keskiviikko 30. maaliskuuta 2011

Season 22, Episode 17 - First Impressions

Ugh. Season 22 is winding down and we're right back where the season was before some decent episodes. Terrible showing, I just don't know where to begin. I mean, it was so bad that it took me until wednesday to even write anything. First of all hardly any of the jokes hit the target. There was some slight smile-worthy, but nothing else. Characterization was the biggest problem, it was absolutely horrendous. It was like only worst of Bart and Homer made 100x worse. They both were full on jerkass-mode.

There's also one thing I have to mention. Picture yourself as a Simpsons writer. You know that the episode will need to be (for whatever reason) about Homer going to a therapist to become better dad, or something along those lines. So what do you do to get Homer to go there? Have him tickle Bart so much that he PEES HIMSELF? NICE IDEA, BRO. I GOTTA SAY THAT'S AT LEAST ORIGINAL. I would have just have him strangle Bart and have Marge be worried about that, I mean Homer's usual antics are way enough to go to therapist for, but hey, that's so good an idea, that it simply has to go into an episode.

Thanks for reading, people.

maanantai 14. maaliskuuta 2011

Season 22, Episode 16

I just didn't care and didn't find pretty much anything funny in it. Even Homer's imagination scene, which was the type of scene I would normally like, wouldn't not work for me this time. Some gags felt blatant filler which is surprising that they need some when there's practically three plots going on.

There was only one or two truly horrible things, but otherwise it was just bad. Homer's bits were mediocre at best and the ending didn't work at all.

Season's winding down a bit, but perhaps we'll still see one or two decent episodes. I still guess it's this kind of dross that we can expect.

maanantai 7. maaliskuuta 2011

Season 22, Episode 15 - First Impressions

Well that's not something you see every day. In the end I was for a while just accepting it, I guess I have gotten used to Simpsons being crazy, but at some point it really hit me... "WTF am I watching?"

It started decently and there were a few chuckleworthy gags, but it just got crazy in the end. I usually like insane humor but this just wasn't any good. Also the plot was once again pretty pointless. It's not the worst of the season, but definitely nearer that end. I mean it would have been mediocre even if it had mantained the momentum of the first act, but now the ending manage the smash the any remaining hope that the episode was any good.

Then again I still think that this season has been better than the couple preceding it (not saying much really). But yeah... It wasn't offensively bad until the end, but I still didn't like it.

keskiviikko 2. maaliskuuta 2011

Season 22, Episodes 13 & 14 - First Impressions

I've sorta zoned out of Simpsons for past few weeks. So here's what I thought of those couple of episodes in between.

The Blue and the Gray
Either I am getting used to modern Simpsons' crap factor or this was another decent episode. Kind of predictable, but in a good way, I would have been dissapointed if the two plots wouldn't have came together in the end. Moe's plot kinda got pushed aside though. Speaking of Moe, the suicide-committing girl-Moe was a good joke. But probably the best joke for me was Bart and Lisa's hairline joke. I guess not everyone likes these self-referential jokes, but they work for me. There was some continuity issues with Marge's hair (then again, it already was fucked up... I mean the continuity). I felt also that Bart was slightly out of character when he went hardcore on Milhouse, but that's minor stuff. There was still the problem of bad jokes going on too long and being completely unrelated to the plot (which doesn't help), but it never got too bad this time.

So overall, this episode avoided big mistakes and avoiding mistakes is a big part of a succesful modern Simpsons episode. That's not to say that it was too bland either, but only time will tell that.

Angry Dad: The Movie
Not bad, but not particularly good either. The shorts of different animations were pretty good, but other than that there wasn't too much going on. I agree with the sentiments that it was basically just a bunch of shorts thrown together with bare basics of a plot holding the background together. But I was entertained, that was the most important part I guess. Not an episode to remember as a whole, but those animations make it worth checking out, especially the pixar part. Wallace & Gromit parody was somewhat uninspired. Again, it was not bad, but I just felt that you could have done something better with it.

Still, it's way above the past couple of seasons average level so this season has so far been a huge improvement over seasons 19, 20 and 21. Hope it keeps up for the rest of the season.