(S18E14)
Marge [talking to Bart at the psychiatrist's office]: Bart, honey, this is all we can afford for now. If it doesn't work, maybe when you're older you can pay some lady to make you happy for an hour.
Bart: You know, I'm pretty sure I will.
Part of the fun of watching The Simpsons is trying to guess who the guest voice is each week. This episode had five guest voices packed into the episode, some of which were easier to guess since the actors were playing themselves, of course: Steven Sondheim, Meg Ryan, Peter Bogdanavich, Andy Dick and James Patterson.
With or without the clever cameos, I thought this was one of the strongest episodes of the season so far: plenty of great jokes, visual gags, and pop culture references. I loved Lisa and the kids going to see Un Chein Andalou, and the gigantic eye and razor blade showing up at the end of their big musical number.
Okay, I'll admit I didn't care much for the musical numbers in this episode, but at least they were used sparingly, and as I stated above, they were packed with great visual gags.
Speaking of visuals, the Goreyesque sequence in which Bart tells his friend about a cafeteria worker who makes soup of children's heads was a touch of brilliance, if I do say so myself. That sequence ended with a nice little transition back to reality as the scene dissolved from one of the bobbing heads to Milhouse woozily teetering back and forth. It was a lovely little transition, and as an animation nerd I'm obligated to notice such things. Of course, the transition of James Patterson in Marge's dream turning into her alarm clock was much funnier, but it's that combination of subtle gags and not-so-subtle gags that combine to make the best episodes.
Here's a few other things I loved in this episode:
- The names of Cletus' kids, which included: Incest, International Harvester, Birthday and Crystal Meth
- Bart doing Mad Libs with his psychiatrist, and coming to the realization that his father never took him on the Merry-Go-Booger because he was always passed out in the parking snot.
- The Honeymooners ending with Cletus' visage appearing in the moon over Springfield.
Oh, yeah, and one other thing: is this the first time we've heard Superintendent Chalmer's first name? Bart refers to him as "Gary" in one scene.
Giveaway Monday: That '70s Show The Complete Series Stash box set
Giveaway Monday: Back to You season one DVD
Six shows that I am watching pretty regularly this season
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-05-2007 @ 10:53AM
Hank Shiffman said...
Are you sure it was Gary? I'm remembering it as Jerry.
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3-05-2007 @ 11:07AM
Bill said...
I missed Peter Bogdanovich. I guess he was the shrink's shrink? Nice nod to his role on the Sopranos.
http://popculturejunk.blogspot.com
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3-05-2007 @ 11:59AM
Tucker said...
A couple additional notes - I really, really liked the storyline Bart's tale. While he was telling it, and whenever they referred back to it, the tune they played was the most excellent music from the equally excellent Terry Gilliam film '12 Monkeys.' Actually, after a quick round of research, it's a song from Suite Punta Del Este by an Argentinian composer. It's a wonderfully quirky little piece, and I really liked the way they used it here.
My other favorite part was a one-liner that played so well it almost made the episode singlehandedly. After Brandine lands and gets off the chopper, Cletus' line: "Brandine?! I thought you was off in Iraq stoppin' 9/11!"
Not very subtle, but it made me crack up. I'm pleased with some of the newer Simpsons episodes... This was one of the strongest I've seen in a while.
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3-05-2007 @ 1:01PM
Adam from TV Squad said...
Darn it, now I don't know if it was "Gary" or "Jerry."
Tucker: You're right, the "9/11" was very funny.
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3-05-2007 @ 1:46PM
mayorjimmy said...
I'm sorry but this episode is just another in a recent long line of reasons the show should just be canceled while there's still SOME dignity left. Not much, but some. The 9/11 joke MIGHT have been funny if the show hasn't spent the whole season beating a Kentucky Derby worth of horses to death on trying to badmouth the war. Not to mention yet another round of redneck jokes. Nothing gets easy laughs like cracking on white people. Too chickens**t to make jokes about minorities? Maybe that's why Southpark and Family Guy has passed this show and left it in the dust. We get it, the writers don't like the war, are total liberal tools, don't mind taking the wussy PC route for jokes, and still haven't figured out that any episode centered on Lisa or with Homer and Marge breaking up AGAIN just isn't funny.
I've loved this show for so long it makes me ill to see how far it has fallen.
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3-05-2007 @ 2:08PM
tcc3 said...
Uggg. If this was one of the stronger eps, I'm glad I havent been watching as faithfully as I used to.
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3-05-2007 @ 2:11PM
Michael said...
Mayor Jimmy -
In this episode, Lisa herself voices her displeasure that all "hillbillies" are assumed to be stupid and/or undereducated. More to your point, if anything, this episode showed Cletus' family in a much more positive light than any other Simpsons episode I can think of...Finally - the dumbest character on the show, in any given episode, is Homer, who has never been characterized as a redneck.
And oddly enough, "Family Guy", one of the shows you claim has surpassed "The Simpsons", took it's own digs at "rednecks" this week, and it was certainly more disparaging than anything on this particular Simpsons episode.
As for The Simpsons being anti-war...The show has ALWAYS had an anti-war slant, even in those early years you apparently cherish so much. I would suggest you stick to watching "24", while the rest of us "liberal tools" keep watching this show.
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3-05-2007 @ 2:13PM
shawn said...
i'm gonna have to watch the episode again.
I liked the episode.
But I missed the James Patterson cameo and when they were watching Un Chein Andalou! I don't know how I did that!
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3-06-2007 @ 9:46AM
Thomas said...
It's never fun to guess the celebrity voices since you usually never have to guess. They've either been massively over-advertised or are just playing themselves in a pointless cameo or are given lame material so that you ultimately don't care who they are if you don't already know. They used to have voices on for a reason or give them something funny to do, it's just sad now.
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3-06-2007 @ 10:16AM
Mike Davis said...
"Family Guy" leaves the show in the dust?
You are so high.
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3-08-2007 @ 9:56AM
Pan X said...
pls do you have english subtitles for this episode? thanx
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3-08-2007 @ 2:44PM
Pan X said...
pls do you have english subtitles for this episode? thanx :)
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3-12-2007 @ 7:39PM
MH said...
i loved the version of Suite Punta del Este by Astor Piazzolla’s in this episode, i looked up the original one by astor it seems its the soundtrack of the movie 12 monkeys.
i hope i can find the simpsons version of it its simply amazing.
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