Scullyfied Simpsons: “Children of a Lesser Clod” (Season 12, Episode 20)

Warning – events seen in this episode are not as heartwarming as this screengrab from Frinkiac.com would lead you to believe.

“All my love has come back in trophy form!” – Homer Simpson. Spoiler alert, that’s one of the less asinine things he says all episode.

Airdate: May 13th, 2001

Written By: Al Jean

Plot: A trip to the YMCA ends badly for Homer Simpson, as his attempt to score during a basketball game results in a rather substantial ACL tear. Stuck at home after the surgery, he finds himself babysitting the Flanders kids. This starts a domino effect that sees him start his own daycare center. His newfound affection for taking care of his kids winds up preoccupying him so much that he forgets about his own offspring, much to their displeasure.

Review:

Why is Jerkass Homer so infamous?

Really, it seems like, more than any other aspect of The Simpsons’ shift in tone and characterization as it reached the double-digit seasons, Jerkass Homer gets quite a bit of focus. It almost feels as if that was the sole reason behind the decline – “the show sucked around the time Homer became an idiotic ass.” Yes, that’s a simplification, but it seems to be one of the most common complaints about the show’s decline once Mike Scully took over as showrunner.

The thing is, Jerkass Homer is arguably as much a symptom as it is an individual ailment affecting The Simpsons. Yes, the fact that the central protagonist decayed into an almost astonishingly unlikable human being pretty much removes any hope for wanting him to succeed, and the fact that he still gets off easy removes the hope for an interesting sense of comeuppance, thus removing the viewer from an interest in the story. However, it’s indicative of a much larger rot at the show’s core. After all, Homer was always a bit of an ass at first glance – he was stupid, self-centered, and somewhat of a lout. However, not only were these balanced out by a certain innocence and a fierce devotion to his family, but he was so often written as a multifaceted and human character. In fact, that’s where so many of my favorite episodes come from. The character has degenerated into joke fodder, meant to get the easiest and broadest laughs with no regard for empathy or audience relation, all while undermining the smartness of the show before it and the stories that stem from that brilliance.

It parallels what happened to the series. Once challenging the status quo of network sitcoms and cartoons, The Simpsons wound up almost embracing the cliches of both simultaneously in a way that left neither party satisfied. Jerkass Homer is merely the prime example of a surprisingly complex and moving show being reduced to a simplistic and surprisingly callous shell of itself. It is a series that has become more insular, and in spite of the increased insanity of the plot twists, has become more rote and almost predictable. The soul is gone, the body is kept alive by the powers that be who refuse to do the merciful thing and let the show die.

But die it won’t. So instead, we must do the next best thing and leave it be for our sanity. We’re down to our last few episodes. And how appropriate a title to warn us of what we can expect as “Children of a Lesser Clod”?

I’m not gonna beat around the bush anymore – this episode was surprisingly awful. I mean, I wasn’t expecting much, but this failed to deliver on even my dramatically reduced expectations.

Scullyfied Simpsons: “Bye Bye Nerdie” (Season 12, Episode 16)

Lisa: I just don’t understand Francine’s motivation. Why does she only go after the smart ones?
Nelson: That’s like asking the square root of a million – no one will ever know.
Lisa: Someone will. I’m gonna crack the bully code.
– The genesis for all great scientific discoveries. Or plot twists in post-classic Simpsons episodes. Take your pick.

Airdate: March 11th, 2001

Written By: John Frink and Don Payne

Plot: A new kid has arrived at Springfield Elementary, Francine. She finds herself ostracized by her new schoolmates. Accordingly, Lisa tries to strike up a friendship with this new face… only to find herself facing Francine’s more vicious side. While trying to deal with the problem, however, she comes to a scientific hypothesis related to the behavior of bullies towards nerds. Meanwhile, shaken by a baby-proofing saleswoman, Homer decides to become a campaigner for baby-proofing the whole of Springfield.

Review:

Well, the last Simpsons episode that I covered was decent, right? “Hungry, Hungry Homer” had a solid plot, a rather sympathetic protagonist in lieu of Jerkass Homer, quite a few funny lines, and all it needed to achieve greatness was some more solid pacing at the front and back of the script. My hopes were raised that this season can be salvaged further and we could end on a high note.

