Spoiler Space
The Rack's Ubiquitous, Critical, Kick-Ass, Somewhat Anal & Useless Review "Uv" the Simpsons (TRUCKASAURUS) Episode CABF20 "Homer The Moe"
LOLs(20):
--"Whitey" is keeping Homer down (potentially clever
yellow skin joke ref)
--Chinese satellite spying on Bart
--"Where'd that painting come from?"
"Oh, I put this up recently... and it's a good thing I
did, 'cause it really illustrates my point."
--Everyone shrugs, and slowdances when the record changes
--Homer: "Hemorrhage-a-mundo!"
--Bart: "Ask if anyone knows 'Ali Tabooger'"
Homer: "I don't get it."
--Bart: "Yell out 'Ali Tabooger!'"
Homer: "What's the gag?"
--Homer: "You dirty teen!" (hits Moe with board)
--Barstools are on the ceiling
--Model: "After Chernobyl, my penis... is falling off."
--Moe: "And 'penis' is Russian for...?"
--Urinal is held up with a nail
--Robot: "Father... give me legs!"
--Robot dragging itself down the street, while looking
back
--"Hey, why are you mocking me? We're friends."
"Oh, right. Sorry."
--Homer's "alternative" lyrics to "End Of The World"
--Michael Mills can't "go" with Lenny watching
--Moe gives his friend Lisa a towelette (there's bad
pause afterward though, like they're waiting for the
audience to laugh)
--Moe: "Not the face... okay... the face!"
--Moe: "It's like my Dad always said: Eventually,
everyone gets shot."Mildly funny (The "chuckles")(19):
--Homer laughs at the bridge column in the newspaper
--The dad in "Drabble" is an unfunny version of Homer
--Chinese soldier: Those unscrutable Americans. What
are they up to now?"
--Moe, you've been a real crank lately.
(GUN) You take that back!
--What's the word I'm searching for... uh... "yeah!"
--Carl: "Pick me... I'm an urban Lenny."
--The tinkling contest
--What would Moe say about that? (pic w/shotgun)
--Ayyy...! (snaps fingers as he passes out)
--"glasswipe"
--Homer lights a cig for Lisa
--Model: "All this yelling is taking away my horny."
--People demand to see the "eye" again
--The "I won't drink at Moe's" song
--Homer: "They think they're saving the rainforest!"
--Stipe: "Let's recycle those shards, and get out of
here."
--"Turkey... the only animal smarter than man. (sees
turkey in sights) What the hell is that?"
--Homer faints right into a bear trap
--Stipe: Come on, Bart. Smell those curds...
(sniff sniff) mmmmm... curds...Satirical Content: A rip on the emptyheaded, club going set? It's been done, and with more of a broad stroke. Still, they _really_ need mocked.
Missed opportunities? The Chinese spy satellite-thingy. Environmental extremism. Satire virtually non-existent.
Creativity: This episode had many places to go; but, it never fully explores any of them. Swigmore U., Chinese satellites, digging holes, hunting, etc.
Cleverness: --Prof: Moe Szyslak, you old "glass" wipe. --"Nice hole, nice soul..." --the cougar call --Ten second voice-over explanation that could have been literally "anything"
First laugh (0:07): Homer laughs at the bridge column in the newspaper
Laughed hardest at: --Robot dragging itself down the street, while looking back
Un-funny jokes(0): There were jokes that didn't make me laugh, but they weren't irritatingly bad
Unnecessary Exposition(0): Marge: "That's odd... He's outside digging"
That is NOT unnecessary exposition. She's just telling the family what Bart's doing, as she looks out the window.
Painful Reminders (continuity)(0): Possibly Barney's coffee habit; but, this is a choice made by the writers. They've pretty much made Barney an "also ran" character by now, but a major "falling off the wagon" episode would bode well in the future
Predictability: --The hanging rabbit gag
Wackiness: Everything seemed in order.
Huh?: The pacing of the story was off by a mile; by the time we got to the "hunting" scene, it was gratuitous. The episode had climaxed, and it was time for the deneument
Story Rating: B- (my favorite grade, it seems :)
Comments:
"Homer the Moe" is a funny episode with plenty going for it, but some plot problems and momentary slips into the realm of Scully put the episode out of focus. The jokes were good, despite not much satire.
