The Nightmare After Krustmas (S28, E10-606)

Well, I was going to watch but not if I'm going to
hear treason!  Thanks for the warning, that was close!

Plot Summary
It's Christmas, which means Krusty gets his annual week to spend with Sophie, his daughter from that one episode.  Its also a distressing time for Reverend Lovejoy, who hasn't had much luck getting any converts and the pews are looking empty as well.  As evidence, Springfield is hosting a Pagan festival, one exhibit of which runs amok and injures Krusty.  Worried that his brief stay in the hospital will use up his time with his Christian daughter, Krusty accepts Marge's offer to spend Christmas Eve with the Simpson family.

Krusty, ever the opportunist, makes the visit a televised - and heavily sponsored - Christmas special.  Sophie has enough eventually and kicks Krusty and the TV crew - but especially Krusty - out of the house.

Meanwhile, Marge sets up for Maggie an Elf on th- er, Gnome in the Home, a mockup of a relatively recent (and subsequently odd) Christmas tradition where the, uh, Gnome, spies on kids to report back to Santa on their goodness.  Maggie gets freaked out by the Gnome, resulting in an odd nightmare where she hears Wayne Gretzky speak his one single line in the episode.  Waking up, Maggie is further frustrated when Marge reveals not just that the Gnome will stick around all year but that she got a female variant for Christmas as well.  Maggie just decides to decapitate the both of them to regain her sanity.

Lovejoy is out of luck converting anyone until he comes across a dejected Krusty, and uses the chance to convert him to Christianity, made easier by Krusty's desire to appease his Christian daughter.  For awhile all is good - even though Krusty turns his show into a full blown feel-good Christian hour - but Lovejoy is pressured by his deacon to baptize him as soon as possible with Krusty's condition that he'll do it at the lake.

Since it's still winter, the baptism is held at a frozen lake.  Krusty attempts to dunk his head into a hole but the ice underneath him collapses and he's forced under.  Drowning, Krusty has a vision where his father tells him religion doesn't matter when it comes to spending time with his daughter.  Lovejoy pulls off a minor miracle in rescuing Krusty.  In the end, Krusty reverts back to Judaism, but Sophie loves him all the same, while Lovejoy's heroics gets people back in church somehow.

Quick Review
This episode is a mess.  Bringing back a one time character from sixteen seasons ago was an odd and perhaps even desperate move (despite there already being precedence for such a move from NINE seasons ago, for crying out loud), and mixing of storylines with Lovejoy and Krusty was far, far from seamless.  The bit with Maggie was okay for awhile, but it ended early and the whole "lol Maggie is more ruthless than you think! XD" bit got tiring immediately for me.  The guest voices - of which there were several - were mostly wasted aside from Sophie's.  Gretzky had just one line in Maggie's dream, Jackie Mason voiced Rabbi Krustofski but only in a vision where Krusty imagined him as a knockoff Olaf, and I don't even know or care who the third guy was.

It just seemed like the "team" here wanted to make a Christmas episode, and had the budget to make a decent one (some of the animation in the episode looked pretty decent given what it is nowadays), but didn't really know what to do it about so they just slapped together some half-assed ideas and payed a bunch of celebrities money to voice singular lines to call it a holiday special.

Final Score: 5.8

Sky Police (S26, E16-568)

In the next episode, Chief Wiggum learns about helicopters.

Plot Summary
By mistake, Chief Wiggum is sent a jetpack intended for one Clancy Wiggins.  Regardless, Wiggum happily claims the jetpack and hoards it to himself, becoming an airborne sentry, "Sky Police" as it were.  After some time, though, Wiggins - a military chief - comes in to claim his jetpack and bust Clancy Wiggum for basically stealing it.  Wiggum attempts to fly away but overuse of the jetpack, combined with military gunfire, causes the jetpack to malfunction.  As Wiggum detaches itself, the jetpack goes haywire, eventually crashing into the church, causing great damages.

With the church's act-of-god system preventing them from getting any insurance benefits, the church is left with no money to fix itself.  The six-person committee of Reverend Lovejoy, his wife Helen, Sideshow Mel, Agnes Skinner, Ned Flanders and Marge Simpson gets help, however, from an unlikely source: Apu - who needs the church up to teach people not to steal or kill (him).  He tells the group to go to the casino to get the funds using the ages-old trick of card counting - specifically keeping track of the cards in a deck and if a deck has a high enough set of cards remaining, send in someone with a big pot of money to reap the benefits.  The six do so wonderfully on the first night - in part because the group advises Marge to not tell Homer as he's prone to screw these things up.

The casino is on to the group after the first night, so Apu advises the group to don disguises for night two.  Bart and Lisa catch Marge in disguise before she leaves; she tells the two what's going on and has them promise not to tell Homer.  The second night goes wonderfully as well, and the church now has enough money for repairs.  However, Marge is stunned later to find that Homer has been taken in by the casino, who demands their money back less Homer wind up in a more battered shape.

Marge learns that the kids, worried that Marge was still out late, told Homer out of concern, and Homer rushes blindly into the casino asking about Marge - whom the casino was suspicious of - and nabs him as a hostage.  Marge tries to get Reverend Lovejoy to get the money back, but he's already used it to fix up the casino.  Realizing how dirty the church has become through the group's acts, Marge decides to go back to the basics with her faith to save Homer - by praying at the casino.  Stunned by the sight, casino-goers gawk at Marge's praying, causing casino profits to plummet.  The casino subsequently agrees to give Homer up as long as Marge agrees that her and her group never step foot in a casino again.  The incident causes Marge to think about her faith for a moment, but Homer reassures her its fine.

Quick Review
Despite the title, the sky police portion only makes up the opening gag and a credits gag.  Part of me wishes the sky police gag lasted longer, but it's probably for the best that it didn't.

The majority of the episode is focused on the card-counting story.  I must say, though, its a pretty decent episode.  Apu seemed like his old self at long last, despite the odd change to his past, and the episode didn't go off the deep end with religion until the very end when it couldn't do much to hurt the episode.

Final Score: 7.5

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

White Christmas Blues (S25, E08-538)

Ten straight sequences of 24 'movies' worth of references.  It hurt to watch.

Plot Summary
Its Christmas time, however it plans to be one of the hottest in record across the entire country: not even Alaska is slated to get any snow.  Despite that, the following morning Springfield does get some snow, if only because its a byproduct of fumes from the nuclear plant and fumes from the tire fire.  Still, Springfield becomes the only place in America to feature snow and, thus, becomes a major tourist attraction, giving every vendor and businessman in Springfield to massive raise prices to gouge those tourists.

The gouging is too much for Marge to handle, unable to afford most Christmas things this year as a result.  Bummed, Marge is met by a family of tourists who need a place to stay with the hotels fully booked.  Needing the money, Marge decides to let them and a few other families stay for the holiday season.  While courteous at first, Marge becomes more and more incensed by the guest's constant complaints and their singing of songs past the first verse, eventually going off on them.

