With season 7, I felt The Simpsons had turned a corner, but season 8 felt like more of
the same. It’s still mid-turn, with some very good
episodes, and my all-time
favourite Simpsons moment (‘There’s your answer, fishbulb’). There are two of
the best parody episodes in the series (X-Files
and Frasier), another moment that
really affects continuity
in an otherwise episodic show (The Van Houtens’ divorce), some
good episodes for Ned and Reverend Lovejoy. There's also the best of Seymour Skinner’s
many dabbles in romance.
The Frank Grimes episode is also a clever bit of meta-humour examining the premise of the show, and homer’s chili-based hallucinations are wonderfully 90s. ‘Bart After Dark’ showcases some slightly more complex issues than typical for a cartoon, Marge gets some fantastic moments, and ‘Homer’s Phobia’ is a bit ham-fisted but brave in what it attempts.
The Frank Grimes episode is also a clever bit of meta-humour examining the premise of the show, and homer’s chili-based hallucinations are wonderfully 90s. ‘Bart After Dark’ showcases some slightly more complex issues than typical for a cartoon, Marge gets some fantastic moments, and ‘Homer’s Phobia’ is a bit ham-fisted but brave in what it attempts.
On the other hand, this season has some real duds.
The spin-off showcase is a bad idea done badly, the Poochie episode falls flat
and the parody of Mary Poppins is too obvious, too lazy and definitely not
funny enough to work. A James Bond villain fighting with machine guns and
grenades while Homer doesn’t notice and an Italian mafia-Yakuza showdown in
Evergreen Terrace just take this show too far from its relateable origins and
simply don’t feel very Simpsons. Firing
people from human catapults just about passes.
But at this stage, I miss the days of a normal, dysfunctional
American family, but they already seem distant. The Simpsons is still kept afloat with some classic moments and
clever writing, but it’s right on the edge of sinking, and that’s a shame.
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