[7.1/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] I’ll say this for the episode, at a time when it feels like the show is running out of new stories, the idea of Krusty making a passion project sci-fi film to prove his artistic bona fides is a novel one that fits the bounds of the show. It’s a little convenient that everyone familiar in Springfield is participating, but you know, elastic reality and all that. And I like the references here, with dashes of everything from Jodorowsky’s Dune to BIll Murray’s The Razor’s Edge to Tommy Wiseau’s The Room.
Plus, there’s kinda sorta arcs. Krusty is a little late to the party as a meddling, controlling director after BoJack Horseman’s latest season, but him being willing to sacrifice his film for the good of a lowly PA shows growth. Marge gets a lot to do, which is a plus, and there’s even the sense that, as cactus Bart and Lisa point out, there’s something to her getting used to dealing with pudgy, impulsive dudes that serves her well in dealing with Homer. The action standoff used to get there is pretty forced, but there’s some at least decent emotional and character beats in the episode.
The problem is that it’s just not especially funny. I’m honestly not sure I even chuckled more than once. (“Crew powder” got a laugh.) Krusty’s a tough character to make me laugh at these days since the show tends to lean on tired clichés here, and there’s a lot of looney tunes-style slapstick with Homer. The episode seems to be going more for drama on occasion, which is fine, but the humor it does try to inject tends to be pretty inside baseball. I appreciate the effort to include the kids in some way, but the whole cactus hallucination felt very shoehorned in. And the Marc Maron frame story turned out to be pretty unnecessary and didn’t really add anything to the proceedings.
Overall, a good idea for an episode, but a half-hour that was light on laughs and which couldn’t quite nail its arcs down.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2019-02-22T15:54:31Z
[7.1/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] I’ll say this for the episode, at a time when it feels like the show is running out of new stories, the idea of Krusty making a passion project sci-fi film to prove his artistic bona fides is a novel one that fits the bounds of the show. It’s a little convenient that everyone familiar in Springfield is participating, but you know, elastic reality and all that. And I like the references here, with dashes of everything from Jodorowsky’s Dune to BIll Murray’s The Razor’s Edge to Tommy Wiseau’s The Room.
Plus, there’s kinda sorta arcs. Krusty is a little late to the party as a meddling, controlling director after BoJack Horseman’s latest season, but him being willing to sacrifice his film for the good of a lowly PA shows growth. Marge gets a lot to do, which is a plus, and there’s even the sense that, as cactus Bart and Lisa point out, there’s something to her getting used to dealing with pudgy, impulsive dudes that serves her well in dealing with Homer. The action standoff used to get there is pretty forced, but there’s some at least decent emotional and character beats in the episode.
The problem is that it’s just not especially funny. I’m honestly not sure I even chuckled more than once. (“Crew powder” got a laugh.) Krusty’s a tough character to make me laugh at these days since the show tends to lean on tired clichés here, and there’s a lot of looney tunes-style slapstick with Homer. The episode seems to be going more for drama on occasion, which is fine, but the humor it does try to inject tends to be pretty inside baseball. I appreciate the effort to include the kids in some way, but the whole cactus hallucination felt very shoehorned in. And the Marc Maron frame story turned out to be pretty unnecessary and didn’t really add anything to the proceedings.
Overall, a good idea for an episode, but a half-hour that was light on laughs and which couldn’t quite nail its arcs down.