Season Fourteen - Episodes 5-22

Episode 5: Helter Shelter
Pretty terrible episode for a change. The plot was just bunch of stuff happening and the whole premise was totally uninspiring. You know there's a reason that there aren't that type of reality tv program in real life, nobody would find interesting to watch some people live in 1800's style life. But that's only tip of the iceberg why this episode doesn't work. Too much wackiness and it drags on at times. Drunk Maggie is only thing saving this episode, 2/10.

Episode 6: The Great Louse Detective
Decent episode. Fair enough plot, though some things are a little far-fetched. Some decent jokes, but the plot kills off couple of minutes early and then we're treated to too long song after shows resolution. That said that's not big fault, but fault nonetheless. It's a solid Sideshow-Bob episode overall and I rate it 6/10.

Episode 7: Special Edna
Fairly good episode centered on Skinner, Bart & Krabappel -relations. Solid characterizations practically write the episode itself. That said, I think Bart accepts Skinner's proposition of ruining Edna's winning chances a tad too easily. Meh, perhaps they were running low on time. On the joke frontier this one a bit above average. My favorite bit was that "Mmm.. That's good satire!" at the end of that Enron ride. It's solid story-driven episode that goes well among the other episodes and has enough humor to stand it's own ground, I give it 6/10. Just shows how important the premise is - They could've written this one badly and it would've still been at least decent.

Episode 8: The Dad Who Knew Too Little
Well these are consistently solid at the moment. This isn't anything special, Homer is a bit of a jerkass here, but it has sound plot overall and you're entertained throughout. It's definitely worse than most of episodes that explore Lisa-Homer dynamic, but those happen to be one of top episodes of the whole series so it's little wonder. This is inferior, but not bad, I'm going to rate this 5/10.

Episode 9: Strong Arms of the Ma
Up until about 14th minute, when Marge beats the shit out of her robber and says "You've been marginalized" in a crowning moment of awesome this episode was going toward at least 7/10 rating. Unfortunately it spins out of control after that. I mean that's it, it should've been conclusion, that fight. Episode was about Marge beating her fear of going outside, right? When that conflict is solved, surely anyone can tell that that is where it should end. The whole Marge going over the top with her training is so fucked up out of character that I just can't accept it. Besides there isn't anything funny after that point. It's worthless. They would've been better off just airing 14-minute episode than this clusterfuck of a third act. It ruins the episode. On the humor front, Homer's Tetris game deserves a mention. 4/10 for great two acts. This was the real 300th episode.

Episode 10: Pray Anything
You have to admit it, after Scully era it's been like you're on classic era again. They churned out at least decent episodes week in week out. This one had an interesting premise which was well utilized. There was compact plot, good jokes and some excellent Flanders in this episode. You gotta love Ned's version of the ark. This isn't amazing or anything but everything is well made and therefore it justifies 6/10 rating.

Episode 11: Barting Over
So this was the episode that got advertised as 300th episode in the end. I guess they wanted to use more celebrity voices or something for the special episode. It was really the 302nd as is referenced in the episode. It has bad, bad case of jerkass-Homer and to some extent Bart acts pretty annoyingly too. Plot is okay and the idea of Bart moving to live on his own is interesting, but I think that in the end the conclusion is too easy, making the whole episode feel a little cheap. All in all it has some decent gags, fair plot and so-so characterizations. It's a decent episode, but for a milestone you'd hope for a better one. 4/10.

Episode 12: I'm Spelling As Fast As I Can
Another fair outing, but this one wasn't without it's problems. The ending is pretty bad. It would've been better as outright downer ending as it seemed to be. It might've been somewhat unsatisfying, but so was the current ending and at least that ending would've been stronger. I also feel that whole Lisa's dream sequence was a little odd. Other than that there's not much wrong. Plot is good and the subplot is great on humor while complimenting the mainplot well. Overall the episode could've been funnier, but it's still okay. I rate this one 5/10.

Episode 13: Star is Born-Again
This was a little dull to be honest. Most of the jokes you could see that were fun in theory just didn't work for some reason. Plot was fairly dull and predictable and the spotlight was completely out of OFF, expect Homer giving some occasional advice but even that wasn't that funny. I don't think there's any other problems except the dullness, I could say that Ned and Sara's relationship end sort of easily but that's it. Some people like this though and it's not horrible by any means. Certainly there's enough good stuff to merit 3/10.

Episode 14: Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington
Another quite dull episode. It improved a little after Krusty was involved in the plot, but that said it never soared very high on excitement. There's uninteresting plot, jokes don't work and involving Krusty just happens, there's no real reason for picking him out. Uninspired stuff for the most part, I'm gonna have to go for 2/10. I really though about giving it a one, it's so mediocre, but the Fox-jokes bring it up a tad.

