Reviews

Surreal episode but deeply reflective of our society. The ability to make a mountain out of a small problem, exaggeration as a way to release the contained aggressiveness that we all store in our day to day. Distrust of the other and discriminatory treatment. Anything goes to be able to divide and create chaos until we find ourselves with a reality check. Undoubtedly one of the most cryptic and at the same time most enlightening episodes of our beloved Simpson family. Homer will be in ¨power¨ again on season 29 when his wife is elected mayor; however, he will not retain the freshness and spontaneity of his days when he was Mayor of New Springfield.

The Simpsons are great characters, they are complex and funny and although we know them from the beginning they always surprise us. However, you feel that the personality of all of them was well designed from the beginning. The same does not happen with Ned Flanders, I am sure that the writers in the 90s were not able to estimate the impact that this character would have on pop culture and how iconic his character would become. This is one of the episodes that most help us to get to know him and his constant personal control that could be a preview of what society will be like twenty years later.

Mixed feelings about this episode. On the one hand, within the canon, and from what we will see in later seasons, it does not make much sense. It is a very relevant event in Skinner's life and, unlike other events that did change the course of the Simpsons (such as Comic Book Guy's wife or Apu's eight children), this one seems more like an anecdote. On the other hand, the episode is fun and enigmatic and maintains the quality standards that are required of this series. Innovating in this world is an obligation, but respecting the essence of the series. For hindsight, I'm sure the writers would have preferred to scrap this episode, but these are issues that are hard to predict until you see the public reaction.

Excellent episode that today would raise more than one protest. In the first place, it clearly and overwhelmingly denounces those who want to take advantage of a system designed to help the unfortunate. Secondly, in full growth of obesity, it launches a warning in favor of protecting health. Yes, it does it in a comical, acid way and surely some of the viewers today will make them feel uncomfortable (more now than when it was released). But there is no bad intention behind it beyond denouncing lifestyles that are poisonous to society, at a time when YouTube and Memes did not exist, so direct phrases such as Bart washing himself with a stick could not be thrown in the face as now. Let's remember that the average American man has gone from weighing 175 pounds in 1960 to 195 in 2010 and the woman from 140 to 175. This topic will be dealt with again 19 years later in the episode "Walking big & Tall" in a more direct and less funny. I personally prefer King Size Homer, because the best way to deliver a message to the heart is to entertain.

A very necessary episode in a society like ours, with its rationality and its space for spirituality, but which takes advantage, when it can, of the excess of innocence so that some fall into the hands of harmful sects. Here the background of the sect does not matter, what is relevant is to see what is behind all of them, how their impossible promises conceal an eagerness to appropriate all our possessions. Like a coarse initial kindness they cover up a later tyranny. This episode is a comic shot at Heaven's Gate and Peoples Temple. It almost makes you feel sorry that religious documentaries on Netflix didn't exist then, since there would have been more space to complete the parody.

Yes, James Bond may sound old to the new generations and his storyline may seem out of logic, it's a shame because for those of us who knew the world of the cold war and took life with more humor, that was our ideal. This parody is delicious, first of all because it complies with one of the greatest precepts of comics, the public has to empathize with the villain... and boy does it succeed. A simple visit to YouTube will reveal how many people would like to have Hank Scorpio as their boss. He may be good or bad, but you are important to him, and that is a real boss. The parody of the impossible situations of the James Bond movies (the authentic ones...of course), and again, the underlying values such as the well-being of the family over personal prosperity, take us back to the best days of the Simpsons.

I don't know if the Simpsons had a heyday, or if they are separate episodes that deserve a special mention, this is definitely one of them. When, despite its revolutionary tenor, the Simpsons had powerful values at its heart, this episode of contempt, fall and redemption of Bart Simpson appears. The rebel meets his limits, recognizes that there is something superior to him (perhaps only metaphorically), but in any case that something is good. The fall must be paid, the error must be retraced with sweat so that the lesson is learned. We will not see this esotericism 10 years later, nor will we return to this spirit of limited revolution... My God, how I miss the 90s.

Troy McClure, this name in itself assures us a good time, be it a sporadic appearance or an entire episode dedicated to him. Anyone who has seen the youth series of the 70/80s and retains that naivete, cannot but feel nostalgic for this character. On this occasion we discover the sordid world of entertainment (at least in the 90s...) and the parallel and fanciful history (today we would say instagrammable) that hides behind many stars. The truth of his private life counts for more than his ability as an artist. Thank God, as the chapter shows us, such desires have their limits when they involve a third person.

The image I see is that of Bart. The voice I hear is Bart's. Still, I don't feel Bart in this episode. As if another being that I don't recognize had occupied his body, we find ourselves before a strange Bart, who accepts his second place, in a certain way even humiliated, and who does not turn with his usual intelligence towards the aggressor. The topic at hand is very topical, and the Simpsons do very well to deal with it, although I wonder...wouldn't it have been better if Milhouse or Nelson, with much less personality, had been caught by the girl gang? Bart has changed over the course of 30 years, but he has never lost his essence, except in this episode.

Iconic episode that once again reflects the lack of scruples of a society based on economic benefit and, in turn, the tireless search for neutrality on the part of its inhabitants. The spirit of Christmas reflected objectively, giving credit to both sides of the coin and giving way on the one hand to reflection and on the other to the well-deserved fun of the Christmas holidays. The Simpsons do not lean to the left, and fully recognize the shortcomings of public education, especially in less affluent neighborhoods, while warning of the logical end of any private initiative. This is one of the episodes that invites us to discuss it after watching it, as if we were sitting up all night with Gary Coleman, only to conclude that the commercialization of Christmas is at best a mix blessing.

Escaping from the linear narrative is not easy, many of the attempts end in repetitive stories that the brain easily anticipates (I'm thinking of a specific episode of The Witcher). This episode is an honorable exception. Repeating only succinctly micro-fragments that help us situate ourselves, we find ourselves before a technique comparable only to Memento and few other masters of cinematography. The story lacks of common sense, but it couldn't be more fun as a good ape reminds us. I would like The Simpsons to recover this type of story governed by chaos, the constant art of deception and the good faith of the viewer.

You may think this episode is shallow and an easy parody of a well known musical. But, somehow, you have to recognize that you see it in its entirety every time it is restocked. The songs are catchy as hell, the rhythm is fun, the phrases are unforgettable, and each character gives their best. It is Simpsons in its purest form, laughing at the system making a parody on its scale, releasing hilarious phrases to make us see the reality behind each little theater. Lisa is a complex character, selfish deep down behind her charitable facade, which is why she is also one of the characters who has the most room to evolve in each episode. And because after so many years we already know her and we laugh at her falls from the highest moral standards to her true passion to be accepted and stand out.

There are many episodes of The Simpsons that create school. They are those that you cannot rewind, those that have scenes and concepts that accompany you from here on out. This is one of them. One of the first serious signs of the psychotropic pandemic that was ravaging those born in generation Z. Behaviors that in Millennials and previous generations could pass for character or temperament, were suddenly a disease. Bart, in his immersion in this new fashion, reveals how little we know about the side effects of these practices. The jokes of the episode are hilarious, they are excellently connected and create a frantic rhythm in which the viewer cannot help but want to know more about the future of Bart and Homer's reactions to his crazy things.