Simpsons: Double, Double, Boy in Trouble - *Episode review*

As you may have noticed, it's been two weeks since my last activity. I can't say I've been busy recently, that's not an excuse. The truth is that it's not a simple task to write such comprehensive reviews that I've accustomed to do. Each review usually requires hours of work. Therefore I have to think twice before starting "a new project".
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Double, Double, Boy in Trouble

Series: The Simpsons
Season: 20
Season episode: #3 (423)
Written by: Bill Odenkirk

Plot

******Warning! Contains spoilers!******
-Chalkboard: There is no such month as "Rocktober".
-Couch gag: After getting on the couch a Tornado appears and suck them and the sofa into the air and, in a parody of The Wizard of Oz, are landed to a farm picture turning black-and-white.

Homer and Bart are buying groceries from the Kwik-E-Mart. Homer is tempted to buy a lottery ticket. Meanwhile Bart is acting childish. He jumps from a shelf to another, but suddenly loses his balance and falls down. Homer comes to rescue him.

At the same time Lenny happens to buy the lottery ticket of which Homer was about to buy. It's the winning ticket, prize of 15000$. Homer gets mad at Bart whose fault the huge loss obviously was. So is Marge when he hears the news.

Lenny decides to have a grand party due to his great victory. Every citizen of Springfield is invited. Lanny sings a songs in which he thanks everyone for being friend.

Acting immature for the whole evening, Bart finds a peculiar way to trick the guests; He launches dozens of Vacuum bots to spread chaos to the party.

The Springfield police is needed to stabilize the situation. Bart gets caught and is punished by Marge.

While washing hands in the restroom, Bart meets his complete look-alike(who's bespectacled though) and the boy's father who also bears resemblance to him. Both are bored to their regular life and decide to change the roles.

Bart, who now pretends to be Simon Woosterfield, realize his nerd-counterpart is from a uber-rich family and lives in a mansion with all the luxuries available.

On the Evergreen Terrace Simon already finds The Simpsons very lower-class people, Homer being the most repulsive person of the family.

Meanwhile Simon's half-sister Quenley and half-brother Devan are planning to get rid of Simon so they would inherit the entire fortune. They lock "Simon" up to the mausoleum. Luckily Mr. Burns happens to walk past and manages to free Bart with the help of Smithers.

Mr. Burns tells a valuable story about his large family, and that everyone except himself survived through their youth.

Simon's evil siblings are taking Bart to a ski-trip to Aspen. They make him to run the most hazardous trail, in order to finish him.

But, Lisa has become aware of the boy's little role-game and after being informed that "Simon" could be killed anytime soon, Homer and the family hurries to save Bart. Homer accidentally falls from the ski-lift, forms a giant snowball which hits Bart and saves both of them.

Both Simon and Bart return to their own families. Bart is no longer dissatisfied with his life but instead says before falling asleep: This is the life.

Picture and Audio

The visual impression is as perfect as always. In fact, I kinda long for the old shaky drawing style. It still had some emotionality in it, but even though current style is awesome, it's also kinda sharp and straight-forward and too calculated. Though, for example Bart's embryo scene is beautifully implemented. Furthermore, it's always fascinating to see how the animators keep concentrating on the shadows. They create a certain mood to the scenes.
In terms of music, the episode is pretty much average. As a fan, it's great to see that Lisa's varying saxophone solo is still used.
Interestingly, the episode includes no popular music. We briefly heard light music while Lenny is singing and apart from few drama-segment cues it's very speech-oriented episode.



Major character appearances
Guest Stars:

• Joe Montana
  

New Characters:

• Simon Woosterfield
  

• Mr. Woosterfield
  

• Devan
  

• Quenley
  

• Woosterfields' limousine driver
  

Recurring characters:

• The Simpson family
• Apu
• Lenny
• Moe
• Barney
• Todd
• Mayor Quimby
• Chief Wiggum
• Lou
• Krusty
• Milhouse
• Smithers
• Mr. Burns
• Grampa

Did you notice that..?
-Moleman was eaten by the crazy vacuum bots, but is later seen alive in the background

-Milhouse has replaced the face of Luanns boyfriend with Kirk's face.

