SPOILER SPACE
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The Rack's Ubiquitous, Critical, Kick-Ass, Somewhat Anal & Useless Review "Uv" the Simpsons (TRUCKASAURUS)
Episode CABF21 "The Blunder Years"
LOLs(16):
--Mama Celeste: "You touch-a me, and I cut you!"
--Paul Newman: "Homer, I'll tell you what I told Redford.
It ain't gonna happen."
--Marge: "That paper towel lumberjack is coming here! For
dinner! Tonight!"
Homer: "Tonight? Well, you'd better get your hopes up!"
--Frink trying to resist the hypnotism... "'Cause it's
different!"
--"Oh, dear. I've re-dorkulated!" [applause]
--Homer: [laughing] "ZING! Ha ha ha! (whispers) What's a
Skeletor?"
--Homer: "I am in your power. Boss me around."
--Mesmerino's escape
--Homer shrieks while tipping the valet
--Homer shrieking while brushing his teeth
--Lisa: "No, Dad. Everyone's sick of that memory." (Homer
jumping the gorge on a skateboard)
--Mr. Sandman... "...and lots of wavy hair like Liberace!"
--Lenny: "Wow. Is that wacky tobaccky?"
Fat Tony: "The wackiest!"
--Carl: "I think I just logged on to my internet."
--Homer refuses to stop saying the quarry/stones throw
line
--Burns: [gasp] "Smithers JUNIOR!"Mildly funny (The "chuckles")(22):
--Marge has to tell someone about the paper towels
--Marge brings Lisa home to see the paper towels
--Homer's wimpy whining, about the bee that nearly stung
him
--"Marge hasn't asked me for a signed photo in months."
--Barney: "You mean... I was just a prop in some cruel
joke? Oh..."
--"Now you are... Emily Dickinson..."
"Look at me! I'm Angie Dickinson!" (The crowd applauds
both times)
--Mesmerino snaps his fingers, Homer says "That's better",
then resumes shrieking
--Fat Tony: "We'd better scram. Eighteen more pumps...
that could break the skin!"
--Carl: "Moe, what are you doing here?"
Moe: "What am I-- my bar is empty is what. Why ain't you
guys there?"
--The "internet" that lines swim-trunks
--Moe: "And there's your whatcha call it 'repressed trauma.'
I mean, who likes getting muddy? It's terrible."
--Moe trying to quickly shuffle everyone back to the bar
--Marge: "Maybe there's murder afoot..."
Lisa: "Murder most foul?"
--"The old quarry's just a stone's throw away."
--Mesmerino's "Carnac" impression
--Marge: "Maybe we should come back in the daytime."
--Chiew Wiggum wants a coupon for free guitar lessons
--Wiggum's skull-shaped rock, and bunch of white sticks
--"What are you doing in my corpse hatch/innocence tube?"
--Homer: "Now the movie's turned into a play! Still good,
though."
--Burns tells Smithers his father was killed in the Amazon
by a tribe of savage women. Hope it didn't affect him in
any way.
"We'll never know, sir."
--Moe: "First thing's just gonna look like a used band-aid...
and... and it is..."Satirical Content: --The paper towels are as amazing as any housewife in those commercials could dream about. Marge, true to the advertiser's expectation, gets just as excited about the product as the CEO of the company probably does. Exaggeratedly absorbant towels--they WORK! Why do we need them? Well... emptying a quarry would be nice. Simple paper towels aren't good enough for us! Products with features and selling points that no reasonable human being needs, or cares about.
(I've always thought that if you _need_ a super strong or absorbent paper towel--jeez; buy a dish rag! You'd probably pay about the same)
--The crowd applauds Homer's "amazing" transformations. Everyone is impressed, even Lisa! The incongruity and irony is blatant--Homer's just running around saying "I'm so-and-so!" What is being said about hypnotism? (Here's a hint: it's being mocked...)
--The murder mystery form, as well as melodrama itself is mocked and exaggerated -- especially in the third act.
First laugh (0:30): --Marge has to tell someone about the paper towels
Laughed hardest at: --Carl: "I think I just logged on to my internet."
