Simpsons by the Season: 14

"Are you ready for tales that will shatter your spine and boil your blood?!"

What can I say? The show got me down. I finished up the write-up for season 13, ending on a note of resigned sadness and it took me a fair while to recharge and go at it again. I filled the gap with Silicon Valley, and now I'm back with more of The Simpsons as it crawls through it's ever pressing decline into cultural irrelevance.


If season 10, 11 and 12 were awful to the point of anger, this season is more geared towards mild, nagging depression. It's mostly due to the episodes having a number of scenes that harken back to previous episodes or seasons and through that highlight how the show has fallen on tough times. They resemble previous plots, some have potential, and some directly shoot for nostalgia but it really just causes a juxtaposition between new and old they surely wouldn't want to highlight. Unfortunately, the episodes just don't cut like they used to, and everything they had once done so incredibly well - clever humour, satire, commentary - fall by the wayside in exchange for the cheap, easy laugh that's readily available.

Easy humour is the name of the game in season 14, and the best examples come through Marge's body modification. I don't expect some great satire on episodes related to Marge becoming a bodybuilder or getting breast implants, but somehow I was foolish enough to expect more out of the show. "Men like big breasts!" and "bodybuilding women are manly!" might be the best way to churn out episodes, but that doesn't mean you should - it's humour for junior high school students, and little more.

Occasionally they'll reference the past but draw comparisons they perhaps should have left unsaid. "The Great Louse Detective" for example. It's a Sideshow Bob episode in which someone is trying to kill Homer, and Bob actually tries to help the Simpsons. Ultimately, it's the son of the late Frank Grimes. It's not a terrible episode (although certainly not a good one) but it's bound to cause some loyal viewers to think this is one of the weakest Bob eps thus far, and reminds you of how strong it used to be around the time the first Frank Grimes was created. I understand they'll still want to keep Bob in the show, and that's all well and good - but that episode is pumped full of references to past seasons, and that's a dangerous game for a show in decline. Perhaps attempting to breath life into the show with new characters is a good plan, especially with the circumstances of the great Phil Hartman's passing, bringing Lionel Hutz with him. The replacement is - I kid you not - Larry H. Lawyer. Sigh. It's a tough act to follow, but that's rough.

In spite of all the nostalgia in this season, they still forget who the characters are at heart. This season Bart and Milhouse find a way into Flanders' house and ransack the place - in which Bart shows no remorse. Marge assaults a number of innocent people. Homer wrecks the church after acquiring the deed for it and holds a game of strip poker on the front lawn, seemingly just to rub away all that petty morality that had plagued the series for so long. They might bring back the past this season, but we all know it's just a memory now.

Best Quotes:
"My hobbies include: being quiet during trips, clapping with songs, and diabetes!"
-Ned's diary for Rod, demonstrating his knowledge of his son

"That is the most pungent thing I've ever smelled - and I am from India!"
-Apu upon smelling Maggie's diaper

"Let's raise the roof for the bland, informative rap of M.C. Safety and the Caution Crew!"
-From a Springfield Elementary presentation

"All my life I've had one dream; to achieve my many goals."
-Homer

Best Episode:
"Three Gays of the Condo" is my pick. It has a rocky start in which Homer and Marge needlessly feud (again) but when he meets with the gay crowd it's fairly clever and funnier than most of the rest of the season. It's not an A+ episode, but it's pretty solid throughout.

Worst Episode:
"Pray Anything" has Homer take over the church, flood the town for a second time somehow, and has twenty one brutal minutes without a laugh. Worse yet, when the town believes the flood to be God's punishment Lisa explains everything logically - with the worst logic they've ever had. A single bonfire caused enough rain to completely flood the city up to the rooftops. The trees being cut down - for this single bonfire - meant that a "flood was inevitable". If they're going to try to sell an absolutely absurd plot, don't sugarcoat it and pretend it makes sense.