-The episode pokes fun with Saddam Hussein.

Pros and Cons

+ No idiotic subplots that ruin the main story.
+ Bart-centered episode instead of endless Homer-doing-this-and-that ones.

+ Ending was well-chosen had a sense of emotionality

+ Barney crying like a girl


+ Marge's flashback of "drinking" alcohol while being pregnant


+ Simon's Milhouse look-alike mother



- The idea of changing roles is badly worn out,yet surprisingly never use in The Simpsons.
- The first 9 minutes of the episode suggested it would tell about Bart's misbehavior. Then that part was was totally forgotten
- 9 minutes? The appearance of Simon and his family took place quite late.
- Woosterfields ares richer than Mr. Burns, and still never heard of them before? And what they were doing in Lenny's party in the first place?
- Homer stumbling and making himself a snowbal=lame.
-Joe Montana had only a 20-secs role, so why on Earth he's depicted on the promo picture?
- How Simon could be alive at the age of 10 if his siblings always try to kill him? No idiotic

Summary
The 20th season continues with mixed feelings. The first episode was horrible and made the fans fear the worst. Fortunately the following episode showed a slight improvement, giving a faint sign of hope. But when pondering this episode it hard to say whether the season is going towards success or failure. The plot itself may not be the most original one, and somehow it was predictable that it would Bart who will change the role. The first half of the episode is confusing. It's all about Bart doing tricks and misbehaving. But all of sudden a couple of Bart clones shows up out of blue and the episode turns totally different. It like the 8 minutes were totally pointless. There must have been better way to introduce Woosterfields. The whole Lenny-winning-and-having-a-party could have been dropped out(which kinda reminds me of Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife in which Lenny has invited everyone to watch his HD-television. How come they can use Carl instead?). Despite many pointless and utterly unthinkable parts, the episode is saved by many strong jokes and good variety of characters. I also appreciate the ending which, contrary to usual joke, is realistic and shows Bart as a 10-year-old son who loves his mother.

***½/*****

Simpsons: Lost Verizon - *Episode review*

Ok, time for another Simpsons episode review.
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Lost Verizon

Series: The Simpsons
Season: 20
Season episode: #2 (422)
Written by: John Frink

Plot

******Warning! Contains spoilers!******
Seymour and Agnus are driving on the highway when they suddenly run out of gas. His mother orders him to get some gas.

Seymour faces difficulties while crossing the highway, and Milhouse on the bridge notices this hilarious moment and call everyone from the school to withness it.
Drunk Barney mistakes principal from beer can and starts chasing him making the situation is even more absurd.

Bart, however, totally unknowing about the thing since not owning a cell phone, is having a imaginary tea party with his sister Lisa. Being upset for missing the spectacle as not having a cell phone, Bart begs one from his mother but to no avail.

Incidently, Bart ends up a golf course where he gets a job; Finding the missing balls. Unfortunately Groundskeeper Willie halts his growning business.

Meanwhile, Denis Leary gets annoyed by the phone rinning and throws away his cell phone which lands near to Bart. Bart keeps it, ignoring the fact Leary might possibly get mad.

In the following week Bart makes several prank calls to taverns all over the world, for example Australia and Swedish.

Marge soon finds out about Barts doings, but after short discussion with Leary, gives it back to Bart but with tracking device hidden into it. Hence, she can always know if Bart's doing something naughty.

Lisa becomes aware of their parents' action and tells Bart about it, who decides to trick them by removing the tracking chip and placing it onto the leg of bird. Homer and Marge, still believing they're following Bart, get worried while "Bart" seems to have gone to a filed outside Springfield. Lisa checks from the Internet the bird they're following winters in Machu Pichu. Lisa, always wanting to see the place, shoos the bird so they can trace it to Peru.

Bart is living at home by himself, though being scary in nights. At Machu Pichu Marge sees a dream where ancient Maya leader urges her to allow Bart to take care of himself and not to be that strict mother.

The family returns to home and Bart while embracing his mother tell her not to leave him alone ever again. In the end they remember that they forgot Maggie in Machu Pichu. There, she has become a maya leader.

