Super Lame Me!
"Super Franchise Me"
This episode.
*deep exhale*. What a letdown this episode is, after the relatively great
(compared to the other two episodes I’ve watched thus far) “Wreck of the
Relationship”. The story is actually kinda decent, but man, it’s just not
funny. There were two things I really took away from this episode, and unfortunately,
I feel they are two issues that plague these newer episodes of The Simpsons: firstly, side characters.
This show, besides having amazing main characters and great-to-amazing
secondary characters, there are also the side characters. People that will show
up, sometimes for only one joke, for ten seconds for one episode, and it’s hilarious.
There are three old-time side characters in this episode, and I think they are
all godawful this time around. Of course, I’m talking about professor Frink,
Gus, and Cletus. Thinking back to the “golden era”, these characters could pop
up, like I said, for maybe one singular joke in an episode, and it would be
very funny. I don’t mind giving maybe a tiny
bit more time to these characters for episodes, but giving them more than
one minute of screen time is too much. And now, some 20+ years after these
characters were first introduced, they have been pushed to their obnoxious,
exaggerated extremes. Gus is a one-joke pony: he’s a pathetic loser who can’t
hold a job. It’s funny for a few throwaway jokes. Not funny for even a few
minutes of screen time, having him work with Marge at her sandwich shop. Now,
Cletus, the once-great send-up of extreme hillbillies, is just very, very annoying. I find him unbelievably
grating. Finally, we have Frink. Firstly, why does he need a job at a sandwich
shop? But that’s not my problem. My problem is the reliance on him just making
those stupid noises after he talks. Hell, he’s only in this episode briefly,
and the joke is specifically about
him not being able to talk normally. It just isn’t funny anymore. And they take
it way too far. Whereas in the better episodes, he might have mumbled on with his weird noises for one
or two seconds. Now, it’s like four or five. I say: boo! Finally, this isn’t a
problem that is relegated to side characters. Main characters, like Moe and chief
Wiggum, are specters of their former hilarious selves.
Secondly (boy,
that was a long paragraph), I feel like they really just extend jokes/gags
waaaay too far. There’s a part where Homer continually feeds Santa’s Little
Helper bread crust. It’s not funny. And as it goes on, it’s even less funny.
Makes me think of Family Guy (yikes!).
There’s a part where Homer reminisces about a time he drank free-refill
fountain soda. He just drinks and drinks. Where it was once funny when Homer just ate an endless mound of brownies that George Harrison pointed out to him is funny, this is just annoying. “Annoying”
is a word I’ve already used twice (minus this time). I bet I’ll use it a few
more. This episode really just bugged me. There’s even a gag about Mr. Burns
being attracted to a cardboard standee of a motherly sandwich person. It’s not
a long joke, but they go back to it at the end of the episode, and it’s
probably less funny than the first time. Besides all this crap, this episode
was just not that funny. I feel like I’m really eviscerating this episode, and
I don’t think I was this critical of the Krusty premiere. I would say this
episode is a smidge worse, but they
are both pretty sub-par. I guess I got a little excited about that damn boat
episode. Oh well, if nothing else, I know the “Treehouse of Horror” episode
this year is at least 2/3 good.
This episode has
Ned realizing Homer has been stealing his electricity. He’s using Ned’s power to
keep a large freezer (which he also stole from Ned) in his garage that is host
to a large amount of meat. When Ned pulls the plug (both figuratively and
literally), to avoid the spoiling of all the meat, Marge cooks and it all and
makes sandwiches with it. Once those sandwiches become a hit at the school,
Marge is offered an opportunity to open a Subway-style sandwich shop. The rest
of the episode is just the hijinks and shenanigans of the Simpsons family
trying to manage the shop. Once it gets successful, an “Express” variation of
the same sandwich chain opens across the street. At the end, everything remains
status-quo, as it always does in the Simpsons’ universe. Again, the story was
okay, with no real B-story. But, this being a mostly Marge-centric episode, it
was pretty weak. So far, through three episodes, we’ve had them center on
Krusty/his dad, Bart/Homer, and Marge. Take a guess which one was the best, and
which too were not that great? Let’s place the focus on FUNNY characters!
Now is the time I
talk about the couch gag. Fortunately, it’s the shortest one yet.
Unfortunately, it is dumb and stupid. It’s just a strange song played over
scenes in Springfield of various residents doing things, all in a
watercolor-esque painted style. I’m sure this is a reference I’m not getting,
but I’m not compelled enough to even check.
Overall, this
episode was not good. It had some good sight gags that made me chuckle, and
exactly one quote I thought worthy to write down. Even this isn’t anything
amazing. Oh well though. There are what, 19 more episodes in season 26? I’m
going to remain very cautiously optimistic. But I'm still giving this episode a big ol' fat...
Let’s check out the all-knowing and omnipresent bullet point list:
4/10
Let’s check out the all-knowing and omnipresent bullet point list:
- Ned has a VCR rewinder [important note: we actually owned one of these as well. What the FUCK was the purpose?]. He also has a DVD rewinder
- Ned's freezer that Homer stole is a "Freezerino". Made in Okily, Dokahama, Japan. Maybe the funniest gag of the whole episode
- During a short montage, Homer reads both "Time Passers" and "Can't Focus" magazines
- It seems there was an abundance of short flashbacks or thought bubbles. They all suck
- It's good to see that, after 26 years, they still take jabs at Fox
- My other favorite sight gag was Marge putting up a "first dollar earned". It's a dollar bill in a very nice frame. It pans out, and she has eleven one dollar bills hung up in a similar fashion. First through eleventh dollar earned
- Marge's voice really annoys me in this episode. She is very nervous/anxious/sad in this episode, and her voice, because of all that emotion, really just bothers me
- Homer's pants fall around his ankles. Marge then proclaims she's going to Moe's. Homer gasps very deeply, and his pants come back up from around his ankles to his waist. I greatly enjoyed this
- The prehistoric sandwich bit at the very end is sort of amusing
- The only quote I liked this week:
- Ned (inspecting his power usage): "Why, that's a higher power than even I believe in!"
 |
| Probably the funniest joke in the episode |
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