[8.0/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] I feel like I should hate this episode. It has everything I loathe about the Mike Scully era of the show. Homer is at his jerkiest and most ignorant. There’s a first act sideshow that has nothing to do with what follows. The gags are cartoony and implausible even for a cartoon. And a big chunk of the gags are mean or just plain weird. This one ends with Homer lustfully trying to kiss Bart (my wife literally shouted “What the fuck?!”) and a camel version of Lisa honking a season’s greeting. It is one of the most batshit crazy Simpsons episodes of all time.
And yet, I can’t help but enjoy it. Maybe it’s just that it’s funny. The gags are so bizarre that it kind of wraps around to being anti-humor. The bits about a Cirque de Solei spoof, or Homer stealing Ned’s car and...roof to go get the kids, or weird Arabian Nights-style fantasies are just so out there that it works for me. Hell, this is an episode where Skinner has Vietnam flashbacks of his platoon mates being eaten by a rice hat-wearing elephant. This episode has no tether to reality or sanity, but that’s kind of its charm.
This feels closer to something Family Guy would put out than The Simpsons, which is telling, and wouldn’t work if the show tried it every week. But against all odds, it works here.
Honestly, as nuts as these proceedings are, the A-story is a solid idea. Kids getting snowed in with their principal before Xmas, rebelling, and taking over the school is a fun setup. The children trashing their permanent records and misunderstanding how adult salaries work matches a sense of wish-fulfillment with that kid logic brand of ignorance nicely. Being forced to watch boring old movies and yearning to get the benefits of snow days is relatable, even if things quickly go off the rails with army days flashbacks and a kids’ revolt.
I struggle to call this episode good exactly. It breaks so many of the rules for good Simpsons episodes and does so many of the things I cringe at in other episodes. But somehow, this one revels in that out there tone, and generates enough laughs to make me forgive its transgressions. Let’s just call it an Xmas miracle.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-11-30T05:10:36Z
[8.0/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] I feel like I should hate this episode. It has everything I loathe about the Mike Scully era of the show. Homer is at his jerkiest and most ignorant. There’s a first act sideshow that has nothing to do with what follows. The gags are cartoony and implausible even for a cartoon. And a big chunk of the gags are mean or just plain weird. This one ends with Homer lustfully trying to kiss Bart (my wife literally shouted “What the fuck?!”) and a camel version of Lisa honking a season’s greeting. It is one of the most batshit crazy Simpsons episodes of all time.
And yet, I can’t help but enjoy it. Maybe it’s just that it’s funny. The gags are so bizarre that it kind of wraps around to being anti-humor. The bits about a Cirque de Solei spoof, or Homer stealing Ned’s car and...roof to go get the kids, or weird Arabian Nights-style fantasies are just so out there that it works for me. Hell, this is an episode where Skinner has Vietnam flashbacks of his platoon mates being eaten by a rice hat-wearing elephant. This episode has no tether to reality or sanity, but that’s kind of its charm.
This feels closer to something Family Guy would put out than The Simpsons, which is telling, and wouldn’t work if the show tried it every week. But against all odds, it works here.
Honestly, as nuts as these proceedings are, the A-story is a solid idea. Kids getting snowed in with their principal before Xmas, rebelling, and taking over the school is a fun setup. The children trashing their permanent records and misunderstanding how adult salaries work matches a sense of wish-fulfillment with that kid logic brand of ignorance nicely. Being forced to watch boring old movies and yearning to get the benefits of snow days is relatable, even if things quickly go off the rails with army days flashbacks and a kids’ revolt.
I struggle to call this episode good exactly. It breaks so many of the rules for good Simpsons episodes and does so many of the things I cringe at in other episodes. But somehow, this one revels in that out there tone, and generates enough laughs to make me forgive its transgressions. Let’s just call it an Xmas miracle.