Picture and Audio
Like with the previous episode, high quality animation continues. No any reasons to complain The zoom effect shown when Bart makes his prank calls is nicely realized. Also the scene change, when the golf balls goes towards the camera is cool.
Sound enviroment can be considered quite basic. Two popular songs are used in this episode, though I was unable to find the names of the songs.

Major character appearances
Guest Stars:

• Denis Leary
  

• Brian Grazer
  

New Characters:

No real new characters, if not the Swedish bartender is count

Recurring characters:

• The Simpson family
  
• Seymour Skinner
• Agnus Skinner
• Barney
  
• Milhouse
• Nelson
• Doctor Hibbert
• Groundskeeper Willie
• Rich Texan
• Krusty
• Moe
  

Did you notice that..?

• Nick Riviera, who was allegedly got killed in The Simpsons Movie, is seen as Dr. Hibbert's caddy
  

• Wendell has a speaking role

• Before the credits there's a dedication to Paul Newman

Pros and Cons
+Bart having a tea party with his sister and wearing Mad Hatter's hat.
+Maggie writing "ME SAD 2"
+Dr. Nick returning from death
+Bart's prank calls
+ Marge: "Bart, how did you get a cell phone?"
Bart: "The same way you got me. By accident, on a golf course."
+Moe and FBI scene
+Bart's acting like a real 10-year-old boy

-Barney chasing Seymour. Too must-be-funny scene.
-Denis Leary have too much lines considering his minor role
-Marge inside a coffin that Bart digs up in the cemetery. What the heck?
-Do Marge & homer really think Bart's gone to Machu Pichu and even decide to go after him?
-Maya leader's "moral lesson" looked artificial.
-Ending was anticipated and ridiculous.

Summary
After the sizeable disappointment the first episode Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes caused, this was true an improvement. The writers had not added unnecessary subplot, which usually splits badly the main plot as it did to Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes. By following only one story, it makes the episode much more consistent and reasonable. Despite some unfunny scenes with no logic, the episode goes on without major holes in the plot. Also, it's nice to see Bart centered episode which depicts him as both a reckless kid who likes to do pranks, and realistic child who miss his mom. This pattern gives the episode extra emotions. And compared to many Homer-doing-this-and-that episodes it's refreshing to see Homer as a minor character. Though there are some gags made by Homer, which frankly, are quite unnecessary. If Homer's not needed, let him keep low profile.
The straightforward plot accomppanied by some well made jokes guarantee this episode as many stars as:
***½/*****

Simpsons: Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes - Review

For starters, I have to mention that the Blog template has been upgraded with the layout which was kindly provided by David Herreman. I also made a new header banner. Unfortunately, it looks as if it's been drawn with Paint by 5-year-old child. Actually I tried to do my best and spent nearly 3 hours when making it with Paint Shop Pro, using all my skills and visual creativeness. But still, the result is anything but great. Oh well, I've always sucked in Arts. Guess I should have kept the text title instead of trying to be artistic.
Anywho, let's start the review.
(I do not own the copyrights of the pics, but as a member of Finnish Pirate Party, my personal opinion is that these restricting rights should not exist. To limit the use of culture is incomprihensible rule, on the contrary, everything ought to be shared through the world. Hence people have unlimited possibilities to fully enjoy the entertainment.)
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Series: The Simpsons
Season: 20
Season episode: #1 (421)
Written by: Kevin Curran

Plot

******Warning! Contains spoilers!******

The Simpsons family is following St. Patrick's Day Parade at the downtown. When the people of Northern Ireland participate to the parade, their old enemies Republican Irish are about to start fighting. Lisa manages to calm them down by singing the old Irish lullaby 'Tura Lura Lural'.

Eventually, despite her attemption, a huge fist fight begins also involving Homer. Homer gets arrested, but meets bail bond agent who gives Homer a chance not to go into the prison provided that he won't skip his bail. Should he do so, Homer would have troubles with Wolf the Bounty Hunter. Eventually, after a quick discussion Homer himself becomes a bounty hunter and, thus, takes once again a new job.

Meanwhile, Marge has met a bakery owner called Patrick Flannery. After tasting Marge's cupcakes he instantly offers Marge a job. Later it is reveiled to Marge that he's working in the erotic cake bakery. At first Marge gets obviously furious for not being informed about this outraging fact, but gets soon persuaded to continue.

