Grampy Can You Hear Me? (S29, E05-623)

Recap: Grampa gets a hearing aid and learns he is mocked quite often outside of his old hearing range.  Meanwhile, Skinner has a falling out with his mother upon learning that she killed his dream of being a band marcher.

Review: The Grampa sidestory, and it was a side story despite it claiming the episode's title, starts off decently enough but after Grampa learns people mock him often the story takes a back seat and then ends on a dull, pointless note with little payoff.

The Skinner story, which I believe is the first case of the show actively ignoring The Principal and the Pauper, was better overall.  It had funnier gags, the stuff with Ohio State was decent albeit with a few misses, and it had better plot development overall although it, too, had a rather tame end.

Its kind of odd, the episode really didn't know how to end itself.  Its not like the ending needed to be rushed; the episode had the full, entire open, an extended couch gag, and a lengthening unrelated bit at the end because the episode itself was so short; that time could've been used to create a much more satisfying conclusion to both plot lines.  Sad, really.

Final Score: 6.7

Looking for Mr. Goodbart (S28, E20-616)

This stuff is cringe central when the Simpsons parody it as poorly as it does
for someone familiar with the source material.  I wonder how stupid it looks
for those who aren't familiar?  Does it actually work for them?  It doesn't, right?

Note: this is the first episode to air following the 30th anniversary of the first Simpsons short Good Night.  It celebrated that fact by airing the Maggie portion of the short followed by a quick song about the anniversary.

Plot Summary
After Bart pulls off more tomfoolery, this time on Seniors day which gets even Grampa in trouble, Skinner gets the idea of his mother, Agnes, be escorted by Bart.  Quickly, though, Bart realizes how much Agnes dotes on the boy just because he shows basic affection for the old lady and decides to make a con out of it.  Soon, he's approached by another old lady, Phoebe, who is on to Bart's scheme but nevertheless offers Bart $100 to help out leave her retirement home for four straight days.

Meanwhile, Homer becomes part of the Pokemon Go Peekimon Get craze, which includes him walking into all sorts of dangerous situations in search of imaginary rewards.  Lisa agrees to join him because she, too, is a big fan of the game.  Eventually, Homer and Lisa agree to just spend real money to acquire the creatures, $600 worth.

Phoebe reveals to Bart that she's a nature photographer and the two enjoy the four days together. Afterward, Phoebe bequests Bart her camera.  Unaware of the meaning of the word 'bequest', Bart eventually learns that its to give an item away before dying.  Recalling relevant memories, including one where Phoebe admits she's going to off herself, Bart realizes he needs help, and recruits Homer and Lisa, whose wilderness experience have improved thanks to their time playing the game.  The two, alongside other veteran players, start their search in perhaps one of the worst animated sequences in recent memory, but ultimately Phoebe is found.

Evidently, Phoebe has found a new meaning in life and decides to not die, requesting back her camera though Bart gets her to agree to have the two of them go on more nature walks.  It turns out this was all a story (albeit apparently true) Bart told Grampa to explain why he was sorry for getting him in trouble.  Also, during all of this Skinner tries to man up but can't.

Quick Review
This episode was unfortunate.  The main storyline with Bart and eventually Phoebe was actually very decent and set itself pretty well for a good, emotional ending.  However, the Pokemon Go-ripoff sidestory, which was nearly a year late in being relevant and even less so in doing the reference well, ruins the main story by becoming a major factor in Bart's search.

The search, which turns into a simulation of the game with Lisa singing the song from the American version of the original anime, was probably the worst thing the show has done since maybe the Ke$ha incident.  The song, which as far as I know isn't even in Pokemon Go itself, was poorly sung and the visuals during the song was both unimpressive and unnecessarily edgy as well.  It completely destroys any emotional impact of Bart's story and, as a result, hampers what could've been one of the season's better episodes.

Final Score: 6.0

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

Yellow Subterfuge (S25, E07-537)

Nothing is more fun for a mother than making her son believe she's dead!

Plot Summary
Principal Skinner, dreaming himself to be some kind of big shot, announces to the school that he will be hosting a special field trip: on board a nuclear submarine.  However, the field trip is forcibly limited to just a few students, whom Skinner will decide on based on students' behavior from this point forward.  Essentially on a clean slate, Bart decides to be on his best behavior so that he can get on that sub, despite both his family not believing in him and Skinner being very strict with taking students off "the list" for things as simple as letting gum fall on the floor.

