Simpsons by the Season: 13

"This family has hit rock bottom."

I've been putting off writing this blog for a while. Typically it's a fight to trim down the word count in order for it to be brief enough that I'm not rambling (if you've read any of these blogs, you know it's a battle I most often lose). This time, however, I just don't have a lot to say. This season was poor, and it was poor mostly because of the exact same issues in the previous two. The characters are getting unreasonably stupid, the main plot-points are frequently far fetched, and many go in unnecessary tangents of ridiculousness where they clearly just don't know how else to end it. Here and there you'll run into a few missed opportunities, and that's that.  If anything, all that's new to talk about is the fact that now we're getting into some repetition. It was the second time for a number of things: the family finds themselves in jail, including Maggie; Homer is facing down a gunman(men) about to shoot him on his front lawn (this is the third time now, actually); Moe drastically redesigns his bar; Homer leads a group in pursuit of vigilante justice; and Maggie shoots someone, to name a few.

Repetition isn't the main problem, though. It still lies with the dumbing down of the series, as if the show doesn't believe that it can hold its viewership without resorting to Family Guy-esque humour and storylines. A number of episodes this season left me longing once more for the times when Bart getting an elephant was considered too out there. "The Parent Rap" had a judge punish Homer and Marge by putting them in stocks. Homer at one point was commanding a murder of crows. Homer (albeit accidentally) burns down the church with a rocket. Perhaps that wouldn't have been so awful if he had at least felt somewhat remorseful about it. Or if it had some repercussions for him. Or anything, really.

I mentioned earlier they had times where their stories were brimming with potential humour but eventually fell flat. The best example, at least the one that really stuck with me, was the Simpsons' first trip to Canada. We're at the point now where I remember some of these episodes airing for the first time, and I distinctly remember them advertising the heck out of that one specific idea - which is undoubtedly a good one. There's limitless material they could run with in Canada, and while the jokes they had from it were some of their best of the season (mostly poking fun at Canadian sports) it didn't connect the way it should have. That's because they only made it to Canada 17:45 into the episode. I felt cheated. "The Bart Wants What It Wants" ended up mostly being another Bart love interest storyline, in which he's had several. (Come to think of it, Bart is kind of a player considering he's ten years old.) It wasn't bad, but it could've been so much more.

The whole season could best be explained by a shrug. The bad episodes aren't even that bad (with one exception) and the good episodes aren't particularly strong. It's a consistent stream of twenty one minutes of mediocrity, one to the next.

Worst Episode:
This is a no-brainer. "The Frying Game" is the reprehensible conglomeration of a number of bad story arcs sloppily mashed together in one unholy episode.

Let me explain the plot.

 Homer has been a good husband lately. He decides to buy Marge a koi pond for the backyard. (Not bad so far!) They find a "screamapillar" (uh oh) a nearly extinct animal who has a name that is matched in obviousness only by Judge Constance Harm of "The Parent Rap" episode. They are charged with protecting it. (I'm sure Homer won't accidently kill it!) Homer accidently kills it. He is then sentenced to community service working for Meals on Wheels. Homer and Marge then become housecleaners for an old lady who pressured them into staying. (At this point the episode has changed direction so many times by now I don't know whether to puke from rage or dizziness.) Homer and Marge witness a break-and-enter and a subsequent murder. Homer becomes a suspect, allowing him to extort the town with vague threats of violence. (Oh, Homer. Identifiable family man turned extortionist.) Homer and Marge are tried and convicted of that murder. Homer takes the blame and is sentenced to death. But wait! It was all just a game show!

If you can honestly read that paragraph and believe that that could be a potentially decent episode, I question your merits as a human being.

Best Episode:
For the best, I would go with the pretty good "I am Furious Yellow", or the easier to identify, Angry Dad episode. There are a lot of cheap laughs, mostly Homer just getting
upset with things, but... at least I was laughing.

Best Quotes:
"This town will no longer be known as 'America's Sorrow.'"
-Mayor Quimby

"Every house has a bathroom."
-Marge's fortune cookie

"But West Springfield's three times the size of Texas!"
-Lisa

"Canada? Why leave America to visit America junior?"
-Homer, humorously not realizing that Canada is the far superior country