Let’s just say, it was good while it lasted.

Sort of.

Most of the Simpsons episodes I’ve reviewed over the last couple of years have either been straight-up mediocre or just downright insipid. Today’s episode, however, is a bit different. Sometimes, you come across something that you don’t know how to respond to. It has some intriguing elements, but the execution is very scattershot. The animation is brilliant, but it’s in the service of a half-baked script. And even then, the script isn’t totally horrible, but it’s in the service of a plot that’s less than interesting at best and utterly moronic at worst.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the great conundrum of “Bye Bye Nerdie”.

Scullyfied Simpsons: “HOMR” (Season 12, Episode 9)

“Point out your plot holes elsewhere!” – Theater usher, after kicking Homer out of the Aztec. It’s actually a lesson I’ve taken to heart, as the existence of this blog and the reviews of this decaying series demonstrates.

Airdate: January 7th, 2001.

Written By: Al Jean

Plot: The Simpsons are broke yet again. This time, instead of pathetic spending habits or a fish falling from space, Homer made a daring investment in a startup company that promptly goes under. To try and recoup his losses, he goes to a testing facility. There, doctors discover that he has a brain lodged in his crayon. Removal of said crayon causes his IQ to jump up quite a bit.

Review:

This is gonna sound weird, but a part of me actually expected Season 12 of The Simpsons to be better than Season 11. I mean, the bar was so low as to be easy to walk over, but my memories of Season 12 had involved more positive ones of, say, “Insane Clown Posse” and “Skinner’s Sense of Snow”. But only “Lisa the Tree Hugger” has lived up to my nostalgia, and even that would struggle to make my “Top 200 Simpsons episodes” list.

Otherwise, this season is shaping up to be on par with its predecessor. The only difference I can tell is that any attempts at emotional resonance (bar “Insane Clown Posse”, sort of) have gone straight out the window in favor of embracing the sheer insanity that Mike Scully’s tenure believes to be acceptable for The Simpsons. Then again, given the attempts to pass a certain middle finger of an episode off as emotionally riveting, it might just be for the best. Let’s just say that if that is to be considered a positive, it’s canceled out and more by the overall comedy nosediving to depths of taste and timing.

Inclusive of this episode, I have eighteen Simpsons episodes left to cover – maybe nineteen, given that I’m thinking of reviewing a Season 14 episode helmed by Scully (for some reason). To put it simply, I am ready to bring this project to an end. I just ask for a few, a few decent episodes from now until then to make the denouement that much more bearable.

Thankfully, this one… well, it’s quite a way closer than “Homer vs. Dignity”, at least. It has some major flaws with pacing that impact the rest of the episode, but there is an improvement within.

Scullyfied Simpsons: “Skinner’s Sense of Snow” (Season 12, Episode 8)

Ah, a nice visual metaphor for watching Season 12 so far.

“The weather service has upgraded Springfield’s blizzard from a winter wonderland to a class-three killstorm.” – Kent Brockman.

Airdate: December 17th, 2000.

Written By: Tim Long.

Plot: A sudden storm rapidly moves over Springfield, causing chaos and madness. Thankfully, most of the schools in the area are closed. The one exception? Springfield Elementary School. This is not a particularly wise move – by the end of the day, the school is effectively snowed in. Skinner’s attempts to maintain order by going back to his Vietnam experiences creates further resentment among the students. When Skinner finds himself trapped in a snow tunnel that Bart constructed to try and escape the building, all hell breaks loose.

Review:

There’s an old saying that gets passed around from time to time. It goes along the lines of, at some point, things get so bad and you fall so deep and so far that you have nowhere to go but up.

Well, The Simpsons saw fit to challenge that argument this season. Of the past six episodes, I can think of a grand total of one I want to revisit in the future. And even that was more “good, not great” than anything. To add insult to injury, the past three episodes are in the running for the Scully Era’s “worst episodes” list. It’s basically a repeat of the “Mansion Family/Saddlesore/Alone Again” streak from the last season, except that streak at least waited until the middle of the season to tarnish the franchise for good.

