[7.4/10] It’s not hard to believe that this episode is a collaboration between then-Simpsons showrunner Mike Scully and future Futurama co-creator David X. Cohen. It has the former’s sense of gag-heavy episode building, and the latter’s sense of absurd lunacy. The results are roundly enjoyable, if a little out there, even by Simpsons standard.
My favorite part is the first act. It’s essentially just aimless gags, but the comical digs at targets as varied as The Ten Commandments, Model U.N., and school trips. There’s not a lot to the satire here, but the gags are all hilarious, with various layers and well-observed bits about kids’ inability to take school activities seriously despite the faux-seriousness of them. Plus it gives us classic lines like “In conclusion, Libya is a land of contrasts” and “Go banana!”
From there, the episode gets a little weird, with the whole Lord of the Flies parody feeling like something that would eventually be more in Futurama’s wheelhouse as a wacky adventure than The Simpsons. But I still enjoy it. There’s not much of a spine to it beyond the kids blaming Milhouse for all their problems, but the humor is solid, and there’s a few fun twists in the story.
That said, the Lord of the Flies homages are pretty thin. In terms of direct references, it’s really just the conch shell and “sucks to the law.” Spiritually, there’s a bit of Milhouse as Piggy, and the other kids going on a hunt and a vague sense of an evil beastie on the loose. But honestly, a loose sampling is probably for the best considering the show’s tone, and the reveals largely work.
That just leaves one of the show’s more peculiar and dated B-plots, where Homer starts an Internet business in a “keeping up with the Joneses” competition with Ned Flanders. Between treating the Internet like this wild new thing and treating Bill Gates as the digitally-minted billionaire du jour, the plot seems hopelessly rooted in 1998. But for those of us who were there, there’s still a number of good lines in what basically amounts to an extended sketch.
On the whole, this is one of The Simpsons stranger premises, with a goofball ending that irked the diehards. But I still like on the level of pure laughs and as a wild change of pace.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-04-03T18:32:47Z
[7.4/10] It’s not hard to believe that this episode is a collaboration between then-Simpsons showrunner Mike Scully and future Futurama co-creator David X. Cohen. It has the former’s sense of gag-heavy episode building, and the latter’s sense of absurd lunacy. The results are roundly enjoyable, if a little out there, even by Simpsons standard.
My favorite part is the first act. It’s essentially just aimless gags, but the comical digs at targets as varied as The Ten Commandments, Model U.N., and school trips. There’s not a lot to the satire here, but the gags are all hilarious, with various layers and well-observed bits about kids’ inability to take school activities seriously despite the faux-seriousness of them. Plus it gives us classic lines like “In conclusion, Libya is a land of contrasts” and “Go banana!”
From there, the episode gets a little weird, with the whole Lord of the Flies parody feeling like something that would eventually be more in Futurama’s wheelhouse as a wacky adventure than The Simpsons. But I still enjoy it. There’s not much of a spine to it beyond the kids blaming Milhouse for all their problems, but the humor is solid, and there’s a few fun twists in the story.
That said, the Lord of the Flies homages are pretty thin. In terms of direct references, it’s really just the conch shell and “sucks to the law.” Spiritually, there’s a bit of Milhouse as Piggy, and the other kids going on a hunt and a vague sense of an evil beastie on the loose. But honestly, a loose sampling is probably for the best considering the show’s tone, and the reveals largely work.
That just leaves one of the show’s more peculiar and dated B-plots, where Homer starts an Internet business in a “keeping up with the Joneses” competition with Ned Flanders. Between treating the Internet like this wild new thing and treating Bill Gates as the digitally-minted billionaire du jour, the plot seems hopelessly rooted in 1998. But for those of us who were there, there’s still a number of good lines in what basically amounts to an extended sketch.
On the whole, this is one of The Simpsons stranger premises, with a goofball ending that irked the diehards. But I still like on the level of pure laughs and as a wild change of pace.