Revenge of the Simpsons - Simpsons Season 3 Review

Disclaimer: This is sort of tangentially related to this piece but to experiment with my writing process a bit, I decided to review Seasons 1 and 2 systematically (reviewing each episode as I watch them) and Season 3 I decided to take in bulk and then review them all in a backlog, and yeah. This made it a lot harder to get out the reviews because the episodes aren't as fresh in my mind as they would with the previous process, so it made it substantially harder to write. Sort of thing to take into account for anyone who wants to learn how to write, which is to take things systematically so it's not as much needless work.

Wesley Morris was right though. It's definitely best to write up your critiques of something when they're fresh in your mind, rather than leaving it until later and then having to jog up your memory when trying to perform write-ups. Again, that shows both in the ease of your workload and in the quality of your work. Nightmare to write.

Anyway, enjoy. Season 3 of The Simpsons.

S3E01 - Stark Raving Dad

"If you just talk to him for five minutes without mentioning our son Bart, you'll see how sane he is."

"You mean there really is a Bart? Good lord!"

Episode which features Michael Jackson, and was something that was later pulled in 2019 because it uh... featured Michael Jackson. (no more comments here.) What's actually kind of funny is that Jackson is credited pseudonymously as "John Jay Smith" and his singing voice is down by soundalike Kipp Lennon due to contractual obligations forbidding him from doing his own singing. Story itself is quite funny. Whole thing revolves around Homer being suspected of being insane and then Bart convincing everyone that he is insane and, as noted above, it's taken that Bart is not a real person but one of his fantastical delusions. Good episode, and has a pretty good ending to it as well.

S3E02 - Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington

Lisa wins an essay contest and witnesses a corrupt senator working at Washington D.C., becomes disillusioned by the political system, and winds up writing a scathing critique about the senator and the systems that allow him to do what he does. Is kind of an episode that explores a moralistic side to Lisa (in a positive way) and how it explores themes of childhood disillusionment and political cynicism and so forth. As a child corruption and hypocrisy is inexplicable, but then overtime you just realise that it's intrinsic as to how bad people act and the absence of it is inexplicable. Overall a pretty good episode.

Title and one of the explicit themes of the episode is how women senators weren't really a thing back in the early 1990s, something Lisa takes objection to. Awkward nomenclature but then that's the point.

S3E03 - When Flanders Failed

Flanders starts a left-handed supply store as one of his business ventures, and Homer takes some sort of perverse schadenfreude with wishing that his store goes down. This catalyses with how Homer keeps being asked by left-handed people if there's a store that sells left-handed goods, that he denies solely to spite Flanders. Homer is such a jerk in this episode, to the point where it actually did form the baseline for how much of a jerk he can be for future episodes. Also the whole 'left-handed' aspect of it is quite interesting because it's one of those things that's common but quite understated. Can be a bit of a stretch that Homer not telling anyone about the store winds up perpetuating Flanders to bankruptcy, and then the knowledge is what saves him.

Also is a subplot where Bart is at a self-defence class and then become distracted by a video arcade machine that doesn't really intersect into the A-plot that much, other than some vague thematic elements between the two with how they develop.

S3E04 - Bart the Murderer

Bart starts mixing drinks for a criminal underground which starts to bleed into his day-to-day life, but he also sees it as one of his first jobs where he gets some proper money. Another one where it does kind of tap into both that sense of mischief Bart has, but also in terms of how self-conscious he can feel about potentially doing bad things. The exaggerated nightmares he has and what happens to Principal Skinner and how that develops is quite funny, but also just that sort of thing of being a child and working for some shady people. Bart is kind of lured in because of the money he gets, yet at the same time the mob work is what also eats away at him, and also the absurd hypocrisy of the whole thing, culminating in this moment where Bart gets blamed for mob activity, and somehow that get's bought into.