Meanwhile, Lisa gets inspired by an well thought out sermon from Reverend Lovejoy and decides to buy Bart a thoughtful present for Christmas, opting not to go to any store featuring items Bart would like, but some other store.  On Christmas morning, Bart was able to get Lisa the perfect gift, but is upset when he learns Lisa gave him a book for Christmas.  That night, Bart starts to burn the book outside, stunning Lisa until Bart tells her she only got him that book to make herself feel better.

The following day, Lisa realizes Bart was right, and bought him a new present: an e-reader that can also use apps, and the two make up.  The guests are getting ready to leave as well, but Marge apologizes for her earlier behavior, though she still can't stand their off-verse singing.

Quick Review
This Christmas episode starts off decently enough but once the tourists start pouring in the episode's plot starts to get rather disjointed and the comedy suffers as a result.  Lisa's side story really didn't have much going for it at all, and Marge's story was only marginally better.  The episode peaked early on and struggled to stay afloat afterwards.  Also, there was a sequence in the middle of the episode which was nothing but bad movie references for a good fifteen seconds, that was just awful, easily the worst part of the episode.

Final Score: 7.1

Pulpit Friction (S24, E18-526)

"Not this crap again", thinks the ol' Reverend.

Plot Summary
The Simpsons break their couch during their latest couch gag.  Homer quickly orders a new one just like in, but in the shipping facility in Brooklyn hoards of bedbugs sneak their way into the couch.  After it arrives, the family remains unaware of the bedbugs, and Bart even has a sleepover with some of his friends, setting up a fort from the couch's cushions.  This allows the bedbugs to sneak into those other kids, spreading them once the kids leave the house.  Soon enough, the entire town is dealing with a bedbug infestation.  Seeking answers, everyone goes to church the following Sunday in desperation, but Reverend Lovejoy brings only insomnia relief.  Just then, the ol' Parson shows up.  He institutes a second Reverend to liven things up: Reverend Elijah Hooper who helps the congregation forget about the bedbugs by helping everyone remember good times by referencing anything and everything.  It works and everyone loves Reverend Hooper, leaving Lovejoy somewhat unloved.

Eventually, the bedbugs are dealt with, and Marge gets all of the family's clothes dry cleaned, but learns in horror that her wedding dress has been mixed up with Krusty's clown suit.  Quickly, Marge goes to Krusty to learn what happened, where Krusty tells her that after using the dress in a skit, he threw it out in a dumpster.  Marge is left depressed, but Lisa reveals she dug into the matter further, learning that a garbage man picked the dress out of the dumpster, selling it to a local theatre company.  After the company goes broke from producing a failed effort of "Mamma Mia!", the dress went on auction and was purchased by a young couple.  The two meet up with the couple, who are using the dress to get unceremoniously married.  Marge is happy the dress is being put to its intended use.

Revered Hooper gets to know Homer and decides to make him a Deacon, aware that if everyone sees someone like Homer get into religion, they could as well.  The move stuns Lovejoy, who realizes church is no longer fit for him, and he quits.  Homer embraces his new job as church Deacon, especially the parts where he can put Ned Flanders into less respectable positions.  Bart is somewhat upset by this as now he can no longer team up with his father in mischief.  He sees Ned similarly upset, and the two decide that Lovejoy needs to come back to return things as they were.

Lovejoy, though, has taken a liking to his new job as a hot tub salesman.  Bart then realizes that he can start up a frog plague to force Hooper out.  Flanders takes Bart to the police over this, so a short time later Bart brings Milhouse instead to the pond alongside bags of dead bedbugs.  Using the bugs, the two are able to lure hundreds, thousands of frogs into town, causing mass panic everywhere.  Just as church comes to an end, the frogs stop the congregation from leaving.  Reverend Hooper tries to calm everyone down with more references, but the people aren't buying it this time.  Just then, rolling in on a closed hot tub is Lovejoy, who preaches out one of his typical sermons, which is powerful enough to put the frogs to sleep, ending the threat.  Hooper apparently quits, and Lovejoy is back as the only Reverend at the church, while Homer gives up his Deacon position to pull another prank with his son.

Quick Review
This ends up being an alright episode.  Homer as a Deacon has its moments, as does the scenes involving the bedbugs.  I wasn't particularly fond of Reverend Hooper, who was kinda like a microcosm of the show nowadays that I don't think the writers are even aware of, even after having Lenny say "enough of your references" to the guy late in the episode.  The wedding dress subplot was too short to be of much worth, though, and the bits at church besides Homer were lackluster as well.

Final Score: 7.0

Moe Letter Blues (S21, E21-462)

This story's biggest failing is the assumption Moe can actually talk to women.

Plot Summary
As narrated by Moe, he notices many married couples going through rough patches, including the Lovejoys, the Nahasapeemapetilons and, of course, the Simpsons.  Its the day before mothers day, and the family sees on a commercial an amusement park on an island to give mothers a break from her kids for the day.  Marge insists Homer take the kids while displaying no enthusiasm towards dealing with Homer's usual tomfoolery.  The next day, Homer, Reverend Lovejoy and Apu take their respective kids to the boat leading toward the island, when the three of them are given a letter at the last second from Moe.  It states that Moe plans on leaving town forever, and that he's leaving with one of their wives.  With the three unable to turn the boat around, they're stuck all day on the island trying to figure out whose wife it is.

Homer recalls a short time ago when Marge hosted a birthday party for her mother, but Homer ruins it for Marge by getting into another fight with Patty and Selma.  Moe was working there as a drink provider, so the theory is that Moe got to Marge after that party.  However, Apu remembers when his family went to Moe's to dry up from the rain, but after leaving a bickering Apu and Manjula realize they forgot a kid back at Moe's.  Manjula goes back by herself, and Homer was at the bar when Moe entertains Manjula and her left behind kid (before Marge took him home for her mother's party), so now its likely Manjula is the departing wife.  Homer and Apu then make Tim remember the Sunday after Marge's party, where the Parson helps the pastor realize that his relationship with Helen isn't as cheery as he had thought.  Inside the church, Moe and Helen get to talking, and outside Apu noticed Helen put her hand on Moe's knee.  So, in the end, none of three can figure out whose wife is being taken.

