[6.8/10] This episode isn’t bad, but like many of these early efforts, the story is a little shaggy, and the humor isn’t as potent as it would become. The opening bit about Homer stumbling and hurting his back over Bart’s mess and Bart pulling a prank at school so bad he risks getting “deported” is mild silliness without a ton of laughs. It vaguely kickstarts the story, but the meat of this one is Bart getting deported and the family warming to the little boy he’s exchanged for, and the first act is a long wind-up to get to that point.
That said, the funniest moment in the episode comes early, when Homer slips on one of Bart’s toys, and is subjected to the incessant repetition of a Krusty the Clown doll, and the indifference of his cat, dog, and daughter, who congregate around his prone body. So I suppose I shouldn’t complain about the fluff!
The main part of the story is alright. The biggest issue to me is that, even as an adult, Bart’s story being worked to the bone by his crooked French exchange “family” isn’t funny, or even comically absurd. It’s just sad. The “joke” of him hauling water or having to sleep on the floor in lieu of Maurice the Donkey breaks your heart. There's some vague attempts at humor here and there, but mostly you just feel bad for this ten-year-old boy being cruelly exploited.
I don’t mind when The Simpsons goes for drama, and poor Bart sighing after reading a letter from home that makes him yearn for the comforts of family is a good scene. But most of his part of the story is a parade of miseries. Him learning French out of the blue is a bit of a cheat, but at least gives him a minor win after so much suffering. I don’t know if he really grows or changes much out of all of this, but I guess it makes him a little more appreciative of his family rather than disdainful that he has to play by the rules from time to time? If you squint, you can see a “be grateful for the thing you rebel against” message, but it’s pretty faint. At least there's some fun animation, designs, and homages in the French portion of the episode.
The other half, featuring Adil the Albanian, isn’t bad, but isn’t great either. The idea of a ten-year-old spy being used to gather American secrets as part of a student exchange program is a little out there, especially in the more down-to-earth early days of the show. Adil’s not much of a source of comedy either. I do get a kick out of how oblivious Homer is to Adil’s obvious efforts to gather secrets about the nuclear power plant, and his blithe dinner time comment about whether Lisa’s right that “America is the land of opportunity” or Adil’s right that the “machinery of capitalism being oiled with the blood of the workers” is an all-timer. But Adil himself isn’t one of the show’s more memorable guest characters.
There is something to Homer’s “paper thin commitment to his children” and being glad to see his son, despite taking a major shine to Adil. But there's not much of an arc there either, since it’s not clear that Homer learns the error of his ways or readiness to be rid of his son despite being happy to have him back.
Overall, this is absolutely watchable and even has a few quality Simpsons moments, but is well-below the standard the show would eventually set for itself.
This feels like the first attempt to tell a more high concept, outlandish story for the show - something that would become very common in following seasons. In that respect, it really stands out among the rest of the more "grounded" season 1 episodes and feels like it should be a part of the more confident seasons that came next. The only things that really give it away are the rougher drawing/animation, and Homer's old voice. The character of Principal Skinner's mother would also be changed a lot from what we see here.
Possibly the first truly great episode of The Simpsons?
I kept expecting Adil to say, "Papa Homer!" because the performance for him sounds very similar to one in a classic season 4 episode ("Brother from the Same Planet").
The first season of most shows are bound to have ups and downs, but it’s without a doubt that this is one of the ups here. Bart finally goes too far, flushing a cherry bomb just as Principal Skinner’s mother uses the toilet next door, leading Skinner and Homer to agree that Bart should take part in an exchange programme that will send him to France for three months. The catch is that in return the Simpsons will also receive a pupil, albeit from Albania. This makes little sense, really—Albania seems to have been picked purely because it was a communist country the vast majority of Americans would know little about, but the writers work well with it. The dinner argument between Adil (whose surname is Hoxha) and Lisa over American capitalism gives Homer one of my favourite gags so far about ‘the blood of the workers’.
Meanwhile, Bart’s French odyssey gleefully takes every possible American stereotype about France and runs wild with it. I liked the bike journey through famous paintings, the allusions to the antifreeze wine scandal from Austria, Bart’s sudden fluency in French. It’s probably the first example of the show taking a truly outlandish concept and making it smart, funny and surprisingly touching.
Gets a 7 solely on the basis of the capitalism bit, that’s a good one that would fit right in with later seasons
Shout by Mista LukaBlockedParent2022-01-02T04:32:33Z
“The Crepes of Wrath” is another mediocre episode of this first season. Why did Bart have a pet frog at the start of this one? How could Bart speak fluent French by the end of the episode? Plot convenience? In saying that, I liked the scenes between Homer and Adil.
Overall, this is a pretty forgettable episode, but not the weakest.