Love is in the N2-O2-Ar-CO2-Ne-H3-CH4 (S27, E13-587)

Comic book guy writes an episode where he pretends he's Frink for some reason.png

Plot Summary
Its Valentine's Day, and Mr. Burns via a misunderstanding hosts a Valentine's Day party for his employees and their significant others.  Among those attending is Professor Frink, who works at the plant as a consultant, but is one of the few people there without a date.  Homer eventually gets a call from Grampa who complains that he's alone and that the death-stalking cat that lives there is paying him a visit, so Homer and Marge go to visit him.  At the retirement home, all of the seniors are depressed, until the nurse these gives everyone a new drug which makes the seniors hallucinate all of their former loves.  This includes Grampa, who hallucinates Mona back when Grampa still liked her.

The next day, Homer finds Frink still at the plant, the professor having spent the night wallowing in despair.  Homer tries to lift Frink's spirits by noting dating is nothing but trial and error - like the scientific method.  Adequately lifted, Frink goes to find a way to make himself desirable to women.  This includes ditching his glasses for contacts, height-raising shoes and - most importantly - a computer chip which changes his voice into something not nearly as nerdy.  After testing these modifications successfully on a female-like android he suddenly has, Frink is quickly and easily able to find dates - tons and tons of dates.  He notices that other men aren't as lucky as he has become and starts to come up with a plan.

Meanwhile, Marge visits the retirement home again and sees its seniors still hallucinating under the drug.  Marge confronts the nurse there over the drug and eventually relents.  Soon enough, the seniors are back to being lonely and depressed, but Grampa finds the stash of the remaining pills and binges on them, fully taking him to a hallucinated 50's world.  Eventually, Marge, Bart and Lisa pull him back to reality.

Soon after that, Frink invites all of the ladies he's dated to the planetarium under the belief he's going to pick one of them to date solo.  However, Frink - back in his goggles and 'normal' voice - reveals his true plan: having matched up the single men in Springfield with all of the single women he had been dating, though this leaves only him without a match.  Still, he finds looking out at the stars with his android girl (and her android mother whom Frink built for some reason) good enough.  Also Grampa flushed the remaining pills into the toilet, likely contaminating the water supply, meaning everyone can hallucinate that its the 50s, now.

Quick Review
This episode was pretty boring, nothing particularly funny happened.  Frink, usually a decent character for gags and such, is given focus on an episode for the first time and it doesn't work out especially in the episode's second half.  The sidestory with Grampa and the hallucinations was just weird and again failed to deliver anything of humor in the latter portion of the episode.  This episode isn't worth your time.

Final Score: 5.9

Simpsorama (S26, E06-558)

Imagine if Homer learned robots needed alcohol to function.  Would he yearn to be a
robot for that perk, or would he lament that in order to be "drunk" as a robot, he'd
have to NOT drink?  Thankfully, Homer's ultimate conundrum will never be.

Plot Summary
In a seemingly unrelated open, the elementary school is setting up a time capsule, and an otherwise unprepared Bart puts a half-eaten sandwich, which he blows his nose into, into it.  The capsule is then buried right above nuclear waste.

That night, an odd electrical storm coincides with something falling nearby, which the Simpson family believes to be space satellite junk.  That night, however, Homer and Marge hear someone downstairs drinking heavily, and its not Homer.  Homer and Bart go into the basement to find out the cause, and the culprit reveals himself: Futurama's Bender!  After lethargically and flimsily proving he's from the future, Homer decides to befriend the robot by taking him out for beer and bowling.  Lisa, of course, is skeptical about Bender's presence and takes the robot to Professor Frink, who realizes that Bender will remember his reasons for coming to the past after a system reboot, and he does: to kill Homer Simpson.

However, Bender can't kill his new friend, which prompts a holographic message to come from out of his shiny metal ass, its Leela, who is angry that Bender hasn't killed Homer yet, as its revealed that the New New York of the year 3014 is being overrun by man-eating rabbits, who have Homer's DNA plastered on them.  Leela decides to go to the past via an internal time machine built in Bender to kill Homer herself, with Fry and Professor Farnsworth tagging along, but Bender stops her.  Lisa and Frink convince the future crew to hold off on killing Homer until it can be determined how the rabbits came to be in the first place.  As Homer takes Bender, Fry and Leela back to his house, the professors and Lisa find a second DNA strand on the killer rabbits, belonging to Marge.

Farnsworth figures out that the rabbits are actually spawned from one of Homer and Marge's children.  Just then, Bender gets a holographic news report that the rabbits have begun to mutate into demonic little creatures with a strong resemblance to Bart.  Bart then recalls the sandwich he put into the time capsule probably mixing with the nuclear waste (and a rabbit's foot Milhouse put in) to create those monstrosities.  Realizing they came back too late in the past to kill anyone, the Planet Express crew team up with the Simpsons to retrieve and put an end to Bart's mutating sandwich.  Before they can, however, they get another report from the future, this time via Amy, that the Barts have found their way to the time machine and have begun destroying it.  Just then, a portal within Bender opens up, sucking in the Planet Express crew save Bender, and the Simpson family save Maggie.