Finally, the day is at an end, and the husbands get to confirm whether its them or not.  Homer is the first to go, and sees Marge packing from a distance, but soon learns Marge was actually putting away painting supplies as she had been painting in front of her mother for the day.  Her mother helped Marge realize the fault of that fight wasn't Homer's, but Patty and Selma's and Homer and Marge make up, which Lovejoy and Apu can plainly see.  Next up is the Reverend, who upon returning to his room sees that Helen has packed up, telling Tim she's leaving... with him to Istanbul on the world's most romantic train.  Apu sees Tim and Helen kissing and realizes he must be the loser in this game, and upon returning to his apartment he sees Manjula and Moe sitting together.  However, Manjula states she wants to stay with Apu.  Moe then reveals to Apu, and later all three, that he noticed the three wives feeling down following their separate encounters, so he got in contact with Marge's mom to talk to Marge, convinced Helen to take the train to Istanbul with Tim, and then talked things over with Manjula.  Moe wrote the letter to the three of them to help them realize they hadn't been treating their wives right, as there's no better judge of that than an ugly, creepy, perverted, lonely bartender!  Still, Moe's plan worked out for the best.

Quick Review
This episode ended up being okay.  The plot was decently clever if not a little lacking in the humor department, but Moe provided a level of comic relief that kept the episode afloat.

Final Score: 7.0

Wedding for Disaster (S20, E15-435)

Bridezilla doesn't care much for King Wrong's nonsense.

Plot Summary
Reverend Lovejoy hypes everyone up for the arrival of the Holy Parson and, sure enough, the town fawns over the guy and his easy going demeanor.  The Parson and Lovejoy get a moment to themselves, where the Parson reveals that due to a technical error, there was a period of three months where Lovejoy was not an official Reverend, and therefore anything he did during that period of time never counted.  Lovejoy goes around town telling those affected about the error, including Homer and Marge, who just so happened to have their second wedding during that same time frame.  As such, Homer and Marge are still divorced.

The two go to town hall to pay for a marriage license, but its sort of depressing with no romantic over tones around.  Homer opts not to get a license at that time, and decides instead to throw Marge a big wedding instead to really make it count.  Soon, though, Marge completely takes over the wedding planning, getting incredibly upset if even the slightest detail is askew.  Homer tries to confront Marge over her control, calling her a "Bridezilla", but Marge doesn't back down.  The day of the wedding arrives, and Homer is depressed over how Marge has handled everything.  A short time later, Marge gets the wedding going, but is delayed when Homer doesn't show up.  She goes to find out what's taking Homer so long, only to learn in shock that Homer has disappeared, having apparently ditched the wedding.

As Marge starts blaming herself over what's happened, Bart and Lisa are skeptical over Homer's departure and search his room for clues.  Bart finds a keychain with the initials "S.B.", and the two quickly assume Sideshow Bob is responsible.  Meanwhile, Homer finds himself chained to a pipe in some sort of torture room, and is given a lollipop with key to the chain within, however both the lollipop and the key are made of hot sauce.  Bart and Lisa locate Bob, who isn't in jail, but is spending time with Krusty, who vouches that Bob was with him during the time in question.  Bob is gratified he was thought of first from the initials S.B., but Bob quickly tells the kids those initials could belong to a number of people, including... Selma Bouvier!  It turns out that in fact it was Selma - and Patty - who kidnapped and are subsequently torturing Homer.  Ready to give up, Homer starts reading the vows he had prepared for the wedding, admitting he misses Marge, the kids, and even his sisters-not-currently-in-law.  The vows get to Patty and Selma, and they decide to let him go.  They dispose of the evidence as quickly as they can, but Bart and Lisa overhear them talk about the kidnapping, and have them pegged.

Homer and Marge get their license at town hall, saddened over recent events.  However, upon exiting the building, they're met with an extravagant wedding reception, secretly paid for by Patty and Selma so Bart and Lisa wouldn't out their scheme to Marge.  Marge couldn't be happier, and the two finally get to enjoy their wedding.

Quick Review
This was an alright episode.  The Sideshow Bob cameo was a bit out of place but appreciated none the less, and the twists the episode provided in the latter portion came along with a decent amount of humor.  Admittedly, it was a slow start with the Parson bit and the Bridezilla portion, but it picked up and became a respectable episode.

Final Score: 7.1

The Boys of Bummer (S18, E18-396)

Sometimes I wonder why people get so mad at athletes.  Then I realized that if there
weren't any athletes, people would just get mad at politicians.  Now it all makes sense.

Plot Summary
The little league's Springfield Isotots, led by its pitcher Nelson and its other star, Bart, have won their way to the championship game, and Springfield has full-fledged Isotot fever.  As Marge bores someone about Bart at a store, Homer falls asleep in the mattress area.  He wakes up after the owner of the store finds him, but quickly gets his out of the situation by using his enjoyment of the mattress to procure a sale.  The owner takes a liking to Homer's unique approach and hires him to sell mattresses.  The next day, the championship game is played.  Its the bottom of the 9th, Springfield is ahead 5-2, but Shelbyville has the bases loaded with two outs.  Nelson is able to force the batter to pop up, right to Bart, but Bart drops the ball, kicks it away in a fumbled attempt to retrieve it, and makes so many errors on the play all four runners for Shelbyville come in to score, and Springfield loses the game.  The crowd quickly turns on Bart, who boo and throw crap on him constantly.

Homer's new job as a mattress salesman is going along smoothly, when he sells a mattress to the Lovejoys with the promise that it'll help their sex life.  It doesn't, so they go to Homer's house for a refund.  They go upstairs so Homer can angrily write a check, but the Lovejoys learn that the Simpson mattress just lights a fire for them, and the three agree to swap mattresses.  Of course, now Homer and Marge have difficulties in bed, while the Lovejoys are refreshed in more ways than one.  Desperate, Homer and Marge sneak into the Lovejoy home to get their mattress back but miss it so much they make love on it again.  The Lovejoys return home just in time to witness this and, after the initial shock, decide to cut the mattress in half (diagonally for some reason) so that both couples can share the love.  Homer gets turned on enough over what kinds of sandwiches the bed now looks like that they return to their honeymoon spot - behind a billboard where a friendly bum lives - and make out.

Meanwhile, Bart continues to get lambasted all across town for his miscue.  Lisa tries to help him out by taking him to see an old baseball player who also committed a major error way back in Game 7 of the 1943 World Series (for those wondering, its not really true).  However, the guy then learns he's talking to Bart and leads another stream of hate towards him.  Bart eventually cracks, and in a delusional state starts spray painting "I hate Bart Simpson" all over town.  The town witnesses Bart trying to paint the phrase on the water tower when his crazed recklessness gets the better of him and he takes a steep fall.

In the hospital, Bart's detractors continue to chant outside that he sucks.  Marge finally has enough and goes out to scolds everyone for their mindless hate.  The crowd settles, but the damage has been done... or has it, ponders Lisa.  Marge and Lisa decide to stage a recreation of the final out - somehow coercing the other team and the stadium announcer to go along with it, under a faulty premise to justify it being replayed.  Bart is thrilled to get another chance, but fails to make the catch on the redo.  Hastily, an excuse is made for another attempt, but that doesn't work either.  In total, 78 attempts are made, going to day break of the next day, but Bart finally makes the catch to the lethargic cheers of the few remaining.  Sixty years later, an elder Bart continues to gloat of his 'accomplishment' to an elder Milhouse, and Milhouse just can't bring himself to tell the truth to Bart (and stick with it).  Ghosts of Homer and Marge lament both how Bart has turned out as well as their inability to have sex as ghosts.

