Season Ten - Episodes 7-23

Episode 7: Lisa Gets an A
Strong Lisa-centric episode. Everyone thought it was going to be the formulaic route where Lisa's conscience takes over with a big reveal in the end and it did, but the episode still had a twist in the end. B-plot was pretty useless but provided us with couple of good sight gags. Overall well executed basic plot with good characterizations, I'll go for 6/10 for this one. I guess this is your prototype for good Scully-era episode.

Episode 8: Homer Simpson in: Kidney Trouble
Some people say Homer's characterization was off here and perhaps it was a bit - leaving his father on his deathbed twice is not like Homer we've known for over nine seasons at this point. But I think it was somewhat justified by the plot with tavern folk scaring him and it didn't to be honest bother me. There was some jokes, not much, but especially making Marge promise to blow up the hospital was a good one. It's not really as bad as people make it out to be, but then again, if you have problem with Homer's characterization it's probably gonna be big. For me it was just a bit bland at times and plot was a bit off at couple of points. Still, it's as high as 3/10 for me.

Episode 9: Mayored to the Mob
A decent episode, there was lot going on and Hamill's quest spot was well used. Well set-up and interesting Homer gets a new job -scenario. It had decent amount of jokes as well, but nothing that great still humorwise. Animation is a minus for this episode, there are points where characters are for some reason really off model. No real flaws in this. I especially loved how CBG just rejects the girl "Don't try to change me, baby". That's class. Overall a middle of the road episode, fairly memorable, 5/10.

Episode 10: Viva Ned Flanders
I "Lisa Get an A" is a prototype of good Scully-era episode, this is prototype of Scully's wackiness. It's entertaining, but somewhat all over the place. There was a few good jokes in this one and it is very memorable (though having seen this now at least four times helps). Ned being 60 is kind of stupid plot device and it pisses on the continuity. It doesn't really matter, but unneeded discontinuity is always a bit annoying. Plot was overall a mess and Homer was in his jerkass mode at times. Despite all of it flaws, it's a decent episode, 3/10.

Episode 11: Wild Barts Can't Be Broken
There's something wrong with this episode for me. Simple lines that change the mood of the episode like when there was that Party going on at Moe's and Homer asks that "Did Moe blow his brains out?" or something like that. That's awful! It's not funny and completely wrecks the character. Homer and Moe are supposed to be friends. Okay, it's only a line, but it really stood out for me. Plot was very simple at best and I didn't like the conclusion. That said this has some good gags as well, like Homer's memories of last night. I didn't care for the music number though. Amazingly enough people seem to like this one, while most agree with me that Homer was terrible in first act they think that the episode got better in second an third act. That's true too, but to be honest it didn't get that much better. Still, I guess there's enough good in this to justify a rating of 3/10.

Episode 12: Sunday Cruddy Sunday
It's amazing how defined the difference between Scully-era and classic era is. Sure I didn't notice it that much during the first run, but then again I just watched episodes without giving much thought for episode quality. The decline to the worst possible era is so fast that it amazes me. This episode is your standard Scully wackiness, some good jokes, but I've seen this too many times to really enjoy. Plot was dumb at best and only thing keeping this mess up is the humor. Subplot is completely useless, I mean at least something could've happened. I couldn't write something as dull if I tried. Some good jokes save it from bottom rating 2/10.

Episode 13: Homer to the Max
Funny episode, if nothing else. Most of the jokes work and despite slight (by Scully standards) wackiness the plot works fine. Premise is good and the oafish tv-Homer Simpson is ridiculous. Most jokes spawn naturally from the storyline. Sure there's lot of Homer getting hurt, but there's enough real jokes in between as well. Last act is pretty bad though. There's tons of meta-references as well. Overall enjoyable, but not up there with the greats. 5/10. I think this shows how weak the show got all the sudden - 5/10 seems to be the maximum episodes go this season.

Episode 14: I'm with Cupid
It feels nice to have solid plot-centered episode once in a while. Inevitably it gets a little wacky towards the end, but it doesn't bother me that much. Characterizations are okay for once, plot is good and there's bunch of good jokes thrown into the mix as well. It's nothing special really but compared to it's competition it's quite memorable and good. 6/10, it's best of the season bar the THOH for me so far.

Episode 15: Marge Simpson in: Screaming Yellow Honkers
This is pretty average episode. Not bad really, but it does make you cringe when the rhinos are unleashed. These kinds of plots just doesn't work that well. Prior to that it was fairly interesting, especially for a Marge-episode. There's some decent jokes, especially the NBC-stuff from the end. Characterizations are okay too, it's not that Homer-centric that he could've shown his jerkassness. Gil is probably at his saddest in this episode. I guess I'll go for 3/10 again. Some good jokes, but they don't make up for mediocre plot.