Bender decides to spend time with Maggie by using his knowledge of horse race results to win some quick money.  Meanwhile, in the year 3014, its agreed that while Fry and Homer, of all people, fix the time machine, everyone else will work on ridding New New York of the Bart demons.  Lisa leads the way by corralling the Barts using the things she knows Bart hates into the Madison Cube Garden, which Farnsworth then picks up and throws into space, ending the threat.  As New New York rebuilds, Fry and Homer somehow successfully fix the time machine, and the Simpsons are sucked back into their own time.  Bender is back at the Simpson house, and Maggie is both safe and a little richer.  Lisa wonders how Bender will go back to the future now that everything has concluded, and Bender states he'll do it the ol' fashioned way: by shutting down and laying dormant for 1000 years.  Homer drags the robot to the basement for storage, but not before giving the robot one more beer for the road.

Meanwhile, Madison Cube Garden lands on Omicron Persei 8, and while the demon Barts prove a delicious snack for Emperor Lrrr, it ruins a meeting with the Rigelians, upsetting Lrrr's wife Ndnd.

Quick Review
This marks the second straight season with at least one 8+ rated episode, and the last two such episodes were both shameless crossovers.

I think the reason why this episode (as well as the similarly good Brick Like Me) fare so well is because these episode stick the basics: good jokes.  These types of episodes could easily derail into simple "look at this" reference borefests, but thankfully it didn't happen in the lego episode, and it didn't happen here.

The use of the Futurama cast was, I guess, okay.  Most of the action from the Futurama side came from Bender, with Farnsworth (my personal favorite) and Leela had solid airtime as well.  Fry didn't get that much, unfortunately, and everyone else was limited to a single line or so (which Zoidberg was well aware of).  Its been awhile since I've even watched Futurama, let alone Comedy Central Futurama, so I can't say how "intact" each character was for this episode but for the most part, I don't have any complaints.

As I've said, the jokes are plentiful and for the most part very funny.  The Futurama side of things was the episode's strong point, the Simpsons-only humor had its moments but was otherwise not that impressive, and again features a little too much "know it all" Lisa for my liking.  Still, this is by far the best episode of the season, and has the highest score of any episode since Treehouse of Horror XX.  I liked it that much.

Final Score: 8.3

Days of Future Future (S25, E18-548)

Bart, sampling various failed sketches for "Fry's girlfriend for an episode".

Plot Summary
Homer's bad eating habits catch up to him and he dies.  At his funeral, a grieving mass becomes relieved when Professor Frink reveals he's saved Homer's memory and brain patterns, and has transferred them into a new body, essentially getting a second chance at life.  When that body dies the same day, Frink presents a second clone of Homer, and thus a cycle of Homer dying and 'reviving' over and over again starts up, a cycle that lasts 30 years.

Now 30 years in the future, Homer dies again, and in the now ho-hum ceremony Frink reveals that all of his clone bodies have been used up, and Homer is now forced to live on in a flash drive as data.  Marge quickly becomes sick of this nonsense and after an hour of dealing with Homer bopping around screens at home, she kicks Homer out to live with her deadbeat son, Bart.

With this episode essentially being a sequel or, more likely, an alternate version of Holidays of Future Past, Bart's shattered relationship with Jenda is revisited, with Bart living in the no-longer-in-use elementary school and Jenda having custody of their two kids.  Lisa is also having marital problems with Milhouse, as Lisa's charity work at the zombie shelter makes it hard for the two to see each other.  Making matters worse for Bart, Jenda is now seeing Jerry, some kind of alien, and Bart's attempt to find a new woman in life is met with self sabotage.  Milhouse tries to confront Lisa at the zombie shelter, but his racism towards zombies causes one to bite him, turning him undead.  Meanwhile, Bart sees a clinic where people can have their memories altered to help them move on from unfavorable experiences.  Bart requests to get help moving on from Jenda, and the worker there is more than happy to oblige.

From there, Bart has no trouble talking to, and having sex with, multitudes of women of various ages, races, and alien species.  The next time Bart meets with Jenda, Jenda quickly falls back in love with Bart and his newfound optimism, but when they attempt to get back together, things fall apart again quickly.  Meanwhile, Milhouse has become a zombie, but is receiving shots to cure him from it, which will take a couple of weeks to complete.  However, zombie Milhouse is more aggressive and alpha than living Milhouse, which really turns Lisa on and she faces a dilemma as to whether she should keep the brand new dead Milhouse, and return to the alive yet wimpy one.

At Moe's bar, Bart and Lisa meet up to discuss their respective problems when they learn Marge is behind them.  She tells them that once they've made their choice in life romantically they should do anything they can to stick to it.  Then she electrocutes herself so that she can join Homer in the virtual world for a brief moment before the two supposedly turn themselves off, I guess?  Resolute, Lisa decides to have Milhouse finish his cure while Bart decides to break off from Jenda again once and for all.

Suddenly, Bart wakes up, having just finished up his memory alteration, with everything he experienced past that point being a dream used to help cope with his new change (a plot point used from a Futurama episode).  Bart feels great, though, and returns home to find Homer in a new robot body with a personality upgrade, and Milhouse still a zombie because the idea of a zombie cure existed only in his dream.