Quick Review
Well, well, we have a hidden gem in the rough with this episode.  The main storyline has several good moments, notably the scenes featuring the old baseball player and the town's desperate attempt to keep the ruse going for Bart (rather than just apologize for their behavior, mind you).  The mattress subplot had its moments as well, particularly with Homer's grumbling, and it all makes for Season 18's best episode thus far.

Final Score: 8.0

The Monkey Suit (S17, E21-377)

Can you spot the differences?  I barely can.

Plot Summary
After Bart has his entire Summer vacation during Labor day, the family decides to do something for Lisa, and they go to the museum, showcasing an exhibit on weapons.  With a long line, Homer takes a cut in front of Flanders, as does everyone else, bumping Ned and his boys so far back that the exhibit closes by the time he gets back to the front of the line.  He instead checks out an exhibit on man, and is stunned to find that most of the exhibits feature evolution, with a single exhibit mocking creationism.  Ned gets offended and brings it up to Reverend Lovejoy who, with the encouragement of his wife, decides to make 'science vs religion' a thing again.

Ned and Lovejoy blackmail Principal Skinner into allowing creationism to be taught at the school.  Lisa gets ultra offended at this, and decides to take it to a town meeting, where she says that because evolution and creationism are so incompatible, that both can not be taught at the same time.  The town mostly agrees, which means - wait for it - evolution stops being taught as per a new law.  Further upset, Lisa attempts to teach evolution herself in secret, but is quickly arrested by the police.

The subsequent trial isn't going Lisa's way either as there's a very pro-creationism feel with the crowd and the jury.  Marge decides to take a look at the Origin of Species, the book Lisa was using to teach evolution, when she realizes that the materials within do make some sense.  She decides to help Lisa out the next day to take on the big argument the pro-creationists have been using against Lisa: that humans could not have evolved from monkeys.  Marge quickly counters this by having Homer attempt to open a bottle of beer, which Homer fails to do so in a very ape-like fashion.  Lisa ends up winning the trial (somehow), and she and Ned reconcile, with each still respecting the other's beliefs.

Quick Review
I'll be honest, I was expecting much worse than what I got.  Episodes that focus on a hot, controversial topic usually have done very poorly for me these past few seasons, and while this episode is hardly an exception, I was expecting bottom of the barrel material here.  Luckily, the cringeworthy stuff was kept to a minimum, allowing the few side jokes that were in the episode to shine.  Still not a good episode, but its not as bad as it could be.

Final Score: 6.3

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star (S16, E21-356)

Something about this seems so absurd, but it could just be me.

Plot Summary
The school hosts a medieval festival with everyone playing a role of some sort.  Willie is forced to be the village idiot, though, and becomes so angry about it he exacts revenge by stuffing a giant pie full of rats that get all over the place.  Willie gets away with it too, as Principal Skinner places blame on the act on Bart, and expels him from the school.  The family frantically searches for someplace to have Bart learn, and decide to take him to a Catholic school, as its one of the cheaper alternatives.

Bart gets rocked by one of those strict nuns, but he starts to take a liking to the school when he befriends Father Sean, a rather down-to-earth priest.  With Sean's help, Bart takes a liking not just to the school, but the entire Catholic faith, which begins to worry Marge.  She sends Homer to the school to have a talk with Sean, but thanks to a pancake dinner and bingo, among other things, Sean converts Homer to Catholicism as well.

Marge begins to worry, especially when her Protestant friends Ned Flanders and Reverend Lovejoy 'remind' her that if things stay as they are, Homer and Bart will go to a different heaven than she will.  Upset, Marge goes to the Catholic school and pulls Bart straight out.  She takes him to a Protestant fair of some sort, and Bart takes a liking to the paintball that's offered there for some reason.  Homer and Father Sean catch up to Bart, wielding paintball guns of their own, but are forced to a standoff with Lovejoy and Flanders, also holding paintball guns.  Bart intervenes, reminding everyone that, hey, Protestants and Catholics are both Christians, and there's no reason for the two to be at odds.  The four men come to terms, and Bart begins to teach tolerance and understanding.  A thousand years later, two warring factions continue their battle, one side believing in Bart's message of tolerance, the other in Bart's message of understanding, once again proving that people will go to war over anything.

Quick Review
Go figure, a heavy-handed satire on Catholics and Protestants wasn't funny at all.  The two underlying messages of the episode ("you're both still Christians, you idiots" and "people will fight over anything, religion just happens to be part of anything"), were well understood, but again the 'jokes' in the episode were awful nearly half the time and often cringeworthy as well.  This disaster of an episode is perhaps a microcosm of what has (mostly) been a disaster of a season.

Final Score: 4.4

Pray Anything (S14, E10-301)

Beer is always better when its sacrilegious.

Plot Summary
Homer takes the family to a WNBA game for some reason.  There, Homer witnesses a terrifying sight: seeing Ned Flanders win a chance for a half-court shot, making the shot to win $50,000, then winning an additional $100,000 for his generous donation of the previous $50,000.  Ned even gets to drive home in a wiener-mobile!  An extremely jealous Homer decides to ask Ned how he gets so lucky, and discerns that Ned's supposed secret is prayer.  Homer tries it out himself a few times, and each time coincidence helps Homer believe that prayer is working.

At the same time, tree roots have found its way into the house, clogging up the sink and ruining drywall.  Homer prays for a solution to his dilemma while walking to church, but takes a bad fall in a hole just outside of it.  Some lawyer quickly persuades Homer to sue the church and, despite Marge's heavy protests, Homer ends up winning the suit, getting the deed to the church.  Homer's prayer is answered as now the Simpsons can live in the church, and Reverend Lovejoy is left to live at the Flanders house.

Lovejoy attempts to continue his service elsewhere, but it doesn't work out, forcing Lovejoy to just leave town.  Meanwhile, Homer hosts a 'housewarming' party at the church, which never seems to end.  With bonfires, indecency and people starting to worship other, multiple, gods, it starts raining.  The rain doesn't stop, and soon the entire town is flooded, Homer's prayers doing nothing to stop it.  Everyone is forced to the church roof to avoid the flood, and they turn on Homer, but Lovejoy reappears to refocus the group and leads an actual prayer which stop the rain.  Lisa surmises that the bonfire swelled up moisture, which the lack of trees allowed the town to flood more quickly.  She can't explain why the rain stopped, crediting Buddha half-assedly.  Up in heaven, God and Buddha decide the town has had enough.