Bart's determination hits a snag when the bus stalls on the way to school.  Fearing he'll be late and thus scratched off the list, Bart gets out and makes a mad dash to school.  He arrives just in time, but unfortunately runs in with muddy feet, giving Skinner enough reason to scratch Bart off his list.  Bart tries to get on the sub in other ways, first via a prank and later by good ol' fashioned sucking up, but Skinner leaves Bart off the field trip list regardless, leaving Bart to watch the submarine sink into the ocean depths.

Homer arrives in time to see Bart in distress and decides to help the boy enact some revenge.  The next morning, Skinner wakes up in his home to find his mother seemingly stabbed dead on the kitchen floor.  Homer and Bart conveniently arrive at his house to 'see' the scene and the two 'promise' to help Skinner out, though its obviously a ploy devised by Homer and Bart, with Agnes gladly helping out.  The two convince Skinner that letting the likes of Chief Wiggum figure the scene out is tantamount to suicide, and that leaving town is the only option, dressing him up as the disguised "Dick Fiddler" and seeing Skinner off on a bus.  Homer and Bart return home, mission accomplished, however Skinner is there, finding himself unable to flee so easily.  He's ready to take the blame for his 'crime', even admitting that deep down inside he wanted his mother to die anyway.  Marge has enough, and blows Bart's scheme, and Agnes comes in to reveal to Skinner that not only is she still alive, but she heard his admission and plans on being even meaner to him as a punishment.

Meanwhile, Krusty is broke (again), and Lisa witnesses repo men take his stuff away.  Lisa convinces Krusty to license his show globally so that other people can act like Krusty in their respective countries, and Krusty can earn some of each show's profits.  Krusty agrees to do so, and is able to get 75% of each international show's profits for each person to act like a regional Krusty.  Soon, though, each Krusty gains their share of fame, so much so that the original Krusty becomes the least popular of them all.  Those regional Krustys demand the original let them keep more of their earnings, but Krusty tries to appease them instead by promising to appear on each of their shows, which due to Krusty's lack of popularity, only drives them to chase him out away from wherever he is.

Quick Review
This was a pretty good episode, all things considered.  The couch gag wasn't stupidly long, the focus on Principal Skinner (and Krusty, less so) worked well for the most part, and I enjoyed Homer and Bart's role in the episode.  The only downer I felt the episode produced was the Jamaican Krusty bit, complete with a Jamaican "Itchum and Scratchum" thing that wasn't all that good, but that's a minor complaint for what was otherwise a decent episode.

Final Score: 7.6

Boy Meets Curl (S21, E12-453)

That passion.  That dedication.  That effort.

Plot Summary
Its date night for Homer and Marge, but Homer is forced to stay late at work.  When Homer eventually gets home they don't have much time left in the night, and the movie they planned on seeing has Ben Affleck in it, so that's a no go either.  Driving around, the two spot a skating rink they could spend time at, but upon entering they find that the skating rink is closed.  Upon further inspection, they find a group of people playing the ever obscure sport of curling.  Principal Skinner and his mother are both there as well, and they invite Homer and Marge to give it a try.  With Homer's bowling experience and Marge's sweeping experience, the two decide to give it a try and quickly fall in love with the sport.

Some months pass, and the two have become experienced curlers.  Skinner stops by to let them know that they've been invited to the Olympic curling trials for mixed demonstration curling.  At the event, it becomes apparent that Homer's poor curling throws are made up for Marge's godly sweeping abilities, and with her able to make up for any of Homer's mistakes, they and the Skinners become the U.S. representatives for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

While all this is happening, Lisa gets tricked into becoming addicted to Olympic pin collecting.  Soon, Lisa spies a rare pin she must have, but running low on funds she gives the guy her pearl necklace instead.  While in Vancouver, Bart sees Lisa playing her sax on the street for money and sees just how addicted to pin collecting she's gotten: her entire dress is made out of pins.  Bart helps her break her addiction by giving up her pins, then creates a fake pin made partly from Homer's driver's license face to give to the vendor as "Fatoff", the newly created mascot pin for the 2014 Winter Olympics.  The vendor falls in love with it and gives Bart the pearls.

