The Simpsons: The Fourteenth Season Review (Spoilers)
Also reviews for Doctor Who "The Doctor, The Witch And The Wardrobe", the season finales of Beavis and Butt-Head and American Horror Story, and the TV special A Chipmunk Christmas. We also will be playing catch-up with season 2 of Iron Man: Armored Adventures.
Upcoming reviews include Futurama: Volume 6, The California Raisins Collection, Shaun The Sheep: Season 2, The Lion King, Cars 2, Green Lantern, Smallville: Season 4, Smallville: Season 5, Smallville: Season 6, The Adventures Of Young Indiana Jones Volume Two: The War Years and The Adventures Of Young Indiana Jones Volume Three: The Years Of Change.
Spoilers below the fold. They are major for Doctor Who.
Doctor Who "The Doctor, The Witch, And The Wardrobe"
Not as good as the last two Christmas specials but it did a good job of using the new premise of the Doctor keeping a low profile after faking his death. Here he calls himself The Caretaker and that's the way everyone sees him.
I was REALLY hoping they were going to save Madge's husband by the end, but they REALLY made it seem like they were NOT going to go for that angle all throughout the episode, so it still was a pleasant surprise.
As for Amy and Rory's surprise appearances at the end, I loved it but I'm bummed that they will be leaving the show next season. It's Stephen Moffat's perogative but I had thought they had finally found a Doctor/Companion combo that could have lasted a few more seasons. I'm sure Stephen Moffat had his reasons for taking them out of the story at this point but I think he should have waited another couple of seasons. I REALLY think they should be involved with The Question mystery although I'm sure River Song will be.
All in all, a satisfying episode that will have to tide Whobies over for a year. This year is going to be an excruciating wait, ESPECIALLY because of the story arc The Wedding Of River Song teased. A nice hint of what's to come. ****1/2.
Beavis And Butt-Head "School Test / Snitchers"
School Test: It was only a matter of time before "No Child Left Behind" screwed over Highland High. It's a REALLT stupid law and this episode showed how and why it can backfire. Not much else to report here. ***.
Snitchers: I hate Todd and I love how Beavis and Butt-Head worship him for some reason because he's even more loathesome than they are. I also loved how Beavis and Butt-Head took the witness stand together and how Todd's lawyer read off a litany of their crimes to get Todd off. ****.
Episode Overall: ***1/2.
Beavis And Butt-Head "Whorehouse / Going Down"
Whorehouse: Man, this show HATES social conservatives. It's weird but I guess it makes sense because despite King of the Hill being a conservative show, it was never really a SOCIALLY conservative show and in fact showed several times that social conservatism is stupid. So this isn't really all that out of character for the conservative Mike Judge. Man, I was SO glad that guy got tasered. He was SO asking for it. Beavis and Butt-Head, not so much, but a Beavis and Butt-Head episode isn't a Beavis and Butt-Head episode unless the boys get hurt badly. ****.
Going Down: When you think about it, that lady who saved herself and didn't bother calling for help for Beavis and Butt-Head was horrible. Yeah, I totally like how she tricked those morons with the fake promise of sex but I don't care HOW awful the boys were being: they didn't deserve to be left for dead like that. She could have at least called for help like a decent person. ***1/2.
Episode Overall: ***1/2.
American Horror Story "Afterbirth"
So I finish watching what is easily my favorite episode of the show ever, which is surprisingly moving, heartfelt, optimistic and even funny and I say to myself "Wow! What a finale! That was AWESOME! I can't wait to see what happens next!" Then I excitedly scamper onto the internet to find out where the Harmans, Tate, and Constance's Devil Baby go from here.
And then I find out that this turns out to be an anthology show and that next season will be an out-of-continuity reboot. Ugh.
Seriously? I know the finale WAS satisfying enough to be a series finale but I can't believe that when the show continues it will be completely forgotten. Not to mention that I want to see what happens to the Omen baby. And I would LOVE to see a season of the Harmons playing Beetlejuice on new houseowners every week. Sure, that would be a thin premise to sustain the show for years on end but I would have at least liked to have seen it attempted.
Heck, even if they WERE going to change casts and locations, they could have at the very least kept it in the same continuity so we could get updates on Constance and the Anti-Christ kid. Yuck.
The episode itself was brilliant. It actually felt like a proper finale. It answered just the right amount of questions and had a killer last scene. I have HATED Ben since the show started but I appreciate the show left him in a happy place that I actually thought he kind of deserved by the end of the episode. For the record, they had to kill him off to do it.
Violet's goodbye to Tate was very emotional and VERY cool because she used it as an excuse to save that kid's life, who turned out to be the one member of the new family in REAL danger.
As for Ben's assertion that therapy doesn't work, I'm unsurprised that he thinks that. He was easily the world's worst therapist so of course it never worked on his patients. I tend to agree with his assessment of Tate because he admitted that HE was a bad person too. But Tate will NEVER find any measure of redemption for his crimes especially since they all seemed so friggin' pointless and unnecessary. You'd think Tate had some evil master plan all season and it turns out he's just a lonely and misunderstood psychopath who wants to be loved. I was surprised he actually admitted his crimes because he's never been able to do that before. The place where they left him and the almost as equally repugnant Hayden, completely alone while the Harmons and Moira celebrated Christmas together, was just right.
I loved the episode but I may just stop after this season. I am not a big fan of anthology shows and if they aren't even going to keep the next season in the same universe I'm not sure I feel like getting attached to a new set of characters only to see them replaced the next season. We'll see. *****.
A Chipmunk Christmas
The only reason I'm doing a review for this rerun on ABC is because I couldn't watch it without letting people know how much I loathed Dave Seville here. He was. Such. A. D***! Even his half-hearted apology at the end was loaded with sneering condescension ("I'm SO sorry you didn't make your ideas clearer to me"). And yes, Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures was right: the modern Dave Seville does come off as a borderline pedophile.