Quick Review
This episode wasn't that funny.  Making sacrilegious jokes isn't a new thing for the show, but the attempts to make those jokes funny this time just did not work out, and that WNBA bit to start the episode didn't get it going right either.

Final Score: 6.7

She of Little Faith (S13, E06-275)

Yep, Lenny and Carl are Buddhists too, because why not.

Plot Summary
Homer and Bart attempt to shoot off a model rocket, but the attempts literally blow up in their faces.  When Ned Flanders joins in on the fun, doing so successfully at that, Homer has enough and hires his college nerd pals to build him a rocket.  This rocket actually gets off the ground, but he loses control of it and the rocket shoots into the church, taking out windows and starting a fire within, essentially ruining it.

With the church already strapped for funds, Reverend Lovejoy is forced with no other option than to accept aid from Mr. Burns of all people.  Burns enlists Lindsay Naegle to remodel the church into a place full of advertisements and other such sacrilege so that the church can earn the needed money.  Lisa is extremely outraged over all of this, and disgusted that most other patrons are okay with these changes, and decides to never return to this church again.

Though Lisa still believes in God, she is still adamant in finding a new way of following Him.  Despite this, Marge is scared that Lisa's soul is in danger for her no longer going to church.  Lisa's search for a new religion takes her a Buddhist temple, where Lenny, Carl and Richard Gere all are.  They convince her to take up Buddhism and its belief of finding inner peace.  Lisa announces this rather publicly, which further worries Marge.

After the church gets their profits from Burns' meddling, Lovejoy turns his attention to Lisa, and convinces Marge to use Christmas to bring Lisa back to Christianity.  The allure of Christmas cookies and what is apparently a wrapped up pony present (though its just Ralph and Milhouse) nearly brings Lisa back over, but she sees Lovejoy spying in from the outside, and runs off.  Lisa goes back to the Buddhist temple to tell Gere about what happened.  Gere tells Lisa that Buddhists can actually celebrate any holiday, as Buddhism is about inner peace, and respects the diversity and love of other religions.  Lisa goes home, and lets the family know that although she'll remain Buddhist, she'll still 'pay lip service' to Christianity by going back to church and celebrate Christmas and the family is okay with this, I guess.

Quick Review
This episode was good when it wasn't focused on Lisa.  It was terrible when it did.

There were a few things that worked well, like the opening plot with the rocket and a few interactions among the non-Lisa members of the family.  However, Lisa's religion quest provided very little humor, and Richard Gere's appearance did little to add humor to that plot line either.  It dragged down an otherwise okay episode.

Final Score: 6.2

Simpsons Bible Stories (S10, E18-221)

This decent gag could've been served much better in a good, funny episode.

Plot Summary
On a rather hot Easter Sunday, the family wastes away in church.  After Homer gives up a chocolate Easter bunny to the donation plate, a rather upset Revered Lovejoy responds by going through the entire bible slowly but surely.  Of course, the Simpson family can't stay awake, and they have bible-related dreams...

Marge's Dream: Adam and Eve
Adam (Homer) and Eve (Marge) awaken to another blissful day in Eden.  God (Ned Flanders) informs them not to eat the apples from a certain tree.  However, a snake (Snake, the criminal), easily persuades Adam into eating a bunch, and Adam convinces Eve to take a bite as well.  God witnesses Eve (but not Adam) eating the apple, and banishes her from Eden as Adam stays silent on the matter.

Depressed over losing Eve, Adam comes up with a way to bring her back.  He has a unicorn drill a tunnel from Eden to the outskirts where Eve is toiling, however the unicorn dies in the process.  God witnesses this and banishes both Adam and Eve from Eden, and human kind pays for their sins forever and ever and ever and such.
Individual Score: +0.4

Lisa's Dream: The Tale of Moses
The Israelites (made up of the Springfield Elementary school children) are slaves under the tyrannical rule of the Pharaoh (Seymour Skinner).  Lisa (who isn't being referenced as anyone in particular) pretty much forces Moses (Milhouse) to take action.  The two partake in a prank to get the Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go, but the act instead gets the two entombed within a pyramid.  They escape anyway and convince the other Israelites to make a run for it.  They enact a plan which drains the nearby sea of water by flushing all ye olde toilets nearby, and the water flows back in just as the Pharaoh and pals go in to give chase.  Now Moses and the rest go to wander in the desert for 40 years.
Individual Score: +0.5

Homer's Dream: King Solomon's Idea
Lenny and Carl dispute ownership over a pie.  King Solomon (Homer) has the pie cut in half, then sentences Lenny and Carl to death while he eats the pie itself.  Solomon then oversees a court case between Jesus and Checker Chariot.
This bit was too short to give a score to.

Bart's Dream: David vs Goliath 2 - Stone Cold
Enjoying a day as King, David (Bart) is stunned to find Methuselah (Grampa) fatally wounded.  It seems Goliath delivered the blow, but David already killed Goliath (Nelson).  Turns out, its Goliath's son, Goliath 2 (also Nelson).  David goes to challenge Goliath 2 to battle, banking on his "rock 'n sling" strategy to work again.  However, David finds no rock, and Goliath 2 promptly beats him and throws him out of the country, claiming himself as the new king.

Depressed over the loss, David watches a Shepard boy, Ralph, go to challenge Goliath 2, but die anyway.  This refocuses David, who trains for a rematch.  At the Tower of Babel, David climbs up to rechallenge Goliath 2.  Though the fight goes poorly for David at first, he's able to toss a fire lamp into Goliath 2's mouth, causing an explosion.  Both survive, but before Goliath 2 can do anything else, he gets stabbed in the back by Ralph's gravestone, as Ralph somehow survived.  As it turns out, Goliath 2 was a well loved king who did things to progress the country.  Even though it was clearly Ralph that dealt the deadly blow, its David that's arrested for 'megacide', and that's that.
Individual Score: +0.6

As Bart and the rest of the family wakes up, they find they've slept right through church.  Though embarrassed, they learn that the apocalypse has begun.  Lisa begins to ascend to heaven, but Homer won't let her.  A stairway to hell appears, and Homer gladly goes down as he smells barbecue, but is disappointed (to say the least) over the options at said barbecue.

Quick Review
This anthology episode is pretty much the type of anthology episode I'm not looking forward to.  I mean, the four stories featured here were more focused on retelling bible stories with Simpson characters shoehorned in than they were in actually making said stories funny, aside from a few jokes here and there.  The apocalypse ending didn't really do it for me, either.  Really, the few good things the episode had going for it was Homer's short dream (some of it, anyway), and the continued melting of the bunny Reverend Lovejoy confiscated.  Otherwise, this episode had very little going for it.

Final Score: 5.9

The Joy of Sect (S09, E13-191)

Just how did Lenny avoid Movementarian conversion, anyway?  His love for Special K?

