Episode 13 - The Debarted
4 January 2009
Review
Synopsis: Principal Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers bring in a new kid to be their inside man on Bart’s pranks. Bart discovers there is a rat in his gang and tries to find out who it is. Marge crashes Homer’s car and Homer becomes enamoured with the much nicer loaner car he is given.
The Good: It has, sadly, been a long time since I enjoyed watching The Simpsons. Too often I sit waiting for the next silly thing to happen and not make me laugh. So this pleasing logical episode was quite the breath of fresh air. While not nearly funny enough to approach the shows best, this is a very watchable parody of The Departed. Rather than mimic the film as the writers have done with other parodies (24 for instance), here they use the context of The Departed to tell a traditional Bart and Skinner tale.
At first my eyes were rolling at the thought of the same old story. New kid comes to school and eclipses Bart or Lisa. Then eventually they leave and it all goes back to normal. Donny looks like he will steal Bart’s thunder but the twist that he is a rat makes for interesting viewing.
Bart’s “operation” (forging bathroom passes and doctors notes and playing pranks) is a pretty funny idea and nicely parodies the criminal underworld without seeming implausible. For once the shows montages are effective in showing Bart’s plans being foiled and Donny staying undercover. They even throw in the odd fun joke such as Bart being trapped in an art class while his butt is glued to a photocopier. Skinner’s pedantic comments are fun as well and once more ground the parody in the world of elementary school (see best joke).
Although Homer’s loaner car plot is brief and doesn’t go anywhere it does serve a valuable purpose. It is filled with jokes which fit The Simpsons ethos of mocking real life, everyday occurrences. In latter seasons the show has become so outlandish with its plots that it has lost the ability to effectively satirise normal life. But here we have Hans Moleman being suffocated by his air bag. We have Homer laughing hysterically at the concept of being given a free car to drive which is better than his own. And of course Marge squeezing ketchup packets into a bottle to save money and Lisa asking if she does it with relish: “No I’m kind of embarrassed by it.”
The Bad: Of course classic Simpsons episodes would always make life go back to exactly the way it always was. Here Bart has been caught committing a crime and told he will be sent to a juvenile detention centre. That’s a pretty serious suggestion and Donny running away isn’t going to change that. It would have only taken a small writing change to suggest that without Donny’s testimony the case against Bart would fail or something like that.
Best Joke: Superintendent Chalmers emerges from the shadows just as we learn Donny is a rat: “We’re gonna put Bart Simpson away for a long, long time.”
Skinner: “By law the most we can give him is a ten day suspension.”
Chalmers: “Well that’s long to a kid.”
The Bottom Line: Not the funniest episode by any means. But one which reminds you of better days. A clever, well thought out parody with jokes which keep the show grounded in reality. You may even laugh. My suspicion is that episodes like this will remain few and far between, so enjoy this while you can.
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