Ugh. I loved this special as a sprog but that's because I was too young to understand just how irresponisble an adult Dave is. What a loser. **.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures "Line Of Fire"
Good to see Black Panther again, especially since they made him more sympathetic this time. ****.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures "Titanium Vs. Iron"
Man, Titanium Man was SUCH a tough villain that they will never be able to top his first appearance here. In fairness they didn't even bother trying as every future appearance would have had fight scenes that lasted an entire episode. For the record when Tony declares that he "beat Ghost before" that is delusional tough guy talk on the level of David Xanatos. He got his butt handed to him by Ghost in each of his previous encounters and he didn't exactly get one over on him here either. ****1/2.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures "The Might Of Doom"
Awesome, awesome, AWESOME episode. I was never quite aware of the extent of Doctor Doom's powers from the comics because I guess they severely powered him down on the Fantastic Four cartoons and The Super Hero Squad Show. I like that, like Ghost, he wasn't a villain Tony actually beat. One gripe: for supposedly a "man of his word" he sure turned his back on Obediah Stane quickly. Yikes. *****.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures "The Hawk And The Spider"
Hawkeye and Black Widow! This appearance of Titanium Man wasn't as good as his first one but it couldn't be if they were going to make him a recurring villain. ****.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures "Enter: Iron Monger"
The second Iron Monger episode was better. ***1/2.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures "Fugitive Of S.H.I.E.L.D."
I like this episode because it sort of doubles as an origin story for Black Widow joining SHIELD then the Avengers. Kind of cool. ****.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures "All The Best People Are Mad"
Considering it's insane and stupid premise this episode was better than it had any right to be. I liked all of the deathtraps and that it was Happy Hogan that solved the classical music problem. Andy the android? So dumb, but SO much fun. I almost felt ashamed of myself for enjoying this. ***1/2.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures "Heavy Mettle"
Predictable ending with Whitney swearing vengeance on Tony but the rest of the episode was non-stop action and VERY watchable. I wonder if they are now going to focus the second half of the season on Gene/Mandarin. They've been building that up for so long, I wouldn't be surprised. ****1/2.
The Simpsons: The Fourteenth Season
Season 14 is a bit better than I remembered it but it is still another Al Jean season that is merely "good enough" and doesn't have a single five star classic. Well, I take that back. How I Spent My Strummer Vacation is a five star episode but it's notable that it was written and executive produced by Mike Scully so I don't really count it as a "win" in Al Jean's column.
Best episodes of the year are the decent Halloween Special (Treehouse Of Horror XIII), Homer's Rock And Roll Fantasy Camp epic guest-starring Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (How I Spent My Strummer Vacation), the Sideshow Bob outing (The Great Louse Detective), the Lisa Spelling Bee episode guest starring the late George Plimpton (I'm Spelling As Fast As I Can), and the season finale (Moe Baby Blues). Worst episodes are the one where Marge gets breast implants (Large Marge), Marge abusing steriods (Strong Arms Of The Ma), and the lame Flanders outing (A Star Is Born-Again). Season Overall: ***.
Treehouse Of Horror XIII: Great first segment, mediocre second segment, and a third segment that is somewhere in between.
Opening: Great to hear Maggie Roswell as Maude Flanders again. ****.
"Send In The Clones": Unbelievably great and probably only worked so well because it only lasted an act (which is one of the Treehouse's episodes' biggest virtues). All of the Homer clones were hilarious. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the ending but everything else was dynamite. ****1/2.
"The Fright To Creep And Scare Harms": Great title, lame story. **1/2.
"The Island Of Dr. Hibbert": I didn't originally think much of this story when I first saw it but it gets better every time I rewatch it. ***1/2
Episode Overall: ****.
How I Spent My Strummer Vacation: A classic that tellingly doesn't have Al Jean's name on the executive producer credits. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were a scream. Jagger in particular got a trio of great lines: 1. "Rule number one: there are no rules! Rule number two: no outside food." 2. "We're going to need a cheaper outmeal." 3. "Simpsooooonnnnnn!" *****.
Bart Vs. Lisa Vs. The Third Grade: Decent but the first act is weak and the last act sort of peters out. Continuity note: this is the first time Governer Bailey appears since season two's "Two Cars In Every Garage And Three Eyes On Every Fish". ***.
Large Marge: This entire episode seems like one of those ideas that earlier Simpsons episodes poked fun of the show eventually doing in episodes like The Simpsons Spin-off Showcase, or the time the Simpsons were in the car talking over their summer adventures including Lisa being the most popular girl in school and Marge becoming Sideshow Marge. In other words: an episode to do when the show was completely running out of ideas. *1/2.
Helter Shelter: I don't love this episode but it is memorable for a single Bart joke: his critique of a Mutt and Jeff comic strip is simple and hilarious: "Okay, THEY'RE GAY! I GET it!" **1/2.
The Great Louse Detective: A good episode but to be honest, the mystery was a bit too simple and for a sequel to both the Sideshow Bob episodes AND Homer's Enemy (which is considered the best Simpsons episode by many fans including me) this should have been stronger. Indeed, this was the weakest of all of Sideshow Bob's outings thus far. ****.
Special Edna: I don't know WHY the show bothered getting us invested in Skinner and Krabappel when they had no plans to go through with it. Annoying. **1/2.
The Dad Who Knew Too Little: This seems like one of those times that if Homer was smarter, he could have spun his actions in a way to Lisa that made it seem as if he was a GREAT father. Instead of him saying he did what he did to trick Lisa into thinking he was good father he could have told her that he hired the detective to get to know her better. I notice that TV shows in general do this all the time: they have their characters explain their own actions in the worst possible light to create artificial conflict. So it's not just this show that does that. ***1/2.