If I had hope for Season 12, it is all but gone. All I can beg for is that it winds up mildly better than Season 11. It’s a low bar to clear, but trust me, this show knows how to trip over low bars now. From brilliance to baffling, how astonishing.

So I actually was looking forward to “Skinner’s Sense of Snow”. I mean, I don’t recall it as a particular favorite, but it wasn’t like it was one of the more infamous episodes. Maybe, just maybe, it would provide some stability to the season, possibly add some hope for the rest of the episodes.

However, I was actually quite surprised at what I encountered. “Skinner’s Sense of Snow” is actually quite… bad. Yeah, I was not expecting to dislike this one as much as I did, but dislike I did! If I do a “Top 12 Worst of Season 12” list at the end of Season 12 (which I likely will), it would be hard to see this episode not contending for a spot.

Scullyfied Simpsons: “Homer vs. Dignity” (Season 12, Episode 5)

“Ow – my eye! I’m not supposed to get pudding in it!” – Lenny. Unfortunately, compared to what else happens in this episode, he gets off relatively easy.

Airdate: November 26th, 2000

Written By: Rob LaZebnik

Plot: The Simpsons are broke again! Their credit cards are no longer accepted at restaurants, the car is being stripped to fund gas, and the family is so in the hole that they face extreme bankruptcy. Homer must humble himself to try and make some extra cash. Unfortunately, Mr. Burns is in a rather jester-ish mood, and his idea of comedy consists of watching Homer humiliate himself for large amounts of cash. Again. And again. And again.

Review:

In “Homer Vs. Dignity”, Homer gets sexually assaulted by a panda while trying to make money based on Mr. Burns’ amusement at his humiliation.

…

Do I have to say anything else at this point?

That one sentence pretty much encapsulates a lot that has gone absolutely wrong with The Simpsons. Just writing that sentence for the purpose of this review makes me wonder what the hell was going on in the writers’ room while this episode was being drafted. The sheer idea of that scene existing in this show alone is enough to put the episode on the cliff of bad Simpsons episodes, even if it was delivered in an absolutely effective way.

As you can probably guess, the execution of said scene, as well as almost everything else about this half-hour of television, sends “Homer vs. Dignity” over the edge into the fiery pit of despair. The Simpsons has been in decline for three seasons now, and in my eyes, it’s been dead since the middle of Season 11. But this episode is special – it might be the moment the writers stopped trying to write for The Simpsons and just used the show as a springboard for their half-assed attempts at satire, all while trying to poorly ape contemporaries such as South Park. 

Let me put it this way – after four episodes ranging from “sorta bad” to “pretty decent”, we finally get a whammy of a trainwreck this season. It is a contender for one of the worst ever – that‘s how bad it is.

Scullyfied Simpsons: “A Tale of Two Springfields” (Season 12, Episode 2)

Out here in the fields, I fight for my meals
I get my back into my living
I don’t need to fight to prove I’m right
I don’t need to be forgiven
– “Baba O’Riley”, The Who.

Airdate: November 5th, 2000

Written By: John Swartzwelder.

Plot: Attempting to dial an exterminator to remove a badger from his property, Homer finds out that the town has split into two separate area codes. This continues to frustrate him, and he finally loses his patience when he misses out on Who tickets. At a town hall meeting, he concludes that the working-class side of town was stuck with memorizing the new area code, and proposes the town split. He is appointed mayor, where his tenure rapidly goes off the rails.

Review:

Well, we’ve done it. Season 12 of The Simpsons. We’ve passed the 75% mark.

While we officially entered Season 12 with the last episode, this episode, by not being a Treehouse of Horror, really kicks proceedings off for really real. This is a nice way of saying that the countdown to the end is starting. Yup, from this point forward, we are all but counting down to the bitter end of this series of reviews chronicling what might be the greatest collapse of a TV series in history.

I am not enthused, as you can probably tell. Three seasons of watching the series decay will do that to a man.

Anyway, Season 12 begins with the show ripping itself off, as is tradition. This time, the show decides to revisit a plot element from earlier in the Scully era (make of that what you will). Remember back in “Trash of the Titans”, when Homer rode a wave of insolence based off his selfish desires to the office of sanitation commissioner, destroying the town in the process.