Bart's old-fashioned "hole diggin'" was intriguing, having something that many Scully-era episodes do not--a focus on conflict. Why is Bart digging the hole? The answer isn't given right away. This creates tension, and builds a nice story. A semi-confusing (but funny) twist makes Homer the storyteller, and we're starting over again. The story and real conflict arise when the barflies tell Moe what a "crank" he is, and he agrees. Moe's internal conflict provides a good basis for the plot; and the first part, true to form, has a good, classic story feel. There aren't any bad jokes, and we get some good back story through Moe's professor and Swigmore U.
Then the plot "thins", unfortunately, when Moe and his professor decide that it's the "crap-hole" that's causing Moe's frustration. Solution? Moe should change his digs. There's something unsatisfying about the solution, and it's not because Moe's changed his bar once before...
When writing comedy teleplays, if my script bogs down, it's often because there's an unnecessary slapstick scene. Homer removes a bottle cap with his navel, Lenny trips and splatters his food, Homer punches the jukebox and bleeds everywhere... some of that was funny; but the scene was unneeded. The dancing (fast and slow) on the bar was good. The prank call scene really saves Act II, and probably raises the grade.
Homer discovers Bart immediately, something that Moe hasn't been able to do. How smart does that make Moe? (SLAM!) Homer excitedly wants to participate, which was cute. Bart instructs Homer on the finer points of prank calls, with two big LOL moments.
With Bart's prank, the episode regains its focus... for a bit. Homer confronts Moe (with a board... and yes, I laughed --loudly), but then we slip Scully's way. Uptight, beautiful people are certainly in great need of being mocked, but all we get is a light brush with "Po-Moe" before a new conflict arises... Homer demands the old Moe's back, and get tossed.
Is it me, or did Homer's mercurial mood change from demanding the old bar back, to gleefully throwing himself out and stealing a hat seem like the off-the-wall, cartoonish recent characterization we've come to hate so much?
Act III begins classically. The (new) conflict and story have a chance of being resolved; the episode's climax is when Moe discovers his empty tip jar... at the new "m". He decides to win his friends back, as he tears off his "Moe St. Cool" duds and walks down the street... back into Scullyland. Homer forgets his desire to be a bartender, preferring to let Marge handle that. He makes Bart wash glasses, and Lisa cut lemons. Homer's lazy? We know that. His jerkiness, in this case, isn't funny.
As Moe enters, lameness continues. With less than three minutes of episode left, a new conflict arises: Moe and Homer square off about the "Hunting Club". Rather than bringing Moe and the barflies back together, the episode begins a new story in place of resolving the one it already started.
The writers clearly had a problem at this point; there was no story resolution that would shut down Homer's bar. Now, they had to put Moe and Homer at odds, and quickly resolve that so they could end the episode. They even put in a small conflict between Lisa & Homer (hunting). What if Homer had continued running Moe's? There's your Moe vs. Homer conflict.
The next scene mashed everything together, then Moe is shot-- a quick "resolution", I guess.
The ten second Lisa, Bart & Moe voice-over shot, used to explain how "m" turned back into "Moe's", is deceptively clever. We were expecting a quick fix, but the voice-over shot is self-commentary on how they could have made up literally "anything", and voiced it over later.
Finally, we get a mix of feelings and Scullyness. Homer's apologies and the family's thankfulness were the feelings. R.E.M.'s lines were boilerplate taken from a first semester joke writing text at the Paupau/New Guinea campus of Clemson University.
The episode has rambled, the eagle has landed (on Moe's crotch). Without Scullyness and new conflicts popping up all over the place, this could've been a real step-up episode.
--Here's a pattern you may recognize:
- Homer gets loud/angry, and resists conflict
- Homer gets his way, often leaving conflict unresolved
- Because Homer gets his way, something goes wrong
- Homer gets off scot-free
How many times is this done in episodes? (not enough? too much?) Come to your own conclusion, and make your own judgement. (This happened in the "Hunting Club" plot)
--Thankfulness
Marge: Glad that Homer and Moe are friends again Lisa: Thankful to R.E.M. for the tofu turkey Bart: Thankful he ate before he came Homer: Thankful he's spending time with family, R.E.M., and Moe
--Meta-reference
Marge: "...and you don't even do your full time job."