Strong Arms Of The Ma: Good when it was dealing with Marge's agoraphobia, bad when it turned into her becoming a body-builder. Good seeing Ruth Powers again though. **.
Pray Anything: Meh. I've seen better. I've also seen worse. **1/2.
Barting Over: Overrated. Homer is MUCH worse than usual here and I didn't buy the conflict. **1/2.
I'm Spelling As Fast As I Can: Equally good A and B stories. George Plimpton has a memorable guest role here and the plot was fun. Love this episode. ****1/2.
A Star Is Born-Again: It says something that in an episode in which Flanders actually sleeps with a chick that the entire episode is STILL a huge predictable cliche. Terrible. 1/2.
Mr. Spritz Goes To Washington: This episode would have been forgettable if it hadn't been for the Fox News crawl. I miss it when the show did jokes like this. ***.
C.E.D'oh!: Good, but not great. Some funny Burns stuff though. ***.
'Scuse Me While I Miss The Sky: The episode is not all that good but Eric Idle as Declan Desmond is SO great that the producers wisely brought him back a few seasons later for the vastly superior "Springfield Up" so the ep gets points from me for that. ***1/2.
Three Gays Of The Condo: Love Julio and Grady, Love "Weird Al" Yankovic, think the rest of the episode is merely passable. I hate how Al Jean always tries to portray the Simpsons as having a bad marriage but I concede it was a new and interesting tack to make Homer the one in the right for once. Julio gets the two best lines: 1. "Lisa, if I were a little ten year old straight boy I would SO be holding your hand right now." 2. In response to Homer asking if the couple has a gay time machine Julio responds "Yeah, it's called Grady's shoe closet" Snap! ***1/2.
Dude, Where's My Ranch?: Nowhere NEAR as bad as it's reputation suggests. First of all, even though the last two acts are kind of lame the first one where Homer writes the "Everybody Hate Ned Flanders" novelty song was great. I love it when the show acknowledges talents that the characters were shown to have already had in earlier episodes (in this case Homer being a good songwriter as seen in "Homer's Barbershop Quartet".) Next I want to see it acknowledged that Bart can speak fluent French. I think the weakest part of the episode was that it did a couple of Family Guy style random pop-culture "jokes" (involving Britney Spears and The Lord Of The Rings' Gollum) that I find curious that Simpsons haters were so offended by. They were exactly the same kind of jokes Family Guy does every week which is somehow in their minds a vastly superior show. Don't ever accuse fanboys of making sense. **1/2.
Old Yeller-Belly: Good showcase for Duffman and a likable episode in general. Continuity note: This is the first time Santa's Little Helper's original owner was seen since Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire, here sporting his strange Klasky-Csupo design. ***1/2.
Brake My Wife, Please: Another "bad marriage" episode that isn't QUITE as obnoxious as other Al Jean episodes because it doesn't take it quite as far. **1/2.
The Bart Of War: I wish this episode had done a better job with it's political message at the end which was an important one. But at least they didn't do as bad a job explaining their position as Family Guy generally does. Still, I really like the episode. Two Best lines go to Ralph: "His breath smells like bunnies!" and "I'm a brick!" I especially like that Flanders has a secret Beatles obsession. Best non-Ralph gag was Moe being resigned to the fact that he got paired up against Drederick Tatum in the riot at the end. ***1/2.
Moe Baby Blues: I have to say, I'm glad this episode came when it did. After Moe's behavior in Three Gays Of The Condo I think I considered him the second most detestable character on the show after Apu. Apu will NEVER live cheating on Manjula down but I got a newfound appreciation for Moe because of this episode. I wish Moe and Maggie's relationship had been brought up again in further episodes but the fact that the future writers dropped the ball isn't the episode's fault. ****.
A Haunting Invite From Matt Groening: Matt sure has a lot of heroes. And I'm impressed he did the Kang and Kodos voices as long as he did considering how bad he was at them. ****1/2.
Deleted Scenes:
Best scenes were from Barting Over, 'Scuse Me While I Miss The Sky, and Dude, Where's My Ranch?. Overall: ****.
Introduction: Here Al Jean makes a case for why Season 14 is better than most people say it is. I don't exactly agree but he DOES make a compelling case for it. ****.
Deleted Scenes - Treehouse Of Horror XIII: A MUCH darker ending to The Island Of Doctor Hibbert. Marge coughing up a hairball was funny though. ***1/2.
Deleted Scenes - How I Spent My Strummer Vacation: Extended Lenny Kravitz scene where Homer "butt stuffs". For such a dumb gag it got a big laugh from me. Also an alternate ending. The original ending with Keith and Mick doing chores was better. ***1/2.
Deleted Scenes - Large Marge: Extended alternate Marge and Manjula scene. I miss Jan Hooks. ***1/2.
Deleted Scenes - Helter Shelter: Marge subconcsiously cleans Lenny's apartment. Sort of a weird joke, to be honest. **1/2.
Deleted Scenes - The Great Louse Detective: Sideshow Bob and Maggie give each other threatening looks after Marge makes Bob stay in her room under the logic that they've both tried to kill people. ****.
Deleted Scenes - Special Edna: A couple of extra verses of "What Do I Think Of The Pie". ****1/2.
Deleted Scenes - Strong Arms Of The Ma: Brief scene in the hospital with Dr. Hibbert. **1/2.
Deleted Scenes - Pray Anything: This was actually pretty disturbing. And when you think about it, Flanders IS pretty stupid. **.