Plot Summary
Homer and Bart go to the airport to 'welcome' back the football team from the championship game (which they lost).  While there, Homer brushes off most of the religious nuts, save one: the Movementarians, who are offering a free weekend to their complex (where no beer is allowed, though Homer doesn't learn that until later).  Homer takes them up on it because, hey, its a free weekend.

The Movementarians are, of course, a cult that worships an all-mighty "Leader" who promises to take his followers to a planet called "Blisstopia".  During the weekend, the members of the cult stop at nothing to brainwash and weaken everyone that attends, but Homer unwittingly avoids falling prey to their tactics for most of the weekend.  Just as Homer seems to of avoided the trap, one member recalls Homer singing the 60s Batman theme, and uses it as a chant for the Leader.  Homer catches onto the tune, declaring his love for the Leader in the process.

Homer is now brainwashed and signs himself and his family over to the cult in change for his house and money.  He's not the only one: nearly everybody else in town is brainwashed and does the same.  Seems like only Reverend Lovejoy, the Flanders family, Mr. Burns and associates and Lenny escape the Movementarian march, even the media is bought out by the cult.  Bart attempts to try his array of pranks at the complex, but is immediately brainwashed.  Lisa tries to revolt, but she too falls when the prospect of getting good grades overwhelms her.  Even Maggie gets brainwashed fairly easily.  Marge is the last member of the family still herself, and upon realizing this, makes an escape from the compound.

She meets up with Lovejoy and tells him what's going on.  Nearby, Groundskeeper Willie promises to kidnap and deprogram Homer and the kids.  They drive back to the compound in a car like the one the Leader supposedly is driven around in, and tricks the family into the car.  They take them over to Flanders' house for deprogramming.  Marge is able to 'fix' the kids quickly enough, but when Willie tries to help Homer, Homer's descriptions of the Leader only brainwash Willie.  Ned offers some beer to Homer, who hasn't actually had any since the brainwashing.  Just as a drop touches Homer's tongue, a group of lawyers representing the Movementarians barge in and claim Homer, who says he wants to go back.

Back as the complex, Homer is greeted by his fellow brainwashed, but he reveals that the beer reawakened him, and plans to reveals the Leader as a fraud.  However, Homer uncovers what seems to be a large spaceship, with a booming voice declaring humanity doomed.  It tries to float away, but breaks apart, revealing the "Leader" on a flying contraption that goes down from all the money its carrying.  Marge is happy the family is free from brainwashing, but that doesn't last long after a night of FOX programming.

Quick Review
I enjoyed this episode quite a lot.  The town's quick conversion to Movementarianism, Homer's initial resistance to such, Burns' attempt at creating a cult for tax-exempt purposes, and Marge's attempts to 'cure' her family near the end all make up some of the better moments of the episode.

Final Score: 9.5

Lisa the Skeptic (S09, E08-186)

More plausible than it being an angel!

Plot Summary
Homer takes the family to the police station, where Homer believes he's won a boat giveaway and is to pick it up at the station.  However, the boat giveaway is a trap set up by the police to catch criminals, though Homer's only crime is not paying some parking tickets.  On the way back, the family notices a new mall being built.  Lisa realizes that its being built over a spot where a quantity of fossils had previously been found.  Later, Lisa goes over to complain, where two men overseeing the mall's construction "agree" to let Lisa undergo one last dig to ensure there are no more fossils.

Apparently owed a favor by Principal Skinner, the honor roll students along with the detention students help Lisa with the dig, though for nearly the entire time there are no finds.  Just as people start packing up, Lisa uncovers a skull.  As people around town stop by to see what's going on, Lisa eventually uncovers an entire skeleton, and attached to it are a pair of wings.  Quickly, word goes around that its an angel, though Lisa finds the notion preposterous.  While the townsfolk ignore Lisa and argue about who should own the supposed angel, Homer sneaks away with it, planning to store it away.

With nearly everyone in town wanting to see the angel, Homer decides to let them for a small fee.  Lisa wants someone to take a look at it to see whether its legit or not, but Homer refuses now that he's making money off it.  Lisa can't believe that so many "morons" persist that its really an angel, and she especially can't believe that Marge believes in it as well.  One night, Lisa chips off a toe bone and the next day gives it to a scientist for study.  The day after that, Lisa proclaims to everyone that some proof is about to be shown, much to their dismay, but the scientist runs up only to state that the study was 'inconclusive'.

Lisa tries to be reasonable on TV later on, but it only incites riots across various scientific institutions across town.  Lisa has had enough of this, and grabs Bart's crowbar with the intention of destroying the angel.  However, the angel has disappeared.  The townspeople arrive to take the angel away, but upon seeing it gone and Lisa holding the crowbar, they arrest Lisa and hold a trial that, on a grand scale, will settle Science vs. Religion.  Just as the trial starts, the angel is located on top of a hill, now bearing the phrase "the end will come at sundown", causing gloom and doom, though Lisa is again skeptical.

The Simpson family dress up for the "occasion", though Lisa remains adamant that nothing will happen.  With the entire town with the angel, the sun sets.  Nothing happens at first, but as Lisa begins to gloat, a booming voice calls for silence, and the angel floats into the air.  The angel calls for the end (at this point, even Lisa is freaking out), the end of high prices!  The angel, on wire, is pulled toward the previously mentioned mall, now having been fully built.  Turns out, the angel was a publicity stunt set up by those two guys Lisa confronted early on.  Lisa is outraged that they would toy with the town's faith like they did, but nobody else is that outraged as the need to save on various goods overwhelms them.  The scientist reveals that he never bothered to actually run the test, and Lisa and Marge reconcile.

Quick Review
You know, I had quite a few laughs throughout the episode, particularly involving the boat scam and during the parts where the townspeople were freaking out, and its from these laughs that the episode scored as high as it did.

Yet, throughout this episode there was this uncomfortable feeling I felt the entire time.  This was a Lisa episode, one where her "I'm right and everyone who doesn't agree suuuuuuuucks" attitude is prevalent.  The Science vs. Religion debate by itself didn't bother me any, but the heated debates between Lisa's science and everyone else's religion really didn't make for good laughs.

Final Score: 8.1

In Marge We Trust (S08, E22-175)

You will never be able to accept the challenge of Mr. Sparkle. ;_;

Plot Summary
As the Simpson family return from a particularly boring session of church regarding constancy, Homer and the kids decide to dump their old Christmas tree at the dump.  While they do that, Marge goes to visit Reverend Lovejoy for a talk.  There, she tells Lovejoy that she's worried the church isn't doing enough to help out.  Lovejoy then persuades her to volunteer around the church.  As she's doing chores, Lovejoy receives a call asking for advice, but the Reverend blows it off by telling the guy to simply read the bible for help.  Marge inquires why Lovejoy was so lethargic to that plea for help, and Lovejoy tells his story: in the 70s he was a fresh, go-getting Reverend who just moved to Springfield ready to make a difference.  However, right away, he has to give a young Ned Flanders advice (because Ned's butt accidentally touched another guy's butt at a dance).  Ned would constantly call Lovejoy for advice over and over through the years, mostly over trivial nonsense.  The 'constancy' of it all left the Reverend apathetic towards most things.  Disgusted over remembering all of this, he has Marge take the next call, and as it turns out, Marge is pretty good at helping others with their troubles.