Ending of this is funny but taps into that persistent Simpsons theme of TV being this mouthpiece for sensationalistic journalism with a total disregard for facts in favour of juicy, confabulated details instead.

S3E05 - Homer Defined

THE ACCURSED IMPOSTER SYNDROME. I'M IN A PLACE WHERE I DON'T FEEL LIKE I BELONG (except actually this time it's validated.)

This episode is also just super funny because it starts off with Homer inexplicably stopping a nuclear meltdown and is heralded as a hero like "Woah, I don't know how he managed to do this?" but the actual reasoning in of itself is that it truly is inexplicable. Did like how Homer just instinctively knows the aggrandisement is just totally BS, but he never takes advantage of it, and instead it's way more just how people feed into creating this image of something he isn't. Homer being framed in false juxtaposition with characteristics that are precisely just Homer Simpson (lazy donut eating workers) is such a funny gag, but a lot of this episode does really work in terms of its satire and how aggrandising images get imposed on people who don't deserve it (even to the point where Homer points this out.)

S3E06 - Like Father, Like Clown

Episode that examines Krusty the Clown a bit closer and sees him as being somewhat of a tragic figure with a strained relationship with his father, presenting his rise to being a clown as something which he takes such an objection towards, in favour of him becoming a rabbi instead. Has that sort of theme of attachment to entertainment figures, and the sort of dissonance where they are seen as being human with Krusty falling into a depressed state over the course of what's revealed, and just how he's disconnected from the icon that he's presented as. Does seem like the start of a line of episodes that show Krusty as being this desperate figure, and exploring the depths of his pains. 

S3E07 - Treehouse of Horror II

Scary credits this time around.

In general, this one feels a bit more in line with later Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episodes, and was also the first episode to have actually been broadcasted on Halloween. This one centres not on ghost stories but "nightmares induced by eating too much candy." Has three different ones involving a monkey's paw that grants five wishes (but with a cursed flipside to them), a parody of the Twilight Zone episode It's a Good Life where Bart has magical powers over everyone, and an episode where Homer gets fired, falls asleep in a grave and has his brain removed by Mr. Burns and is turned into a robot.

Pretty good. I did really like the ending to this, and also just how these episodes play with these overarching meta-narratives. I think also there's just something about these episodes that escalate in such an absurd way, reminds me also of the 'Scary Door' segments from Futurama.

S3E08 - Lisa's Pony

Interesting episode where Lisa wants a pony that the family can not afford, but then they decide to buy it anyway, and the whole experience winds up causing this drastic re-evaluation in terms of how much time Homer spends with his kids and Lisa in particular. Does touches on feelings of attachment, and also just that sort of dynamic where monetary stuff is treated like it's a replication of family needs and what not, and ends on a kind of sweet if sentimental note. Also one of those ones where it's catalyse by Homer doing irresponsible things and trying to make up for it, obviously.

Also an aside but if this was centred around Bart or something, then it would probably be like him getting bought a Super Nintendo and a Genesis and a bunch of games just to distract him. You'd look at it and be like "That sounds like heaven." but then you look at the underlying motivation of it and you're like "Oh wait, never mind."

S3E09 - Saturdays of Thunder

Is a weird sort of juxtaposition with Lisa's Pony where it's about Homer's attachment to Bart instead of Lisa, and how it centres itself around a soap box derby tournament, following Homer failing a fatherhood quiz and tries to build up a relationship with his son, but this one is a bit more about how Homer can actively do things and not just monetary stuff. Also culminates in this race where Bart and Martin (who usually do not get along with each other) are motivated solely just to get back at the bully Nelson who is competing with them. Does have some decent character development with how Homer's relationship with Bart builds, and also challenging this sense where Homer winds up imposing onto Bart and then rejects it when he doesn't accept it. Ending is pretty sweet too.

Written by KEN LEVINE!!!!! (no not that one, lol.)

S3E10 - Flaming Moe's

"I don't know the scientific explanation... but fire made it good."