Deleted Scenes - Barting Over: Two goodies and one misfire. The original take between the Blue-Haired Lawyer serving Homer papers was a scream and in my opinion better than the joke in the actual episode. It's also a shame that Tony Hawk's funniest line of the episode was cut out ("Now I won't be a parapalegic. Today."). As the for Viagra commercial parody, even the one in the episode they used wasn't that great so it was unsurprising that the one they cut was even worse. ****1/2.
Deleted Scenes - A Star Is Born-Again: Mean-spirited Lenny joke. *.
Deleted Scenes - Mr. Spritz Goes To Washington: Krusty bein' Krusty. ***1/2.
Deleted Scenes - 'Scuse Me While I Miss The Sky: The Homer and the staple burger? An instant classic. Frankly, I think it was almost criminal this wasn't in the episode. *****.
Deleted Scenes - Dude, Where's My Ranch?: Extra David Byrne and a HILARIOUS Yoko Ono gag. This was another missed classic that should have been in an episode overflowing in clutter. Why on Earth they cut this is beyond me. *****.
Deleted Scenes - Old Yeller-Belly: Cheap, obvious, cliche and unfunny French bashing makes it a no-brainer that the producers cut this scene, especially since unfortunately the right was taking "Cheese eating surrender monkeys" as their own, much to Al Jean's annoyance, around the same time. French bashing was kind of funny in the nineties but once we started getting to the Iraq War and "Freedon Fries" there wasn't much humor left in the situation. *1/2.
Deleted Scenes - The Bart Of War: More South Park spoofing (Yay!) and a scene in the Quik-E-Mart with Marge, Kirk and Apu. ****1/2.
In The Beginning: The complete cold openings to the first thirteen Treehouse of Horrors. Seriously handy special feature. My one regret is that they didn't save this for the last season set ever. *****.
It's Only Rock 'N' Roll: Interviews with Tom Petty, Lenny Kravitz, Brian Setzer, Elvis Costello, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger from 2002 as well as some hilarious outtakes from Richards and Jagger. *****.
The 300th Episode: Short featurette about Barting Over. Always good to see some camera time for Matt Groening. ****.
Sketch Gallery I: Animated. I LOVED Mick Jagger and Keith Richards early designs, especially Richards. They would have been impossible to animate but they were brilliant. ****1/2.
Sketch Gallery II: Weirdest find: they included character designs for Larry and Balki from Perfect Strangers. ***1/2.
The Halloween Classics: Memorable scenes from the first thirteen Halloween Specials. ****.
Foolish Earthlings: Classic scenes featuring Kang and Kodos. ****.
Animation Showcase - Moe Baby Blues - Picture-In-Picture:
An animatic and storyboard for Moe Baby Blues. Both: ***1/2.
Storyboards: Storyboards for the first act of the episode. ****.
Animatic: Animatic for the first act. Apparently the Beverly Hillbillies Down Under gag was going to be different but since they used the episode's audio track we didn't hear what the original dialogue was. ***.
Easter Eggs: Probably the best Easter Eggs on any season set since Season Three. Yes, I'm serious. And they were MUCH easier to find than that treasure trove. Best Eggs are on Discs 1 and 2. Overall: *****.
Disc 1 Easter Egg #1: Golden find. An animatic for the original opening to Treehouse Of Horror VII. This has Lisa Simpson as Linda Blair in the Exorcist puking up the title card. *****.
Disc 1 Easter Egg #2: A hidden animatic for the opening for this year's episode and Send In The Clones. I haven't seen an Simpsons Easter Egg this heavy with content since the celebrity outtakes from Season Three. *****.
Disc 1 Easter Egg #3: A mini commentary with Elvis Costello. ****.
Disc 1 Easter Egg #4: A deleted scene from Bart Vs. Lisa Vs. The Third Grade featuring a reality show called "We're Gonna Tell Your Mom". As dumb as it sounds. ***.
Disc 1 Easter Egg #5: A deleted scene between Marge and Bart from Large Marge. **1/2.
Disc 2 Easter Egg #1: Deleted Scene. Dueling Frank Nelson-Types. Do I miss that character? Yeeeessssss! ****1/2.
Disc 2 Easter Egg #2: Deleted Scene. A great runner with Homer and Dr. Hibbert. ****1/2.
Disc 2 Easter Egg #3: Awesome Egg. This is promotional material for both Season 14 and the 300th Episode. The best part about the entire TV Guide article appearing was that the letters were big and legible and the screen crawled at a pace where you could actually read the entire thing. *****.
Disc 3 Easter Egg #1: Deleted Scene from A Star Is Born-Again.. Kind of cute but the episode didn't really need it. **1/2.
Disc 3 Easter Egg #2: Deleted Scene from C.E.Do'h! Amusing. ****.
Disc 3 Easter Egg #3: Deleted Scene From 'Scuse Me While I Miss The Sky involving Eric Idle. Funny stuff. ****.
Disc 3 Easter Egg #4: Deleted Scene from Three Gays Of The Condo. Lame. Should have stayed on the cutting room floor. *.
Disc 4 Easter Egg #1: Deleted Scene from Old Yeller-Belly with a funny Lenny and Karl gag. ****.
Disc 4 Easter Egg #2: Deleted Scene from Brake My Wife, Please with a Hans Moleman cameo and the long-awaited return of the Homer Simpson Work Dummy. ****1/2.
Disc 4 Easter Egg #3: Deleted scene from The Bart Of War. More of Drederick Tatum wailing on Moe. ****.
DVD Menus: Treehouse of Horror themed menus with Kang and Kodos. Overall: *****.
Disc 1 DVD Menu: I like all of the Homer clones stumbling around in the background. *****.
Disc 2 DVD Menu: Awww! Ralph nuzzling Werewolf Skinner was cute! ****1/2.
Disc 3 DVD Menu: They got Joe Mantenga to do Fat Tony's grunts again. ****1/2.