At the Olympics, Agnes tries to convince Marge to kick Homer off the team, but she refuses to do so, citing that curling has helped their marriage tremendously.  Homer overhears this but doesn't really do anything particular to improve his skill.  In the semi-final match, Homer makes another poor throw, but Marge is able to sweep like no one has ever swept before to get the rock in the middle, but separates her right shoulder in the process.  The team makes the gold medal match, but with Marge's new injury they'll have no chance of winning against the rather bleak Swedish team.

The family starts to pack up when Homer notices Marge is very capable with her left hand.  She reveals to Homer that she's really left-handed and that she pretended to be right handed to avoid looking unusual.  However, Homer realizes this means she can still sweep, and the two quickly prevent Skinner from signing a concession form so that the gold medal match can be played.  Sure enough, with Marge now sweeping with her main hand, the United States wins its only medal of the Olympics: mixed demonstration curling gold.  During the ceremony, Homer and Marge admit this has been one pretty good date night.

Quick Review
Well, this was a weird episode.  For the most part, it seemed like an advertisement for curling, though the version that was shown in this episode isn't even the same type as the curling often broadcasted in the real Olympics.  As this was mostly an advertisement for a lesser-known version of curling, the opportunity for comedy was limited and while Lisa's pin story actually helps the episode quite a bit, the main story would be really forgettable if it couldn't be remembered as "that curling episode".

Final Score: 6.4

Marge's Son Poisoning (S17, E05-361)

Marge should just be proud that, in this scenario, Bart is probably some kind of administrator.

Plot Summary
The Simpsons arrive at a pier-side festival just its being torn down.  As parts are being sold off, Homer buys a dumbbell while Marge decides to buy a tandem bicycle.  However, Marge can't get anyone to ride the bicycle with her, so she tries to ride it alone, which doesn't work at all.  Bart takes notice of this and, out of pity, decides to go on a ride with Marge.  They end up at a tea and cake shop in a different town or part of town or whatever, and the two really bond from that.  However, the next time they ride there they learn that the shop has closed down.  Bart decides that he and Marge can have a tea party in his treehouse, which Marge redecorates to fit the new theme.  However, as the two go out to buy a tea set, Bart is confronted by Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney who mock Bart for having become a "Mama's boy".  With Marge returning only to embarrass Bart further in front of the bullies, Bart rebels and reveals to Marge that he only did things with her because he felt sorry for her, and runs off.

All the while, Homer pumps up his right arm with his new dumbbell.  He eventually uses his newly built arm to save his barmates from a fallen pinball machine, where Moe gets the idea to have Homer use his arm in arm wrestling cons.  However, after their first attempt goes dicey, Moe decides to just have Homer enter an arm wrestling competition out of the town.  With Marge rather uninterested in his latest adventure (due to her spending time with Bart), Homer starts to miss Marge and, after winning the tournament, quickly goes home.

After tearing down the new additions to his treehouse, Bart finally calms down and, after seeing Marge depressed again, apologizes to her.  He then cheers Marge up by inviting her to a school-sanctioned karaoke night, where the two can sing as a duet.  Marge is ecstatic, and goes to practice at a karaoke shop, where she sees Principal Skinner and his mother, with Skinner bowing down to his mother's whims yet again.  At the karaoke night, Marge sees the two of them do their karaoke act, and imagines herself and Bart in their places, which freaks her out.  Marge puts a stop to the contest and encourages Bart to go back to his old ways so that he doesn't become as mother-dependent as Skinner.  Homer returns home just in time to comfort Marge, and everything is back to normal.

Quick Review
This wasn't that good of an episode.  Homer's arm wrestling subplot was actually pretty decent, but not much focus was given to it so it was pretty short.  The main plot about Marge and Bart didn't have much humor to go with it, and the episode's ending where the bullies sing all classy-like in front of the Simpson home was just bad.

Final Score: 6.0

Special Edna (S14, E07-298)

I'd make a particular comment here, but I don't want to get tortured.

Plot Summary
The relationship between Principal Skinner and Edna Krabappel is strained, as Skinner is continuously taken away from dating Edna because his mother forces him back home for some tedious thing or another.  The series of blow-offs get to Edna, and she becomes depressed.  Bart notices this and can't help but find some way to make Edna feel better.  After a pity date of sorts, Bart still feels like there's something more he can do, and takes Lisa's suggestion to nominate Edna for Teacher of the Year.  The nomination committee decide to nominate Edna on the single basis that she's had to deal with Bart Simpson, and Edna's spirits are restored after learning of her nomination.