Quick Review
With the oddness that is this episode, it turns out to be really boring.  Not a whole lot of material turns out to be all that funny, and the zaniness factor coating what is a triple-threat marriage episode makes for a worthless combination for humor.  Its one of the season's weaker episodes and, amazingly, the weakest flash-forward episode of the few that exist.

Final Score: 6.0

How I Wet Your Mother (S23, E16-502)

A stark reminder that even Tracy Ullman short Simpsons are funnier than what we get nowadays.

Plot Summary
Smithers inadvertently leaves the supply closet ajar, which Homer takes full advantage of by letting everyone taking the contents within.  After work, Homer sees Burns approaching and quickly flees, forcing every other car to crash and spill out office supplies for Burns to see.  The next day, Burns yells at everyone for their thievery except for Homer, whom Burns didn't see with any supplies, and even gives Homer the day off.  Although the entire plant is angry at Homer, Homer doesn't care and he spends the day fishing with Bart at the lake, though Bart tries to correct Homer that karma is when if you do something bad, something bad happens to you.

Sure enough, the next morning, Homer wets the bed.  He's able to hide it, but the next morning he wets it even worse.  He realizes that this must be for how he threw everyone at work under the bus, and decides to make it up to them and karma by hosting an apology party, for free even!  Believing himself to be even, Homer happily goes to sleep that night, but finds in horror the next morning that he has wet the bed yet again.  Homer buys a 'urine detection system' to blare an alarm should he start leaking, and that's when the entire family learns of Homer's problem.  Later, Homer deals with it by simply wearing a diaper, which is a massive turn off for Marge.  One night, Marge is on a late night walk when Professor Frink just drops in, literally.  Aware of Homer's problem thanks to Twitter, Frink proposes Marge use a new invention of his which can go into people's dreams to find whatever subconscious quirk is making them do this or that.

Frink hooks up the entire family to a sleeping Homer, and they successfully enter his dream, which is him skiing adequately.  He's met by death, who's carrying a coffin.  As Homer uncovers that the coffin reads "Marriage", he panics a bit.  Suddenly, everyone falls off a cliff and, worse yet, Frink reveals that dying in the dream means dying for real.  Luckily, Lisa gets the idea for their dream selves to fall asleep and enter a secondary dream world of their own.  Quickly they do so, where they wind up in one of their own Tracy Ullman shorts.  Homer is forced to confront the marriage coffin, when fish suddenly swarm out.  With the room flooding with fish, the family decides to fall asleep and enter a tertiary dream world.  This world, Lisa's, is mostly uninteresting and everyone quickly falls asleep for yet another world, which annoys Lisa.  Finally, they reach Homer's innermost desires and while Homer is unwilling to confront his trouble, back in reality Chief Wiggum busts in to stop Frink for some reason, the two fumbling over Frink's dream device enough to cause chaos in the dream world.

Death returns to rescue the family, but reveals itself to be Homer's mother, Mona Simpson.  Taking the family to a secluded theatre, she reveals a scene back just weeks before she left Abe.  Abe and a young Homer had gone on a fishing trip promising to bring back plenty of fish, but Homer's excitement causes the boat to capsize, and the two are forced to swim all the way back, which takes hours.  Homer realizes its the same lake as the one he took Bart to the other day, and so that was what triggered his wet dreams, however he also comes to believe that it was his actions that caused Abe and Mona to split, though Mona quickly shows Homer that wasn't the case at all, so, uh, case closed.  Homer and Mona finally give each other a proper goodbye even though the latter is just a figment of Homer's dream, and the family is able to wake up from each level of dream they were in back to reality with Homer's as dry as he'll ever be.

Quick Review
This episode, which is the last episode I had seen before starting this blog (everything from here on out is new to me!), started off pretty decently with the nuclear plant storyline and the bed wetting plot was initially pretty good as well.  Professor Frink provided a modest amount of comedy, too.

However, once the episode turned into a full blown Inception parody things, predictably, went south.  Too much time was spent spoofing that movie and not enough time was spent making it all funny, though the homage to the Tracy Ullman shorts was appreciated.  The whole thing with Mona at the end was just weird as well.  Its like the writers finally got the memo that the way Mona Leaves-a ended wasn't the best way to conclude Mona Simpson's story and just hamfisted her into a poor Inception parody to set up a farewell dialogue between her and her son.  Coupled that with the odd resolution to Homer's bed wetting, and the latter part of the episode basically destroyed the good will built up at the beginning.

Final Score: 6.6

The Book Job (S23, E06-492)

"I don't get the reference... was that supposed to be funny?" I said just one review ago.

Plot Summary
The family attends a show about dinosaurs when Lisa notices someone half-in-costume that looks awfully familiar.  After chasing the person down, Lisa recognizes the person as the author of her beloved Angelica Button books.  As Lisa is confused as to why her favorite author is bothering to dress up as a dinosaur, the woman reveals that she was a model whose picture was taken to set up a fake author for the books, and that the book was actually conceived by publishers who use reader trends and dozens of desperate English majors to develop books that are most likely to sell.  Lisa is shocked by the revelation and runs off crying.