Disc 4 DVD Menu: I love all of the Homer clones going at Kodos' "300" cake. Outstanding. *****.
Upcoming reviews include Futurama: Volume 6, The California Raisins Collection, Shaun The Sheep: Season 2, The Lion King, Cars 2, Green Lantern, Smallville: Season 4, Smallville: Season 5, Smallville: Season 6, The Adventures Of Young Indiana Jones Volume Two: The War Years and The Adventures Of Young Indiana Jones Volume Three: The Years Of Change.
Spoilers below the fold. They are major for Doctor Who.
Doctor Who "The Doctor, The Witch, And The Wardrobe"
Not as good as the last two Christmas specials but it did a good job of using the new premise of the Doctor keeping a low profile after faking his death. Here he calls himself The Caretaker and that's the way everyone sees him.
I was REALLY hoping they were going to save Madge's husband by the end, but they REALLY made it seem like they were NOT going to go for that angle all throughout the episode, so it still was a pleasant surprise.
As for Amy and Rory's surprise appearances at the end, I loved it but I'm bummed that they will be leaving the show next season. It's Stephen Moffat's perogative but I had thought they had finally found a Doctor/Companion combo that could have lasted a few more seasons. I'm sure Stephen Moffat had his reasons for taking them out of the story at this point but I think he should have waited another couple of seasons. I REALLY think they should be involved with The Question mystery although I'm sure River Song will be.
All in all, a satisfying episode that will have to tide Whobies over for a year. This year is going to be an excruciating wait, ESPECIALLY because of the story arc The Wedding Of River Song teased. A nice hint of what's to come. ****1/2.
Beavis And Butt-Head "School Test / Snitchers"
School Test: It was only a matter of time before "No Child Left Behind" screwed over Highland High. It's a REALLT stupid law and this episode showed how and why it can backfire. Not much else to report here. ***.
Snitchers: I hate Todd and I love how Beavis and Butt-Head worship him for some reason because he's even more loathesome than they are. I also loved how Beavis and Butt-Head took the witness stand together and how Todd's lawyer read off a litany of their crimes to get Todd off. ****.
Episode Overall: ***1/2.
Beavis And Butt-Head "Whorehouse / Going Down"
Whorehouse: Man, this show HATES social conservatives. It's weird but I guess it makes sense because despite King of the Hill being a conservative show, it was never really a SOCIALLY conservative show and in fact showed several times that social conservatism is stupid. So this isn't really all that out of character for the conservative Mike Judge. Man, I was SO glad that guy got tasered. He was SO asking for it. Beavis and Butt-Head, not so much, but a Beavis and Butt-Head episode isn't a Beavis and Butt-Head episode unless the boys get hurt badly. ****.
Going Down: When you think about it, that lady who saved herself and didn't bother calling for help for Beavis and Butt-Head was horrible. Yeah, I totally like how she tricked those morons with the fake promise of sex but I don't care HOW awful the boys were being: they didn't deserve to be left for dead like that. She could have at least called for help like a decent person. ***1/2.
Episode Overall: ***1/2.
American Horror Story "Afterbirth"
So I finish watching what is easily my favorite episode of the show ever, which is surprisingly moving, heartfelt, optimistic and even funny and I say to myself "Wow! What a finale! That was AWESOME! I can't wait to see what happens next!" Then I excitedly scamper onto the internet to find out where the Harmans, Tate, and Constance's Devil Baby go from here.
And then I find out that this turns out to be an anthology show and that next season will be an out-of-continuity reboot. Ugh.
Seriously? I know the finale WAS satisfying enough to be a series finale but I can't believe that when the show continues it will be completely forgotten. Not to mention that I want to see what happens to the Omen baby. And I would LOVE to see a season of the Harmons playing Beetlejuice on new houseowners every week. Sure, that would be a thin premise to sustain the show for years on end but I would have at least liked to have seen it attempted.
Heck, even if they WERE going to change casts and locations, they could have at the very least kept it in the same continuity so we could get updates on Constance and the Anti-Christ kid. Yuck.
The episode itself was brilliant. It actually felt like a proper finale. It answered just the right amount of questions and had a killer last scene. I have HATED Ben since the show started but I appreciate the show left him in a happy place that I actually thought he kind of deserved by the end of the episode. For the record, they had to kill him off to do it.
Violet's goodbye to Tate was very emotional and VERY cool because she used it as an excuse to save that kid's life, who turned out to be the one member of the new family in REAL danger.
As for Ben's assertion that therapy doesn't work, I'm unsurprised that he thinks that. He was easily the world's worst therapist so of course it never worked on his patients. I tend to agree with his assessment of Tate because he admitted that HE was a bad person too. But Tate will NEVER find any measure of redemption for his crimes especially since they all seemed so friggin' pointless and unnecessary. You'd think Tate had some evil master plan all season and it turns out he's just a lonely and misunderstood psychopath who wants to be loved. I was surprised he actually admitted his crimes because he's never been able to do that before. The place where they left him and the almost as equally repugnant Hayden, completely alone while the Harmons and Moira celebrated Christmas together, was just right.
I loved the episode but I may just stop after this season. I am not a big fan of anthology shows and if they aren't even going to keep the next season in the same universe I'm not sure I feel like getting attached to a new set of characters only to see them replaced the next season. We'll see. *****.
A Chipmunk Christmas
The only reason I'm doing a review for this rerun on ABC is because I couldn't watch it without letting people know how much I loathed Dave Seville here. He was. Such. A. D***! Even his half-hearted apology at the end was loaded with sneering condescension ("I'm SO sorry you didn't make your ideas clearer to me"). And yes, Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures was right: the modern Dave Seville does come off as a borderline pedophile.