Unnecessary Exposition(5): --Lisa: "Hey. There's Mesmerino..." --Homer: "This is it. This is the old quarry." --Chief Wiggum: "Aw, heck. It's just an old shopping cart." --Bart: "It's the body!" --(after Burns says Waylon Smithers... Sr...) Lisa: [gasp] "Mr. Smithers' father!"
When Lisa tells Homer and Bart they've really humiliated Marge, that's not unnecessary. They needed to hear that to feel remorse, and decide to make it up to Marge.
Comments:
Now and again on A.T.S., we hear how episodes seem to be loosely strung gags that vaguely resemble a plot. With the motto "shows about nothing have been done!" clutched to our bosom, we long for "stories" and "plots". So, how does this curl your toes: Homer's surpressed memory of a dead body found at age twelve may be an unsolved murder mystery! We scooch our little chairs around the Great Storyteller (TV... or Christopher Walken?) Our widened eyes twinkle, and our grinning mouths salivate.
Turns out this long-hoped-for "plot" is actually secondary to the overwhelming parody of melodrama, the murder mystery genre, and "The Simpsons" itself. The good news? It worked.
We begin satirically with Marge: the housemaking-demographic paper towel advertisers dream about. Enamoured of the product, she fantasizes about the spokesmodel. Homer, of course feeling threatened, plays a cruel prank on Marge to even the score. Making up, the family goes out to "Pimento Grove"... which has become a dinner theater featuring a hypnotist.
Homer feels remorse, which is important not only because it is what we would feel, but also because it makes him a sympathetic character. In general, sympathy for characters makes them funnier.
The self-commentary begins when Barney says "You mean... I was just a prop in some cruel joke? Oh..." It's a general comment about Barney that may apply to his drunkenness, throughout "The Simpsons'" run. Good, subtle self-commentary. Still wish he was a drunk, though.
Now, the exchange with Professor Frink:
Frink: "I didn't come here to be heckled and spoofed." Mesmerino: "Why DID you come here? Seriously, though."
Why indeed. Characters seem to pop up wherever they're needed for a laugh, or a gag--especially in the newest seasons. This is a smart observation about "The Simpsons", itself.
Homer gets his turn at the hypnotist, and remains true to character. Mesmerino then presses an unexpected "button" in Homer, however, which makes Homer freak out. And now, we have our nice, neat little conflict... (we're so excited!)
Back to self-jokes:
Bart's clothes are shuffled like cards. And... Bart is set for the week.
Carl and Lenny bring Homer home, strapped to a gurney. He's still screaming! The clever plot "contrivance" that will bring Homer around? An ever-so-handy hallucinogenic tea set.
Soon, Homer's spilling the tea--er, beans on what happened... when he's replaced by Moe... spilling "whatever". Wait a minute... Moe?
Moe's excuse for being at the Simpsons' house? A clever one (he's looking after his customers), but what's the real reason? It's important to give Mr. Azaria (not to mention Mr. Shearer) something to do every week. Another complaint heard on A.T.S.? "More focus on the family". Okay... but doing so puts Moe, Carl (Azaria) and Lenny (Shearer) outside the window, looking in. More good self-commentary.
We continue lightly treading on top of the (relatively sham) plot with "This sounds like a case that only the Simpson family can solve!" The message, again, is that this leaves cast regulars Azaria and Shearer out of the picture. (Chief Wiggum shows up later, though, providing Hank with some work :)
Moe: "You said 'Simpson Family'. You know, it sounded exciting!" Take this in a new context, referring to the show itself... Is there a tone of mockery there? Is it becoming obvious that we're being given reasons that "The Simpsons" has become a difficult show to write?
Awright... the writers are done (for the moment) looking out from behind the camera. The focus is back on this big, humongous, epic plot... What? Epic? What gave us _that_ idea?
Marge: "Maybe there's murder afoot..." Lisa: [gasp] "Murder most foul?"
