Dead Putting Society

This is an episode of firsts. The first episode written by Jeff Martin, the first full fledged Flanders family story and the first real interactions between Ned and Lovejoy. It may be a bit cliche in terms of its plot but there are many factors that pull the episode up from being terrible.

The Ned and Homer dynamic is one of my favorites in the show and this episode really sets the bar for dynamic. Ned is probably the perfect foil to Homer. Ned is everything Homer wishes he could be he is financially more successful, his kids respect him etc. Ned is the ideal man in the world while Homer is the average man. As was apparent in "Call of the Simpsons" Homer is obviously jealous of the Flanders financial success so he always tries to reach the heights Ned can but he is merely average so you know he never will be able to. Homer not obviously as attached to being extremely nice to Ned constantly berates Ned at every chance. He constantly takes advantage of his niceness and is often able to get a response no one else can out of Ned. He is actually able to get Ned mad at him and sink down to his lows i.e the bet on Todd and Bart's game, infinity plus one joke and kicking Homer out of his house. Ned of course immediately after he does these things feels remorse for his actions. Where most people would just keep going Ned writes an apology letter to Homer for kicking him out the house leading to one of the best jokes in the classic era "bosom." He questions himself when he makes the bet with Homer "good gravy what have I done." Also the son who doesn't win line. While Homer being the average man just thinks of the next way he can get Ned whether its "helping" Bart with his putting or just mouthing him off. Flanders I would say could be compared to Frank Grimes as he exposes the flaws in Homer of course Ned's exposing of the flaws is far more subtle and for that I think it works far better.

Season 2 is the king of character driven gags and stories intertwining. This is apparent in Lisa's character in Dead Putting. She agrees to help Bart practice his putting. She of course does a much better job of it than Homer does because she appeals to Bart's inner self rather than just forcing him to do useless things i.e naming the putter, looking at the picture of Todd etc. It's also pretty telling of Bart's character of how he doesn't want to disappoint his father but he knows he isn't that much of an achiever. But he gets the help of Lisa and is able to succeed despite Homer's constant way of trying to act Bart like a "real" athlete i.e the breakfast scene before the tournament. But Lisa really shines in this episode as a somewhat bitter 8 year old. She is apathetic towards her father because he doesn't care about her activities. In Lisa's eyes this is a good and a bad thing because being as smart as she is able to function on her yet she still is a 8 year old girl who craves her fathers attention. Lisa and Bart are just as good foils to each other as Homer and Ned in this episode. Lisa is the intellectual and Bart is the savvy street smart kid. But neither can really function without the other one. They both thrive when they help each other. Bart because he gains his fathers love and Lisa gets to help her brother and gain his trust. The best scene displaying the Bart/Lisa dynamic is of course the sound of one hand clapping scene.

There are a couple detractors to this episode of course. The end of the tournament is anti climatic and pretty boring. It's really disappointing too because the tournament is one of the funniest scenes in the episode with Homer and Ned's interactions and of course the announcers. But the end with Todd and Bart calling it a draw for the sake of pressure is just boring. Of course it was meant to end that way so you could chalk up one more moment to the Homer and Ned dynamic. They both have to mow each others lawn's in drag and Homer is of course embarrassed while Ned revels in the crowd watching him acting silly. The plot is also very sitcom cliche. But that's another thing that made season 2 amazing is that it is able to take boring sitcom plots and make them entertaining. I mean most season 2 episodes are out of this world in terms of plotting but a few Dead Putting/Bart's Dog etc all have terrible plots but are able to pull them off quite well. Lastly there are some people would call Homer jerk or that he has terrible characterization in this episode. but in fact it is the opposite it is everything Homer should be. He's just simply jealous something the average man is almost daily. He jealous that Ned's kids are respectful, that Ned's wife basically serves him while Marge doesn't for Homer and just that everyone like Ned more. Compare this to season 6's Lisa on Ice where Homer actually has no real reason to be a overboard sports parent other than for satirical value and I'm not fond of changing a character for one episode purposes. In this episode he just sees this mini golf tournament as his way to be better than Ned.

Grade: B+

Dancin' Homer

So we finally reached season 2's first non A-/A episode. It's actually one of a very few episodes I would call boring in the classic era. It's not boring in the fact that it doesn't have many gag(it doesn't really) but the plot moves a slow pace for no reason. There is nothing added to any characters by the episode movie slowly i.e Bart vs. Thanksgiving. The episode though does have some high points and was written by Ken Levine and David Isaacs.

