Covercraft (S26, E08-560)

Sideshow Mel's family, nothing more than a quick gag.  Sure was worth the wait.

Plot Summary
A dispute between Moe and the owner of the next door music shop ends with both of them going to jail and their businesses closed down.  This forces Lisa to go to the "big corporation" music store for her needs.  Homer takes her there and quickly becomes the target of opportunistic salesmen.  They get him playing the bass guitar and as Homer finds that he's actually good at it, the salesman sell him that plus tons of accessories, the combinations of which cause low-pitched chaos at home.  Marge complains about this to her circle of friends, who then admit they have similar problems with their husbands.  Marge then realizes that the husbands can form their own band, and thus only bother one wife at a time.

The husband crew consists of Homer at bass, Kirk van Houten at piano, Dr. Hibbert at drums, and Reverend Lovejoy at guitar.  After learning they all have the same taste in music, the four quickly gel and jam.  Soon after that, Apu arrives to be the group's singer, and reveals that, due to his time at the Kwik-E-Mart, he has developed the voice of the lead singer from the group Sungazer to maintain his sanity listening to the group's songs nonstop at the store.  With this voice added in, the group decides to become a cover band, dedicated to their craft, thus the name Covercraft.  The group gets a gig at the Springfield Cabbage Festival, but Apu is nervous.  Homer convinces Apu to believe that he's at the Kwik-E-Mart with nobody around, handing Apu his work uniform to help with the setting, and with that mindset Apu helps Covercraft become a popular cover band in Springfield.

Soon, Sungazer - whose lead singer passed away - decides to make Apu their singer for their tour, and Apu gleefully accepts.  Homer becomes envious of Apu's supposed success, and out of panic disbands the remains of Covercraft.  Still, Apu sends the Simpson family tickets and backstage passes to Sungazer's concert in Springfield.  Homer 'realizes' that Apu couldn't of gotten this far without Homer's advice and goes backstage to steal back Apu's uniform.  Forced to hide, Homer witnesses Sungazer treating Apu like crap thanks to a harsh contract Apu signed.  Realizing Apu does not, in fact, have it good, Homer drops his anger and helps Apu enact a little revenge of his own by ordering in a buffet of Kwik-E-Mart quality hot dogs for Sungazer.  They quickly become ill, and Apu takes the opportunity to have Covercraft perform the concert instead.  The police figure out the hot dog scheme, though, and Apu and Homer are arrested in due time.

Quick Review
This episode was pretty boring, I felt.  Not a lot of jokes, but not a lot of "bad" things either.  The focus was clearly on music, and the few attempts at comedy (the opening bit with Moe and the music shop owner, for instance), had a few misses that held the episode back.

Final Score: 6.0

I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (S19, E04-404)

Remember, all those people in the background have chosen to ignore this scene.

Plot Summary
Lisa is going to be given the award for "Student of the Millennium" for some reason tomorrow, and Marge is going out of her way to make sure Homer attends the ceremony, even doing so less drunk the usual.  With Marge's urging, Homer is actually able to make it to the ceremony nearly two hours early.  Meanwhile, Marge makes a stop at the bank where, while she's there, a pair of men attempt an armed robbery.  Although Homer initially gloats over being at Lisa's thing while Marge isn't, he quickly worries when he finds out the truth.  One of the armed robbers freaks out and escapes, leaving just one guy left to leave everyone there hostage: a buggy-eyed creep named Dwight.  Marge is able to reason with Dwight, but he'll only promise to turn himself in if Marge visits him in prison.  Marge reluctantly accepts, and the situation is averted, though as Dwight is arrested he reminds Marge rather crazily to visit him.

Marge starts freaking out, though, and despite her promise to visit Dwight, she comes up with excuses and reasons to not visit him instead.  In prison, Dwight looks on with jealously as Snake gets visited by his girlfriend, Gloria (complete with Julia Louis-Dreyfus as her VA).  As Dwight realizes Marge isn't going to visit him, he gets pretty angry, and decides to break out.  News of this reaches Marge, and the police aren't in any rush to capture Dwight upon learning he'll turn himself in after finishing one piece of business.

Dwight eventually catches Marge in her car and forces her to drive to an amusement park.  As it turns out, Dwight was abandoned by his mother at this park when he was younger, so he wants Marge to recreate that day with the major difference being that Marge not leave him - not that she can as Dwight has her by gunpoint.  Chief Wiggum is coincidentally at the same park trying to have fun, but is forced to take action upon learning of the situation.  Marge and Dwight go on the viking boats - the same ride Dwight was abandoned - but when Wiggum tries to act, he gets caught inbetween the boats.  Dwight gets urged by Marge to help, but falls into the mechanisms though it does save Wiggum.  Marge does visit a healed Dwight in prison afterwards, where the two becomes as much of friends as they can comfortably be.