Commentary on how recent episodes rarely seem to show Homer at work.
--Stupid, sexy she-males!
It's cool when Nancy voices a "female" adult... (we hope) If I were sure the model were "female", I'd call her sexy. =)
--Let me, uh, be the first to flip flop!
In Act I, Homer asks Bart what he's doing. In Act III, Bart asks Homer what he's doing.
--Moe, the "college boy"
Moe once calls Flanders a "college boy", because he can mix drinks. Apparently in [8F08], we learn that Moe can't really mix drinks (clarification?) I don't mind this "discontinuity", because what it really does is offer us many different story possibilities.
--Hey children; meet me...
...Cecil. We have another one to keep track of and oy! He's Jewish.
--How many bartenders do you she-males need?
Does Homer call Moe a she-male, because he immediately recognizes the Russian models as she-males? If so, he's got something over on Moe. If not, the reference is gratuitous (but, funny)
Prediction: The scot-free Homer pattern and unfocused stories,
if they continue, will keep perpetuating the D-
and F grades on A.T.S. But, on a joke-by-joke
level, "Homer The Moe" will stand up well against
stories of similar quality.DYN...
...the painting of Swigmore U. looks like Springfield U.
from [BABF06]? (the battlements and tower are identical;
the intro music the same when Moe enters)
...there's an apparent cut scene? (right when we see the
credits for Supervising Producer Matt Selman, Marge has
Homer by the shirt. He then says: "Don't worry, Marge..."
...Moe drives his beat up 1970's GMC pickup truck from
[4F11]?
...the professor intimates that the pond isn't water?
...the phone at Moe's has 16 buttons?
...Formico's voice is the same as the plastic surgeon's
in "Pygmoelian"?
...Nancy Cartwright voices the second Russian model?
...Moe's "m" has real shelves now, not just liquor bottles
that are "painted on"?
...the "m" insignia looks like the M & M's logo... especially
the spotlights?
...Devil's Advocate pinball machine in Homer's garage? (once
again, I posted this too late to get credit :( )
...in the photograph, Moe is holding a single barrel
shotgun... not the usual double barrel type?
...Carl playing air-guitar?
...R.E.M. leaves their gear and instruments when they leave
the garage?
...Moe wears his bow tie, even when he's in camouflage?
...the upside down image of both the turkey and Moe's
silhouette on the front of Homer's gun scope are correct?
...Homer knocks off his hat before he "faints" a
second time?
...photograph of the Statue of Liberty in Moe's after
the bar is changed back?Previous episode refs:
[9F07] Bart mentions burping in the chalkboard gag
[9F09] Homer defibrillates himself
[8F02, 1F09] Someone digs a hole deep enough to stand in
[1F11] Bart is down a hole
[4F22] Mountain Dew mentioned
[5F12] The Simpsons house turns into a bar
[5F16] Homer uses oxygen to recover from mild physical
activity
[AABF07] Someone jumps to the conclusion that youths have
done the vandalism
[AABF16] Russian(s) respond(s) to the first question with a
happy "da", and to the second with a sad "da".
[AABF18] She-males mentioned
[AABF22] A satellite spies on Bart
[BABF03] Possible "gay" bodyguards/bouncers ("Julian")
[CABF01] Homer: [shifting eyes] No of... course not...Movies (and other) references:
+ 2001: A Space Odyssey The blinking green eyeball
+ I Love Rock & Roll (song) Homer changes the words to this Joan Jett & The Blackhearts tune
+ Shaggy Dog, The (movie) One of two Disney movies about a man who turns into a dog
Goofs:
- Moe has gone to college to learn to mix drinks, but in [7F20] he derisively calls Ned a "college boy" because he can mix drinks.
= Formico says his name must never be spoken, but Moe says his name later in the episode
= There's an old blue Ford and a Plymouth K car in parked in The Simpsons' driveway with other cars blocking them, but when Moe shows up, the two Simpsons cars are in driveway (was it a different night?)
-Chad Lehman
"You crazy car. I don't know whether to eat you, or kiss you."
--John Truckasaurus