As the awards are in Orlando, Edna is given a free trip there, as do the Simpson family as Bart was the one who nominated her.  Skinner becomes worried that if Edna wins the award, she'll quit teaching, thereby having no reason to stick with him or something, and decides to go down to Orlando to stop her from being courted by other men.  However, he brings his mother along (technically she brought him), which only infuriates Edna further.  Once again worried that Edna will leave him upon winning the award, Skinner blackmails Bart into sabotaging Edna's chances of winning.

During the awards, where three teachers including Edna still need to prove themselves deserving, Bart goes on stage and pretends that Edna never taught him how to read.  Skinner, attending the awards with his mother, instantly feels bad about this and goes on stage to set the record straight.  He apologizes to Edna for how he's been acting, and to prove that his mother doesn't control him (mostly), he proposes to Edna right there, and she accepts.  The two remain a couple (for another season, anyway), and Homer decides to sneak into the price-gouger that is Disney World.

Quick Review
The jokes in the episode, which were mostly either "Skinner's mom" jokes or "Epcot is lame" jokes, didn't work out all that often, and the ending of the episode seemed kinda rushed.  It seems like the episode tries to focus on telling its story, then loses track of time and wraps things up rather hastily, all the while forgetting that it was supposed to be funny as well.  That's what it seemed like to me, anyway.

Final Score: 6.8

Worst Episode Ever (S12, E11-259)

His eyes shoot out concussive tears.

Plot Summary
After Bart 'earns' $50, he and Milhouse decide to splurge.  Down to their last $10, they go to the comic book shop to buy Radioactive Man #1000, but it costs $25.  While there, they see a woman attempt to sell 'junk' to the owner.  He sees several rare Star Wars memorabilia, but realizing the woman is a sap, offers $5 for it.  She's about to accept, but Bart and Milhouse intervene and tell the woman she's about to get ripped off.  She leaves, and as revenge for costing him various goods, the comic book guy bans Bart and Milhouse from the store for life.

The timing couldn't be worse, as special effects wizard Tom Savini is doing an act at the store.  Homer tries to sneak the two in, but he tips comic book guy off, and the boys are left looking from the outside.  Savini and comic book guy become at odds during the show, and Savini uses his effects to humiliate his sarcastic opponent.  Comic book guy (who I'll just call CBG from here on) can't handle it all, and suffers a heart attack.  At the hospital, CBG is advised to avoid stress, but with the stressful job of owning a comic book shop his main source of income, he has no choice but to ask somebody for help.  As Bart and Milhouse were the two who called the ambulance, and CBG has no friends to ask for help, the two boys ends up running the store.

Although the two enter the venture as "partners", as usual Bart becomes the head of the operation.  Milhouse becomes the lackey, but one day as Bart is out, a businessman appears and successfully gets Milhouse to acquire 2000 copies of "Biclops", a hero that coincidentally looks and acts like Milhouse.  Bart and Milhouse come to blows over this, and start fighting.  The fight ends up revealing a secret room full of pirated video tapes of top secrets or hidden endings or embarrassing moments, mostly top secrets.

Meanwhile, CBG goes to a meeting to help make friends, but before he can, he's interrupted by Agnes Skinner.  The two exchange verbal flares, but somehow their insulting demeanors turn each other on, and they become a hot couple, 'hot' not being the right word to use here.

The boys have fun watching the secret videos but realize they can make a hefty profit showing other kids the videos for $5 a kid.  The plan works well to start, but the police bust in and stop the operation.  They learn CBG owns the videos and go to arrest him, though when they do they catch him in the act of making out with Agnes, making the arrest harder than usual.  Though the comic book shop is barred off for awhile, Bart and Milhouse are glad they got past their differences.

Quick Review
The opening act of the episode was alright, and when it focused on Bart and Milhouse later on it was fine as well, especially with the secret videos.  The bits with CBG and Agnes bugged me, though.  Other than the fact that they're both mean-spirited characters there is really nothing that would suggest that pairing could be a thing, and yet there it was.  I really didn't need to see them making out either.  It soured what was otherwise an above-average episode.