Quick Review
This was a pretty decent episode.  The hostage situation at the bank was the best the episode had to offer, particularly the scene with the dye packs, but the rest of the episode has its moments as well.  The odd dialogue between Krusty and Dr. Hibbert near the end dragged the episode a bit, but otherwise the episode wasn't that bad at all.

Final Score: 7.1

Three Gays of the Condo (S14, E17-308)

A big fat party animal and a bunch of gay guys enjoying the dance.

Plot Summary
On family recreation Wednesday, Marge reveals a gigantic jigsaw puzzle for the family to complete, and it takes them an entire week of non-stop work to complete the puzzle.  The family thinks they've finished it, but its pointed out to them that a single piece has gone missing.  Each member checks various places of the house to find that final piece, when Homer stumbles upon an old chest labeled "Marge's Memory Chest".  Homer opens it to find a picture of Moe's Tavern on its grand opening 11 or so years ago which both Homer and Marge attended.  On the back of the picture, though, Marge wrote a scathing letter to Homer.  That night years ago, Homer drank so much he suffered from alcohol poisoning, and Marge at that point decides they're done.  Homer wonders why, then, did Marge stay with him, then he realizes that Marge was pregnant with Bart just two days later, and figures out that Marge only stayed with Homer for Bart's sake.  He becomes absolutely furious with Marge, and decides he can't stay in the house with her.

Looking around for a place to stay that isn't depressing, Homer sees a newspaper ad for a request for a roommate in a condo on a nice, well-kept street of Springfield.  There, he meets the roommates he's staying with, Grady and Julio, both of whom are gay.  Grady and Homer become quick friends, and Homer has no problem with what's going on (in contrast to the previous episode with a similar theme).  In the few instances Homer and Marge see one another, they only bicker.  Lisa suggests Marge apologize, and Bart suggests that Marge should fake it.  Marge goes out to the condo, having hired Weird Al Yankovich to sing a song to have Homer give Marge another shot, and they agree to a date.

Homer is panicking over it, when Grady invites Homer to have a few Margaritas.  He indulges in them a bit too much, though, and misses the date, arriving just in time for Marge to storm out on him, the marriage seemingly at its end.  Homer slinks back to the apartment, where Grady decides to make his move on Homer, but Homer freaks out and decides, yeah, that's enough of that.  Homer goes to Moe's, where he starts to make the connection that alcohol is the cause of his problems, but Moe decides, yeah, that's enough of that, and forces enough beer down Homer to give him alcohol poisoning.  At the hospital, Dr. Hibbert recalls Homer's first case of alcohol poisoning, and shows a tape of it when Homer implies it ruined his marriage.  In that tape, Marge appears at Homer's bedside and tells him that though there'll be difficulties such as this, she still sees Homer as a genuinely good person and she's more than willing to stay with him.  Homer's faith in Marge is renewed, and present-day Marge peeks in on this just in time for the two to make up and remain together.

Quick Review
This ends up being an enjoyable episode.  The overall plot line wasn't bad, and there were a decent amount of jokes to keep things going strong.  Weird Al's appearance wasn't as bad as what I was expecting, and the scenes with Grady and Julio were okay as well.  Its about as good as I can expect from this season.

Final Score: 8.0

They Saved Lisa's Brain (S10, E22-225)

America will be in smoldering ruins before it even thinks about adapting metric time.

Plot Summary
The family goes to a grossout contest where the saddest act wins a trip to Hartford, Connecticut.  However, when the judges give the award to themselves (for being seen in public with the actual sad acts), a riot ensues.  In the chaos, Homer is able to 'earn' the second place prize: erotic photography, yeah.  The grossout contest and its ensuing riot greatly depresses Lisa, who writes a letter asking for betterment and change to a local newspaper.  The newspaper prints the letter, though Lisa is unable to find anyone in town who actually read it.

Soon, she gets a mysterious letter paper-planed to her telling her to visit a specific house.  There, she meets the Springfield chapter of Mensa, consisting of Dr. Hibbert, Principal Skinner, the comic book guy, Professor Frink and a typical businesswoman, Lindsey Naegle.  Lisa's letter garnered their attention, and they accept Lisa into the organization where intellectual thoughts can be discussed.

