Simpsons by the Season: 23

"Everything's perfect about the past, except how it led to the present."

I was feeling pretty smug at the start of this season, thinking I had it all figured out - the series dips terribly in the middle but they sort of start to figure it out towards the most recent. At least here and there they start having a few episodes, and there's this distinct possibility of having a solid, cohesive season. By about eight episodes in, right after seeing "The Ten Per Cent Solution" in which Joan Rivers is Krusty's old agent, I felt more correct than ever. There were a few duds early, but a third of the way through I was feeling like the series was finally turning it around. Unfortunately, at episode eight, it was not only the last good episode of the season but the last passable one.

The reason for the early praise on my part is the quality of two in particular; "The Ten Per Cent Solution" is excellent, and "Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts" is also top notch. In fact, they're the best in - perhaps literally - a decade, and it's not hard to see why. "Bart Stops" is a clever idea that fits with the characters; Chalmers appeals to Bart by showing him the manly side of history in Roosevelt, in spite of the man's name being Teddy. They tie in a smartly placed commentary on the school system being soft. Bart isn't a piece of garbage! "Ten Per Cent Solution" follows much the same way, with Krusty being classic Krusty. It doesn't get ridiculous. It's coherent. It's funny. Unfortunately, that couldn't be said for the last two thirds of the season. 

I believe most of the problems stem from the main themes of the episodes being noticeably worse, and because of that it's missing an edge. You can see perhaps more clearly than ever that the episode ideas are not coming as fast and loose as they used to, and the show is falling back on two main plans in order to prop the show up Weekend at Bernie's style. One, they have amped up the craziness, but that's been climbing steadily for years now. Second, and this is at least somewhat new, they're relying more frequently on whole episode-long parodies - picking out movies of (then) recent popularity and basing whole episode arcs on them. This season we have "The Book Job" (parodying the Ocean's series), "The D'ohcial Network" (The Social Network), "How I Wet Your Mother" (an extended scene has the family enter Homer's dreams Inception style, which also covers the ridiculous premise category quite nicely) and the Halloween special had two with Dexter and Avatar. Picking up someone else's plot has proven easier than creating their own. That being said, they're not necessarily bad episodes, but it's indicative of greater problems if they have to reach that far for more ideas. Perhaps it's not their fault, considering it's been over twenty seasons, but I won't feel sympathy for them when it's their choice to continue the series. 

I know it must be hard now with this season hitting its five-hundredth episode, but once more I'll plea to the Simpsons to keep reason and sanity within their program. Their good episodes this season, or at least the decent ones, are all plausible. "The Falcon and the D'ohman" is mostly reasonable (until the very end, as it takes a poor turn) and it's not a bad episode. Same with the two mentioned before, as well as "The Food Wife" (the family, save for Homer, create a food blog which works quite well until, as many other episodes, it loses touch with reality in the end and falls to pieces) and "The Book Job" in which they take a few fairly funny shots at young adult literature - a parody plot but one that holds up fairly well. 

But the poor episodes? Homer helps to choose the candidate for the republican party. The Simpsons get banished from Springfield until the whole town comes to join them (also not ending the episode reasonably). Bart tricks a whole cruise liner into believing the world has collapsed around them (and ends the episode with the Simpsons being banished in Antarctica with a bunch of penguins). A wave of robots turns on humanity and Springfield fights them in hand-to-hand combat. They just can't pull off stupid very well, and if they're to pull off a legitimately good season, they need to stop trying to.

Best Episode:

I won't describe them once more, but I'll give it a draw between "Ten Per Cent Solution" and "Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts". 

Worst Episode:

Speaking of the stupid and ridiculous, we have a contender for the coveted "worst episode ever" title. In "Moe Goes From Rags to Riches", we discover Moe's Bar rag has a storied history going back hundreds of years. It's actually some sort of sentient being. I would honestly prefer the episode to be written by a rag itself, as a blank screen would have been preferable. Once more I have to ask - is this canon? Does Moe's rag really have a story behind it?

"Holidays of Future Passed" also deserves a mention. Yet another unbearable episode based about the family's future, it makes less sense than ever. Once more desperately trying to bring Halloween themed episodes into the actual world. Right when the trees started talking I almost called it quits. 

Best Quotes:

"Roosevelt killed more Spaniards in one day than most people have in their whole lives!"

-Bart, finally interested in history

"When a man who loves America cries, that makes him super straight!"

-Lenny on Homer's American passion