"Marge Gets a Job" is a pretty decent episode that sees Marge work at the Nuclear Power Plant with Homer so that they can fix their house. Aside from some solid gags, this is not an overly memorable episode, especially Bart's side plot. I also felt this one lacked a cohesive story. Tom Jones' guest appearance was pretty good, though they could have done a little more with him.
Overall, fair enough episode.
I honestly thought that this episode occurred earlier than Season 4.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2019-05-30T20:43:44Z
[7.5/10] I find myself plagued by the question Robbie Dorman, of The Simpsons Show Podcast, always asks about a given outing from the series: what is this episode about?
“Marge Gets a Job” isn’t about much of anything. If you squint, you can claim it’s about Marge’s neverending search for fulfilment, or about sexual harassment and other challenges facing women in the workplace, or even about Homer being his usual doltish and inconsiderate self but proving his decency with how much he loves and stands up for his wife. But the truth is that this episode has a story, but isn’t really about its story beyond that story providing good fodder for gags and some sweet moments.
But they’re all pretty darn good even if they’re not much more than the sum of their parts. The retirement party for Homer’s coworker is a raft of silly, Burns-agrandizing gags. The running jokes about Marge’s exaggerated resume are the gift that keep on giving. Mr. Burns’s infatuation with Marge and naive attempts to court her and eventually spurn her lead to some funny moments (chiefly the effects of funny hat day and him drawing over her security camera feed). And the kidnapping of poor Tom Jones is the sort of loony running bit that writers Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein do well with.
There’s also some nice focus put on Marge here, with her efforts to help the family, escape the doldrums, and enjoy a little success despite the unfair support and eventual punishment by Burns as he sexually harasses her. I don’t think this is necessarily what the episode was going for, but it made me think of the Megan Ganz/Dan Harmon story that came out this year, and how disparate treatment, particularly the kind that turns from kind to cruel, can be devastating. There is definitely some social commentary there about women working with and being supervised by men, albeit some of which feels a little quaint in 2019.
Then there’s the B-story with Bart getting mauled by a giant wolf. This has to be one of the show’s more out there B-plots. But to be honest, I can’t get over the humorousness of the concept of Bart figuratively “crying wolf” over and over (and surviving Grampa’s insane home remedies), only to be attacked by an actual wolf. It doesn't make much sense, but the notion alone (and Willie’s barechested defense) are too funny to care.
Overall, this episode doesn't amount to much as a whole, but its constituent parts are all quite good and quite funny, which goes a long way.