Yet another flashback episode, though still not stale, and a little better than the last one (Weird Al-ful as it may have been). I knew a BIT about the plot beforehand, but not the double parallel flashback device, and that really made it neat. (Even Bart and Lisa had an analog to the basic story, which makes me wonder if this cabin place is haunted or something.) There were some interesting shades of FABF13 (the misunderstandings and such that weren't revealed till now), and I also liked the timing of the sex-farce segment in the second act. As usual, a bit of necessary cheating to reconcile the relative time scales... but that seemed to work well. Now, on the other hand, not that I felt there was a huge rift between Homer and Marge, but the resolution of it was extremely quick and the ensuing danger moment was a little silly. Oh well... Finally, I know Maggie Roswell's been back for 6 years, but it's neat to hear Maude again, and boy, "I missed her, like, 5 times"!
DYN: ...two Homer/Marge romance flashback episodes in one production season (the other being KABF04)? ...Yeardley Smith appears to voice the other couple's kid Ruthie? (If so, add that to BABF11 and BABF15, perhaps more) ...some of the tree carvings are still "true" and some ironically became false? ...secondary-cast-wise, this episode is really low? (The Simpsons, Ned and Maude, Grampa, Patty and Selma, and SVT are it, I think)
Previous episode references DABF19: Maggie Roswell returns as Maude (these two episodes being, if I recall correctly, the only two since Maggie left the show after the AABFs) BABF07: the adjective "stabby" KABF02: boat save at end oddly similar in a way
Goofs?: -Homer offers the kids $100 into their college funds if they take the pedal car, and Lisa counter-offers the reduction of $10 now, after which they go to the pedal car. Wasn't the idea that she would be willing to take the reduction in value in exchange for not having to ride it? (Or perhaps it was $10 on top of that?) -Not a real-life vs. frozen time goof: if Ned and Maude are obviously so much older than Homer and Marge 20 years ago, shouldn't Homer know his age (he didn't realize Ned was 60 in AABF06)? (There's a similar eyebrow-raiser in BABF10, with an age-labeled birthday party tape.) -How did Grampa know that Homer and Marge were at the cabin when he dropped off young Bart and Lisa (5 years ago)? It wasn't their destination all along, was it?
Meta-reference corner -All the Ned wordplay stuff (and how he didn't use to go for it)... -Another reference to the convention of completing a thought in a second scene (as in, for example, AABF23, and remarked in at least the commentary for 9F06). Another good example seems to be on the tip of my tongue but I can't quite get it... it may actually be from Family Guy.
Huh? Can someone explain what the deal was with the cars and such splitting up around a traffic circle near the end? All that comes to mind are various prescription drug commercials I've seen recently (Lipitor maybe?), but I doubt that's it.
Credits... I'm happy that Fox seems to be showing *every* S20 episode's credits in full. However, the same policy does not seem to apply to repeats; the first season 20 repeat (KABF17) was tonight, and the credits were cut off. They were not special, however, so it remains to be seen what happens with repeats of alternate credits.