Homer, while trying to catch Snake, is nearly shot but luckily Flanders gets to the spot with a bullet-proof glass and reflects the bullet back to Snake's arm. Ned becomes a partner Homer and they'll bounty hunt many Springfield citizens, for example Drederick Tatum and Fat Tony.

Ned cannot accept Homer's unscrupulous ways of pursuing, and the partners decide to separate. Ned goes to announce his resignation but once he heards the next person to catch is Homer, he rejects his decision to retire. Homer won't let Flanders get him easily and a big chase segment begins. Most of time they're jumping in the alleys and on the roofs of the collapsing building, but also riding horses and jumping from one planet to another in a planetarium. Finally they end up on the swining beam and fall down into the wet cement which quickly hardens. After waiting rescuers to come for hours, Homer has gotten bored to Ned's bible talking.

Homer is sentenced to jail but gets a nice present from Marge; A self-made cake with a text "To the Love of My Love". The end.

Picture and Audio
It has to be acknowledged the contemporary quality of picture in The Simpsons is remarkably stunning. With the current computer animation, the visual perfectness of the scenes is almost similar to the Movie version we saw a year ago. Especially the close-ups depicting characters' expressions include masterful shadowing as one can witness from this sample pic:

On the other hand, there are parts that seem good but after closer looking we may notice something wierd in the picture. For instance, is Homer's angle fully correct in this scene?

None of the moments stand out in terms of sounds & music. Beside Tura Lura Lural the two another songs included are Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap by AC/DC and Electric Avenue by Eddy Grant. The final chase music is composed for the series. You may listen it here. I've removed speech and most of sfx.



Major character appearances
New characters:

• Lucky Jim

• Wolf the Bounty Hunter

• Patrick Flannery

• An unnamed Irish guy

Recurring characters:

• Homer, Marge, Lisa, Bart
• Ned
• Mr Burns
• Mayor Quimby
• Moe
• Judge Snyder
• Snake and his girlfriend Gloria
• Patty & Selma
• Principal Skinner & Superintendent Chalmers
• -Chief Wiggum

Did you notice that..?

• Maggie does not make an appearance in this episode.
• Joe Mantegna was credited as Fat Tony's voice even though Fat Tony had no speaking lines.
• There are two leprechauns, first of them was originally presented in the episode Treehouse of Horror XII.

• Sideshow Bob escaping from the prison. This gag was previously used in the very early seasons

Pros and Cons
+"Han Solo" cough gag worked.
+Marge imagining her "different" live as a bakery worker
+Homer to Snake: "Not shooting me now would be the biggest mistake of your life" ROFL
+Homer recharging the electric shocker whilst Ned is being strangled by Tatum
+During the chase, Homer even jumps on the wall while being inside the lift.
+Unexplainingly hilarious face of Homer :D

- The opening joke involving Mr Burns was extremely weak. Please, director. Never put the lamiest gag in the beginning. The episode gives much worse pre-impression.
- The whole St. Patrick's parade sequence was "seen before" and had no good jokes. There are better ways to get Homer to break the law or Marge to meet a person.
- Marge accepting the fact he's working in the erotic bakery. It's not Marge's like.
- Fat Tony not speaking, considering his duration on the screen.
- The scene Marge telling Homer where she's working. Pointless talking that results in both agreeding the truth.
- Ned needs to bounty hunt Homer. What a surprise!
- The chase itself was nothing special. We've seen them before(Bart vs Skinner A la Star Wars), besides it was very unrealistic. It's not funny.
-I was waiting for a joke in the end scene, but the "erotic" cake was just an ordinary cake.

Summary
This must be the weakest season premiere for years in The Simpsons. First of all, both main and substories could have been made better, to be a lot more consistent as now it feels we didn't get the most out of them. The writers presumably tried to achieve some emotinality and excitement to the scenes, but at least I failed to notice anything. Secondly, the gags were predominantly unacceptable lame. There were only a few good jokes, but those cannot save the episode from being considered 'underwhelming'.
As a long-term fan I feel disappointed to give this episode such a low rate as 5/10.