Final Score: 7.4

The Principal and the Pauper (S09, E02-180)

"Armin Tamzarian's reign of terror is over.  Now let us welcome our new
Principal Skinner... Principal Seymour Skinner!"  *pause*  "Uh, him."

Plot Summary
Principal Skinner is given a surprise party for having been principal at the elementary school for 20 years now.  As the celebration gets underway, an unknown man is driven by the school (where the party is being held), and requests to go there.  As Skinner states how proud he is to be Seymour Skinner, the man barges in claiming to be Seymour Skinner himself.  Principal Skinner immediately recognizes the man as the real Seymour Skinner, revealing himself to be an impostor.

The real Skinner reveals that he wasn't killed in combat, but rather captured and put to work in a shoe factory until a week ago, where the UN shut it down and rescued him.  The principal reveals that, much to Bart's amusement, his real name is Armin Tamzarian.  As a teenager, Armin was a wild, rebellious type.  He gets caught stealing an old lady's purse when he accidentally crashes his motorcycle into a judge.  He is given three options: jail, the army, or apologize to the judge and old lady.  Armin chooses the army, unaware that the Vietnam war was occurring.  Its there that Armin meets the real Skinner, his unit commander, who gives his life meaning.  Soon, though, Skinner is lost in combat, missing but presumed dead.  Armin once again feels lost, but decides it should be him that informs Skinner's mother of what had happened.  When the two meet, Agnes mistakes Armin as her son.  Armin, unable to find it within him to tell her the truth, decides to play along, and assumes Seymour's identity which gave both Armin and Agnes blissful contentment.

Armin tries to resume his duty as Principal, but the weight of everyone knowing the lie is too much.  He resigns as principal, offering the spot to the real Skinner (who says that if a man pretending to be Skinner can do it, then therefore the real Skinner must be more than capable as well).  He then decides to 'leave town forever', fully resuming his life as street punk Armin Tamzarian.

Although the real Skinner isn't bad per se, Mrs. Krabappel (who got into a relationship with Armin not that long ago) isn't fond of the new Seymour, and Agnes absolutely can not stand how independent her real son is.  The two share their annoyances with Marge, who comes up with the idea to bring Armin back.  The three of them alongside Homer, the kids, Grampa and Jasper for various reasons, all find Armin in Capitol City, and as Agnes reveals that she considers Armin her real son, Armin decides to come back.

The group comes back with Armin declaring he'll happily resume being the school's principal, however the real Skinner steps in, unwilling to just be pushed away and demands respect as a war veteran.  Homer quickly comes up with a compromise: tying Skinner up on a chair on a train and give him an honorable salute as he is sent out of town.  Homer then has Judge Snyder officially give Armin the name Seymour Skinner along with the past, present, future, and mother of that name.  Snyder also forces everyone to forget these events ever occurred, and that any one who brings it up will be disciplined with torture.  With that, the status quo is kinda sorta back to normal.

Quick Review
There are some people who do not like this episode.  People who don't like that a likable character for so long had been revealed as a fraud, but then suddenly its all "oh hey forget about that, its legally non canon, we good now"?  Even series creator Matt Groening finds this episode less than enjoyable, to say the least.

Personally, I don't care.  Even when this episode came out, the show had been around for nine seasons and though there were many things that carried over from certain episodes, like Skinner and Krabappel's relationship, its hard to say that a show where nobody ages can have some kind of rock-solid canon for nine seasons.  Besides, when something screwy happens to another character for an episode, how often does it get brought back up other than a quick reference joke?  That same has been true here, only having been referenced twice since, and really the show has done far more enraging things than say Skinner was a fraud but was legally not a fraud anymore.

Now, as for the quality of the episode's humor, it does alright.  It slows down during the middle of the episode when Armin explains what happened, but there's plenty of jokes and such around that which makes this another strong episode in terms of humor, even if you don't like the premise.

Final Score: 8.9

The Twisted World of Marge Simpson (S08, E11-164)

The "Whitey-Whackers", contributing to a dark day in baseball.

Plot Summary
Marge is a member of the "Springfield Investorettes", a group that includes Helen Lovejoy, Maude Flanders, Agnes Skinner, Edna Krabappel and Luann Van Houten.  The group seems to have made a wise investment previously, but now want to take those profits and invest in a small business.  Marge is the only one of the group to oppose the idea, and because it was apparently a final straw, the group kicks Marge out.  Later, Marge is convinced by her family that she should invest in a business herself to show the Investorettes what she can do.