One day, the group tries to have a public meeting at a gazebo they reserved, however the gazebo is occupied by boozehounds, and Chief Wiggum makes no effort to fix this.  Lisa encourages the group to do something about it.  They attempt to confront Mayor Quimby over the gazebo issue, but the way in which they pressure him makes Quimby think they're on to much worse, and he flees town.  After checking the town charter, which states that in the case of the mayor's absence, leadership goes to a group of intellectuals, in this case Mensa.

Meanwhile, Homer goes to get erotic pictures taken of himself, which takes place in his home.  After a botched attempt thanks to Bart's meddling, Homer gets the photos taken in the basement which is dressed up for the occasion.  Later, Homer gives the photos to Marge, and though she is initially turned on by the photos, she is soon distracted by the basement designs shown in the photos, and goes to dress up the basement herself, much to Homer's disappointment.

Although Mensa is able to change a few ways the town operates, making it more efficient, each member's own agenda starts to get in the way of progress.  They host a public forum to announce more changes, but as each member tries to implement policy based on their own preferences (Frink banning every physical sports, comic book guy forcing mating just once each seven years, etc), they start to argue with one another.  Stephen Hawking comes in to berate the group, noting that power has corrupted them, which prompts the crowd to start another riot.  Hawking is able to save Lisa, and as he ponders that even the smartest of people can still act childish, he and Homer go out for some beer.

Quick Review
This episode wasn't doing much good for most of its time.  Though the opening grossout plot was fine, the Mensa plot had little going for it in terms of hilarity, and Homer's erotic picture subplot wasn't doing much better.  The appearance of Stephen Hawking, though, was superb and it really saved this episode.  Sure, it sets up his animated character both here and also in Futurama as a know-it-all type who gets places by stealing ideas from others, but he still provides a level of comedy in this episode that just wasn't there otherwise.

Final Score: 8.0

Homer Simpson in: "Kidney Trouble" (S10, E08-211)

For only having one, beer-soaked kidney, Grampa's feeling pretty good.

Plot Summary
Homer takes the family to a tourist ghost town, but the car stalls along the way, just outside the retirement home.  Coincidentally, its Grampa's birthday, and Homer is unable to restart the car until after Grampa greets the family in a creepy sort of way.  So now Homer is taking the family and Grampa to the ghost town.

The ghost town, mainly known for prostitution, provides some entertainment for the family.  Grampa drinks up quite a bit while there, but doesn't get the need to go to the bathroom until after the family drives away and Homer unwilling to stop for any reason so he can get home in time to watch a TV show.  With Springfield hours away, Grampa tries to hold it in the entire time, but is unable to because his kidneys both explode.

Miraculously still alive, Grampa still won't live for much longer without a kidney transplant.  Homer agrees to give up one of his, earning the praise and respect of his family for doing so.  However, at the bar, Moe and the others tell Homer that a kidney transplant is a dangerous operation, that with only one kidney one can't drink himself stupid anymore, and that once you donate one organ the hospital puts you down to donate every organ of yours, including buttocks.  This scares the hell out of Homer going into the operation, and as the two lie down just beforehand, Homer chickens out and escapes via a nearby window, leaving Grampa to die.

Ashamed for what he's done, Homer decides to waste away on the sea, hitching a ride on the boat "of lost souls", however even they can't stomach what Homer did, and throw him overboard.  Homer washes back ashore, and regrets what he did enough to eventually return to the hospital just as Grampa starts to fade away.  However, at the last second, Homer again chickens out, but upon escape gets into an accident as a truck carrying cars stops in front of Homer, only for one of the cars to slide ahead on fall on him.

Homer wakes up in bad shape, sorrowed for leaving Grampa to die again, but Grampa walks in good as new.  Initially believing it to be a miracle, Homer sees the rather suspicious faces of everyone and realizes that his kidney had been removed while being operated on from the car accident.  Homer gets angry that Grampa got his kidney, but calms down when his family reminds him of his sacrifice, not to mention Homer has two more kidneys to harvest from his own son, Bart.

Quick Review
This ends up being a fine episode.  The stuff with the prostitute town at the beginning provided plenty of laughs, as did Homer's bar mates providing him a big scare.  Those two bits alone were enough to propel this episode to the strong score it got.

Final Score: 8.3

Lost Our Lisa (S09, E24-202)

...and Lisa never trusted Russians again.  The end.

Plot Summary
The school has the day off for teacher "conferences", so Bart and Milhouse take a walk around town.  They go into a prank shop, and Bart decides to buy a few novelty items which stick on the face, except not so well.  The two visit Homer at work to get some superglue to help the items really stick on there, which Homer willingly provides.