Homer accidentally invents a cocktail after running out of booze, with cough syrup as an ingredient that tastes great after it's been set on fire and extinguished. Moe steals this recipe from him and he decides to expand the enterprise at his bar with it, which Homer winds up taking a lot of bother with. Is actually a pretty interesting examination into plagiarism and where ideas come from, and I like how Moe doesn't really hate Homer yet at the same time he does so many indefensible things that wind up aggravating Homer. Pretty memorable episode, and it does remind me a bit about how weird and creative cocktail recipes can be. You can make any old nonsense and it just flies, like with a firey cough syrup drink that somehow sells. 

But god, yeah, a lot of these episode have that sort of thing where Homer does get extremely envious of people and where he gets especially angry when he feels like in some way he has been cheated or betrayed. Again it is weird because Moe does not take into account Homer's frustrations, yet he still treats him in this smiling and friendly way. Lot of the tensions become understated but well understood, which adds to the humour.

S3E11 - Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk

Diese Rezension ist jetzt ins Deutsch schreiben. Nein, ich mache nur Spaß.

Yeah, I think they just had a lot of fun playing with the whole concept of "Burns sells the nuclear power plant to Germans." like what the title literally implies. German is a funny but interesting language, and the title has some sort of DEVO like quality to it. Episode is so funny because it is about Mr. Burns being an awful capitalist, who sells his power plant for the money, but then the Germans can't cope with the state that it's in and also the fact that Burns, no longer in a position where he can boss people around, starts to show signs of regret with selling it. Also, Homer impulsively sells the shares he had at the plant for $25 when the value of it skyrockets to $5,200, which I suppose is an interesting juxtaposition with what Mr. Burns goes through.

S3E12 - I Married Marge

Oh, this episode is quite relatable. Goes back to the early 1980s and shows how Homer and Marge wound up conceiving Bart, and the episode largely revolves around Homer trying but often failing to find work and how that really gets to him. There's this very persistent comedy trope where someone just applies for a job like "Ha, I've found my golden ticket." and they just instantly get it, but this one accurately treats it more like a numbers game where Homer takes up a string of menial jobs to get by. Actually quite relatable just how exhausted Homer is by it and how he tries to apply his skills and what not. That whole "Now Hiring" thing where you have these two push-overs juxtaposing Homer's timid attitude is a pretty funny gag.

Other than that, it's also quite a good example of that whole "floating timeline" thing where you have these early episode where flashbacks take place in the 1970s/1980s, then, much later in the series, Homer eventually is in his early 20s during the mid 1990s and what not. Suppose it's just something to get used to, because they do change these stories up a lot over the course of the series.

(*snort* He strikes the same xylophone key twice in succession, yet produces two completely distinct notes. What are we to imagine some magic xylophone. etc.")

S3E13 - Radio Bart

This one I weirdly remember as being about "Bart being stuck in a well." but the episode itself is largely about Bart pulling a prank where they think somebody is trapped in a well, when it's really just a radio device that he planted there. Another one of those episode where it's about media cycles and how people buy into sensationalist stories and build all these myths around them, without verifying if any of it is true or not. Also has people taking a perverse attachment to the boy in the well but then actually trying to rescue him or seeing what's really going on goes out the window, because of gross and absurd incompetence.

Bart is kind of a jerk in this episode, but I think it also winds up indicting the behaviour of everyone around him who treats it completely seriously. Is a really funny (1992) contemporary telling of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, just done in this way more sophisticated fashion.

S3E14 - Lisa the Greek

Homer winds up exploiting Lisa's analytical ability on football games so that he can make some sure-fire bets, and winds up exposing a side to Homer where he sees him as "bonding" with Lisa, but at the same time his genuine affection conflates with the sort of self-interest he has to win all of these bets for him. He does really only bond with her because of the betting. Develops in a pretty interesting way with how Homer is just stuck in that mindset, but it also does reveal this very irresponsible side to him where he sees it mentally as a "win-win" sort of thing, but not realising how he's effectively just using one of his children for himself. Ending was pretty touching.