Ugh. I loved this special as a sprog but that's because I was too young to understand just how irresponisble an adult Dave is. What a loser. **.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures "Line Of Fire"
Good to see Black Panther again, especially since they made him more sympathetic this time. ****.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures "Titanium Vs. Iron"
Man, Titanium Man was SUCH a tough villain that they will never be able to top his first appearance here. In fairness they didn't even bother trying as every future appearance would have had fight scenes that lasted an entire episode. For the record when Tony declares that he "beat Ghost before" that is delusional tough guy talk on the level of David Xanatos. He got his butt handed to him by Ghost in each of his previous encounters and he didn't exactly get one over on him here either. ****1/2.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures "The Might Of Doom"
Awesome, awesome, AWESOME episode. I was never quite aware of the extent of Doctor Doom's powers from the comics because I guess they severely powered him down on the Fantastic Four cartoons and The Super Hero Squad Show. I like that, like Ghost, he wasn't a villain Tony actually beat. One gripe: for supposedly a "man of his word" he sure turned his back on Obediah Stane quickly. Yikes. *****.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures "The Hawk And The Spider"
Hawkeye and Black Widow! This appearance of Titanium Man wasn't as good as his first one but it couldn't be if they were going to make him a recurring villain. ****.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures "Enter: Iron Monger"
The second Iron Monger episode was better. ***1/2.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures "Fugitive Of S.H.I.E.L.D."
I like this episode because it sort of doubles as an origin story for Black Widow joining SHIELD then the Avengers. Kind of cool. ****.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures "All The Best People Are Mad"
Considering it's insane and stupid premise this episode was better than it had any right to be. I liked all of the deathtraps and that it was Happy Hogan that solved the classical music problem. Andy the android? So dumb, but SO much fun. I almost felt ashamed of myself for enjoying this. ***1/2.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures "Heavy Mettle"
Predictable ending with Whitney swearing vengeance on Tony but the rest of the episode was non-stop action and VERY watchable. I wonder if they are now going to focus the second half of the season on Gene/Mandarin. They've been building that up for so long, I wouldn't be surprised. ****1/2.
The Simpsons: The Fourteenth Season
Season 14 is a bit better than I remembered it but it is still another Al Jean season that is merely "good enough" and doesn't have a single five star classic. Well, I take that back. How I Spent My Strummer Vacation is a five star episode but it's notable that it was written and executive produced by Mike Scully so I don't really count it as a "win" in Al Jean's column.
Best episodes of the year are the decent Halloween Special (Treehouse Of Horror XIII), Homer's Rock And Roll Fantasy Camp epic guest-starring Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (How I Spent My Strummer Vacation), the Sideshow Bob outing (The Great Louse Detective), the Lisa Spelling Bee episode guest starring the late George Plimpton (I'm Spelling As Fast As I Can), and the season finale (Moe Baby Blues). Worst episodes are the one where Marge gets breast implants (Large Marge), Marge abusing steriods (Strong Arms Of The Ma), and the lame Flanders outing (A Star Is Born-Again). Season Overall: ***.
Treehouse Of Horror XIII: Great first segment, mediocre second segment, and a third segment that is somewhere in between.
Opening: Great to hear Maggie Roswell as Maude Flanders again. ****.
"Send In The Clones": Unbelievably great and probably only worked so well because it only lasted an act (which is one of the Treehouse's episodes' biggest virtues). All of the Homer clones were hilarious. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the ending but everything else was dynamite. ****1/2.
"The Fright To Creep And Scare Harms": Great title, lame story. **1/2.
"The Island Of Dr. Hibbert": I didn't originally think much of this story when I first saw it but it gets better every time I rewatch it. ***1/2
Episode Overall: ****.
How I Spent My Strummer Vacation: A classic that tellingly doesn't have Al Jean's name on the executive producer credits. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were a scream. Jagger in particular got a trio of great lines: 1. "Rule number one: there are no rules! Rule number two: no outside food." 2. "We're going to need a cheaper outmeal." 3. "Simpsooooonnnnnn!" *****.
Bart Vs. Lisa Vs. The Third Grade: Decent but the first act is weak and the last act sort of peters out. Continuity note: this is the first time Governer Bailey appears since season two's "Two Cars In Every Garage And Three Eyes On Every Fish". ***.
Large Marge: This entire episode seems like one of those ideas that earlier Simpsons episodes poked fun of the show eventually doing in episodes like The Simpsons Spin-off Showcase, or the time the Simpsons were in the car talking over their summer adventures including Lisa being the most popular girl in school and Marge becoming Sideshow Marge. In other words: an episode to do when the show was completely running out of ideas. *1/2.
Helter Shelter: I don't love this episode but it is memorable for a single Bart joke: his critique of a Mutt and Jeff comic strip is simple and hilarious: "Okay, THEY'RE GAY! I GET it!" **1/2.
The Great Louse Detective: A good episode but to be honest, the mystery was a bit too simple and for a sequel to both the Sideshow Bob episodes AND Homer's Enemy (which is considered the best Simpsons episode by many fans including me) this should have been stronger. Indeed, this was the weakest of all of Sideshow Bob's outings thus far. ****.
Special Edna: I don't know WHY the show bothered getting us invested in Skinner and Krabappel when they had no plans to go through with it. Annoying. **1/2.
The Dad Who Knew Too Little: This seems like one of those times that if Homer was smarter, he could have spun his actions in a way to Lisa that made it seem as if he was a GREAT father. Instead of him saying he did what he did to trick Lisa into thinking he was good father he could have told her that he hired the detective to get to know her better. I notice that TV shows in general do this all the time: they have their characters explain their own actions in the worst possible light to create artificial conflict. So it's not just this show that does that. ***1/2.