Episode 16: Make Room for Lisa
One of the better Season Ten episodes. It has some jerkass-Homer again and it perhaps on the lower end of Lisa-centric episodes, but it's still entertaining. I didn't feel as much emotion as I feel usually in these kinds of episodes, but the plot was still fairly decent. Though it's kind of messed up that Lisa is the one who apologizes in the end. It was somewhat low on laughs, but watching those hallucinations was interesting (not funny, but not intended to be funny anyway). At times well-written but it falls short of the high standard of usual Lisa-episodes. 4/10.

Episode 17: Maximum Homerdrive
They really went overboard with these Homer gets a new job-plots in Season Ten. Couple of these in a season is okay, I guess, but when every other episode is one of these it gets old quickly. There was some jerkass-Homer again on the show in the first act, but luckily it wasn't about Lisa against meat like it could've been judging by the first scene. It seemed like it could've gotten really bad had the episode gotten that direction. Now it was merely mediocre. There wasn't much good jokes and the plot was pretty boring. The subplot with Marge and Lisa seemed like a repeat of "Sunday Cruddy Sunday" subplot. There should be better use to Lisa and Marge than just dump them in some useless subplots. I don't know why, but I'm giving this 2/10. I guess it's only because it's very watchable despite nothing really good being in it.

Episode 18: Simpson Bible Stories
I've seen this episode one too many times. Some kind of biblical conspiracy to air this all the time? Anyway, it's fairly enjoyable and different kind of episode. As the stories are known for pretty much all it works fairly well with short segments without the plot suffering too much. First segment is okay, nothing special, but nothing really wrong with it. The second is pretty good and the third starts off great but gets a little worse towards the end. The jokes don't work on me any more that well but that's the cost of constant rewatching. That said there's couple of pretty good ones in this. It's certainly not bad and definitely deserves at least 5/10.

Episode 19: Mom and Pop Art
Quite memorable episode with some good jokes and pretty solid plot. It doesn't take rewatches that well, and like other episodes around it, I've seen this quite a few times. I don't remember if I've said that but I'm more or less of a Scully era product in terms that these episodes were airing during my youth. Someone called this tolerable and I guess that's hitting the nail in the head. That's what I would describe this as well. It's nothing special but probably on the better end of Season Ten, I rate it 4/10.

Episode 20: The Old Man and the 'C' Student
Well this was boring. I can't remember last time I was so bored by Simpsons episode. It's not painful to watch or terrible or anything, it's just plain boring. There's few good jokes, semi-interesting premise wasted on a stale execution and it was just uninspiring all the way. Characterizations are thereabout, but I think Bart wouldn't have really cared that much about old folks' alleged boredom. It gets 2/10, but only because it's not particularly bad.

Episode 21: Monty Can't Buy Me Love
This wasn't as boring as the previous episode, but it wasn't that big of an improvement. Some amusing gags but the plot was bit of a mess and Burns looking for people's love seems like pretty poor concept. I mean someone in the writing room really has an imagination "Alright we got this concept of Burns trying to win people over, how could he do it?" "Well how about he goes to hunt Loch Ness monster?" "Wow, good idea! And then the Loch Ness monster can go work on a casino!" I mean, what the fuckin' shit were they smokin'? When I was younger I would intentionally write stories filled with random twists but even I never came up with anything that crazy. So it certainly wasn't that boring, but it wasn't good either. Another 2/10.

Episode 22: They Saved Lisa's Brain
So, the episode where Lisa joins Mensa. I don't honestly know about this episode. I find 8-year old Lisa joining Mensa both unrealistic and alienating. But on the other hand, compared to the dross around it, it's decent episode. Sure, it wasn't particularly funny and the plot wasn't top drawer, but it's still fair. While Lisa joins Mensa her characterization isn't exactly annoying, she still stays mostly in the character we've all known so far. There's enough amusing stuff to lift this up to 4/10, though I might just be too generous. Anyway it's one of the better episodes of the season, but that's not really saying much.

Episode 23: Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo
Surprisingly enough this is one of the better travel episodes. It's certainly not dull and there's bunch of fun gags. Plot is a bit random, but these travel episodes tend to be that way always - by their standards, this is pretty sane stuff. Best gags include the monopoly man and Barney pretending to be Homer. Lots of simple humor in this one as well. I guess this is good enough to deserve 5/10 and it brings decent conclusion to worst Simpsons season ever. I can say that before even typing in the numbers.

I never before realized how awful this season was and how pronounced the drop was until now. Only one great episode and even that is the THOH which has been a staple in terms of great episodes. Tons of under-par performances here. Scully really fucked something up and even great writers like Swartzwelder put in some really messed up episodes. Average drops as low as 4,00 meaning it beats the shit out of Season One to become the worst ever. In fact, it would be third to last in South Park list as well. Now that's pretty bad (even if I love both series). Most of the season was pretty dull and all that kept it up was good jokes every now an then. Plot and emotionwise this season was absolutely terrible. I'm not sure if next season is gonna get any better.

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 Nine 4.88
Season One 4.69
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 Nine 6 (24 %)
Season One 3 (23 %)
Season Ten 1 (4 %)

17 episodes already today and we're midday. I can do the record today! I'll be aiming for at least 30 episodes.