Episode 3 - The Great Wife Hope
18 October 2009
Review
Synopsis: When Marge discovers how popular “Ultimate Punching” has become she leads a campaign to ban it. Owner of “Ultimate Punching” Chet Englebrit offers to disband the sport if Marge will fight him. She reluctantly agrees but defeats him in the end.
The Good: The only line that seemed to actually make an intelligent comment about MMA was the final one. All the men in the arena leave while Marge gives a speech about banning the sport. Lisa explains that two drunk guys are having a fight outside and everyone has gone to watch them. That is the final word on MMA, deplorably violent or otherwise, people like to watch others fight and they always will.
As the episode bumbles its way through the plot we do get some fun moments. Homer has one of his amusingly detailed daydreams about what might happen to Marge if she gets hurt. It was nice of the writers to show him having concerns and his own attempt to take her place was nice broad comedy (as he dragged up and ended up on a date with Moe). Dredrick Tatum ordering food for his pet lion was typically surreal and Marge asking for her weight to be excluded from the pre-match announcements was a clever touch.
The Bad: Otherwise this is another forgettable episode. The main reason being that the story, like so many, is irrelevant. The writers aren’t attempting to explore the issue of MMA as they might once have done. They don’t present the issues which the brutality might present and Marge’s campaign doesn’t have any nuance or satire to it. It’s simply an excuse for a story and as such it becomes dull and inconsequential as it goes on.
Chet Englebrit is not a parody of Dana White (the real life organiser of “The Ultimate Fighting Championship”) but instead a generic Simpsons bad guy. The idea that Marge would fight a man is silly. It wouldn’t be allowed and it’s a clear example of how ridiculous Simpsons plots have become. It’s pretty counterproductive for Marge to create violence in order to get rid of it anyway. Along the way we get the usual jokes which stray so far from reality that they lose all sense of humour. Such as Homer being lifted and twisted by a Jiu Jitsu instructor and Skinner being physically bullied by his own students.
Best Joke: Marge heads into the stadium leaving her fellow protestors outside. So Mrs Lovejoy suggests they gossip about Marge. Mrs Hibbert points out that Maggie never speaks. Luann says “I think it saw something awful!” to many agreeing comments. A nice self referential joke.
The Bottom Line: There’s a reason that sit coms used to write simple morality plays and attempt to tackle issues. It gave episodes a structure and served a wider purpose. Now that The Simpsons doesn’t bother with the morality we get nonsense like this. Without the freedom of humour which other animated shows have, the writers continue to produce plots we don’t care about with tame or lame jokes. The show either needs to evolve or de-evolve, staying the same will produce more mediocrity.
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