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+