Determined to now burn her set of books, Lisa tells Homer about the conspiracy, and Homer comes to realize how profitable it can be.  He quickly assembles a team featuring Bart, a pro at cons, Skinner who knows all about preteen trends, Patty who knows all about fantasy novels, Moe who has some publishing experience and Professor Frink the "computer guy".  As the group begins to brainstorm they realize they probably shouldn't do yet another dreamy vampire theme as that has already saturated the market so instead they make their story about trolls.  The idea gains the praise of a snooping Neil Gaiman who joins the group as an errand boy.  Lisa learns of the scheme and, angered, decides to write a book of her own, but constantly procrastinates.  By the time Homer's groups finishes the final draft of their book, Lisa still hasn't written anything besides "Chapter 1".

The group goes to a publisher to get the book published, but they've made a critical mistake: they never came up with a fake author to sell the book with.  Luckily, Lisa has become so distraught over her failure that she'll do anything to get her name on a book and she happily becomes that which she hated to that end.  The group receives a million dollar check, and all is well.  The group except Lisa celebrates their victory... until they get an advance copy of the book which reveals that their troll characters and themes have been replaced by vampires.  Realizing that while they initially set out for money, they've become so enriched in the world they've developed that they can't deal with it being destroyed by the book publisher.  Angered by this, the group tears up their check and decides to take matters into their own hands.

The team sneaks into the publishing area where they plan on swapping the vampire mock up with the original story on a flash drive moments before printing begins.  However, they get found out as Lisa ratted the group out to the publisher, desperate to see her name on a book regardless of its content.  The publisher gives Lisa the clear to print the material, and all seems lost.  However, the next day the group is stunned to find stores being stocked with the troll version of their story: it seems Lisa switched flash drives with Bart while asking for his forgiveness, thus secretly restoring the original tale.  The group is happy to see people enjoying their original vision, though Lisa is angered to find that the book has been credited not to her, but to Neil Gaiman, now on some island who revealed that he, too, switched flash drives at some point and is joyous that he can enjoy being credited for another successful book despite not even being literate.

Quick Review
It was hard for me to get into this episode as, and I just spent the last episode lamenting this, most of the episode was set up as one big reference and I hardly found any of it funny though Neil Gaiman did a pretty decent job in his role.

Final Score: 5.7

Replaceable You (S23, E04-490)

Look at her expression, she was gunning for his job all along.

Plot Summary
A science fair is coming up, and Bart doesn't have anything good lined up.  With Lisa mocking Bart about it, Bart sees Martin left hanging on a tree branch.  He frees Martin then asks to team up with him for the science fair, which Martin agrees to do conditionally.  After some brainstorming, the two decide to make a robotic baby seal, whose cuteness is irresistible.  However, Martin builds it in a way where a single crossed wire turns the lovable toy into a vicious, murderous beast.  Even so, the two enter it into the fair, and they end up winning first prize.  For some reason, they go to the retirement home to celebrate, and the baby seal ends up cheering up a depressed Jasper, and an otherwise upset Lisa realizes just how much of a positive impact Bart has made.

Meanwhile, Homer gets an assistant at work for no apparent reason.  Homer takes the woman, Roz, through the ropes, then tries to have her cover for him as he sneaks out to watch a movie with Barney.  When returning home, though, Homer is greeting by Mr. Burns, who was informed of Homer's departure, and demotes Homer.  Homer realizes that it was Roz who ratted him out, especially since he's her assistant now, and she's treating him like absolute dirt.  Flanders talks to Homer about it, and Flanders figures out that its the same Roz he met some time ago in a bible study, and reveals to Homer Roz's biggest weakness: she freaks out if she's hugged.  A short time later, Mr. Burns plans on giving Roz the "employee of the millennium" award, but Homer steps in and urges Burns to hug Roz.  Burns obliges, and as expected Roz freaks out and throws Burns aside.  Burns quickly fires Roz, and the status quo is returned.

Other seniors take a liking to the seal, and ask Bart and Martin to make more.  The newfound happiness of seniors is dismal news for the funeral industry, who are losing money now that the elderly have reasons to live.  They learn of the crossed wire flaw, though, and find a way to make the seals vicious.  This move subsequently results in the death of Mrs. Glick, and the robot seals are confiscated by the police.  Bart and Martin realize what's happened, but decide to seek further help.  They get it from Professor Frink, and with a small team of nerds are able to help the seals escape from jail while also reprogramming them to never be malicious again.  The seniors are reunited with their cute toys which is reason to celebrate, but its revealed the seals still have vicious tendencies which is reason for the funeral industry to celebrate, which is reason for Mrs. Glick and Jesus to celebrate in heaven as I guess they'll be getting people to join them real soon.

Quick Review
This episode starts off okay with the science fair plot and the humor is decent throughout.  The plot with Homer and Roz has some pretty decent moments but wasn't all that great.  The episode ends on a dumb note with the dance montage including the rather pointless death of a D-list character.  That sequence really detracts from the episode as bits featuring Chief Wiggum and Dr. Nick really did their best to boost the humor of the episode but not by enough.

Final Score: 6.9

Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind (S19, E09-409)

All of these events over 400+ episodes, all while everyone's ages stay the same.