If there were any more melodrama in those two lines, the universe would cave in right there and we'd have a wormhole in which to take our vacations. The lines are *SO* exaggeratedly stilted, they're a mockery of melodrama itself. They mock the importance of the plot, and thus are hilarious.
So, off we go (in mock-heightened drama) to "the o-o-o-old quarry."
Commentary on murder mysteries, themselves? Marge: "Maybe we should come back in the daytime." It's funny how many murder mysteries are solved at night! ;)
Need: Find the body. Problem: Too much water. Through some clever "voyving", Marge brings those ever-so-useful Burly towels to the rescue. Chalk one up for the writers, there. (|)
So yeah, they find the skull-shaped rock and white sticks they were looking for... "But whose body is it?" "And who sent it down that pipe?" We're dipped back in that caustic, caustic melodrama once again. Can you hear the organ strains from a 1950's soap-opera right about now?
They take a walk up the pipe, open the hatch, and discover the villian... in the shadows! (Boo-o-o-o-o-o!) Surprise! It's Mr. Burns!
So, the dragon is slain... or is it? No, not quite. You see... we like Mr. Burns. We don't want him in jail... so... through the magic of plot contrivance... a secret, security reel (behind an unlocked safe door, with mutiple angles, providing only the details we need, that has never been seen before) comes to light!
Escaping from the world of mockery for a moment--the movie gives us some nice honest backstory, which fans eat up with a biscuit.
Jump back into the melodrama... "I never told Smithers what really happened to his father." "Not until tonight, sir." [gasp] "Smithers JUNIOR!"
Burns' line made me laugh out loud. Harry Shearer delivered it with the perfect amount of melodrama and mock surprise. Homer: "Now the movie's turned into a play! Still good, though." Is there any comment they won't make about story formulas? <smile>
Anywho... Burns gets off the hook, Smithers gets a piece of his life back, and everything gets wrapped up in a neat, little package. Really. But... wait. Moe has some undisclosed evidence that may shock and surprise! But, they already solved the mystery.
Moe: Wanna take a look at it anyways, just for ha-has? Homer: Seems kinda pointless, now.
The writers look back out from behind the camera... In some of even the most sophisticated episode reviews on A.T.S., we read about how episodes use gags unrelated to the plot. We've even heard the word "pointless" and the phrase "pointless jokes" associated with them. The message? We have a few seconds, here. The plot is resolved; but, can we do a few "ha-has"? Seems kinda pointless. Are the writers allowed to put gags in the episodes, just for ha-has? Well...?
A surprising amount of self-commentary, and brutal parodies of story formulae themselves make "The Blunder Years" work. It gives the unwashed a precious story, yet it does so with a cloaked, smirking face. I dare say that this is the force of parody and mockery "The Simpsons" gave us every week in the classic years, though the target was usually everyday life. This time, they've turned the very same type of satiric criticism on to storytelling itself--possibly exposing why going "back" to a classic, storytelling type show is not something the writers want to do. At any rate, this shows that the writers' power of satire, irony, and iconoclasm matches well with that of the show's most classic years. The highest compliment I can pay the show is that "The Blunder Years" proves just how talented, intelligent, funny, and insightful the writing staff can be.
--Okay... now, for the easiest part of any coach's job... the crits
As good as the show was, I was offset by a couple of things. Moe's exit from The Simpsons' house seemed a little long, and drawn out. A sitcom style joke pops up:
[setup] Homer, shouldn't we give that skull to Mr. Smithers? [slam-dunk] Why? He'd just bury it.
The episode just flew by. At first, it didn't seem to leave much behind. A second viewing made the satire and parody sharper. Not used to seeing this type of show in recent memory? Maybe...
--Homer exercises the human verti-brains
Homer thinks to read the typewriter ribbon, after Marge types her letter. [contented sigh...] This is the Homer that is only stupid when he's being lazy; but, when properly motivated, can speak in Ye Olde Englishe so he might "sup on suckling pig this noon".
--[gasp] He's named like MY name!
