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| There needs to be more touching moments like this, too. |
Homer hosts his annual Mardi Gras in his backyard which is as good as ever. Marge has Homer invite Flanders over, but he's a wet blanket and is mostly ignored. The next day, in the aftermath, Lenny asks Homer how he can afford such extravagance each year. Homer's secret? Home equity loans! Who knew it'd be so simple? Oh, but wait its not. Sure enough, Homer and Marge go to the bank to have their mortgage readjusted following Homer's latest loan, and learn that their new monthly payment has become way too high from them to pay. As a consequence, their home is put up to auction. Both Homer and Marge have a difficult time dealing with these turn of events, and its not made any better during the auction itself when it seems like Mr. Burns is going to buy it from $100,000 as a store house for his cuff links. Just then, though, Ned Flanders decides to throw in a bid of his own: $101,000. Mr. Burns doesn't care enough to continue, and Ned wins the house, offering it back to the Simpsons just so long as they pay him monthly to cover the cost. The family generously thanks Ned, who is essentially their new landlord.
Things start off fine at first, the Simpsons even take a picture with the Flanders family to celebrate the occasion. However, Ned learns that the house is rather dilapidated, and Marge has him repair just about everything. Late at night, the house has a major gas leak, but Ned is so worn out from his previous work that he tells them he'll get to it the next morning. This upsets Homer, who tells Ned off right there (and even more so when Ned reminds them they're late with their payment). Homer goes to the bar where he gets advice from Moe to take his rage to the media. Kent Brockman portrays the Simpsons, well, Homer, as a victim and Ned as the worst person of all time. Ned finally has enough, and tells Homer straight up that at the end of the month, he wants the family out of the house.
Attempting to stay in the house for awhile longer, Homer finds out that the family can't be evicted if someone over the age of 65 also lives there. Finally finding his father useful, Homer brings the old man home post-haste as the family begins to squat. Feeling a bit confident about the situation, though, the family decides to go on a walk, though Grampa has to stay in the house to prevent Ned from evicting anyone. However, upon returning, it turns out Ned convinced Grampa to stay at his house instead, as Ned treats Grampa adequately for a change, and is able to remove most of their things in that short time the family was gone.
The Simpsons are now officially homeless, with Bart and Lisa being forced to wear shirts promoting either one of the Hulk movies. Ned tries to rent the house to a seemingly nice couple, but stumbles upon the picture he took with the Simpsons, and sentiment gets the better of him. He denies the couple the house so he can return it to the Simpsons, the declaration of which is enough for all the other neighbors to move out.
Quick Review
This episode is frustrating. I say its frustrating not because it was particularly bad, or cringe worthy, or nothing like that. Rather, this episode for the first time in awhile really reminded me of what made the golden age of the show so great. There were quite a few moments in this episode that were quite superb, such as Homer defaming Ned on TV, Homer pretending to be Jesus to get Ned to reconsider despite having no actual biblical knowledge, and Grampa being okay with Homer using him for his own devices. These were great moments.
I keep saying this or implying it anyway, and its all the more apparent with this episode, but it still rings true: the biggest problem with the show nowadays is that it lacks the absolute quantity - not quality, quantity - of jokes and humor that filled every top-notch episode in the past. From that lack of quantity, the episode's score just can't go up as high as it did back in its peak. There are just too many comedic lows when there isn't much of an attempt at comedy. The multiple times the Simpsons were going to be or were homeless provided little laughs as it focused more on the drama of the moment than the comedy of the moment. Its that shift in storytelling which keeps the show from reaching the heights of what it once was.
Halfway through this season, this is the best episode of it thus far and I hope that what I've seen in this episode begins an upward trend for the episodes to come. I enjoyed some of what I've seen here, but I need to see more of it much more frequently before my confidence in this show can even be considered to return.
Final Score: 7.7
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