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.

Season 22, Episode 12

Awesome episode. Lots of very good jokes, great theme song for that show and an actually coherent plot. I don't remember laughing out loud this many times while watching a new Simpsons episode in ages. Though I though that the A-Team of Finland was just... Weird.

Best episode of the season by far. Really not much to say about it right now, awesome (by modern standards) just sums it up.

Season 22, Episode 11 - First Impressions

I had completely forgotten about this, so I checked it out today. I don't know, I don't like it as much as other have liked especially after getting my hopes a bit up when I saw it was written by Matt Selman. It just seemed crammed with bad gags that I really didn't care about. What's up with all these weird visuals from dreams? We get the Moe's dream painting, the stuff that girl had drawn about Bart and Skinner's love hallucinations. Comic Book Gay was right there on the "so bad it's good" -category and to be frank it was the only time I even cracked a smile during the episode. Well I guess I smiled also when Skinner talked to Chalmers while being happy and when he came back.

But I guess when you look at it in terms of plots, it's okay especially compared what's around it. That said I still got the feeling that the subplot with Skinner sprang out of nowhere. Overall, I don't think it was terrible, but it wasn't good either. I think this is one of those episodes that I might appreciate more after a second viewing, but we'll see.

Season 22, Episode 10 - First Impressions

It was resoundingly mediocre in every way, which I guess is pretty good for this season. There wasn't much really bad stuff and for once the couch gag didn't last two hours. The best bit was probably Bart's fantasies on dodgeball. The beginning was overall promising for this day and age, but it didn't keep it up, even if it didn't get really bad either. I enjoyed CBG's appearance though. There was some pretty random moments like Bart's shark thoughts but they weren't so bad that they'd really bother me.

Season 22, Episode 9 - First Impressions

I'm not going to blow the Fit/Fat Tony thing out of proportion. It was stupid, that's it, moving on.

I think this was fair, because I pretty much didn't hate it. I can look over some flaws like that Fat Tony stuff. It kept me fairly entertained and I actually laughed at couple of jokes. Overall though it just felt like they were trying too hard again. They tried to force something funny out of pretty much every line and there was some weird gags thrown in, like the whole Moe "Chimpan-me" bit. Plot was fair enough if you, once again, overlook some things.

Listing every failed gag would have me writing 'til tomorrow, so I'll just say the bits I liked. Homer "getting beaten" gave me a chuckle. It's simple stuff, but it worked. Also seeing Moe prank call was refreshing. When was the last time we saw one of those? I don't remember one in years. Of course it really wasn't a Moe prank call, but the effect was the same. "Only one who ever shot anyone was the baby" and Maggie shooting was a pretty good way to end it.

Season 22, Episode 8 - First Impressions

During the first story there wasn't really any laughs, it was somewhat depressing actually. I remember thinking "Well, this is grim". Santa turning out to be rich in the end was meant to be funny? The only funny joke of the segment was the Polar Express being fueled by cannabis. Once we got to the Lisa's story it got better - Marge in the WWII was great stuff. The Inglorious Bastards reference was good, but it ran a tad too long without really being that inventive. Martha Stewart segment was okay, nothing really special, but it wasn't bad either. I didn't laugh a lot, but neither did I groan. The puppet segment in the end started hilariously but it also got slightly ankward as it went on. It's an uneven episode, but there's some great jokes so overall it's okay. For this season this is decent stuff.

Season 22, Episode 7 - First Impressions

I really didn't care much for the plot, but I just kept smiling for long periods in the episode. There was plenty of okay humor, especially Homer for the most part was funny in this one. That said, there were some jokes that definitely didn't work for me at all, like Chalmers "doing it" with Edna. I just felt bad for Skinner. There was a lot of cliché moments like Bart's early attempt to leave the bird. I kept waiting they'd do something unexpected with that, but it never happened. After all there was zero emotional load in that scene, so you would've expected at least some gag on it. I think they could've just had Bart say "No way I'm getting rid of this bird now" instead of writing useless scene like that. But they just like to waste time a lot nowadays. After the episode turned focus on Santa's Little Helper I really didn't care for it at all anymore. Most of the fourth act was just random. I also think that the bird opening his eyes was the perfect moment to end the episode, instead of actually showing it attack the Simpsons.

I feel that with an okay plot and less filler it could've been a good one. Couch gag had me groaning "oh no, they're making a long one again", but it wasn't too long after all and the concept was interesting.

All in all good humor, useless plot and lot of filler combining to make mediocre episode.