Plot Summary
One wintry morning, Homer wakes up from under a pile of snow.  He doesn't remember what happened the previous night, and when he returns home he finds nobody around except the dog, who is growling at him for some reason.  Homer goes to Moe's, where he learns that he requested Moe give him the "Forget Me Shot", a drink that contains the venom of a certain moth that, when consumed, makes the person forget everything that happened the past 24 hours.  Homer wonders what could've happened that would want him to forget something that badly.  Nearby, Chief Wiggum reveals that he was at the Simpson place last night because of a reported domestic disturbance.  Homer starts to remember, and recalls that Marge had a black eye, using a seemingly flimsy excuse of "walking into a door" to cover it.  Homer starts to fear that it was him that hurt Marge, and decides to talk to the person who reported the disturbance, whom Homer quickly deducts is Flanders.  However, Flanders only tells Homer that he heard 'hubbub', and declines to go further into the matter.

Homer remembers Marge pleading him to stop, then a short time later covering her eye, furthering his fears.  He tries talking to Grampa about it, and he recommends going to a doctor specialized in recovering lost memories.  The doctor, who turns out to be Professor Frink, shows Homer a device that is used for that very purpose, and straps Homer into it.  Homer awakens inside a bubble which allows him to visit any of his old memories.  As he traverses through the 408 prior episodes that make up his memories, Homer comes across a memory from the prior night where, as he comes home, hears love-making squeaks on the couch, and finds Marge with an unknown man.  As the memory stops, Homer grabs a Lisa from a prior memory to help him figure out who that man is, bringing along that memory's Bart just because.  With their help, Homer is able to jump start that memory, and he learns that the man is actually Duffman, who admits Marge is gonna be sore in the morning.  Homer wakes up, and realizes that his life is ruined.

Homer goes to "Suicide Bridge" to jump where he's met by his sisters in law who not only wish to see him jump, but also push him off anyway.  During the fall, Homer is finally able to recall the memory in full.  It turns out Homer caught Marge planning a surprise party for Homer's community service, and with Duff sponsoring the party, Duffman is there to help.  An eager Homer tries to open a bottle of Duff champagne right away, but Marge tries to stop him, getting a cork shot right into her eye.  Duffman gives her an ice pack, stating how sore that will be in the morning.  Homer is happy to learn it wasn't nearly as bad as he thought, but then remembers he's still in the middle of falling.  However, Homer lands on a bouncy castle on a boat, and learns that he landed right into his surprise party.  Homer then remembers that this whole thing was his plan, in an attempt to make Marge's surprise a surprise again Homer willingly lost his memory of the night and correctly predicted his course of actions the following day, ensuring the boat had a floaty castle to secure his life.  Marge lied to Wiggum about her injury because she didn't invite him (or his wife Sarah, whom Marge cares little for) to the party, Patty and Selma pushed him down so that he'd land on the boat, supposedly, and the dog hates him because Homer just treats him badly in general.  With all of that cleared up, Homer enjoys his party, not actually drinking so that he'll remember these moments.

Quick Review
I enjoyed the direction the episode was trying to take and, fortunately, there was a decent amount of comedy in the episode as well.  These two factors combine to make Season 19's best episode thus far.  Its still nothing all that great, as opportunities for humor were limited over the drama of Homer's lost memory, but the effort to make the episode what it is is appreciated.

Final Score: 7.8

Springfield Up (S18, E13-391)

Just like all billionaires, I would imagine.

Plot Summary
Declan Desmond, a supposedly noted documentary filmer, has returned to reveal he's been filming residents of Springfield since 32 years ago, first filming them when they were eight years old and filming how they've done every eight years since.  For instance, he's filmed Clancy Wiggum go from a boy with shoot 'em up dreams to a 16 year old hall monitor, to going to the police academy, then using his excellent pistol back rubs to earn him his Chief of Police title.

Desmond's documentary then focuses on young Homer, whose dreams involve becoming ultra rich and successful.  However, by the time Homer is 24, his dreams of fortune are basically shattered as he's involved in multiple odd jobs, but has found a nice gleam of hope in Marge.  At 32, Homer has now had kids (even though at 24 Homer states he never would), but promises that in eight years Homer will be so rich he'll kick Desmond's ass with a gold boot.  In the present day, much to Desmond's surprise, Homer has become a millionaire, apparently getting rich with a pen that shoots out condiments.

Desmond continues his film, focusing on Professor Frink, whose career path has left him unable to find a woman.  He goes back in time to warn his younger self and set him on a new path, but is run over before he can reach himself, probably dying.  The film then focuses on "Eleanor" whom at age eight wishes to be both a lawyer and a doctor, and accomplishes this at 24 after graduating from both Yale Law and Harvard Medical.  However, by 32 the woman has become burned out, losing her sanity and finding the comfort in booze and cats.  In the present day, the woman has become the person well known as the 'crazy cat lady'.

The film then focuses on Marge, whom at age eight is interested in photography.  This interest of hers continues into high school but by 24, Marge's photography is limited to use at some store she works at.  Still, in the present day, Marge is happy with her husband's success, when suddenly its learned that Homer's millionaire mansion is actually Mr. Burns' summer house.  It turns out Homer - gasp! - lied about his success!