Lisa, meanwhile, is ready to go with Marge to the museum, which is having an Egyptian Treasures exhibit for just one more day.  Before they leave, though, Bart returns with the items on his face.  Marge is unable to pull them off, and is left with no other option but to take Bart to the doctor.  Lisa asks Marge if she could take a bus to the museum, but Marge quickly turns her down.  Undeterred, Lisa calls Homer instead.  Though Homer is also weary of Lisa taking a bus, Lisa cleverly tricks Homer into thinking a bus is okay just as long as he doesn't have to pay $200 for a limousine instead.

Lisa enthusiastic takes a bus, but it turns out she got her buses mixed up.  The bus she wants, the 22, only goes on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays.  As its either Tuesday or Thursday, she is on the 22A, which does not go to the museum.  She learns this too late, and is forced off at the last stop, some solitary road in the middle of nowhere.  Lisa attempts to make her way over to the museum, coming across several oddities along the way.

Homer realizes his error, and leaves work to find Lisa.  He goes to the museum, but finds she isn't there.  He checks nearby for Lisa, using a cherrypicker for a better look.  He does find Lisa, but the cherrypicker rolls loose, causing some mayhem but ultimately things turn out okay.  As Homer drives Lisa home, Lisa regrets making such a "stupid risk".  Homer is offended, as it was because he took a "stupid risk" with the cherrypicker that he found Lisa in the first place, and that risks are what make life worth living.  He then asks Lisa what she wants to do, and Lisa only wants to visit the museum, but it would be closed at that point.  Homer sees it as another risk-taking opportunity and takes her to the museum.

Bart is able to have the items removed from his face after Dr. Hibbert forces him to emit "terror sweat", which dissolves the glue.  They return home, but neither realizes Lisa is gone.  That night, Homer takes Lisa to the now closed museum, but they both are able to sneak in regardless.  They go to the Egyptian wing of the museum and enjoy it, even uncovering an previously covered secret with one of the exhibits.  Lisa thanks Homer for helping her take a "stupid risk", and the two walk off in song before they trip an alarm.

Quick Review
This was a pretty charming episode, one that really humbles Lisa.  Not that the humbling of Lisa is what makes the episode good, but her interactions with everything she comes across along with Homer showing her the good side of risk taking really makes for a good episode especially with how it ended.  The blip that was Bart's subplot was fine, and Dr. Hibbert's contribution was worth a few laughs as well.

Final Score: 9.3

My Sister, My Sitter (S08, E17-170)

It turned out nearly exactly how Lisa imagined it would, well mostly.
She has a rather realistic imagination.

Plot Summary
Lisa become deeply interested in babysitting, and gets the word out as such, however there aren't many people interested in having an 8 year old girl babysit.  One day, though, Ned Flanders finds himself in a bind and has to ask Lisa to babysit his boys.  She does a superb job babysitting Rod and Todd, and Ned decides to recommend Lisa to others.  Quickly, Lisa starts babysitting around town, and her reputation of quality spreads like wildfire.

In the meantime, Homer and Marge learn that the town has rebuilt its Squidport, and has an opening gala on Saturday night.  Interested in attending, they - for some reason - decide to have Lisa babysit Bart and Maggie, an idea that infuriates Bart.  As a result, Bart goes out of his way to cause trouble for Lisa.  He feeds Maggie coffee ice cream and, as Lisa is distracted in trying to calm down the now hyper baby, Bart makes several phone calls for services to arrive at the house.  Lisa is able to shoo them all off, but is starting to lose her nerve.  As Bart now refuses to go to bed, Lisa tries to grab him, in the process Bart trips and falls down the stairs, dislocating his shoulder and getting a lump on his head.

Bart comes to, sees whats happened to him, and runs off to his room to 'preserve the evidence' for when their parents come home.  He attempts to make things worse by banging his head into the door, enlarging the bump on his head, and indeed he does make things worse by passing out in the process.  Lisa tries to call 911, but after several prank calls made by Bart earlier in the night, they refuse to hear Lisa out.  Lisa considers taking Bart to Dr. Hibbert, but fears that once Hibbert sees Bart's injuries, she'll be blamed and will never babysit again.  Instead, she goes to Dr. Nick, whose clinic promises complete confidentiality.  She puts Bart on a wheelbarrow and Maggie in a carrying cage and wheels them to Nick's clinic, however the lines are long and Lisa is force to look elsewhere.

Now deciding to just go to the hospital, she's stopped by Chief Wiggum, who checks the wheelbarrow to find nothing inside.  After Wiggum leaves, a stunned Lisa finds that Bart fell off the side of the wheelbarrow and into a puddle of mud.  As she goes to retrieve him, it turns out the puddle of mud is right off from where the renewed Squidport is, and everyone witnesses Lisa's antics, parents included.  Hibbert is on the scene and, like Lisa feared, is blamed for Bart's injuries, effectively ending her babysitting career.  Bart apologizes to her some time later, but as it turns out, some parents in Springfield are willing to overlook Lisa's follies in order to get a babysitter for the night.

