something else," is clearly a shot at the Mike Scully era, and how pointless many of their adventures in the past couple of seasons have been. Homer's voice sounds particularly hilarious in this dialogue as well, so it works out. Grade: 4.5/5
The next scene at the Duff Book of Records office was somewhat hit an miss. The shot on Marlon Brando at the beginning of the scene is hilarious. Marlon Brando jokes will never cease to be funny. And it helps that Al Jean is the master of them. (In every episode of his other show "The Critic," there were Brando insults galore.) "You're a sinch to be the world's fattest man!" The next part of the scene where he talks to the executives starts off well, but ends stupidly. When Homer asked what the record for (he acts all crazy) was, I just lost it. His voice in that part was hilarious. The cobra/banjo idea was weak to begin with, but it would have been funny if they ended the scene right after the executive says "No, Denver," rather than Homer doing the little rif on the Banjo. This wackiness was really stupid, and brought down the scene as a whole. Grade: 3/5
The next scene is the weakest part of the entire episode, let alone act one. It's just to wacky. Homer climbing the pyramid and the whole Mission Impossible 2 gags were great, but too wacky. The idea of a human pyramid was just too zany to begin with. And that whole human ball thing was unnecessary. It's unfortunate that there wasn't a better way to weigh the town, because this scene reeked of Mike Scully. It was nice that they decided to feature the whole town, but this segment was just flat and unfunny. Grade: 2/5
Act One Grade (Not an average): 3.5/5
Second Act I thought that the beginning of the scene was funny. Seeing all the townspeople and their jiggling fat in slow-motion was hilarious. Only in Springfield would the whole town be "celebrating their obesity." Leave it to Marge to be angry about this "accomplishment." But of course, that's her character, and I couldn't really see anyone except for her or Lisa in this role. Anyway, nothing particularly memorable in this scene, but very solid nonetheless. Grade 4/5
The kitchen scene, which would be the second such scene in the episode, was well done. We get to see that the kids are eating the most rediculous, sugar doused food ever. The part with Homer sucking the sugar off of the grapefruit and then disposing of it was hilarious. It's something that all of us would have done or have done at some point in our lives. Grade 4/5
Marge in the Kwik-E-Mart was a funny scene, for the most part, because of one gag. "SUGAR, FREE DONUTS" was a brilliant gag. Dr. Hibbert's appearence was pretty funny, and demonstrated how addicted to sugar the people of Springfield really were. Grade: 4/5
The next scene from inside the "Motherloving Sugar Corporation" (great name) was great. It's good to see someone else (Garth Motherloving) playing the evil bastard role than Mr. Burns. The shot of Motherloving's daily agenda at the beginning of the scene was quite humorous. "Evil deeds, evil deeds, racquetball, evil deeds." This is Ben Stiller's first time appearing on the Simpsons, and we can be thankful that it wasn't as himself for once. That was one thing that Mike Scully beat into the ground. "While we're at it, why don't I just change my name back to Hitler," was a great quote. Good scene. Grade: 4/5
The scene where Marge talks to the family on the couch was very short. It was one of those scenes that kind of came off akward in the beginning, but was very funny towars the end. In my opinion, Homer asking about the Umpa-Loompa was something that maybe he would do, but it should have been left out from the episode. The numerous, and hilarious Erin Brokovich references begin in this scene. "She's the prostitute with the heart of gold," as Bart says. Grade 4/5
The writers may have something with the next scene. Since Phil Hartman was tragically murdered a few years ago, the Simpsons have been left without an incompetent attourney who lacks any sort of self-confidence. They may have found a good replacement in Gil. Sure, Gill has been used as everything in the last three seasons, and has, quite frankly, gotten on a lot of viewer's nerves, but I think the writers would do well in keeping him as the Simpson family attourney. Nobody could ever truly replace Lionel Hutz, but it was a smart choice to start with old Gil. "Todays law schools are churning out 2.1 lawyers for every school in America," was a funny quote because of how rediculous and impossible it is. But it is true in a sense. And the fact that the Simpsons family chose Gil out of all of them is fantastic. Grade: 5/5.