Marge goes to a franchising expo, but is initially unable to find something that suits her.  She's discouraged further when the Investorettes take interest in a Pita stand, something Marge might have possibly of thought about taking an interest in.  Just then, a man at a Pretzel Wagon stand is able to convince Marge to start up a pretzel business.

Although marketing and making the pretzels aren't difficult, selling them is a whole different game.  An attempt to sell that at the power plant, with Homer's help, fails when the Investorettes' Pita van steals her customer base.  Faulty coupon creation coupled with an incident at a baseball game where all of her sampler pretzels are wasted to be thrown at Mr. Burns (and later Whitey Ford), Marge gives up.  Unwilling to see Marge like this, Homer decides to help.  He tries to contact the Pretzel Wagon guy, but he has died in a car accident.  Out of options, Homer decides to ask the mafia for aid.

The mafia is quick to work, sabotaging non-pretzel food options in Springfield, including the Pita van.  Marge's sales go through the roof, blissfully unaware of the mafia's hand in it.  Soon, though, Fat Tony tries to collect from Homer, but when Homer escapes, he goes after Marge instead, giving her 12 hours to cough up all of the profits from her pretzel sales.  After Marge and Homer come to an understanding over what happened, they confront the mafia the next morning, refusing to give in.  Just before the mafia advances on them, the Investorettes appear, having 'caught on' to Marge's 'game', and hired a mafia of their own: the Japanese Yakuza.  As the two mobs engage in battle, the Simpson couple retreat into the house to avoid getting caught in the middle.  Good times.

Quick Review
This episode has its moments, like Skinner's supposed "boaking" accident, or the scene at the baseball game.  The mafia and its battle with the Yakuza was a superb way to the end the episode as well.  Still, besides those moments there wasn't too much funny going on, with a few other good jokes here and there.

Final Score: 8.9

The Crepes of Wrath (S01, E11-011)

Ah, yes, France.

Plot Summary
When you hear a tagline for this episode, say, "Bart goes to France!", you'd probably think "Oh man he is gonna raise some hell over there!" not unlike the episode Bart vs. Australia.  Bart, whose acts of terror plague both Homer and Principal Skinner in this episode, would seem primed to destroy poor ol' France.  Except, well, France fights back.  Kinda.

Speaking of those acts, Bart's uncleanliness allows Homer to slip and hurt his back.  A short time later, a cherry bomb Bart throws into a school toilet throws the whole system into dismay, which adversely affects Skinner's mom.  (As an aside, this marks the first appearance of Agnes Skinner, but in this episode she's a kind old lady who calls Seymour "Spanky".  Neither that name or her demeanor are part of her character later on.)  Skinner inquires with Homer and Marge about sending Bart to France for three months as part of a student exchange program.  In return, the family would host an Albanian boy for the same time period.  Everyone agrees, and Bart is on his way.

The episode then splits into two halves.  It turns out Bart's adopted "family", an shady wine maker and his nephew, also their donkey, intended to have Bart do all the menial work of wine making, allowing the two of them, also their donkey, to rest and relax.  Meanwhile, the family greets the Albanian boy, Adil, and things start off great, with Lisa and Adil getting into somewhat heated political arguments which passes as dinner conversation.  However, Adil is actually "Sparrow", a spy for the Albanian government who acquires information from the nuclear plant, which Homer is more than happy to provide.

Bart's troubles reach a climax after being forced to drink down wine mixed with anti-freeze, then being told to go buy more anti-freeze.  He attempts to inform a nearby police officer about the shady men, but only does so after miraculously learning French right there and then.  The two men are arrested and Bart's last month in France goes by wonderfully.  Meanwhile, the Adil is tracked down by the feds, and is returned to Albania in exchange for an American kid spy.  Bart returns home and all is well.

Quick Review
This is among the best episodes of Season 1.  The beginning of the episode in particular, both Homer's peril as well as Skinner's, brought a lot of laughs.  Homer giving all of that top secret information to Adil was funny as well.  Bart's story, once he was in France, wasn't too funny, but as Bart says, he did meet one nice French person, so it ended up being a great episode.

Final Score: 8.0