Season Eight - Episode 19-25

Episode 19: Grade School Confidential
A good episode where Skinner and Krabappel finally went together. Decent amount of humor, perfect characterizations and down-to-earth plot make for a very solid episode. I really don't know why this one is so gravely underrated. Some people say it boring which I don't really get cause I didn't find boring moments from there, but whatever. An excellent episode, 7/10.

Episode 20: The Canine Mutiny
I'm not really fan of Santa's Little Helper episode, but for the most part this was okay. Last act was a bit uneven, but the very ending was certainly surprising if a little unsatisfying. There was plenty of fun stuff though, like Bart's search for Santa's Little Helper and Lisa on those alertness pills. Again, I really don't see why this so boring in people's minds, there was some slower moments but for the most part it's entertaining. 5/10 for solid outing.

Episode 21: The Old Man and Lisa
It's a decent episode, but I just can't get over the ending. No-one would ever refuse 12 million dollars, not even with them being made questionably. I mean Lisa is not stupid, sure she can deduce that those 12 million do less harm on her hands than on Burns'? She could well make up for her mistake with those money. And we wouldn't even had to lose the Homer's heart attack joke in the end - If Lisa just donated the money away Homer would've got the heart attack anyway and we would've had more plausible ending. As it is the ending ruins pretty solid episode that explores an interesting relationship of Lisa's and Mr. Burns'. It could've had more laughs, but it's still decent despite the end. 4/10.

Episode 22: In Marge We Trust
Solid episode again. Mr. Sparkle plot didn't really go anywhere, but it had some good jokes, I mean the video they sent was crazy! Marge-plot was good though the fact that Ned was so helpless with those teens was a bit ridiculous in a wrong way. Also the ending with baboons was a bit over the top, but it's okay. Marge was used well in this episode, but I think the calls had more potential for hilarity than what got used in the end. Anyway it's a solid episode, but not worth more than 5/10 rating.

Episode 23: Homer's Enemy
Memorable episode, I guess this is considered a classic nowadays. It has an interesting premise and it works well. Frank Grimes is one of the best one-off characters there is. The writers' intentions were to show what would happen if someone from real world would be working at the plant and it worked well, as his interactions with Homer seemed very real. That said it's inevitably a bit hostile with it's atmosphere, but it doesn't matter too much. It's 7/10 for a classic episode.

Episode 24: The Simpsons Spinoff Showcase
This is another Season Eight classic. The first segment is probably the best for me, but all of them are great. Second one is so insane as a concept that it simply can't fail and even though third one made me feel a bit dirty it's a good parody. People who don't like it are taking it way too seriously. It's just what it is, goofy stuff and you need to take it like that. It's not your usual Simpsons episode and that's what makes it so memorable. I enjoyed this, 7/10.

Episode 25: The Secret War of Lisa Simpson
This episode really struck a chord with me and got me to like Lisa even more if possible. I was a total Lisa in the army myself so it's very easy to relate to her during this episode. It's good characterization of her and also good take on Bart & Lisa's relationship. There's some unrealism like guns on them etc. but it's fine. It's not joke-crammed as well, but it has a simple, well-working plot and some good emotion, you gotta love that. 7/10.

And that's Season Eight for you. It's considered a part of golden era, but the decline started here, I'm pretty sure of it even before actually calculating the average. Season Seven's trends continued, but without the high density of great episodes - Worse episodes kept getting worse. That said it's obviously not bad. It got still very respectable 5,40 average. That said, it's the worst show has been since Season One, but only slightly worse than Season Two. We can still consider this part of the golden era and some people consider next season part of it as well. There's bunch of great episodes as well, but some true stinkers too. On the great episode count we got a bad drop from last seasons 13 to just nine episodes in Season Eight. That said, it's still respectable 36 % of good episodes.

Overall standings on both accounts, first the average ratings:
Season Three 6.21
Season Four 6.18
Season Six 6.12
Season Seven 5.88
Season Five 5.73
Season Two 5.59
Season Eight 5.40
Season One 4.69

Great episodes:
Season Seven 13 (52 %)
Season Six 12 (48 %)
Season Three 11 (46 %)
Season Four 10 (45 %)
Season Eight 9 (36 %)
Season Five 8 (36 %)
Season Two 7 (32 %)
Season One 3 (23 %)