The next kitchen scene was short, and not too memorable, but it was still good. It was funny to hear Gil acknowledge his past jobs, and the existance of a "Rick James Bible." Grade: 4/5
The next quick scene wasn't hilarious, but it was important because Marge needed to round up people to give a deposition. I didn't find Ralph to be funny in this scene, unfortunatley. Oh well, quick and painless. Grade: 3/5
Ah yes, the estate of one Cletus....SPUCKLER? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we finally learn Cletus's name. And the fact that he was able to sign it so elegantly is hilarious. A solid scene from our favorite slack jawed yokel. Heh. Dia-Betty. Oh, Cletus, will you never learn? Grade: 4.5/5
I always enjoy seeing Disco Stu. This scene wasn't particularly memorable, but the cocaine-sugar joke was well recieved...by me. Grade: 4/5
The next scene was hurt by Homer in the beginning. Does he have to cry like a little girl in every single episode? I mean, it's funny, but it's something I could definitely do without. The scene, thankfully, was saved by the first good Profressor Frink appearance in a few years. Who would have thought that he was a key player in operation HOYVEN MAYVENNN? Grade 3.5/5
The Simpsons are back in the court room....and so is Judge Snyder! It's about time. His seat was wasted in two Mike Scully produced season 13 episodes by a guest-starring Jane Kasmeric. Never replace Judge Snyder again, dammit. I found Motherloving's tantrum to be quite funny, and the fact that Judge Snyder overruled Gil's objection just goes to prove how rediculous the court really is. An appearance by Count Fudgula was a very good idea, remeniscent of the appearances of the monopoly guy. Was I the only person who took Judge Snyder's "It's Hershey Highwaymen like you who make me fat," remark as a euphamism? Because I'm certain that's what was intended here. Hilarious. Homer's "Get in the car," remark was a great way to end the scene. Awesome scene. Grade: 5/5
Act Two Grade (Not an average): 4.5/5
Act Three I love Kent Brockman. He's one of the few characters left on the show that Mike Scully didn't destroy in the past few seasons. His breif appearance was great. "Well, it looks like Springfield's cake hole has been shut...for good." I loved the continuing use of the Erin Brokovich names for Marge. "Thank you, Erin Choco-Snitch. That was a group effort." Very funny. There was something even funnier about Homer's original Erin Brokovich name, which ended up bombing. "Thank you Blue-Haired Broko-Witch! Okay, that was mine." Heh. Kent Brockman's run-through of all the banned candy products was hilarious. A great ending to a great segment. Grade: 5/5.
The melting of the candy was funny, but peculiar because of the blatant shot at Butterfinger. The Simpsons making fun of the very people who are supplying the show with monetary funds will never cease to be funny. No other show would ever have the bals to do anything remotely close to this. Great dialogue from Eddie, Lou, and Chief Wiggum. Awesome scene. Grade: 5/5
The next scene with the school kids going through sugar withdrawl was a good idea, and was only hurt by the SECOND disappointing Ralph appearance in the episode. Willie's "Aye, they're not riding the white horse anymore," is the second, count it, second use of a candy-related phrase as a sexual euphamism. Man, is Carolyn Omine on fire, or something. Grade: 4/5
I very much enjoyed the next scene at the Kwik-E-Mart, because it really showed that the only reason people go there was to buy sugary sweets. NOTE TO WRITERS: Tumbleweed will never cease to be funny. Use it, and there will be surefire laughs abound! I particularly noticed the sad sounding saxophone music in the background, which fit incredibly well with the barren convenience store. This scene would have been a five out of five, but was hurt by Homer licking the floor a second, unnecessary time. Grade: 4.5/5
The Lard Lad is back! And you can't go wrong with Miami Vice music! There's just something funny about an evil commitee consisting of Mr. Burns, Garth Motherloving, Count Fudgula, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, and Homer. Mr. Burns's sinister laugh followed by "Ah, good times" was an excellent touch. Grade: 5/5
The next scene at the house was extremely short, but very funny. Lisa's change of thoughts after Marge says "Dessert's on! I steamed some limes!" was predictable, but very funny, indeed. Grade: 4/5
The gag where Homer falls back over the railing and lands on the deck below was HILARIOUS. I don't think it needed to be done a second time, but this act is going so well that I can't help but forgive it. And there's something inherently funny about the fact that Homer somehow managed to get into a fight with a tucan over the extremely important maps. Homer's "That wasn't part of the deal" line would have been strange by any other circumstances, but the islander's "He's right, who wrote this thing?" line made it one of the more memorable moments in a long time. Grade: 5/5
When the whole police boat chase thing started, I thought to myself, "Oh, wonderful. This is gonna be something straight out of a Mike Scully season 11 episode." Thankfully, it wasn't. It was a hilarious parody of Miami Vice. Homer offered some brilliant fatherly advice in this scene, as well. "Remember what I told you about running away from your troubles? Let's do it!" Hah. Homer chosing to throw the sugar in the water was somewhat remeniscant of the "General Sherman" episode, but I can't complain. In the end, it was about doing the right thing. And he did. I want to personally thank the writers for not going with a cop-out ending for the first time in a while, but rather having everyone be happy again, and Marge and Homer assured that the right thing was done. Great ending. Grade: 5/5
Act Three Grade (Not an average): 4.5/5
Conclusions This episode picked up an incredible amount of steam by the end of the second act, and was able to maintin it througout act three. This episode started off like a very good Mike Scully episode, and just ended up performing beyond anyone's reasonable expectations. It was incredibly well written by today's standards, there was the best use of minor characters maybe ever, and the important thing here was that nobody went out of character. Awesome episode.
Final Grade: 4.5/5