Strong Arms Of The Ma: Good when it was dealing with Marge's agoraphobia, bad when it turned into her becoming a body-builder. Good seeing Ruth Powers again though. **.
Pray Anything: Meh. I've seen better. I've also seen worse. **1/2.
Barting Over: Overrated. Homer is MUCH worse than usual here and I didn't buy the conflict. **1/2.
I'm Spelling As Fast As I Can: Equally good A and B stories. George Plimpton has a memorable guest role here and the plot was fun. Love this episode. ****1/2.
A Star Is Born-Again: It says something that in an episode in which Flanders actually sleeps with a chick that the entire episode is STILL a huge predictable cliche. Terrible. 1/2.
Mr. Spritz Goes To Washington: This episode would have been forgettable if it hadn't been for the Fox News crawl. I miss it when the show did jokes like this. ***.
C.E.D'oh!: Good, but not great. Some funny Burns stuff though. ***.
'Scuse Me While I Miss The Sky: The episode is not all that good but Eric Idle as Declan Desmond is SO great that the producers wisely brought him back a few seasons later for the vastly superior "Springfield Up" so the ep gets points from me for that. ***1/2.
Three Gays Of The Condo: Love Julio and Grady, Love "Weird Al" Yankovic, think the rest of the episode is merely passable. I hate how Al Jean always tries to portray the Simpsons as having a bad marriage but I concede it was a new and interesting tack to make Homer the one in the right for once. Julio gets the two best lines: 1. "Lisa, if I were a little ten year old straight boy I would SO be holding your hand right now." 2. In response to Homer asking if the couple has a gay time machine Julio responds "Yeah, it's called Grady's shoe closet" Snap! ***1/2.
Dude, Where's My Ranch?: Nowhere NEAR as bad as it's reputation suggests. First of all, even though the last two acts are kind of lame the first one where Homer writes the "Everybody Hate Ned Flanders" novelty song was great. I love it when the show acknowledges talents that the characters were shown to have already had in earlier episodes (in this case Homer being a good songwriter as seen in "Homer's Barbershop Quartet".) Next I want to see it acknowledged that Bart can speak fluent French. I think the weakest part of the episode was that it did a couple of Family Guy style random pop-culture "jokes" (involving Britney Spears and The Lord Of The Rings' Gollum) that I find curious that Simpsons haters were so offended by. They were exactly the same kind of jokes Family Guy does every week which is somehow in their minds a vastly superior show. Don't ever accuse fanboys of making sense. **1/2.
Old Yeller-Belly: Good showcase for Duffman and a likable episode in general. Continuity note: This is the first time Santa's Little Helper's original owner was seen since Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire, here sporting his strange Klasky-Csupo design. ***1/2.
Brake My Wife, Please: Another "bad marriage" episode that isn't QUITE as obnoxious as other Al Jean episodes because it doesn't take it quite as far. **1/2.
The Bart Of War: I wish this episode had done a better job with it's political message at the end which was an important one. But at least they didn't do as bad a job explaining their position as Family Guy generally does. Still, I really like the episode. Two Best lines go to Ralph: "His breath smells like bunnies!" and "I'm a brick!" I especially like that Flanders has a secret Beatles obsession. Best non-Ralph gag was Moe being resigned to the fact that he got paired up against Drederick Tatum in the riot at the end. ***1/2.
Moe Baby Blues: I have to say, I'm glad this episode came when it did. After Moe's behavior in Three Gays Of The Condo I think I considered him the second most detestable character on the show after Apu. Apu will NEVER live cheating on Manjula down but I got a newfound appreciation for Moe because of this episode. I wish Moe and Maggie's relationship had been brought up again in further episodes but the fact that the future writers dropped the ball isn't the episode's fault. ****.
A Haunting Invite From Matt Groening: Matt sure has a lot of heroes. And I'm impressed he did the Kang and Kodos voices as long as he did considering how bad he was at them. ****1/2.
Deleted Scenes:
Best scenes were from Barting Over, 'Scuse Me While I Miss The Sky, and Dude, Where's My Ranch?. Overall: ****.
Introduction: Here Al Jean makes a case for why Season 14 is better than most people say it is. I don't exactly agree but he DOES make a compelling case for it. ****.
Deleted Scenes - Treehouse Of Horror XIII: A MUCH darker ending to The Island Of Doctor Hibbert. Marge coughing up a hairball was funny though. ***1/2.
Deleted Scenes - How I Spent My Strummer Vacation: Extended Lenny Kravitz scene where Homer "butt stuffs". For such a dumb gag it got a big laugh from me. Also an alternate ending. The original ending with Keith and Mick doing chores was better. ***1/2.
Deleted Scenes - Large Marge: Extended alternate Marge and Manjula scene. I miss Jan Hooks. ***1/2.
Deleted Scenes - Helter Shelter: Marge subconcsiously cleans Lenny's apartment. Sort of a weird joke, to be honest. **1/2.
Deleted Scenes - The Great Louse Detective: Sideshow Bob and Maggie give each other threatening looks after Marge makes Bob stay in her room under the logic that they've both tried to kill people. ****.
Deleted Scenes - Special Edna: A couple of extra verses of "What Do I Think Of The Pie". ****1/2.
Deleted Scenes - Strong Arms Of The Ma: Brief scene in the hospital with Dr. Hibbert. **1/2.
Deleted Scenes - Pray Anything: This was actually pretty disturbing. And when you think about it, Flanders IS pretty stupid. **.
Deleted Scenes - Barting Over: Two goodies and one misfire. The original take between the Blue-Haired Lawyer serving Homer papers was a scream and in my opinion better than the joke in the actual episode. It's also a shame that Tony Hawk's funniest line of the episode was cut out ("Now I won't be a parapalegic. Today."). As the for Viagra commercial parody, even the one in the episode they used wasn't that great so it was unsurprising that the one they cut was even worse. ****1/2.