Meanwhile, at the dump, Bart finds a strange box - with Japanese characters and what appears to be Homer's head on the front, which is kinda freaky.  After some investigating, Homer learns that its a box of laundry detergent called "Mr. Sparkle", a magnet of food stuffs who promises to banish dirt stuffs to the land of wind and ghosts.  Homer's investigation leads to a phone number of the factory that produces the detergent.  Someone at the factory promises to send Homer a video that will "answer question 100%".  Some time later, that video arrives, and Homer and the kids are treated to a strange commercial featuring the corporate logo being a boss, but the answer to Homer's query doesn't come until the very end of the video where its learned that Mr. Sparkle is a joint venture between a fishworks, and a manufacturing company, whose logos (a smiling fish and a light bulb, respectively) merge to form Homer's head, thus solving the mystery.

Meanwhile, Marge becomes so popular with her advice-giving that the Reverend is feeling neglected and somewhat lost.  Some time later, Marge gets her first call from Ned, who is concerned with some teenagers (Jimbo, Kearney and Dolph) hanging out near his store.  Marge advices Ned to shoo them off, but that advice backfires as the bullies, who were just about to leave, take offense to Ned's directions.  They start circling Ned with minibikes.  Ned tries to call Marge back, but Jimbo cuts the line before Marge can settle the issue.  She shrugs it off and goes on with her day.

The next morning, Maude visits and tells Marge that Ned never came home.  Marge calls Lovejoy for advice, when a rejuvenated Reverend gets a call from Ned.  Ned had been running from the bullies all night, and as the bullies take a moment to refuel their minibikes, he found a moment to tell them where he was.  The two quickly go to that spot where they learn that Ned has since ran into the zoo.  Ned is able to escape the bullies' pursuit, but in doing so finds himself in a baboon pit.  With the baboon's needing to kill him for baboon pride or whatever, all seems lost, however Lovejoy comes in on a mini-train nearby, and is able to rescue Ned, fending off a few baboons on their way out.  Lovejoy thanks Marge for helping him find his way, and the following Sunday has the Reverend telling the thrilling tale of how he beat up some monkeys to rescue Ned.

Quick Review
Season 8 just keeps rolling out superb episodes, this being the latest of them.  As if the main plot wasn't outstanding enough - particularly the dynamic between Lovejoy and Flanders - the subplot of Mr. Sparkle was outstanding as well, the commercial being the best part of the episode.

Final Score: 9.3

A Milhouse Divided (S08, E06-159)

"I'll be back!  Pro- probably."

Plot Summary
Tired of the drudgery of everyday life, Marge decides to host a dinner party, and invites the Flanders, Hibberts, Lovejoys and Van Houtens.  The dinner, however, quickly turns sour as the Van Houtens, Kirk and Luann, have no qualms about insulting one another in front of company.  The tension only increases after dinner, when a game of pictionary goes wrong.  Luann finally has enough and announces she wants a divorce.

Later, Milhouse gets some sympathy from the school's bullies, all having dealt with divorce in one way or another.  While Luann enjoys her newfound single life, having already found an American Gladiator boyfriend, Kirk has been kicked out of the house and loses his job at the cracker factory for no longer being a family man.  After Homer turns down an invite from Marge to go with Luann to a play, Homer spends time with Kirk, hearing Kirk regret not caring for Luann throughout their marriage, lamenting that instead of enjoying his wife's dinner every night, he now has to thaw hot dogs in a sink.  Homer tells Kirk that will never happen to him, but later on he returns home very late, and sees that Marge left Homer... hot dogs thawing in the sink.

Depressed that he may be in Kirk's position as well, Homer recalls his wedding with Marge to be subpar at best.  He attempts to make it up the next day, but his well intentioned efforts do not help any.  Realizing that Marge needs a 'fresh start', Homer makes a tough decision and files for divorce.

That night, Homer calls for Marge in the dark.  When she arrives and turns on a light, she is met with surprise as a group of people are in the room for what Homer has planned to be a second wedding, using the divorce to ensure the wedding as legit.  The wedding goes off beautifully, and the two are more in love than ever.  The two Van Houtens are there, and as Kirk sees this, he attempts to win back Luann, but she promptly denies his efforts and her boyfriend shows him the door.

Quick Review
In truth, A Milhouse Divided was a bit short on laughs compared to other episodes thus far in the season, as some focus was given to the marriage and divorce plots that were developed.  Still, the quality of the jokes that were there were top notch and the divorce story does not detract from the comedy of the episode.

Final Score: 8.8

Bart After Dark (S08, E05-158)

"Come on, boy, give your old man a little credit.", he says just before this moment.

Plot Summary
News of an oil tanker spill on 'Baby Seal Coast' appears on TV, and seeing celebrities clean off animals inspires Lisa.  She convinces Marge to drive 400 miles to help out, leaving Bart and Homer alone to themselves for a week.  As Marge and Lisa have their own difficulties, with the celebrities having 'claimed' the animals and there's nothing left to clean but rocks, Homer and Bart lazy it up for awhile, but Bart finally decides to get some fresh air and go to the park.  There, Milhouse is carefully flying a model airplane, but Nelson grabs it and flies it into the roof of a large, fenced house.  The kids are scared of the house due some myth or another, but fearless Bart climbs a tree and quickly retrieves the plane.  While showboating, Bart slips, knocking over a gargoyle, and falls into the bushes, where he is met by the owner of the house.

She takes Bart back home, and tells Homer she won't press charges if Homer punishes him.  Though Homer is reluctant to do so, the idea of the woman coming back to tell Marge changes Homer's mind quickly.  Trying to do "what Marge would do", Homer then insists on having Bart do chores for the woman, Belle, at the house.  Bart then learns that the house is actually a burlesque house, and is happy to help out.  Homer later learns of the house when picking Bart up late, and is too intrigued with the house to do anything regarding Bart.  Later, Principal Skinner sees Bart on his visit, and quickly gets the church brigade (Reverend Lovejoy, Ned Flanders and their wives) on the investigation.  Homer insists that Bart continue working there, just as Marge returns from a rather unsuccessful cleaning voyage.