--"Chad Sexington"... CC said so ;) Marge later clearly says "Where's Chad... I--" Any bias toward "Chad" away from "Tad" or "Ted" is clearly intentional. :P
--Hands off my jerkass, turkass
Was Jerkass Homer over to the Flanders' for a bit of tom-foolery, when he loudly explains his call to Flanders? You make the call... er, Bart made the call.
--Ex-act-ly... heh heh heh... D'Oh!
Homer on the gurney is reminiscent of the 1995 Butterfinger "Who laid a finger on Bart's Butterfinger" commercial that aired during 2F20 "Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part II".
--We all pull a few boners... go off half-cocked now and then
Moe was pumping his Daisy... is that anything like shaking the dew off the Lily? (Moe's sweating and grunting makes it "iffy")
What about baby Smithers... grabbing Mr. Burns long... "appendage" for the first time? Maybe I'm seeing things where there are none. [sigh] Well... back to worshipping the tortilla with God's face on it I found in the parking lot.
--Ha ha ha. I am UNBELIEVABLY amused
Normally, Lisa's "stop saying that, Dad" would have made the skin crawl. But, it was sandwiched between two funny statements:
"The old quarry's just a stone's throw away."
- and -
"NEVER!"It's cute that Homer's fixated on a simple, clever little quip like the quarry/stone throw line. Usually, those "stop [doing] [whatever]" lines are not funny, because the follow-up is extremely weak. But, "NEVER!" is character humor from Homer that is neither mean-spirited, nor stupid.
Prediction: "The Blunder Years" will prove a turning point
in the series, since it clearly displays the
great abilities of the current staff. Where
Al Jean takes us is another matter, and there
will be just as many dissatisfied viewers as
there have always been... but, they may be
different people this time. Should we be
excited? Well, as Homer said: "You'd better
get your hopes up!"DYN...
...the Senator Mendoza-looking guy sitting behind the
Simpsons at Pimento Grove?
...Smithers looks particularly impressed when Homer
becomes Angie Dickinson?
...young Fat Tony legitimizes the episode's title
when he says the phrase "blundered into"?
...after Lisa says "stop saying that", we see a stop
sign?
...Wiggum pulls and cocks his pistol when going to see
the skeleton?
...Marge daintily raises her dress while walking up the
pipe?
...the corpse hatch is directly under the taxidermed
polar bear?
...Wiggum looks repulsed when Burns says he shoved the
corpse down the sewer pipe?
...Homer eats popcorn during the "play"?
...the clever joke when Homer's light shriek, and loud
shriek are put over the credits in a new context?
(light shriek--Gracie Films; loud shriek--20th
Century Fox) (Brian Peterson, does that qualify as
a "swipe at Fox" for your webpage?)Previous episode refs:
[7F19] Marge writes a fan letter, expressing a crush
[7F19, AABF15] Marge paints
[7F22] Mr. Burns uses his letter opener at his desk
[8F06, 2F13] Bart talks while holding his nose
[9F01] Barney carries an axe
[9F17, 2F10] Someone takes over telling a story during
a scene
[1F01] Someone "roasts" Mr. Burns
[1F02] SNPP's "nap time" mentioned
[1F08] "Sears" department store mentioned
[2F22] Object mistaken for a rock shaped like that object
(skull/lemon)
[3F06] Homer innocently says "Bye, Moe" when Moe leaves
the Simpsons' house
[4F11] Homer uses the phrase "shall we say" to schedule
something at his house
[5F23] Homer: "Outta my way!"
[AABF09, BABF12, CABF08] Pelvic thrusts
[BABF14] Coupon for free guitar (cf. helicopter flying)
lessonsMovies (and other) references:
+ Benihana (restaurant) Popular (? not by Bart & Lisa's standards) Japanese restaurant where the chefs cook the meal right at the table
+ "Benny and the Jets" (song) "Lenny and the Jets" references this Elton John song
~ Jimi Hendrix Experience (band) The Moe Szyslak Experience similar
Goofs:
= As a pre-teen child, Moe's hair is black. But in [2F21], we find out that Moe's "roots" are "chestnut".
-Chad Lehman
"You crazy car. I don't know whether to eat you, or kiss you."
--John Truckasaurus