S3E15 - Homer Alone

Marge has a nervous breakdown and takes time away from the family, so Bart and Lisa go to Patty and Selma, but Maggie is extremely reluctant and winds up staying with Homer. Those opening scenes with Marge are actually quite revealing, and I like how the visual and sound design of it really focuses on all of these little things that pop up under such a stressed mindset where it just stirs about in her head. It's something, but I do think it's one of those episodes where it's empathetic to Marge and also just showing how the family unit winds up straining when she's away from the family for a while. That sort of gag does get brought up so much more in later episodes as well, notably the whole "Boogeyman" joke from Season 5's $pringfield episode.

S3E16 - Bart the Lover

Bart catfishes Edna basically, before catfishing was even a thing. God, going through all these Season 3 episodes, it is kind of staggering just how many of them surmount to "Bart is such a jerk." in all of these different and elaborate ways. In fact, it largely just starts off because Bart wants revenge against her, and just not thinking about any of the consequences of what he does. Edna is pretty interesting character though. She is presented as this grumpy school teacher, yet underlyingly it does show this desperation in her life. That opening where she drives to the Kwik-E-Mart to pick-up some scratch-cards seeing it as a potential way out that never comes, was a really good little scene.

Oh, also the "Imagine a world without Zinc." instructional video modelled like this Twilight Zone episode with escalating consequences, is hilarious. Whole conceit feels does seem like a repeated gag in The Simpsons, but like you can kind of tell that some of the writers grew up watching these and just like how a lot of them are shown arbitrarily.

S3E17 - Homer at the Bat

This one is really good and probably has some of the best celebrity cameo appearances of The Simpsons. Getting all of these actual baseball players on the show was a neat touch (reasoning that Mr. Burns is so rich that he can afford them) and it's all to do with this bet of winning this baseball match against Shelbyville Nuclear Power Plant. Also just an excuse to get a bunch of baseball players starts to guest on the show, and I do like the gags where the players start drinking this serum that has all these abnormal side-effects. Sort of thing where a lot of the jokes come from the fact that Burns has so much money, yet at the same time is undercut drastically by not being able to plan out things properly. Ultimately, despite all of this, the responsibility winds up becoming placed largely onto Homer Simpson.

Really funny episode, and I did get a real kick out of the gag where all of these baseball players wind up deferring because of these really bizarre side-effects.

S3E18 - Separate Vocations

Really like the framing of this episode where Bart and Lisa are forced through circumstances where they essentially switch roles. Bart gets so into the idea of being a cop and become authoratative, and Lisa winds up becoming so disillusioned by stuff that she adopts a rebellious attitude. Episode itself is so funny, and I do like how it is actually quite believable how Bart and Lisa can wind up switching roles as soon as their environment starts changing. Both of them are sort of idealist types anyway, just where they exist in these drastically different directions, so it makes sense that as soon as Bart is celebrated and Lisa isn't that they would just fall into each other's opposite paths.

Oh, Bart as a cop/hall monitor is so funny, like he's just drawn to it because it's presented to him as "cool." Does extend a lot of empathy towards children who were in some way undercut by the education system, implying that they can't do things that fall in line with their ambitions in life. Really liked the ending of this.

S3E19 - Dog of Death

One where Mr. Burns takes up Santa's Little Helper in order to convert him into one of "The Hounds" after the Simpsons start getting angry at him after paying for an expensive gastric operation for him, meaning they cut back on pretty much everything. Has a bunch of references to stuff like A Clockwork Orange where the dog gets brainwashed by Mr. Burns, and what not. Family does seem to treat the dog like it's somehow both loved but also kind of a pain in the ass at points, and this one does kind of explore a scenario where the latter is tended towards way more.