Marge learns of and is disgusted by the burlesque house, and meets with Belle in the hopes of having her leave.  That falls through, so Marge decides to take action.  In the next town meeting, she and the church brigade confront the town over the house, shaming everyone by showing pictures of various townsfolk visiting the house, including the mayor.  Panicked, the town hastily agrees to form a mob to destroy the house.  Homer is able to save the house by leading a song that convinces everyone, including the church brigade, that the house is as part of Springfield as anything else, and is its heart and soul.  Of course, Marge isn't around to hear it, she returns having rented a bulldozer but only afterwards.  She tries to get people back on her side with a song of her own, but before she can really get started, she accidentally drives the bulldozer into the house.  With everyone mad at her now, she makes it up the only way she can: doing a ventriloquist act at the house.

Quick Review
This ends up being one of Season 8's better episodes.  A lot of the jokes around the burlesque house, and the people who don't want to admit to being there, were really good as was Homer's 'parenting' early on.  The "We put the 'Spring' in Springfield" song is a classic, and boosted this episode's score as well.

Final Score: 9.5

Bart's Girlfriend (S06, E07-110)

"YA USED ME SKINNER, YA UUUUUUSED MEEEEE!!!"

Plot Summary
After being rounded up for church, Bart becomes greatly infatuated with Jessica Lovejoy, the young daughter of the Reverend just back from boarding school.  Bart tries to play the 'good boy' routine to try and appeal to her, but Jessica visually ignores him.  Bart eventually gives up and decides to air out his frustrations by pulling a prank.  Noticing Groundskeeper Willie celebrating "Scotchtoberfest" wearing tradition Scotsman wear including a kilt, Bart pulls up Willie's kilt, revealing his privates to the crowd.  Though Bart revels in a job well done, it turns out to be a setup by Skinner: there is no actual Scotchtoberfest (much to Willie's anger), and Bart gets three months of detention.  Jessica sees this happen and, perhaps out of pity, invites Bart over for dinner.

At that dinner, Bart's anecdotes about FOX programming do not sit well with the Lovejoy household, and he is thusly forbidden by the Reverend from seeing his daughter.  Waiting outside for him, though, is Jessica, who admits she likes bad boys, and the two hit it off, forcing the relationship to be secret given her parents' disapproval.  Soon, the relationship takes its toll on Bart, as Jessica proves to be an even bigger troublemaker than Bart ever was, which is too much for Bart to handle.  Bart decides to break off from Jessica at church, and though she admits she goes too far at times, she then steals the money from the church collection plate insisting she needs it for a new start.  Leaving Bart with the empty plate, Jessica leaves as Bart is the one blamed for the lost money.

Now hated across town for his supposed misdeed, Bart doesn't reveal who actually took the money.  Bart tries to confront Jessica over it, but Jessica would still rather have Bart take the fall, under the probably correct premise that nobody will take Bart's word over the Reverend's daughter.  At this point Lisa decides to step in and on the following Sunday is able to convince churchgoers that Jessica took the money, urging the mass to look in her room for the money.  Jessica's cry for attention goes ignored by the Reverend, and Bart is forgiven for the deed he never committed.  Bart visits Jessica again as she is cleaning the church steps as punishment, as showing that neither have learned their lesson, Jessica convinces Bart to finish her job as she runs off with another boy, though Bart gets a good laugh over the mess the boy is getting himself into, as well as the subpar job he'll be giving the steps he's cleaning.

Quick Review
Bart's Girlfriend was a solid episode, it had a nice premise but it didn't have the quantity of quality of jokes to make it one of the season's best.  In just two appearances, Willie sort of steals the show with his Scotchtoberfest act as well as his attempts to "save the wee turtles" after Jessica pulls the fire alarm, those were both great moments in the episode.  Jessica, voiced by Meryl Streep, was a wonderful one-time character as well.

Final Score: 8.6

Homer the Heretic (S04, E03-062)

Homer's new animal friends are enjoying themselves.

Plot Summary
On one frigid Sunday, Homer refuses to go to church (mostly because he rips his church pants).  So as the family plods their way through ice and snow to attend the service, Homer sleeps in.  As the family freeze in a heat-less church, whose only doors freeze themselves stuck in the process, Homer begins what he ends up considering the best day of his life.  He takes a whiz with the door open, says "ass" with no restraint, jams to music in his undies, enjoys a "moon" waffle which is a sloppy mix of caramels, waffle mix and liquid smoke wrapped around a stick of butter, and enjoys a football game that at one point is 63-63 which also includes the return of Jim Brown.  The day reaches perfection when Homer finds a penny on the floor.  When the family returns from church, cold and restless, Homer proclaims that he's had the best day of his life, which can be owed to skipping church, and to Marge's shock Homer proclaims he won't be going to church again.

That night, Homer has a visit from God in his dream.  While initially angered that Homer had forsaken thy church, Homer explains that as a working man who loves his kids, why should he waste half his Sundays being told how he's going to hell for this or that?  God then agrees and sympathises with Homer, and allows Homer to worship Him in his own way.  Despite still worshipping and believing and God and all, Marge is still appalled that Homer is willing to skip church.  She attempts to have Reverend Lovejoy reason with him, but to no avail.  The Flanders family try to sing Homer back to church, but Homer escapes their attempts, literally.

Soon enough, its Sunday again.  Despite Marge's pleas, Homer stays home again.  As Lovejoy gives a heated sermon on 'the true nature of the devil', Homer is relaxing once more, though he turns down an offer from Krusty to aid the tornado-affected Jewish Clowns, and later mocks Apu's religion at the Kwik-E-Mart.  Shortly thereafter, Homer falls asleep while smoking a cigar (just after saying "Everybody is stupid except me."), and the cigar falls on the floor, quickly catching fire.  As the house goes up in flames, a volunteer firefighting crew seemingly led by Apu and featuring the likes of Barney, Chief Wiggum, Milhoue's mom and Krusty gather up to put that fire out.  Meanwhile, Flanders (who is not at church for some crazy reason), sees the house on fire and runs in to save Homer, which he eventually does despite some troubles.  The fire is put out, and Homer sees that even though he was mean to the Christian Ned, the Jewish Krusty or, as the Reverend says, the "miscellaneous" Apu, they all acted perhaps in God's will to save Homer's life.  With that in mind, Homer agrees to go to church again, and sure enough the next Sunday he's in church sleeping away, having a conversation with God about how his religion failed and what the meaning of life is, and so on.

Quick Review
Most people can identify with the bliss the weekends can provide as more often than not those are the days people do not have to go to work or school.  Sleeping in on either or both of those days is something that feels so right, too.  For a lot of people, though, they can't sleep in on Sundays because of church or another religious service, and church is hardly ever the fun activity with its traditions and hymn signing and guilt-tripping and such.  So, what's the harm in skipping it every now or then or every time?

Homer the Heretic, despite whatever religious leanings you may have or what the episode may portray, is one of the show's classics.  Seeing the contrast between Homer's day and the family's in the early portion of the episode was really funny, full of laughs, while the rest of the episode keeps it going strong throughout.  Its one of the best episodes of the series, and especially Season 4.

Final Score: 10