The plot starts where many Simpson's episodes would start at Moe's. But this trip to Moe's isn't one Homer enjoys because everyone just wants to hear his fall from grace or how Homer puts it "how he became a loser". He eventually gives in and tells his tale. So the SNPP employees and their families are given tickets to see the towns minor league team play. The team is of course terrible to match the typical Springfield aspect. The team is filled up with young up and comers and a few older players particularly Flash Baylor who provides a decent gag by hitting on Marge for an autograph for Bart. There a re a few decent gags before the start of the game i.e Homer on the jumbo tron and Burns throwing the ball. But Bleeding Gums singing the anthem is a failed gag and one of the worst of the classic era in my books. Burns is forced to sit with the employees to prove he is indeed their friend. Of course he is seated beside Homer which to Homer means he won't be able to get rowdy and drink lots of beer. But to his amazement Burns wants to drink with him. The gags here seem a bit off with Burns drinking with Homer and yelling at players but I did laugh at them. The Isotopes are about to lose their 27th game in a row but they have the bases loaded in this game in the bottom of the 9th. So Homer musters up the courage and begins to dance to pump up the crowd and the players to every one's amazement it works and the Isotopes win. Burns is of course disgusted with Homer's behaviour and it earns him a banned for life from all SNPP related activities. The astonishing thing about this is this the end of the first act and it's something like 9/10 minutes long. That's crazy because it leaves so little room for plot development and it really shows in the next two acts.

So Homer's career being a mascot begins. It's a pretty bland 5 minutes of a second act. It's a quick flash montage of Homer dancing to a reggae beat in one of the games. Homer is of course an enormous hit and becomes more famous than The Isotopes. Homer even gets put on a t-shirt and a nice self referential jokes is made. But Homer just as he is becoming the biggest thing is called up to be a mascot for Capital City. It's a tough decision for Homer but the kids and Marge agree to go to please Homer(mostly at Marge's approval). Lisa says something that has always stuck with me despite this episodes lack of real punch in "we're too small for Capital City....."everyone here has forgiven us. It is really telling about The Simpsons and status quo in Springfield and how everyone just puts up with their antics because they're Springfieldian. So Bart says his good bye to Milhouse and Flanders comes to say his good byes and cries. Overall it's pretty cornball stuff. But the act ends on a decent not of Homer saying good bye to the fans a la Pride of the Yankees.

The family then heads to the city and these brief scenes are what I think are the top of this episode. The lighting as they enter the city is particularly nice and creates a really nice atmosphere. The Simpsons are entranced by everything they see in the city street crime, duff brewery etc. So it's time for Homer's big day he is a mascot at a big league game. He meets the Capital city Goofball who is a decent guest star. The kids and Marge get their free seats which they assumed would be close to the field but are in fact at the very top of the stadium. Homer is too nervous to even concentrate on the game and when it is finally his chance to replace the Goofball he shines. Well he thought he would. He says he danced better than he ever had and everything but the crowd has no reaction. The crowd in a hilarious snobbish way dismiss Homer as being from the sticks and not ready for the big leagues. Homer is of course devastated to be fired and thinks the family will be upset with him but the family is able to put their feelings behind them about the sudden moves and able to cheer Homer up. I think this is where the episode should've ended but they decided to have one last wrap around at Moe's and it is decent but I preferred to end it on a bitter sweet ending of the ball park.

The problems I have with this episode are almost what I have wrong with lots of episodes in the post classic era. This episode's flaws of course aren't as drastic as the post classic era's are but regardless the episode seems terrible compared to the brilliance of season 2. The wraparounds are a terrible idea and just seem like useless filler. None of them add anything or bring anything funny to the episode like THOH wraparounds do. The plot moves at way to slow of a pace to be good. I have no problem with episodes being of a slow pace indeed most of season 2 is but this one was slow and had no benefits for it being slow. There is no character development and is just a silly Homer gets a job episode(one the worst ones of the classic era). While none of the characters are out of character except maybe Burns but that was for the sake of trying to act friendly. There is nothing added to them and nothing said about them. You never feel anything for Homer. You don't feel happy when he succeeds or sad when he fails and I think you can credit that to the first act taking the majority of the time without leading to any build up.

Grade:C+

Two Cars in Every Garage Three Eyes on Every Fish

Season 2 continues on its roll with the political satire masterpiece Two Cars in Every Garage Three eyes on Every Fish. It was actually made to be the season premier but Bartmania was in full swing so they went with Bart Gets an F instead. The episode was written by Swartzwelder and Simon and you can really tell because Swartzwelder was the best at writing satirical pieces maybe because of his Libertarian background the characters don't take on the zany aspects they do in most of his episodes. The characterizations particularly of Burns is beautiful and so intertwined with the character of Charles Foster Kane a la Citizen Kane that it's obvious Simon had a lot to do with this episode as he was the force behind making the characters far more three dimensional.