So, let’s now make him mayor of half the town because of his insolence, fueled by his own selfish desires, and have him lay waste to half the town in the process!

SEASON 12, AHOY!

Scullyfied Simpsons: “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge” (Season 11, Episode 21)

Well, at least she’s not yielding an entire motorcycle this time…

“I can only see a horrible rainbow!” – Ice Cream Parlor employee. Hey, it was one of the few memorable quotes from this episode.

Airdate: May 14th, 2000.

Written By: Larry Doyle

Plot: The Simpsons host a wedding in their background. This time, it’s meant for Otto and his partner, Becky. However, the marriage collapses due to Otto’s obsession with metal music. With nowhere else to go, Becky moves in with the Simpsons. She manages to endear herself to most of the Simpsons. The odd member out is Marge, who starts to feel jealous… and starts to suspect that Becky is trying to kill her.

Review:

Once again, I am bereft of words.

I mean, I’ve watched this show go down the tubes so fast, you swear it brought a pass to Splish Splash and hit up the Cliff Diver several times. To be blunt, you know that old cliche “hope for the best, prepare for the worst?” Well, in the case of The Simpsons, the latter sentiment holds stronger than the former, to put it mildly. So I wasn’t expecting much from “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge” – particularly with my memories of this episode involving a broken ice cream cone being weaponized.

But it still might surprise you to know that what we have here is in the “infamously bad” category.

No, seriously – Season 11 has had some stinkers, and some of those stinkers have been utterly astonishing in how they got put to air in the state they were in. But honestly, this episode is a genuine candidate for the second worst of the season. In fact, that’s where it might wind up when all is said and done.

To put it simply, this might be the single least Simpson-y Simpsons episode I’ve seen so far. And when you manage to outpace the jockey elves in that regard? At least that was surreal. This is, too, but unintentionally this time around.

Scullyfied Simpsons: “Last Tap Dance in Springfield” (Season 11, Episode 20)

“Tap-a, tap-a, tap-a!” – Little Vicki Valentine. Those immortal words…

Airdate: May 7th, 2000.

Written By: Julie Thacker

Plot: While watching the movie Tango de la Muerte while out shopping with her mother, Lisa becomes enchanted with the art of dancing, and decides to take up the skill. Much to her displeasure, it turns out that the dancing school in town is taught by former child star Little Vicki Valentine, who not only railroads her into the Tap class, but whose technique also contradicts Lisa’s lack of experience… and skill. Concurrent to Lisa’s struggles, Bart and Milhouse have issues of their own, abandoning a camping trip in favor of hanging out in the Mall.

Review:

“Kill the Alligator and Run” was probably the most stereotypically awful episode of the entire series, or at least, the Scully era. I think it has everything many fans hate about the show’s more contemporary run – Homer’s beyond obnoxious and straight up odious, there’s a gratuitous celebrity cameo, the plot is unfocused at best and nihil at worst, every few seconds contain some form of insanity beyond the show’s universe put into focus instead of a light joke, the satire sucked, the list goes on and on.

I don’t know if I can call it the worst episode – “Alone Again, Natura-Diddily” gets more visceral hate from me for completely destroying the show’s soul, and “KTAAR” at least can be almost amusingly bad – but it’s pretty damn clear why it winds up on so many people’s “most hated” lists. (After all, by the time the likes of “Lisa Goes Gaga” aired, the viewership had fractioned.) From this point forward, I am honestly expecting most of the episodes (bar a couple) to be mediocre at best. I hope for the best, but I am more than prepared for the worst.

That said, this episode is part of the aforementioned exceptions. Maybe it’s because it comes after a string of what I felt were largely “mediocre to downright disastrous” episodes (“Pygmoelian” being the one good one out of the past eight to be any good, in my opinion – and three of the eight are contenders for the worst ever), but “Last Tap Dance in Springfield” felt a lot closer to the show’s classic era – specifically, the show during Seasons 7 and 8. Not quite as good, but it did feel weirdly close.

