Episode 2 - The Homer of Seville
4 January 2009
Review
Synopsis: Homer hurts his back and while at the hospital discovers that while lying down he has a powerful singing voice. Mr Burns makes him the lead for the Springfield Opera House. Stardom has its pitfalls though as he and Marge are bothered by his fans. A mysterious woman, Julia, becomes president of Homer’s fan club. She tries to seduce him and when he rejects her she tries to kill him. The Good: There is enough good humour here to keep some fans content. Homer’s gluttony at the funeral is easy fun. The way he implausibly has to keep lying down during the opera is quite funny, as is his dialogue with Placido Domingo (see Best Joke). Fans of Entourage will enjoy the reference to the show: “But I need my childhood friends to help me keep it real. Would you have me keep it fake?” The Bad: This episode is rather like the last one. At first you think that the show might make an episode with a point to it. But then instead it focuses on a silly “drama” sequence which means nothing and is just an excuse for silly jokes, none of which really make you laugh. One of the best Simpsons parody episodes was “Homer’s Barbershop Quartet” (501). The idea of that episode was similar to this one; we see a story about Homer becoming a star in a music genre. But in that episode the barbershop quartet is the focus of the episode from start to finish. Therefore the story has a focus and resonance and the jokes flow from the plot. In this episode it takes almost a third of the episode to discover that Homer can sing. Then two thirds of the way through his stalker appears. So this episode becomes a demonstration of a lack of focus from the writers. The fact that we have barely seven minutes to deal with the stalker means we don’t care about that story at all. When you have sat through one story for twenty solid minutes you naturally develop a desire to see its conclusion. But instead we have a silly montage of stalking followed by the big joke that Springfield police snipers can’t hit a target. None of it is very funny or interesting. Best Joke: Homer finishes a performance and heads to the Opera locker rooms which is a funny image in itself. Placido Domingo approaches Homer and of course we get Homer’s amusing condescending attitude. After a compliment Homer says “Thanks. You know of the Three Tenors, you’re my second favourite. No wait, I forgot about that other guy. Sorry you’re third.” The Bottom Line: A lack of focus makes this a very average muddle of an episode.
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