The episode starts off innocently enough with Bart and Lisa fishing in the river. They are soon greeted by reporter Dave Shutton and Bart says his infamous line while introducing himself to Shutton. "I'm Bart Simpson who the hell are you?". There is some nice back and forth dialogue between the kids and Shutton before Bart catches a fish. The fish they catch is Blinky the three eyed fish. A fish that would become famous just as much in our world as the Simpsons world. Blink still currently referenced by environmentalists and politicians. Blinky of course gets his third eye from SNPP's waste being dumped into the river and Shutton soon runs this story and SNPP is given a inspection by a committee. The plant along with dumping waste is in really poor shape. Many of the things wrong with the plant are humorous i.e gum in cracks and Homer sleeping on the job. Burns after failing the review tries to bribe the committee. The bribe fails and Burns learns that it will cost 56 million dollars to fix the plant. Burns begins to heavily drink and sings a heartbreaking version of Brother Can You Spare a Dime. Burns tossing the bottle aside wakes up Homer who was still sleeping and Homer rushes to go home. But he sees a distraught Burns and decides to talk to him. Homer gets into Burn's car with him and the two of them have a talk. Burns declares him and Homer are a dying breed Burns of course thinks Hoemr has stayed late to work. Homer convinces Burns to run for governor and the act ends of a great gag with Burns declaring he's going to change the world and Homer asking to be dropped off on the way.

So the campaigns for governor begin. On one side supported by Marge and Lisa is Mary Bailey(reference to It's a Wonderful Life) and on the other is "one of the most despicable men" Monty Burns supported by Homer because of not wanting to get fired. The next scene is some of the most biting political satire in the history of TV. With Burns meeting with his campaign staff. The staff inform Burns that 98% of the people of Springfield find him despicable or worse. But they have an easy way to change that. The campaign team is filled with people who will make Burns seem like a relatable yet intellectually sound and most important nice. He also has enlisted the help of a smear team to attack the character of Mary Bailey. Burns declares that "this is exactly the kind of trickery I'm paying you for". It's is really telling in this day and age that the satire hasn't faded in this episode. Candidates are still run mainly by other people and they use all sorts of deception to improve their public image. Next up is Mr. Burns's campaign commercial. The commercial itself is rife with political satire but just the way people react to the commercial with Jasper and Abe being to lazy to change the channel so they're forced to watch Burn's commercial and Barney being upset that the bars will be closed for the election. While both are good enough character jokes they say something about our current societies reaction to election with low turnouts etc. But the most telling piece of satire surrounding the advertisement is Homer and Marge's dialogue about it. Marge wonders if Burns will say anything about the fish and Homer says that before the media blew the story out of proportion Marge probably didn't know how many eyes a fish had. It's another perfect Simpsons joke because of its satirical bite. It's an excellent joke at people that eat up media but also that most people can only back themselves up politically with such outlandish statements such as someone not knowing how many eyes a fish has. Mr. Burns commercial is one of my favorite moments in the show. It has everything that makes a great Simpsons joke it's satirical, absurd and just hilarious. The commercial of course makes really stupid points such as Blinky being evolved and they even get an actor portraying Darwin to back up their theory. They make some hilarious analogies about the fish but it works so well because while outlandish you know many people would fall for such things. Burns even makes a ridiculous plea for the town to stop slandering Blinky but to in fact slander him because Blinky is just a poor fish(there is a great Hamlet reference in this scene as well). Lastly Burns says the fish has a taste that can't be beat a statement that would of course come back to haunt him. "Only a moron wouldn't cast his vote for Monty Burns". Burns of course wins over everyone who sees the advertisement Barney falls for the super fish, Abe and Jasper fall fr Burns's charm and Homer continues to flaunt his love for Burns. It soon switches to Bailey's campaign. She of course represents a true politician who refuses to play dirty and will rely on the voters intelligence to get their vote. Of course everyone knows this will not work for the town of Springfield because of its anti intelligentsia stance. Even the Burns's campaign team can't find any dirt on the beloved Mary Bailey. Burns gives a speech a la Kane with the poster in the background and Homer and Bart's dialogue is another reference to the film. Burns also gives a speech from a tank like Dukakis and the polls show that Burns smear and fake campaign is beating Bailey but he is losing touch with the common man. So his team cooks up a new scheme to get Burns back in their favor. He has to have dinner at a employees house and of course Homer is chosen.