Desmond tries to confront Homer about the lie back at his normal house, when Homer reveals that he's so disappointed his life is still as 'miserable' as it was eight years ago.  Desmond can't help to find such a statement odd, and after consulting Moe, invites Homer to his editing studio.  There, Desmond shows Homer footage of people across town who are actually envious of Homer's family, success and even some of his character.  Homer realizes that in his fruitless pursuit of his supposed dreams, he already has accomplished his dream: being with Marge each and every day.

Quick Review
I appreciate what the episode tried to do, presenting most of it in a documentary style, and I did find much of it interesting.  Of course, sadly, this episode still doesn't have all that much going for it in terms of comedy, so the score is lower than it probably should be, but I do like what the episode attempted to do.

Final Score: 6.8

Future-Drama (S16, E15-350)

Some things will never change.

Plot Summary
Bart and Lisa get into an argument, and roll into a house's basement.  The owner, Professor Frink, actually was expected Bart and Lisa (and Maggie, but lets just pretend he didn't), and displays the means in which he predicted their arrival: an astrology machine that supposedly predicts and broadcasts the future.  Before Bart or Lisa can say or do anything, Frink shows them what they'll be like eight years in the future.

Its prom night, and both Bart and Lisa are close to graduating (Lisa graduating two years early).  Lisa is also going to Yale thanks to the Monty Burns Scholarship (something Burns had to offer as punishment for successfully stealing Christmas).  Further, its learned that Homer and Marge have separated after Homer spent their life savings on an underwater home that Marge refuses to live in.  Soon, Bart and Lisa's dates arrive.  Lisa is going out with Milhouse, buffed hardcore and getting this opportunity after saving Lisa from a house fire (that he started).  Bart's date is a girl named Jenda who shares his wild streak.  After the prom, Bart and Jenda go off to go all the way, but before they do Bart attempts to propose to Jenda.  After Jenda confirms that Bart has no good plan for their future, she breaks up with Bart.

The next day, Bart talks to Homer about what happened.  Homer takes Bart to Moe's to forget his troubles, but after nearly getting intimate with an aged Mrs. Krabappel, Bart decides to get his act together.  Later, Bart talks to Lisa (who broke up with Milhouse the previous night as well), and she tells him that Bart needs to show Jenda he wants to be successful.  Bart goes out and gets a job... at the Kwik-E-Mart, where he's tasked to deliver a package to Mr. Burns.  Upon arriving, he catches Snake trying to nab a diamond, but is able to knock Snake out.  Burns offers Bart a reward for the rescue, but won't give Bart the diamond.  Instead, he offers Bart his scholarship, which would mean Lisa would no longer have it.  Bart decides to take it, believing that Jenda will come back to him if he's going to Yale.  Jenda does, and Lisa is left devastated.

Milhouse realizes this, and get quick advice from Bart that Lisa will have to settle for Milhouse now.  Bart doesn't feel right, though, and on his way back with Jenda, he notices Frink's now abandoned house.  With Jenda becoming more frustrated with Bart's unwillingness to put out, Bart goes inside the house and activates the astrology machine to see what Lisa's future with Milhouse will be like, which ends up pretty bleak.  Bart readies to get Lisa, but Jenda has enough and gives Bart an ultimatum: leave Jenda now and his future will not feature her.  Regardless, Bart goes alone to rescue Lisa from a fate featuring Milhouse.  Later, Bart gives up his scholarship, and Lisa can go to Yale again.  Back in the present, Frink reveals that Bart does find the right woman, when Bart is 83 and he dies just a minute later.  They look back into the future one more time to see that Homer and Marge are starting to patch things up (after an incident between Homer and Krusty, who was dating Marge for a bit during the episode).

Quick Review
This is the third episode that looks into a future.  Its slightly better than the last attempt - Bart to the Future - but not by much.  As usual, the key to how good these future episodes are involves how various people across town have changed over the years.  Some things were interesting to see, mostly involving the now teenage kids.  Others were a bit more cringeworthy (none moreso than Smithers who, thanks to a serum he has to take every 10 minutes, gets to yell out "I love boobies" and actually mean it), but overall I felt underwhelmed by these potential outcomes.  The plot was okay, though it wrapped things up perhaps too hastily for its own good (plus, the Season 23 episode Holidays of Future Passed pairs up Bart/Jenda and Milhouse/Lisa anyway).  Basically, what I'm saying is, I didn't enjoy this episode all that much.

Final Score: 6.4

Treehouse of Horror XIV (S15, E01-314)

Mel: "Come!  Let us kill them before learning
of the magical secret which they possess!"

Plot Summary
As the Simpsons violently hurt one another, Kang and Kodos lament human stupidity, since this Halloween episode is airing in November.

Reaper Madness
The figure known as Death arrives to kill Bart.  After a Benny Hill-esque chase, Death has Bart cornered, but Homer is able to somehow kill Death by hitting him with a bowling ball.  For a time, nobody in the world can die.  Some time later, Homer goes to throw away Death on trash day, but decides to keep its robes.  Homer puts them on, but he and the family learn in horror that by doing so, Homer becomes the new Death, being forced to do so or else face rather sharp genital pain.

