Simpsons by the Season: 3

"Where else but America - and possibly Canada - could our family find such opportunity?"

Enter the Golden Age. 

"Give me three fingers of milk, ma."

Yeah, it's easy to make fun of Steven Tyler's looks.
But The Simpsons will always do it best.

Pop quiz: name the other surprisingly jacked character.
If you're a fan, you'll know it immediately.

Great episodes are not surprises, but rather the norm. The middling, average episodes ("Lisa's Pony", "I Married Marge", "Lisa the Greek") are by any standard still incredibly strong, consistently full of laughs - you would be hard pressed to find a joke that falls flat.. The Simpsons has, at this point, clearly settled comfortably into its own, relishing in what are now properly established characters and a distinct feel for the attitude and style of the show. There isn't much that's new in this season compared to the last, but rather a honing of what was already working. Season two's "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish", their politically fueled Mr. Burns episode, has an equally funny (and perhaps an even smarter commentary) in "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington". Season one's Jacques is season three's Lurleen Lumpkin. Season two's "The Way We Was", meet three's "I Married Marge." This is far from a complaint. The individual episodes are clear-cut improvements both in storytelling and humour.

I mentioned in previous posts about the good-natured family values style of the early Simpsons seasons, and those are here to stay - at least for a time. In "Lisa Gets a Pony" Homer goes above and beyond in attempting to be a good father, "Homer Defined" has Marge save the day for Bart when Millhouse's mother calls him a bad influence, and Bart's emotional moment of remorse after falling down the well in the hilarious "Radio Bart" episode (of which Homer comes to save him) has many of the same messages of family goodness similar to the previous two. However, they're less heavy-handed this time around, a touch more subtle. A few times in season one they practically came out and stated the lesson learned for the Simpson family at the end of the episode like a Fat Albert-esque after school special. Season three has it as an underlying tone rather than bringing it to the forefront. It's a welcome change and a sign of better writing.

This holds better without a proper caption.

I said earlier there isn't much new in this season. While I believe that to be true, there are small signs of changes here and there, more as signs of things to come rather than great sweeping differences. The most noticeable is progression to more audacious plotlines as seen in "Bart Joins the Mob" (a classic) and "Black Widower", a mystery-style episode where Sideshow Bob (a can't-miss character for many seasons, similar to Krusty in that sense) tries to murder aunt Selma. Even "Stark Raving Dad", the episode with the Michael Jackson impersonator found in the insane asylum Homer is sent to falls out of the norm in terms of more strict lines of plausibility. This is a positive as well as a negative; on one hand, sometimes it's good to go outside the box, but on the other it reminds you of the far too grim reality of the absolutely insulting absurdity that comes with some episodes in later seasons. While the land of the Simpsons is not entirely real (it's a cartoon, this is fine and all) the show works much better when it's still believable. This goes hand in hand with the friendly, loveable and above all relatable family they were intended to be. Remember this come season 12ish.

Best Episode:
I've seen every episode in this season more times than I can count (so, minimum seven). If I were to choose prior to this rewatch, I would have said "Flaming Moe's" in a heartbeat, but man, if "Radio Bart" didn't make a push for it, with "Homer at the Bat" neck and neck... All three are absolutely top of the line.

A nod goes to "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington" for being exponentially funnier now that I'm old enough to understand the jokes in it.

Best Quotes:
A judge for the essay contest in "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington" is described as the "wealthy gadabout, Chilton Gaines".

"And in order to keep our broadcasting license, we devote Sunday night dead-time to public service shows of limited appeal."
-The show Bart and Lisa call in to convince Krusty's dad to accept his son.

"If I hear one more thing about the Simpsons I swear I'm going to scream."
"At first they were cute and funny but now they're just annoying."
-Treehouse of Horror episode in which the Simpsons become rich and famous.

"Yes, this is Hugh Jass."
-Bart's prank call gone wrong

"What's the point in money if you can't inspire terror in your fellow man?"
-Mr. Burns, after Homer was laid off from his job when Burns sold the plant and as a result sassed him in Moe's Tavern. 

"Starring in alphabetical order: Yodelling Zeke, Butterball Jackson, Freddie Boy and Yuma, Cloris Moselle, Big Shirtless Ron, Orville and Hurley, Gappy Mae, Hip Diddler, Rudy, and the Yahoo Recovering Alcoholic Jug Band!"
-The line-up prior to announcing Lurleen. Take a moment and appreciate just how great these names are.