Quick Review
This episode turns out pretty well, not one of Season 8's better episodes but its still pretty strong on its own.  The main plot had some laughs, but not too many, and the Squidport subplot was too brief to supplement the main plot any.

Final Score: 8.6

Homer's Triple Bypass (S04, E11-070)

Damn, I wish I had pizza when I was born, don't you?

Plot Summary
How can this episode, one with such a serious life-or-death theme, still find a way to be so funny?  Even with all the tense, emotional moments this episode provides throughout, there are still enough jokes and such where, from a strictly humorous standpoint, it's as funny as most other Season 4 episodes?  Its just another example of the magic this season has provided thus far.

In the episode, years of eating poorly finally catch up to Homer, and his heart is beginning to give out, though Homer pays it no mind (even mistaking it for a bad transmission at first).  At the plant, though, Mr. Burns finally has enough of Homer's lazy antics and fires him in person, the act of which gives Homer a heart attack.  Ultimately pulling through, later tests reveal that Homer requires open heart surgery to clear a blockage near his heart.

The cost of the procedure - $40,000 - is far too high, though, and Homer is left looking for alternate options.  Homer has no work insurance - the plant workers having given it up for a pinball machine - and attempts to get some elsewhere fall through.  After failing to get money from a few religious denominations, Homer sees a commercial from Dr. Nick Riviera, who offers to do any surgery for under $130.  With no other options in sight, Homer decides to take this route.

As Homer stays in the hospital to prep for surgery, Dr. Nick tries to do a crash course on open heart surgery only to find the tape he was watching on it has been taped over.  As friends and family show great concern over Homer's condition, the day of the operation finally arrives.  Ill-prepared, Dr. Nick struggles at a certain point of the operation.  Lisa, attending the operation and having studied up on the surgery since learning of Homer's condition, is able to guide Dr. Nick along, and the operation ends up being a complete success.  Homer's heart has been helped and its even able to beat to the tune of the Simpsons' theme (or a part of it, anyway).

Quick Review
As I've said, this episode turns out to be very funny despite the serious nature of the episode.  The whole "Cops: In Springfield" bit was excellent, and Homer's various friends and associates provide laughs throughout their appearances.

Final Score: 9.2

Bart the Daredevil (S02, E08-021)

Well, at least he enjoyed it while it lasted.

Plot Summary
Homer and Bart both see an advertisement for a monster truck rally featuring "Truck-o-saurus."  While Lisa's recital delays the family's arrival to the rally for a bit, they eventually get there intact.  There, the night finishes with a daredevil stunt from Lance Murdock, which Bart finds absolutely amazing.  Murdock makes the jump, but falls in the pool anyway while grandstanding, but still Bart is so impressed with the act, he makes it a goal to become a skateboarding daredevil.

His first jump doesn't go well, and he goes to the hospital for stitches.  While there, Dr. Hibbert tries to discourage Bart by showing him other kids who hurt themselves imitating things.  Bart says he understands, but goes back to trying jumps anyway, which he starts succeeding at.  Eventually, Bart finds himself bored of jumping over cars, pools, and pets, and decides to jump over Springfield Gorge, where failure to do so would likely mean Bart's death.

Lisa, overhearing the announcement, tries to discourage Bart herself.  She takes him to see the hospitalized Murdock, however he only encourages Bart because the body heals and the United States has the best doctor to daredevil ratio in the world.  Lisa then tells Homer and Marge, with Homer immediately forbidding Bart to attempt the jump.  Bart, however says that they can't watch him 24/7, and the instant they turn their back, he's gone.  Homer tries to reason with Bart, but that fails.  Ultimately, Homer decides that to get Bart to stop, he'll have to understand what its like to see a loved one do something dangerously stupid.  Bart finally gets it and promises he won't jump again.  The two reconcile, but with Homer still on the skateboard, he starts rolling down the ramp into the gorge anyhow.  Homer falls into Springfield Gorge, then after being rescued, falls into it again after the rescue truck crashes into a tree.  At the hospital, he sees Murdock and lets him know that there's nothing more death-defying than raising kids.

Quick Review
Bart the Daredevil is best known for the classic Gorge bit near the end of the episode, truly a wonderful moment that really got the series going.  This sequence puts a strong finish on what ends up being a great episode.

Final Score: 8.4