[5.4/10] I think The Simpsons’ heart is in the right place here. There’s a solid story to tell here, about how people of color and people with disabilities don’t need to be saved by anyone, and that those inclined to help should listen rather than bulldozing over their wants and opinions. Using the show’s platform for representation of the deaf community is also a mitzvah and something nice to see.
But there’s so many major problems with how the show goes about it here. Let’s go with the easiest first. This just isn’t funny. There’s jokes about jazz, about white savior cinema, about general pushiness, and they all just fall as flat as a lower semitone. Even if the episode managed to get the other things right, this is a largely laughless half-hour, which might sink the project on its own.
The story’s also all over the place. First it’s about Bleeding Gums’ song being misused, and then it’s about helping his son, and then it’s about a futile chase for info on who has the rights to it, while also being about Lisa’s overzealousness. There’s no sense of natural progression or build, just a bunch of scenes constructed loosely around a general idea.
Most significantly, this episode tramples on one of The Simpsons’ finest hours. Honestly, I’d love a moratorium on the show revisiting topics and episodes from the golden years. The show just doesn’t have the same charge anymore, and so all it does is stomp on what came before. Why are we retconning a never-before-mentioned offspring, or having BGM voiced by someone other than the dearly departed Ron Taylor, or suggesting Bleeding Gums would be irked by Lisa rather than the avuncular figure he always was to her.
Worse yet, there’s the implication that the episodes featuring Lisa’s friendship with Bleeding Gums were akin to trash like Green Book. Taking brilliant episodes like “Moaning Lisa” and “Round Springfield” about how young souls deal with pain or loss and casting them in that light is grossly uncharitable.
At the same time, when the show means well with its “It’s not your job to save people who don’t need saving” message, it basically affirms Homer’s message that trying to help is unneeded and even a waste of time. In a time of rampant apathy, chastening folks like Lisa who see injustices and want to fix them is social commentary malpractice.
On the whole, this one earns some points for good intentions with its overall theme, and for its inclusiveness for people who are deaf, but the way it goes about vindicating both is wildly miscalibrated, and sullies older, better episodes in the process.
This was annoying episode with lisa
Is one thing to fight for what you stand for
Another thing to force other what you want
The Simpsons used to address serious and important social issues with humour and finesse, now it is just a sad parody of itself. I don't really enjoy using terms like "woke" but it is hard to think of another way to describe what is happening here. The writers are leaning so heavily into that territory that the result is a clumsy attempt at inclusivity which result sin more eye-rolls than empathy.
It's hard to believe this is the same show that once dealt with homophobia and immigration issues so adeptly.
Shout by Will HodkinsonBlockedParent2022-04-11T16:37:33Z
This show has gone unbelievably downhill