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Reviews
The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XXXIV (2023)
Somewhat Of Let Down
Out of the three anthologies, Lisa's "Silence of The Lambs" esque segment is the strongest, with the callback to "Cape Feare" setting up an alternate future being quite fascinating, which it proceeds to fumble with a quite rushed and headscratching finale. I almost wished this segment had been given the care last year's It parody "Not It" had gotten with its own full episode. Alas it was not to be. Rounding out the other two segments were a perfunctory take down of NFT's that already feels beyond dated. "Post Covid" more then handled the NFT craze nearly 2 years ago. Ironically in a rare reversal I guess "South Park" did it first. And lastly in the final segment we get a gross send up of John Romero's "The Crazies" which asks the question of how disgustingly repulsive can they make the citizens of Springfield and by extension Homer. The answer, very. After last year's stellar segments, its comes as a disappointment to say this year's special is completely average.
The Simpsons: Bart the General (1990)
Bullying, Patton, and Nelson, oh my!
A classic episode from the very start of the series. The episode follows Bart as he tries to navigate his bully problems at Springfield Elementary. Nelson Muntz in his first appearance is quite intimidating and his bullying is not quite played for laughs like it would be for the remainder of the show. Nelson feels like a realistic adversary a kid in school would face during a pre zero tolerance America. While most of the comedy is derived from his parents having differing ineffectual opinions and the dynamic between Grandpa Simpson and local nut/war antiques dealer Herman which devoles into a full on Patton parody, its not as explosively funny like other gems like "Bart The Daredevil" "Cape Feare" "Mr Plow" or even the similarily war focused "The Lemon of Troy". The animation is still relatively crude as well, Klasky-Csupo (Rugrats) failed to keep consistency with models and many characters have squashed features that make them look more like Tommy Pickles and the gang then a character from Springfield. That being said the episode is a solid half hour of television that just barely misses out on being a masterpiece.
The Simpsons: A Mid-Childhood Night's Dream (2023)
Poignant Exploration of "Empty Nest Syndrome"
This episode explores Marge's psyche akin to "The Sopranos" second season finale "Funhouse." Marge's insecurties as a mother spring to the surface as she comes to terms with the idea of her children eventually "leaving the nest." Marge never feels like a caricature and with no real B plot her story has room to let her confront those emotions. It could've been an easy task to phone in the Marge centric episode and rely on Marge's flanderized traits of "nagging" and "helicopter parenting" but the writers choose to humanize her. While this episode never truly hits the lofty heights of the early Simpsons, Marge feels closer to her original incarnation here, than she has in 20+ seasons.
The Simpsons: Thirst Trap: A Corporate Love Story (2023)
A Solid parody of Theronos/Elizabeth Holmes
A solid satirical take of the plethera of documentaries charting Elizabeth Holmes' silicon valley fraud campaign. Some of the stand out comedy takes aim at the Ken Burns documentary style with a brief wink at his baseball documentaries, a sly jab at the expense of Elon Musk and twitter, and fairly amusing NDA running joke that leads to a character lamenting that its still better then working for Zuckerberg. While writing continues the trend of feeling fresher and more nuanced and the Theronos topic is still virgin territory for comedy writing the overall plot still feels like a rehash of Mr Burns centric episode "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love". Overall a quality episode in what has been another inspired season of the Simpsons.