Scullyfied Simpsons: “Days of Wine and D’oh-ses” (Season 11, Episode 18)

In context, it’s a good metaphor for the episode. Out of context, it’s a sublime metaphor for the series!

“There’s a line in `Othello’ about a drinker:`Now a sensible man, by and by a fool, and presently a beast.’ That pretty well covers it.”  – Barney Gumble, Puke-a-hontas, “A Star is Burns”. Weirdly apropos given the episode covered today.

Airdate: April 9th, 2000.

Written By: Dan Castellaneta and Deb Lacusta

Plot: Barney Gumble is disturbed when he sees a video of his birthday party. There, he was so drunk as to become the largest fool in the town. Combined with the constant mockery from his fellow barflies, he decides to quit drinking for good. But the temptation still remains, especially when the less-than-teetotal Homer tags along on his path to sobriety.

Review:

Season 11 of The Simpsons really does feel like a show clinging to life, to relevancy, to any sort of cohesion that is ebbing away.

I mean, the remanents show does so nowadays by the proliferation of guest stars, as well as attempts to be relevant that often indicate that a trend or meme is deader than dead. But in terms of narrative, Season 11 of The Simpsons seems to be indicative of a show realizing that the story engine has mined the well dry. However, it was also too successful to end – whether it was the writers, the voice actors, or the network executives, they were too proud or too greedy to let the show come to a natural end.

As a result, what we have so far this season (besides the increase in gimmicks and the show’s world collapsing into a black hole of inane insanity) are the gambles made on three characters – Apu Nahassapeemapetilon, Ned Flanders, and Barney Gamble. The nature of their circumstances were all radically reformed, albeit in different ways. Apu and Manjula decided to start a family, got his wish in the most extreme way, and now has to deal with eight children – making the stressed-out father the central component of his character (whatever is left, anyway). Ned Flanders, long the happy-go-lucky yin to Homer’s yang, had his wife die… in an accident caused, exacerbated, and downplayed by Homer… and I’m going to stop there because my blood is boiling already.

Barney’s change is the most unique. It’s not something that actually comes out of nowhere, but actually has its roots in the show’s broader narrative. Of course, I feel like the aforementioned changes might have been executed well (or at least, had some small level of merit) in another universe. So the question is, how do the writers do on this particular gamble?

Scullyfied Simpsons: “Little Big Mom” (Season 11, Episode 10)

Bart: “Brains! Brains!
Homer: “Use your delicious brains to help us. Your delicious brains…”
– At the Flanders’ house. Oh, my god, they did become Zombie Simpsons!

Airdate: January 9th, 2000

Written By: Carolyn Omine’s

Plot: A trip to the Mount Embolism ski resort goes awry not when Homer takes several mounds of snow to the groin, or when Homer gets incinerated, or Lisa gets threatened by deer, but when Marge takes a cuckoo clock to the leg. With Marge laid up in the hospital, Lisa tries to tackle domestic duties. However, the silliness of Homer and Bart wind up driving her to the brink of sanity.

Review:

Before I begin, we must take note of the fact that this was the first episode to air in the new millennium, depending on how you define the term.

The Mike Scully era of The Simpsons has become infamous for often stretching the definition of realistic plotting even further than the show’s classic era did. This is a combination of making the weirdness too central to the plot, as well as the eradication of the show’s other virtues (such as pacing and character development).

However, this does not mean that everything associated with the Scully Era is necessarily bad. In fact, sometimes, the show’s weirdness has hit a certain point where I actually do like it, or at least, am willing to tolerate it because the episode had other interesting or decently-executed elements. There was “Maximum Homerdrive”, “Guess Who’s Coming to Criticize Dinner”, and the most recent review, “Grift of the Magi”. All of those episodes went above and beyond the silliness of the classic era, yet still had a decent father-son plot, intriguing critique on the art of critique (and a realistic Homer), and a scathing satire on private education and the commercialization of Christmas.

Now, though, we get an episode that actually seeks to enter a more down-to-earth plot. “Little Big Mom” reverts the show back to the immediate family and their interactions with one another. The big question is, can this episode keep the silliness toned down and follow through with a tight, down-to-earth plot?

Spoiler alert – not really.