So Homer begs Marge to have Burns over for dinner she reluctantly accepts and the campaign team is brought into the house. The next scene is a really great look at Lisa's character a first since the first scene of the episode. Her being the young girl is given the demeaning job of asking a blatantly planned question she asks whether or not she can ask a more suited question about the environment. Homer and the campaign team shoot her down and Homer calls Lisa smart enough to memorize the question. A slight insult to Lisa but she lets its slide. That night Homer and Marge have one of their bedroom talks. There is a great deal of subtlety in this scene with Homer attempting to be the man and Marge subverting him. It's another fantastic look at their marital life Marge being always unsatisfied with her life and Homer attempting to be the ruling man this time in the form of snuggling and him saying Marge can express herself with her cooking and cleaning. Homer doesn't really mean these things in a sexist way but he is just too oafish. But that is what makes season 2 so great because not only is the satire in Burns campaign etc but it's also a brilliant satire on American ideals.

The dinner scene is a piece of satirical brilliance and just makes me lose it every time. It starts off with Burns being pounced on by the animals he reacts badly at first but kisses the cat when it jumps on him. The family then sits down for dinner and Bart is given the task of saying grace. He of course doesn't say what anyone else would "dear god we paid for all this stuff so thanks for nothing." Simple enough dialogue but it does say a great deal about Bart (he speaks the truth, he always speaks his mind unlike Lisa) but it also says a great deal about American ideals. Burns quickly recovers the grace by blaming Bart's age for his blasphemy. Hilarious! Homer then asks Burns one of his planned questions. He answers in his typical fashion of suave near answers and talk of taxes and fat cats in Washington. This combined with Lisa's question really say a great deal about the political system. Burns while fighting for lower taxes despite the fat cats in Washington downplaying of course the fact that he himself is the wealthiest man in town and the fact that he knows very little politically other than what people want to hear. But most of the time that's all you need. The cap to the dinner is of course Marge feeding the family Blinky. Burns of course can't eat Blinky and the same media circus that brought Burns to a god like stature are the same that destroy his campaign. In the last Citizen Kane reference Burns starts to destroy the Simpson home. You can't do this to me I'm Charles Montgomery Burns!" But Lisa gets him to stop when Homer can't. Burns gives a chilling speech to Homer stating that Homer will have none of dreams filled for his remaining years and Burns will make it his duty to make him miserable. The ending of the episode is so blatantly Simpsonian just the way Homer and Marge lay in bed once again and Marge is able to downplay Mr. Burns's speech. It's beautiful.

I know I've already written more than I should but I just can't go without talking a bit about Burns' characterization in this episode. it's the perfect characterization. He is a man that should be feared but in fact he is just as vulnerable as anyone is. His character is a special one he wants to be liked by the common man in times but other times he doesn't but while he wants the love of the common man he also wants to be treated with more respect than the common man. It's very weird for me because we know he didn't deserve to win the campaign but you can't help but feel for him when he loses. I guess it's the brilliance of the writing at this point in this series. You can really see in this episode as well as Rosebud that Burns was in fact modeled after Kane. But the greatness of the shows writing is that you don't have to have seen Citizen Kane to really appreciate this episode or Burns character. While this episode isn't a Burns and Homer battle like some future episodes would be it is still a great piece for the two of them. Their interactions are tightly scripted and every moment especially that scene in the car are emotionally poignant. I do think Burns is probably my second favorite secondary character behind Skinner and it really hurts that Burns has taken quite a hit with the decline of the show. Burns is just hilarious from his nicknames for common people to his anachronistic idiosyncrasies everything works. Lastly not about Burns but this episode is a fantastic piece of animation and it infuriates me when people say season 2 had sloppy animation. The background colors are so amazing in this episode. The scene with Burns drinking and the scene in the car with Homer are so nicely animated and direction of the scenes are so beautiful it just makes the scenes all the more worthwhile.

Grade: A+ and number 11 on my list of top Simpsons episodes.

Treehouse of Horror

This episode is the first in the Halloween themed episodes called Treehouse of Horror(originally titled "The Simpsons Halloween Special.)" These episodes have become fan favorites for their skewering of popular horror movies and Twilight Zone segments. I love watching all the classic era THOH just because of their pure campy fun. They of course will never crack my top ten or anything but I do have some in my top 30.

