Simpsons by the Season: 21

"Lis, what's going on? You're not normally this interesting."

I haven't been friendly to The Simpsons over the past several blog posts. Well... really, it's gotten angrier and angrier since season nine, but I'm going to go ahead and try to stay optimistic here. This is a notable improvement, and I dare say (I'm going out on a limb here) it wasn't a total waste of time to watch it. There. I said it. Above all else, in a lot of these episodes I was actually laughing. There were jokes that didn't involve Homer or Bart being cruel or thieves; they didn't exclusively rely on Homer's stupidity, while artlessly pushing it to a maximum; Lisa's whininess and ultra-liberalism are kept in moderation; their episodes were at least somewhat original; reality was at least somewhat present, save for a few examples (Marge and Homer becoming Olympic curlers is not the worst offence).

The greatest fault of this season is their inability to keep a consistently strong episode throughout the twenty-one minute span, in spite of the fact that many of them actually start with promise. "Homer the Whopper" has a decent story with Comic Book Guy writing his very own comic, but falls to another 'Homer finds a crazy new job' plot in which he once more becomes super jacked, but this time for the film adaptation of the comic. "The Great Wife Hope" doesn't have a bad beginning either, with seeing how the rise of the UFC effects Springfield. However, when Marge decides to get in the octagon as well, it's best left to be forgotten. Even "The Squirt and the Whale" starts with a fairly stupid but decent plot about Homer starting to use wind power (nothing special, but certainly OK) before it leads to a terrible ending with Homer being saved by a whale from a bunch of sharks. The lesson here to Simpsons writers: if you're playing heroic music, the characters are probably doing something stupid that doesn't fit their persona, and if the heroic music is being played for a whale, you should consider a new profession. 

The episodes follow a similar pattern to the season itself, with a fair batch of decent starter episodes but failing to continue that streak. "Bart Gets a Z", in which he gets Krabappel drunk during class and subsequently gets fired holds up O.K.. The Halloween special has some genuinely funny bits. "Pranks and Greens", in spite of having Jonah Hill (I really can't stand him for reasons I have difficulties explaining) is fairly strong as well. In fact, the first 5/6 are well above the average for the past ten seasons. It's the second half that goes horribly awry, as if they burned themselves out halfway through. 

Right around the beginning of the back end has "Boy Meets Curl" with Homer and Marge becoming Olympians. Their curling team consists of Marge (by the end having an arm in a sling), Homer (who is a terrible curler whom the team carries), Agnes (an ancient woman) and Seymour (a noted dud). It's not even the best team Springfield could put together, and it distracts from the jokes when you're constantly questioning if this is really happening or not. This season is a prime example of how the show stays fresh when in reality and completely falters when they lose sight of it. 

Mind you, the second worst episode, while not entirely unrealistic, is just plain awful. The family goes to Jerusalem with Ned, and Homer is a disrespectful, sacrilegious oaf. If that doesn't sound terrible enough, he eventually believes himself to be the messiah. Oh, if only that were the worst part of the episode - what takes the cake is the cliched-to-death Jewish tour guide.

In spite of all that...

Season 21 will make you laugh at times, in particular the first half. The series is having the life squeezed out of it, but it's still got a little juice left. Yes, it should have been cancelled. Yes, it should have ended over a decade ago (even at this point in time). But it hasn't. It's still here, they're still making episodes, and on the rare occasion there are some good ones.

Best Episode:

...Like this year's Treehouse of Horror. It's nothing too original or groundbreaking, but delivers on a number of jokes. I typically don't want to give the Halloween episodes the best episode honour, mostly because they don't seem to fall within the regular season quite as snuggly, but I'll make an exception.

Worst Episode:

In "The Bob Next Door", Sideshow Bob steals a man's face, escapes from jail, and once more tries to kill Bart. It's needlessly gruesome, ridiculous beyond even the most asinine episodes, and not only does this take the crown for the worst of the season and the Sideshow Bob episode by leaps and bounds, but perhaps comes in at one of the top ten of the worst of the series. 

Best Quotes:
"Available wherever dubious quasi-scientific books are sold."
-Where to buy "The Answer", the show's absolutely hilarious parody of "The Secret".

"I can't just get rid of a teacher if he's doing a good job - or an adequate job - or just shows up and doesn't touch anyone." 
-Skinner on getting rid of Krabappel's replacement

"His name is Fatov: he represents the Russian spirit of sloth and alcoholism."
-Bart's Olympic pin he made to help Lisa