16x03 Sleeping with the Enemy

[7.4/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] My favorite part of this episode is the first two-thirds of the A-story. The show does a nice job of accounting for why Marge would feel unappreciated by her kids between Bart’s rejection of his party and Lisa’s body image sensitivity. Matching her up with Nelson, someone who’d fully appreciate that mothering since he’s never had it is a canny choice that makes both characters sympathetic and lends itself surprisingly well to comedy. The notion of both Marge and Nelson having an unmet parental need that the other can meet is a strong spine for the episode.

The B-story isn’t bad either! If I recall correctly, Lisa’s body image dysmorphia reflects some of the cast members’ own struggles along the same lines. The episode uses the truth of that, both explaining Lisa’s sudden heightened sensitivity, and satirizing both the industry that feeds and facilitates that type of insecurity, while also satirizing the extreme lengths people go to try to overcome it. Some of that humor is dark, but it works in context.

The problem to both stories is the ending. I like how the show acknowledges that the image pressures placed on young women who develop eating disorders and other problems are not the sort of thing that can be solved in 22 minutes (and it’s one of the episode’s funnier gags). But the whole thing being resolved by Nelson just getting playground revenge on Sherri and Terri, at least for this episode feels like kind of a cop out.

At the same time, I like the circularity of Bart’s lack of appreciation for his mother’s love comes back when Marge opens their home to his bully, who does appreciate Marge’s affections. I even like the (overextended) Yentil reference. But the solution to the problem not being anything character-based or that builds on Bart realizing he should appreciate his mom, but instead just coming down to Bart finding Nelson’s dad at the circus, is pretty unsatisfying. Even setting aside the unbelievable explanation behind Mr. Muntz’s disappearance, it’s just a weak solution to the more emotional problem the show lined up, and Bart seems to care much more about not having to deal with Nelson anymore than about Marge being fulfilled as a mom.

That said, it’s a pretty funny episode, which goes a long way! There’s some overly long gags here (chiefly Ralph’s duck duck goose bit), which were characteristic of this era of the show. But everything from Bart’s lame party, to Nelson hah-hawing his way through letting his guard down, to the ridiculousness of the clothes-for-preteens shop that Lisa goes into, are good bits with solid laughs.
Overall, this one is more frustrating for missed potential given how well the episode sets some things up that it can’t properly knock down than for anything especially bad that it does. But it’s still an above average outing for post-classic Simpsons.