Liked this, but it's also a bit sentimental even for Simpsons standards, and does run that risk of focusing quite exclusively on a side character where there isn't as much development on them (like it's the family dog). Then again, I also think it could be seen as shining a light on when pets become neglected in the family as well.

S3E20 - Colonel Homer

There's a bunch of Simpsons episodes where the central conceit of it is exploring these underlying feelings that Homer becomes attracted to other women and how that plays out (see also Last Temptation of Homer and El Viaje Misteriose de Nuestro Jomer.), and one where Marge becomes a bit suspicious and then later Homer becomes a bit too self-conscious. Lot of episode with Homer seem to centre on him going on these brief but passionate sort of tangents where it varies in terms of how involved he is in it, and also that whole thing where Marge just can't stand listening to this girl's music largely because of how she associates it with suspicion of Homer cheating on her.

Beverly D'Angelo plays a country singer in this episode. Think also this episode was largely done because people wanted to do one with country music elements in it. Notable for also being the only episode that was exclusively written by Matt Groening.

S3E21 - Black Widower

Sideshow Bob is an interesting character because basically everything about him screams red-flags, yet at the same time he is also such a smooth talker around people. Has a sort of overly "kind" attitude to people, yet Bart is pretty much the only one who can see right through him. Whole thing does play with this thriller plot where it's like "Oh god, something bad is going to happen and nobody is paying attention." and it is quite unsuspecting. Bob has that sort of habit of seemingly playing himself like a "reformed" person every time he comes out of jail, so you're never quite sure what about him leads onto his malevolent actions, just that they're very much there.

Also Patty and Selma have kind of grown on my. Julie Kavner says that she voices them as characters who "suck the life out of everything" but they really come across as just these aged versions of ultra-cynical teenage girls who think they're above everything, who clearly have never grown out of that mentality, but where there also is very much this degree of sensitivity and understated vulnerability to them. They provide some quite interesting dry humour that juxtaposes a lot of the show's other humour.

S3E22 - The Otto Show

"Otto? Auto-parts?" - Tom Finnegan to Emilio Estevez in Repo Man (1984)

Spinal Tap appears in this episode, and I suppose it's largely because Harry Shearer played Derek Smalls but also played so many voices on The Simpsons. Is kind of interesting how they shed a light on Otto the Bus Driver, and the Spinal Tap appearance is really good. Otto loses his driver's license and then has to apply to the DMV to get it reinstated, and the whole gag with Otto repeatedly failing the DMV challenges, including one where he has to travel inside these cones and not to know them over, except he sees it as a challenge to knock over as many cones as possible. Patty and Selma are the people who work at the DMV, who really dislike Homer, so you can sort of imagine how the would react to a slacker, stoner, heavy-metal enthusiast who acts all cool and what not.

Yeah, as an aside, I tend to have a mixed opinion on episode centring around side characters. I did like this one for sure, but it is one of the weaker episodes of this season.

S3E23 - Bart's Friend Falls in Love

That whole image of Milhouse standing on monkey bars and staring out into a purple skyline is a striking visual. Conveys his sort of post break-up desperation quite well.

Yeah, also an episode that really shows a lot of how Bart's relationship with Milhouse largely seems to be about goading him into stuff, so the moment that Milhouse breaks away from him. Bart starts getting a bit nervous and apprehensive, and goes to great lengths to sabotage the relationship. Is kind of interesting how that dynamic is illustrated, and is another episode where it largely shows Bart being a jerk to people. What's also fascinating is that he does show a great deal of ingenuity with how he sabotages things, but at the same time he never really questions why exactly he does it other than he feels he has to.

Oh, also Homer gets a bunch of tapes that are supposed to 'build habit to lose weight in his sleep unconsciously' except he receives a bunch of vocabulary tapes instead. His vocabulary does get built upon, but pretty much everything he says is just compulsive and semantically nonsense, as you'd probably expect from Homer.