The premise of this episode is that Bart and Lisa are telling stories in an attempt to scare each other. of course no really work. But Homer happens to be spying on them and gets extremely frightened by the stories. At the end after every story has been read Homer and Marge are in bed and Homer doesn't want her to turn off the light but she insists they're just kids stories. But Homer as she turns out the light sees the green hue from the spaceship that abducts them in the second segment and sees Bart as the raven laughing as the episode ends.

Bad Dream House: This segment was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Wes Archer. It's probably my least favourite segment of this episode but by no means weak. The whole premise of the episode is based around the horror film The Amityville Horror. We have the Simpson family buying a haunted house because it was on sale for so cheap. But as soon as they arrive the trouble begins. The house wants the family to leave it in peace. Marge insists the family leave immediately but Homer say they should sleep on it and they do. But during the night is when the episode gets interesting. We have the house making every member of the Simpsons trying to kill each other with knives a la The Shinning along with Maggie's head spinning around a la The Exorcist. But the best moments of the segment come at the end with the family getting a hold of themselves and they discover an ancient Indian burial ground in the basement(Poltergeist). Homer immediately calls the seller of the house to tell him that there's a burial ground in the basement and in a classic Homer moment has to swallow some crow as apparently he was told of the burial ground 5 or so times. With no hope in sight Marge yells at the house and it works. Marge tells it to deal with them living within it. But the house decides to implode itself instead of living forever with the Simpsons. Quite a fitting end as Lisa points out. The last thing I want to talk about is the nicely done animation of this episode. This is what makes the segments of the early seasons so good. I mean the writing was of course phenomenal but the animation really does add to the atmosphere set up by the writers. The dark colors of this episode work really well especially the walls of the house.

Hungry Are the Damned: This segment was written by Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky and was directed by Rich Moore. It's a real tossup between this one and The raven for my favourite segment and both are probably in my top 10 segments of the show. This segment is based around the Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man" and if you're a twilight Zone nerd like me this one is really special. This segment is also the first introduction to two of my favourite characters in Kang and Kodos. Kang and Kodos's names are of course based on Star Trek characters and Serak(the preparer) name is based on Spock's fathers(Sarek) and the Vulcan philosopher Surak. Whatever enough nerdiness for now. The episodes starts off innocently enough with the Simpsons having a nice BBQ. There is a nice reference to The Fly and of course there's the infamous Homer lighting the BBQ with the entire thing of lighter fluid. The Simpsons while enjoying their BBQ are abducted by Kang and Kodos. Kang and Kodos say they will take the family to their home planet and on the journey there they will given anything they want. There are some really hilarious moments within their journey. The fact that Kang and Kodos think Pong is advanced and the lack of HBO on an intergalactic spaceship is hilarious. But the crowning achievement of this episode is when Lisa begins to get suspicious of the aliens purpose for them. So she begin searching for any validation of these suspicions(an Alien reference is thrown in with the corridor). She goes to the kitchen and finds what she needs a book titled "How to Cook Humans". This is what I think makes the episode because Lisa confronts Kang and Kodos about the book. They blow dust of to reveal it says "How to Cook for humans" Lisa blows more dust off "How to Cook Forty Humans" and Kang and Kodos blow off the last of the dust to reveal the true title" How to Cook for Forty Humans". It's a great moment and one of my favourites. Lisa soon questions why they fed them so much and why they treated them so nicely. The aliens merely say they let them eat what they want and they simply pigged out making Serak cry(voiced by James Earl Jones). There is a small but of social commentary here in the fact that the smartest of The Simpsons clan proves to be their downfall from being treated like gods on a distant planet. The episode ends with the family back on Earth with nothing and everyone blames Lisa. The animation of this segment is much different than the other two segments. It focus is more on bright colors for the spaceship and the hue the ship gives is a brilliant look. The inside of the ship is nicely drawn and again just makes the segment all the more poignant.

The Raven: This segment was written by Sam Simon and of course Edgar Allan Poe. It was directed by David Silverman and it really shows. This segment is honestly a work of genius. The only reason I hesitate to name it my favourite segment of this episode and hell even ever is that it is a little slow and the cutaways in the episode take away from the pace. But the fact is this is an animation masterpiece. It feels very cinematic and beautiful. The dark tones of the room are really well done and the fluid motion of Homer is very Silverman esque. Also the animation just does a beautifully job of accompanying James Earl Jones's narration and the overall mood of the episode/poem. The episode is of course is based around the poem by Poe. But they do it in a very Simpsonian way. It's a funny reading of the poem along with Bart being the raven make the episode great. It's somewhat harder for me to write about this segment because it's just a retelling of a great poem.

Grade: A and #29 on my list of favourite Simpson's episodes