[7.2/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] This episode is a tough one to grade, because it has more laughs than your average post-golden years episode of the show, but also some completely dumb gags and a kind of bonkers storyline.
It’s interesting that The Simpsons has stuck with (albeit occasionally ignored for convenience sake) the fact that Apu has eight kids, because it feels like such a topical bit, commenting on the then-trend of fertility treatment-assisted multiple births. There is the lightest scintilla of commentary here, in how the press and the public initially shower love and attention on headline grabbing multiple birth families, but quickly move on to the next flavor of the month, leaving those families struggling to get by. There’s also some commentary to the whole zoo thing, suggesting it obliquely as a last resort for desperate parents, and the sort of Modest Proposal-esque endgame for these types of treatments and public figures.
But this is mostly a gag fest. Apu’s banana bread rant, the Octuplets’ silly zoo show, and drive-by riffs on everything from Ikea to parental exhaustion to sad kangaroos are the name of the game. The story spins out to the point of utter zaniness quickly. (Anytime you have a major plot point where a parent and one of his customers are breaking their octoplets out of the zoo, you have to imagine that things have gone off the rails). And the ending is lazy as hell, resorting to the old chestnut of “Homer gets hurt a lot” in lieu of something that even vaguely follows the already outsized plot.
Plus this is definitely Homer in full-blown “Captain Wacky” mode, between his stupidity and insensitivity and endless sitcom-y quips. There’s some not great South Asian-tinged material with Apu and his family to boot. And the Butch Patrick cameo is just incredibly unnecessary.
Still, overall, this one has some genuine laughs and, however rushed and unrealistic in places, tells a story with legitimate ups and downs. That’s worth a decent amount in season 11!
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2019-05-23T22:06:49Z
[7.2/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] This episode is a tough one to grade, because it has more laughs than your average post-golden years episode of the show, but also some completely dumb gags and a kind of bonkers storyline.
It’s interesting that The Simpsons has stuck with (albeit occasionally ignored for convenience sake) the fact that Apu has eight kids, because it feels like such a topical bit, commenting on the then-trend of fertility treatment-assisted multiple births. There is the lightest scintilla of commentary here, in how the press and the public initially shower love and attention on headline grabbing multiple birth families, but quickly move on to the next flavor of the month, leaving those families struggling to get by. There’s also some commentary to the whole zoo thing, suggesting it obliquely as a last resort for desperate parents, and the sort of Modest Proposal-esque endgame for these types of treatments and public figures.
But this is mostly a gag fest. Apu’s banana bread rant, the Octuplets’ silly zoo show, and drive-by riffs on everything from Ikea to parental exhaustion to sad kangaroos are the name of the game. The story spins out to the point of utter zaniness quickly. (Anytime you have a major plot point where a parent and one of his customers are breaking their octoplets out of the zoo, you have to imagine that things have gone off the rails). And the ending is lazy as hell, resorting to the old chestnut of “Homer gets hurt a lot” in lieu of something that even vaguely follows the already outsized plot.
Plus this is definitely Homer in full-blown “Captain Wacky” mode, between his stupidity and insensitivity and endless sitcom-y quips. There’s some not great South Asian-tinged material with Apu and his family to boot. And the Butch Patrick cameo is just incredibly unnecessary.
Still, overall, this one has some genuine laughs and, however rushed and unrealistic in places, tells a story with legitimate ups and downs. That’s worth a decent amount in season 11!