Episode 15 - Smoke on the Daughter
4 January 2009
Review
Synopsis: Marge tries out for a ballet school but fails. So she pushes Lisa into trying to become a ballerina. Lisa finds the only way she can succeed is to join the other ballerinas in smoking. Homer gets Bart to help him with his beef jerky business. But racoons steal all the jerky. Homer uses the racoons to try and steal the ballerina’s cigarettes and manages to ruin their recital. The Good: This isn’t a horrible episode, but it isn’t much better than that. The plots are kept pretty light and frivolous so there isn’t much to get angry about. As for the jokes…the opening Harry Potter esque fan parody is quite funny. As is Bart’s claim that he is a jock who is too cool for sports. Chaz Busby is a decent stereotype unreasonable ballet instructor with a number of passable lines. Homer eating the jerky filled with sleeping pills is fun as is his disguise for the racoon. The Bad: The plots are as thin as can be. There is no subtlety to Marge pushing her ballet dreams on Lisa. But instead of that being the focus, it becomes about Lisa needing to smoke to perform. But then in the end the condemnation is for ballet and not cigarettes. It’s all a bit of a mess and none of it hits any kind of target. Meanwhile Homer and Bart have a silly plot which should have been fine except for the racoons. The racoons behaving just like the Simpsons and then being able to do Homer’s bidding is ridiculous and more suited to a Halloween episode. It seems any semblance of real life has long ago been wiped out. Best Joke: Homer brings Apu to see his jerky supplies. When he opens the door all the jerky is gone. Apu is angry at having his time wasted. “You have made a very powerless enemy” he warns. The Bottom Line: An episode with an unclear vision. Is it about ballet? Pushy mothers? Cigarettes? Racoons? Who knows and who cares. The jokes aren’t funny enough to make this anywhere near good.
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