Kimmy Robertson (who plays Lucy in Twin Peaks) also guest-stars in this one as Milhouse's girlfriend.

S3E24 - Brother Can You Spare Two Dimes?

You can tell that this was a John Schwartzwelder written episode, because it does seem to have that sort of through line to it where the American Dream is just being lucky enough to strike it rich and just chill. Herb does parallel Homer in a bunch of ways, because that whole "baby speak" thing just sounds like an off-the-cuff idea that he employs and it just works for whatever reason, accidentally just doing something that works for him. Herb is a bit more inventive and intuitive than Homer is, in my view though, but underlyingly they share a lot of similar traits.

But yeah, also is meant to juxtapose S2E15 'Oh Brother, Where Art Though?', and Herb's relationship with Homer is interesting. He dislikes the fact that he made him bankrupt, yet at the same time he also takes a $2,000 investment from Homer, that Homer received as a pay-off after repeated exposure to radiation makes him sterile. It's sort of strange, touches upon feelings where you're not sure if Herb is just using Homer or not up until the very end. Also the vibrating chair is so funny, was just something that was added because the writers invested in one after spending so many hours at work and using it to relax.

[Homer moment: I thought Herb was voiced by Robert Costanzo, but it turns out he was actually voiced by Danny DeVito instead. Huh?]

Overall

Season 3 is pretty interesting because it is largely where the characters are way more developed, and they kind of do understand the through lines of them a lot more. Lot of the episodes seem less like they're actively developing characters and more just putting them through interesting situations, although it still is slightly rough around the edges at points. Does feel like an expansion on Season 2 a bit, and there's episodes that range from all-time classics to stuff that's just kind of okay. People love Flaming Moe's & Homer at the Bat, for instance, but episodes such as Like Father, Like Clown and The Otto Show are still quite good but not really the high-points of the show. Nothing that I really take any sort of objection to anyway.

Actually, people often cite that the best seasons of The Simpsons were "Seasons 3 through 8" were the high point of the show, and I think 3 is definitely better than, say, Seasons 1 and 2. Really weird way to talk about the show, come to think of it, but this definitely is the season where you can feel the show branching out from some of its early awkwardness into something a bit more substantial and solid. Definitely can see why that sentiment applies here, and I think what also stands out about this season is that it definitely gets a bit closer to the characters than earlier ones, like in terms of how established they tend to be.

Might just be reflecting myself here, but I did notice how there is a bit more in the way of like showing bonding and how characters relate to each other and what not, and it does kind of test these notions a bit more. What if Homer's bonding is him just imposing on folk? What if Marge is like at her absolute limit, feeling detached from Homer in some ways etc. I think it just kind of works a bit more with how it expands on some of the stuff in Season 2, but at the same time I think I just noticed interpersonal aspects of these episodes a bit more. Like it does still have that sort of balance between character studies and slapstick moments, but character work felt way more pronounced in this season. Season where they really got the formula down for sure.

Epilogue: I walked home the very next night, after pecking my fingers against my keyboard, spending all this time reviewing every Simpsons episode systematically. For some reason, I felt like this would bring me something good, that it would challenge my perception. It seered into my brain, The Simpsons penetrated into my consciousness. I wonder if I'm doing this out of some sort of jaded l'ennui, I stare self-consciously at my writing.

"Oh my god, what a fucking tool. Why do I write in such a way?"

It's all the same stuff, sentimental episode this, Bart antics that, Homer lazy that. Lisa, she's the idealistic child. The Simpsons achieves this delicated balance between heart-felt material and wickedly satirical humour etc. The usual stuff. One person can not watch as many Simpsons episodes, even during its peak, without going crazy. I feel as though if I keep treading on this path that I'm on, that I will become consumed by Simpsons, that I will forever be trapped in The Simpsons dimension. Then it will all be over, and my brain evaporates into a temporal but inexplicable oblivion.

Anyway, Season 4 write-up coming soon.