Homer does fine at first, but begins to abuse his power to do whatever he feels like.  Then, one morning, Homer is given his next target: Marge.  Homer refuses to do it, but if he doesn't, he'll die instead.  Homer relents and 'kills' Marge offscreen.  Later, Homer offers Marge's body to God, demanding he no longer be Death.  God obliges, but then learns that the body is actually Patty's with Marge's hair taped on.  Homer is able to escape God's wrath, and everything turns out okay.
Individual Score: +1.1

Frinkenstein
Lisa ends up hearing the news that Professor Frink is being awarded the Nobel Prize.  She goes to actually tell him the news, and Frink is happy, glad that his invention of a screwdriver/hammer hybrid won out in a slow science year.  However, Frink laments that his father can't be around to see this achievement.  Lisa inquires, and Frink explains that his father was an adventurous type of scientist, and hated how 'unmanly' the young Frink was.  The two last saw each other on shaky terms, and the elder Frink died from a shark bite.  Young Frink has his father's frozen corpse, though, and decides to go ahead and reanimate it thanks to the newfound convenience of his hammerdriver or whatever.

Using mechanical parts to cover the gaps, Frink is successful in reviving his father, however the elder Frink is upset over what his son did, and goes to acquire live organs, which concerns Lisa.  Sure enough, "Frinkenstein" just ups and grabs organs from whomever he comes across and soon becomes a patchwork of various body parts.  Lisa finds the monster and guilt-trips him with young Frink's Nobel Prize ceremony.  Frinkenstein overcomes his organ lust and heads to Stockholm.  The Frinks reunite just as Frink receives his prize, but Frinkenstein can't contain himself and starts harvesting the brains of the crowd.  Young Frink finally realizes what needs to be done, and kills Frinkenstein by kicking him in his crotch.  Frinkenstein is proud of how big of a man his son has become, but young Frink isn't done yet: he's able to salvage his father's soul in a less menacing box.
Individual Score: +1.0

Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off
Marge uncovers a box full of 70s comic books, and Bart and Milhouse take a peek.  Bart is interested in the old ads found within, particularly one for a 'magic' stopwatch that can stop time itself.  Milhouse pays the 49 cents, and in four weeks the two get their stopwatch.  After Bart confirms it to work, he and Milhouse go around town causing prank after prank.  Mayor Quimby has a meeting at town hall to do something about it, but when Bart and Milhouse strike there, Quimby traps them thanks to ultraviolet light and the town finds out it was them (or I think they do; they really don't identify the two).  Bart and Milhouse run away, but are chased by an angry mob.  The two use their stopwatch again, but in doing so the watch breaks and now they have no way to resume time.  At first, neither one is concerned and they enjoyed themselves.  Soon, though, the two miss interacting with other people besides themselves and decide to fix the watch.  Fifteen years later, the 25 year olds finally do it, and after finding a scapegoat for the mess in Martin, the two finally restore time's flow.  The Simpsons wonder how Bart got so big and shaggy, and to shut Lisa up, Bart gives her the watch, though she presses another button on it to create parallel universes or some such.
Individual Score: +1.0

Quick Review
This installment is a nice return to form after the previous season's Halloween effort.  All three segments are great with several good moments found in each, though even as a fan of Professor Frink all the Frink-speak in the second act was a bit much.  I found this first episode of the 15th season funnier than any episode from Season 14.  Hopefully its the start of a trend.

Final Score: 8.4

'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky (S14, E16-307)

Desmond is just upset he didn't bring his camera guy here to film this.

Plot Summary
Declan Desmond, a supposedly noted documentary filmer, decides to film his next documentary on Springfield Elementary.  He observes Bart becoming massively uncool, with Nelson becoming top dog around the playground thanks to a hood ornament he stole.  Principal Skinner attempts to show Desmond that the school isn't full of dopes by introducing him to Lisa, but he's not impressed with her either, criticizing her lack of direction in that if she doesn't set herself to a career path soon, she won't have much of a career at all.

While Bart continues to struggle to earn the respect of the bullies, Lisa goes to the museum to decide on a career path, ultimately deciding on astronomy.  She gets Homer to buy her a telescope, however she finds stargazing rather difficult at night as the bright lights in town make stargazing rather impossible.  Even when gazing from the outskirts, Springfield emits an orange glow which blocks out the stars.  She comes across Professor Frink who has the same problem.  With a meteor showing coming up, the two decide to start a petition around town to have the lights dimmed at night.  It works rather well, and soon Mayor Quimby shuts down the lights at night, revealing the stars in all their glory.

However, the darkness allows the bullies at school to go around town clipping off hood ornaments to add to their collection.  Bart tries to nab one for himself, but can't find any except for one extravagant ornament that graces the car of Fat Tony.  He and Milhouse come up with a ploy to get it.  Meanwhile, the town becomes angry about the hood ornament crimes, and demands the lights be brought back on.  Quimby caves to the pressure and turns them back on, but overdoes it to where not even natural sunlight is as bright as the night lights are now.  Bart and Milhouse are caught, and they run off without their trophy.

With the Simpsons family undergoing sleep deprivation from the lights, Lisa and Bart team up under a common goal to get rid of those lights again.  Borrowing Homer who is just unable to process things, the two sneak into the nuclear plant and overload the power grid, destroying the lights across town.  Quickly, an angry mob advances on them, but the meteor shower arrives and they become content.  Bart is able to steal his ornament, Lisa gets her stargazing, and Desmond makes another successful documentary.  Everybody wins!

