The Telltale Head

As in most Season 1 episodes The Telltale Head is precursor for a certain aspect of Springfield that would flourish in later seasons. The aspect introduced in the episode is the towns mob mentality and how one little thing can turn everyone on one person. The introduction of that tendency is the only really worthwhile part of this episode because we've all been introduced to the regular characters (Ned, Skinner, Burns) and we've seen their own personalities but in this episode we see the Springfield that was to become a heavy piece for satire for the writers and it's deeply rooted mob mentality. I suppose that this episode set the tone for flashback episodes as this one was told in media res. Also the episode is a nice precursor to the Bart guilt angle that would make some holiday specials flourish.

The story begins like many Simpsons episodes with the family attending church. Marge is seen as the strong moral personality when she gets mad at Bart for attempting to bring inappropriate things to church and at Homer for his gambling. There are a few funny gags in the church with the talks of heaven( the ventiloquist gets into heaven the dummy doesn't) and Homer secretly listening to the football game. But really they're not that strong of gags and the act ends with Bart going to movie theater where he is confronted by the bullies Dolph, Kerney and Jimbo.

This is where the episode gets really cheesy and sitcommy with Bart vying for their attention and the group do many things frowned upon by the town ie stealing from Apu and being chased by a local shopkeeper for throwing rocks at a statue of Jebediah etc. Bart then gets excluded from the group for standing up for the town founder and his statue. Of course Bart then goes to his dad for advice and he gets told what he needs and decides to cut off the statues head much like the bullies were discussing doing themselves.

But to Bart's dismay the bullies react like everyone else in the town and are out for blood for their town founders statue. This is where the episode really slips into a hilarious romp of various characters stance against the culprit who took the head. With some hilarious bits from Krusty calling for a Macarthyist esque search of everyone regardless if they're family or not and the police changing the number to just 0 to call the police. The last scenes of the episode are somewhat enjoyable with Bart and Homer feeling mutually responsible or rather Marge saying Homer is just as responsible and they go to return the head. Homer then gives a big inspirational speech that is some parts funny but is totally a Homer move. But at the same time it borders tired sitcom cliche. The episode ends with a Smithers and Burns joke.


Overall grade:B-