Episode 8 - Bart the Daredevil
7 June 2010
Synopsis: Bart and Homer are very excited to go and see a monster truck rally. Once there Bart becomes enamoured by daredevil Lance Murdoch and decides to become one himself. He begins various skateboard jumps but looks for a bigger challenge that will truly test him. He settles on jumping Springfield gorge and no one in his family can stop him. Finally Homer threatens to jump the gorge himself to prove how stupid an idea it is.
The Good: There are lots of elements to enjoy in the daredevil storyline. Lance Murdoch's stunt is suitably ludicrous as he drops a lion into a tank of sharks and alligators. He completes the stunt successfully and then ends up falling in while celebrating which was pretty funny.
On the opposite end of comedy, rather realistically, Bart's friends all run away rather than help him when he injures himself. Bart ends up in hospital and eventually meets Murdoch who (ridiculously) encourages him to attempt an impossible stunt. He also gives Bart an implausibly long autograph signed using his mouth.
The final stunt of course sees Homer surprisingly jumping the gorge and plunging to a painful looking fall. The coup de grace is of course when his ambulance immediately hits a tree and his gurney rolls out the back and falls back down the gorge. At the time this physical comedy was a complete surprise and funny.
The Bad: But it does seem an odd end to the story. No one bothers to just point out to Bart that his jump is physically impossible. And of course Homer shouldn't have survived at all, he should have died. Bart's determination to jump isn't really given much motivation either. He just wants to do it despite it being such a terrible idea. The whole episode rather founders on that point. All the arguments presented to Bart as to why he shouldn't risk his life don't have any response from him.
Almost half the episode was spent getting to the rally before the daredevil story kicked in. That hurt that story developing some real depth.
Best Joke: Before the monster truck rally Homer is forced to attend Lisa's music recital. Ned Flanders is there and openly weeps when his son Todd plays a solo. "Come on Flanders" Homer consoles "he's not that bad."
The Bottom Line: The episode is fondly remembered for launching the Homer Simpson vicious-looking slapstick comedy stunts. But the actual story leaves a lot to be desired.
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