This is a weird and messy episode. The olympics set-up is contrived AF, something that would become more and more obvious in the Simpsons from this point on. The fact that Seymour would allow Bart on stage at all is totally ridiculous. The fact that then the games would be given to Shelbyville after everything that has happened - again bonkers. And the fact that Community Service would be given for the incident when Seymour himself checked the jokes and approved of them prior is crazy.
The Homer side story regarding the springs is really tired and uneventful.
After writing all this, should probably be a 6. I just didn't enjoy this.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-01-08T22:01:35Z
[7.7/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] Storywise, this episode is kind of a mess. The opening premise of the Olympics coming to town is out there. The subsidiary plots of Bart having to do community service and Homer trying to sell springs are nearly random. And the day is saved when a sinking boat full of seniors bounces up and down thanks to a lake full of springs. It’s all got the sort of random cartooniness that characterized Mike Scully’s years as showrunner.
But you know what? It’s a funny episode! That counts for a lot! I will confess to having done the “Children! Children! Future! Future!” bit for years. As silly as the Olympic material is, there’s a bevy of exaggerated but rib-tickling bits there, especially about the town sprucing up for their international visitors. And easy though the gags may be, Bart and Lisa dealing with the seniors was a lot of fun.
Plus, god help me, I got a kick out of all the bits with the springs. It’s just grab bag gags, and there’s even some jerkass homer there for good measure, but I don’t know what to tell you. Homer dribbling Maggie, getting punched by Skinner and bouncing back, and claiming that he’s not flushing all the springs down the toilet while singing a song about it got a laugh out of me. Hell, as loony as the ending is, I even appreciate the synergy of his dumb springs being the thing that saves Bart, Lisa, and the seniors!
Even with the “kids look after the elderly” story, there’s a decent throughline about Bart trying to free them, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest style (replete with yet another homage to the indigenous man from that movie), only to find that while they had a blast on his excursion, they like the predictability and activities back at the home. It’s not much, but it’s enough of a destination point for the story here.
On the whole, this is a surprisingly good time for a Scully era Simpsons episode. You have to turn your brain off a little and just enjoy the goofy ride, but like Grampa and his cohort, I was unexpectedly on board with this one.