Episode 15: C.E.D'oh
This was certainly an improvement. Premise is good and the execution is a decent one. Jokes are mostly average bar few highlights, like Maggie dancing and the Burns' Mausoleum gag. Homer becomes the plant owner perhaps a tad too late as it's not really explored that much. Homer just quickly deduces that he can't do the job and soon enough we have "305th everything is back to normal" ending. Decent but nothing else, 5/10.

Episode 16: 'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky
Decent run continues though you'd kind of hope for really good episodes once in a while. This is another decent episode, solid mix of jokes and plot but nothing special in any way. It has some stupid jokes like Willie collecting glass shards with his tongue. Overall though it kept you entertained enough to get 4/10.

Episode 17: Three Gays of the Condo
It started of with a bit forced Marge-Homer conflict, it actually made me groan. But it got better as the show went on and in the end the way it started didn't matter that much. Homer with those gays is a good (if not all new) concept that works well enough. The puzzle plot seemed a bit detached of the main plot and could've been a bit shorter. Plot was a bit of a mess but for some reason it kept entertaining me until the end. Humor worked well apparently. Still it's only middle of the road episode, 5/10.

Episode 18: Dude, Where's My Ranch?
I don't like the premise, but that's not the biggest problem. I loathe the way Lisa was characterized in this episode. I am all for her having a dark side but I don't think that was the way she is supposed to act when thinking that this Luke guy had a girlfriend. I think she would be sad and just dump Luke. The other characterization problem in this episode was super-jerkass Homer. Granted, he is supposed to be somewhat jerkass towards Ned, but this went too far. The song could've at least been funnier. Maggie dancing seems to be the ace up their sleeve for saving episodes and also I liked the Moe-song in the end, so I can give this 2/10. Besides, why do they piss on the continuity for nothing? You don't need to be hardcore fan to know Lisa has had crushes before this. Sometimes I'm just baffled.

Episode 19: Olde Yeller Belly
There was some decent jokes in this one, but mostly this is pointless. These Santa's Little Helper plots seem not to work and it's really hard when SLH is even bigger of a loser than usually is. Besides Homer doesn't learn again a damn thing and the plot is scetchy. I mean how can the old owner just show up after 14 seasons and claim the dog back just on the basis what Homer said in some interview? 1/10.

Episode 20: Brake My Wife, Please
Fast-paces episode that I'm still trying to figure out. I'm sleep-deprived and seen about 100 episodes during the last 7 days so obviusly I'm going to struggle a bit on what was last episode and what I've seen earlier. This had too much going on. It actually started at the aquarium which was only faint memory by the end of the episode. Then we're at the hospital and all the sudden Homer's buying a new cellphone. So was this what episode was all about? No, it was about Marge's and Homer's marital crisis. Next Homer drives to the sea and loses his licence. That could've alone been the plot. Next we turn into how awesome walking all the sudden is for Homer and the Marge goes insane. Enough reciting the mess that the plot is, you got the point already. For "Dude, meet me in Montana, XX00, Jesus (H. Christ)" and some other good jokes it gets 3/10.

Episode 21: Bart of War
Another acceptable episode. Ned being a Beatles-fan was a bit odd thing to find out, especially this late in the series, but whatever. Bart's Beatles-hallucinations were funny. After the "Pre-Teen Braves" subplot kicked in it got a bit worse and the ending was pretty much ridiculous. Canada's national anthem was a bit of random humor that just didn't work. Overall, it's not too bad, but it lacks the classic jokes to be any better than 4/10.

Episode 22: Moe Baby Blues
This is absolutely amazing episode. Moe is characterized perfectly. His fondness for Maggie could've easily turned offputtingly creepy but they manage to pull it off. After that the thing is just near perfection. It's heartfelt, but because of Moe's character it's also inevitably funny. This episode pretty much finds the perfect balance between emotion and humor. I'd go as far as to say that this is the greatest post-classic episode ever. Way to end a season, 9/10.

Alright, that season is done. First full season of Jean's current regime and it consisted of tons of average episodes, few bad ones and only couple of truly great ones. There was five sixes though and ton of fives to even this out. It managed an average of 4,55. This means that it drops substantially from Season Thirteen. What this season's problem is that it has not enough truly great episodes. Also if there was couple of too many stinkers during this season. So have seen the post-classic peak already? Next season looks pretty similar to this - solid but unspectacular. There's bunch of episodes with the potential to hit great ratings. We'll see.

Averages:
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 Thirteen 5.36
Season Nine 4.88
Season One 4.69
Season Fourteen 4.55
Season Twelve 4.29
Season Eleven 4.14
Season Ten 4.00

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 Thirteen 6 (27 %)
Season Nine 6 (24 %)
Season One 3 (23 %)
Season Twelve 2 (10 %)
Season Fourteen 2 (9 %)
Season Eleven 2 (9 %)
Season Ten 1 (4 %)

I've already watched 18 episodes today and theres still 7½ hours of the day left. Record seems very doable, crushable even. ½ hour an episode would take me to 33 episodes, but I know I could do even faster. I'll keep a short break though.