Quick Review
This episode was alright.  Nothing was particularly bad about the episode, though a few jokes did fall flat from time to time.  A common theme nowadays, the quality of the episode dies down at the end, as the episode tries too hard to come to a conclusion (with some song to accompany it) rather than ensure said ending is also funny, though Desmond's documentary at the very end makes a decent effort to salvage things.

Final Score: 7.3

Last Tap Dance in Springfield (S11, E20-246)

That cat can't believe how long those fake arms of hers are!

Plot Summary
With Homer's eyes needing checked and Bart going on a camping trip soon, Marge takes the family to the mall.  With Bart sticking with Homer at the eye doctor, Marge and Lisa go to see a movie about a tango dancer's furious comeback.  Lisa becomes greatly enamored with the film and upon its conclusion tells Marge that she wants to become a dancer.

Marge takes Lisa to a dancing school owned by Vicki Valentine, a famous child tap dancer back in the 40s I guess.  The school doesn't offer lessons in tango, but Lisa 'decides to enroll' in tap dancing, which is Vicki's specialty.  Come to find out, though, Lisa is terrible at tap dancing.  She's the only one in class who can't pick up the "tappa tappa tappa" beat, and even Ralph Wiggum is doing much better than her.  Lisa becomes discouraged, but only sticks with it as both of her parents are very proud of what she's doing.  Still, her tap dancing isn't improving, such that she's not even including in an upcoming tap dance recital.  Professor Frink, who is setting up the stage for the recital, overhears Lisa's dilemma and decides to help.

Meanwhile, Bart and Milhouse were getting ready for their camping trip, but upon learning that Nelson will be around to beat them up the entire time, they hop off the bus before it leaves.  Realizing that everyone will think they're at camp, Bart decides to spend that time having fun at the mall.  They're able to stay in the mall after closing time, and make a mess of things overnight.  The mall owner calls Chief Wiggum over to deal with it and Wiggum, believing the mess to of been caused by a giant rat, eventually brings out a mountain lion to find and kill it.  Bart and Milhouse are able to use a ball of string to distract it, and the color of the string allows the cops to believe the tiger ate the rat, thereby saving Bart and Milhouse as well as their alibi.

Frink attaches devices to Lisa's tap shoes that respond when hearing percussion noises, such as claps or even taps.  Somehow, the devices allow Lisa to tap flawlessly, but even so she isn't able to get into the dance recital.  Still, she goes to it (because she has to pull the curtain, but even then Vicki does that for her), and the shoes go into action once the tapping begins.  Vicki, not wanting to be upstaged, goes on a furious tap rampage, and Lisa's shoes follow suit.  When the crowd starts applauding, Lisa's shoes go haywire, and Lisa goes off on a new level of tap rampage until Homer trips her.  The secret of the shoes is revealed, and Lisa is disappointed that she won't become a dancer (or a tap dancer, anyway) but relieved her parents understand.

Quick Review
This was an enjoyable episode.  The main plot works well for the most part, and Bart's subplot has its moments as well.  I liked the character of Vicki Valentine and jokes around her complimented the episode well.  Its one of Season 11's stronger episodes.

Final Score: 8.3

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

Monty Can't Buy Me Love (S10, E21-224)

The heroic tale of Burns' victory shall never be known.

Plot Summary
The Simpson family, during a walk, stumble upon a grand opening of a Fortune Megastore.  The owner, Arthur Fortune, is one of those fun-loving billionaire types who is more than willing to do big deeds and throw out money to people.  Mr. Burns catches wind of this and becomes somewhat jealous of Fortune's popularity.  Wanting to bask in the spotlight, Burns decides to enlist Homer's help.

Their first idea, throwing out silver dollars to people, goes less than well.  Burns then tries to have Homer hand over a generous donation to a hospital, however the hospitals mistakes it as being Homer's donation and dedicates a wing to him instead of Burns.  He then decides to make himself known on a popular radio program, though Bart tells him to try out a program that's the equivalent of Howard Stern.  After that ploy goes predictably bad, Burns is about to give up.  Homer tells him that Fortune has done another incredible things (getting two male pandas to successfully breed).  Realizing that people love the big theatrics, Burns decides to do one more plan: capture the Loch Ness monster.

The two, alongside Groundskeeper Willie and Professor Frink (who was kidnapped), form a team to capture the beast.  After attempts to locate the beast in the related lake fail, Burns has the lake drained, revealing the beast.  After an epic battle that occurs offscreen, Burns captures the Loch Ness monster.

Back in Springfield, Burns reveals the monster to the masses.  However, as the crowd shoots off flash after flash of pictures, Burns becomes delirious, unable to handle the bright lights and fame.  He goes out of control, accidentally causing chaos and losing his newfound popularity in the process.  Afterwards, Homer helps Burns remember that it takes a lot of work to be popular, and that it isn't worth it.  Burns then finds a job in Vegas for the Loch Ness monster.

Quick Review
Another solid episode in the latter end of Season 10.  I've said this before, but its hard to mess up episodes focused on Mr. Burns, and this episode is no exception.  The Loch Ness portion of the story seems kinda out of place, but I didn't mind it too much (not as much as the Vegas ending, anyway).

Final Score: 8.2