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| So deep, man, lets give this episode an Emmy or something, wow. |
The episode works as one whole Boyhood reference. The episode goes through Bart's life at the ages of 6, 8, 12, 15, 18 and I think 20 as he deals with his neglectful father, living in his sister's far more successful shadow and honoring Grampa whom, in this episode, Bart shares a deep connection with.
Generally, as the years move on, Bart becomes more depressed as Homer's neglect becomes more evident and Lisa's success the more invasive to Bart's life. When Bart turns 15, he attempts to break out as a BMX star in honor of the then-late Grampa but injures himself when literally seeing Lisa's shadow and quits. At 18, Bart confronts Lisa over her supposed superiority but Lisa snaps back noting that, if nothing else, Bart has become great at being an artist, including the awful way of life artists usually have. Finding some odd inspiration out of that, Bart, in two years time, starts up a bike repair shop in honor of his relationship with Grampa as well as Lisa, who gave him the advice.
Quick Review
I preface this by saying I haven't seen Boyhood nor do I intend to. I'm sure its a good movie, and its achievements can't be understated. That said, that movie came out, as of this writing, nearly 18 months ago nationwide. The Simpsons - well, modern Simpsons - are often criticized for referencing material far past its shelf-life, with the show even defending this practice rarely, but honestly, how many people still remembered Boyhood as a thing by the time this episode aired? How many people watched this episode who, like me, never saw Boyhood? Topical, flavor-of-the-time episodes like these never do well and date themselves quickly - see Homerpalooza for an example, and making a topical episode off of something last relevant well over a year ago makes even less sense.
Since this is modern Simpsons, of course the tribute to the reference has to be top notch. The need to keep the episode faithful to its reference trumps any other factor - comedy, pacing, character development, and to much lesser, not-as-important aspect, canon. The episode makes a point of having Bart have a strong relationship with Grampa even though, normally, nobody in the family cares about Grampa. I'm sure something similar to that happens in Boyhood, but to someone who hasn't seen it (again, me), having such a drastic shift in character just feels off.
Subsequently, because there is such a focus on the reference and not much else, the episode isn't that funny. It tries to make up for it in mild shock value (OH MAN HOMER IS STONED, OH SO IS CHIEF WIGGUM, AND NELSON LOOKS OLD, ISN'T THAT FUNNY!?) but that didn't work. Grampa's ramblings were pretty decent but then he was gone for the second half of the episode so he couldn't continue salvaging this.
I've said or implied this multiple times by now, but I watch the Simpson to laugh at jokes be they jokes based off character flaws, or clever dialogue. I don't watch the show to revel in storylines, and I certainly don't watch it to see the show act like its something else. The latter was what I got, and what I got was very unimpressive.
Final Score: 5.7
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