Deleted Scenes - A Star Is Born-Again: Mean-spirited Lenny joke. *.
Deleted Scenes - Mr. Spritz Goes To Washington: Krusty bein' Krusty. ***1/2.
Deleted Scenes - 'Scuse Me While I Miss The Sky: The Homer and the staple burger? An instant classic. Frankly, I think it was almost criminal this wasn't in the episode. *****.
Deleted Scenes - Dude, Where's My Ranch?: Extra David Byrne and a HILARIOUS Yoko Ono gag. This was another missed classic that should have been in an episode overflowing in clutter. Why on Earth they cut this is beyond me. *****.
Deleted Scenes - Old Yeller-Belly: Cheap, obvious, cliche and unfunny French bashing makes it a no-brainer that the producers cut this scene, especially since unfortunately the right was taking "Cheese eating surrender monkeys" as their own, much to Al Jean's annoyance, around the same time. French bashing was kind of funny in the nineties but once we started getting to the Iraq War and "Freedon Fries" there wasn't much humor left in the situation. *1/2.
Deleted Scenes - The Bart Of War: More South Park spoofing (Yay!) and a scene in the Quik-E-Mart with Marge, Kirk and Apu. ****1/2.
In The Beginning: The complete cold openings to the first thirteen Treehouse of Horrors. Seriously handy special feature. My one regret is that they didn't save this for the last season set ever. *****.
It's Only Rock 'N' Roll: Interviews with Tom Petty, Lenny Kravitz, Brian Setzer, Elvis Costello, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger from 2002 as well as some hilarious outtakes from Richards and Jagger. *****.
The 300th Episode: Short featurette about Barting Over. Always good to see some camera time for Matt Groening. ****.
Sketch Gallery I: Animated. I LOVED Mick Jagger and Keith Richards early designs, especially Richards. They would have been impossible to animate but they were brilliant. ****1/2.
Sketch Gallery II: Weirdest find: they included character designs for Larry and Balki from Perfect Strangers. ***1/2.
The Halloween Classics: Memorable scenes from the first thirteen Halloween Specials. ****.
Foolish Earthlings: Classic scenes featuring Kang and Kodos. ****.
Animation Showcase - Moe Baby Blues - Picture-In-Picture:
An animatic and storyboard for Moe Baby Blues. Both: ***1/2.
Storyboards: Storyboards for the first act of the episode. ****.
Animatic: Animatic for the first act. Apparently the Beverly Hillbillies Down Under gag was going to be different but since they used the episode's audio track we didn't hear what the original dialogue was. ***.
Easter Eggs: Probably the best Easter Eggs on any season set since Season Three. Yes, I'm serious. And they were MUCH easier to find than that treasure trove. Best Eggs are on Discs 1 and 2. Overall: *****.
Disc 1 Easter Egg #1: Golden find. An animatic for the original opening to Treehouse Of Horror VII. This has Lisa Simpson as Linda Blair in the Exorcist puking up the title card. *****.
Disc 1 Easter Egg #2: A hidden animatic for the opening for this year's episode and Send In The Clones. I haven't seen an Simpsons Easter Egg this heavy with content since the celebrity outtakes from Season Three. *****.
Disc 1 Easter Egg #3: A mini commentary with Elvis Costello. ****.
Disc 1 Easter Egg #4: A deleted scene from Bart Vs. Lisa Vs. The Third Grade featuring a reality show called "We're Gonna Tell Your Mom". As dumb as it sounds. ***.
Disc 1 Easter Egg #5: A deleted scene between Marge and Bart from Large Marge. **1/2.
Disc 2 Easter Egg #1: Deleted Scene. Dueling Frank Nelson-Types. Do I miss that character? Yeeeessssss! ****1/2.
Disc 2 Easter Egg #2: Deleted Scene. A great runner with Homer and Dr. Hibbert. ****1/2.
Disc 2 Easter Egg #3: Awesome Egg. This is promotional material for both Season 14 and the 300th Episode. The best part about the entire TV Guide article appearing was that the letters were big and legible and the screen crawled at a pace where you could actually read the entire thing. *****.
Disc 3 Easter Egg #1: Deleted Scene from A Star Is Born-Again.. Kind of cute but the episode didn't really need it. **1/2.
Disc 3 Easter Egg #2: Deleted Scene from C.E.Do'h! Amusing. ****.
Disc 3 Easter Egg #3: Deleted Scene From 'Scuse Me While I Miss The Sky involving Eric Idle. Funny stuff. ****.
Disc 3 Easter Egg #4: Deleted Scene from Three Gays Of The Condo. Lame. Should have stayed on the cutting room floor. *.
Disc 4 Easter Egg #1: Deleted Scene from Old Yeller-Belly with a funny Lenny and Karl gag. ****.
Disc 4 Easter Egg #2: Deleted Scene from Brake My Wife, Please with a Hans Moleman cameo and the long-awaited return of the Homer Simpson Work Dummy. ****1/2.
Disc 4 Easter Egg #3: Deleted scene from The Bart Of War. More of Drederick Tatum wailing on Moe. ****.
DVD Menus: Treehouse of Horror themed menus with Kang and Kodos. Overall: *****.
Disc 1 DVD Menu: I like all of the Homer clones stumbling around in the background. *****.
Disc 2 DVD Menu: Awww! Ralph nuzzling Werewolf Skinner was cute! ****1/2.
Disc 3 DVD Menu: They got Joe Mantenga to do Fat Tony's grunts again. ****1/2.
Disc 4 DVD Menu: I love all of the Homer clones going at Kodos' "300" cake. Outstanding. *****.