R&R: The Saga of Carl (RABF14)

How would you rate this episode?


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The Goode Family

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Homer, Moe, Lenny and Carl team up to buy a winning lottery ticket, but after Carl snags the ticket and flees to his home country of Iceland, the guys head there in hot pursuit.

Discuss!
 
Eh, this is the episode Lisa the Iconclast would've been if Lisa told the truth. I mean, it was sort of interesting, but when the note was nothing more than an even bigger "let down" I totally lost all interest. The time wasting, Carl Bravado scene on the bus trying to up the interest of the country was so mind numbingly boring, I walked away from the TV. :(

2/5
 
Pretty blah episode. Nothing really happened except for the "wacky adventures of Lenny, Moe and Homer" and there weren't very many funny moments. 2/5

I will say this. I was expecting much worse from a The Big Bang Theory crew member (though I could tell it was written by one).
 
I thought it was pretty decent I chuckled a couple of times and laughed at the whole trying to find a new black guy friend. I actually really enjoyed the story and appreciate Selman trying new things and stories. So in that regards I am giving it a low 4/5 or a B- It kept me entertained and that's all I ask of this show anymore.
 
I thought it was pretty decent I chuckled a couple of times and laughed at the whole trying to find a new black guy friend. I actually really enjoyed the story and appreciate Selman trying new things and stories. So in that regards I am giving it a low 4/5 or a B- It kept me entertained and that's all I ask of this show anymore.

what does Selman have to do with this episode boy :P
 
A fair episode that didn't really have too many funny parts. The beginning was nice. It was good to see Lisa acting like a kid again. But overall, it just wasn't a very engaging story. It was also pretty hard to believe that the people of Iceland would forgive Carl and his family because of good deeds he performs for people they've never met before.

And apparently something happened at the very end? A bus scene? This fucking storm is preventing the TV from getting any reception. Bye-bye, second episode.

3/5
 
ACT ONE:

Like typical Zombie Simpsons fashion, we have a barrage of stupid shit and then the plot comes in late in the first act.

Also, we got that "69" joke. Ugh...

ACT TWO:

Wow, I'm surprised. The satire about Iceland was pretty sharp!

No, I'm lying. It was really thin and blatantly obvious. They eat disgusting food and are really judgmental? Yeah, like I haven't heard that a hundred times before.

To quote Harvey Fierstein, "You're the fucking Simpsons! You're better than this!"

Oh, and Lenny wants to kill Carl for some reason.

ACT THREE:

About the only part I liked was the montage of the guys sitting around together. It was actually the perfect length.

OVERALL:

It was boring and flawed, but not offensive. And wow, are we back to the three act structure now? Well, obviously the "fourth act" would be the credits. Anyway, 3/5 (C-)
 
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A decent storyline but very few good gags. The "are we really friends" aspect was forced, that was what I didn't like the most about it. But I liked Carl being a good friend in the end.

3/5
 
I had really hoped we would learn a little more about Carl than what we did. His family is hated in Iceland. That's really all we hear. We can't learn a little more about Carl's background?
 
An interesting episode for its thematic variation and change of scenery, but not much else. In about the third or fourth time, the lottery is used as a plot device, as Carl, in a surprising streak of selfishness, absconds with a lottery jackpot. Carl was adopted and then, uh, emigrated to Springfield, I suppose. The comments on "male friendship" could have been interesting (and, from my experience, were kind'a true, at least for what they pointed out in the show), and the theme almost came full circle.

Sigur Ros provided some assistance with the scoring, and this was a bit of a mixed bag. The scene where the boys are following Carl, and we see the picturesque Icelandic landscapes (perhaps not as detailed or interesting as the beautiful backgrounds in episodes like Moe Goes from Rags to Riches, but striking nonetheless), there are some mysterious, almost eerie undertones in the soundtrack. They also do some riffs for the scene transitions, but these are three-seconds of literally nothing but bells and whistles. These shorter interludes were distracting to me.

I can't say much to Carl's characterization, as this is the most we've ever gotten from him. What I saw was... a mixed bag, much like everyone else in the show. Its explorations of myth and tradition were interesting, and Homer tried to point out that, in an ever-changing society, it is difficult to maintain these as the backbone of one's cultural ideology. Aaaand I guess it didn't take too long to learn ancient Icelandic. Aaaand I guess the Simpson kids didn't get enough of their pool when they had one a while ago.

Kind of a nice episode - certainly nothing to get all excited about.
 
These new episode threads used to be so much more active. What happened to the multiple posts a minute that occurred even earlier this season?
 
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What's wonderful about it? I pine for the days of yore. When I used to click "new posts," there was always more material in these threads to read. Now where are the new posts? The damn lounge.
because the simpsons is a thing of the past - deal with it
 
oh god, I actually liked this episode.
First off one of the biggest problems with this season is that most of the episodes were very poorly paced and were very boring. this episode was basically the opposite, I actually cared about what was happening between Homer, Lenny, Moe and Carl and I almost thought they weren't going to get back together by the end. The episode wasn't very funny like most of the recent episodes, I chuckled about twice maybe but there wasn't really anything cringeworthy or terrible.

5.5/10

Probably the best story of this season.
 
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I was getting back from a road trip this weekend, so I only saw the last half of this episode. I enjoyed the scene where Homer and Lenny tell the icelanders about how Carl is a nice guy.
 
This episode was not as good as Dangers on a Train, but it wasn't that bad. I enjoyed seeing Homer actually doing things with his friends instead of just sitting in Moe's Tavern. I would have liked to see more Carl, but I guess this will have to do. Decent jokes, Bart and Lisa acting like kids, and it was interesting.

Rating: 3.5/5 (3 on poll)
 
2/5 - apparently I'm not quite a big a fan of the "story" episodes as other people here

Written by Eric Kaplan
Directed by Chuck Sheetz
Blackboard: none
Couch: Everyone is a sea creature, sitting on a couch-shaped coral reef; Blinky swims by and eats them
Also Starring: Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, Chris Edgerly
Icelandic Score by Sigur Rós
Overseas Animation: Akom
TV Rating: TV-PG-DLV

The Springfield Lottery logo looks like the California Lottery logo, but the Springfield tickets are green instead of orange.
 
This episode is inclined more into the "enjoyable" side of the scale.
It's quite solid in plot structure and was fluent in execution for the most part-- the introduction leads into the conflict nicely. I'm glad they tried to reference a lot from Icelandic culture or just took opportunity to poke a little fun and their people; it didn't go overboard. I also think that this is a good opportunity to expand on Carl's former minor role on the show. Unfortunately, the premise and the story's "lesson" attempted too many gags, making it less powerful than it would've been.

I'm pleasantly surprised that Bart and Lisa were shown as kids in the beginning of the episode, but that is not the attention in the episode of course. I also think appropriate character sentiments were shown here; Homer, Lenny, and Moe were quite dynamic, changing from hatred to sympathy. It may have been abrupt that they made an immediate delivery of their sympathy on the bus-- a slight lack of subtlety in behaviors. A different approach may have been to let the three view Carl's loneliness and hatred against to implicitly show sympathy, though I'm still inclined to say that the episode went through this issue with a decent manner.

Some other assets that I found interesting and harmless (or beneficial) to the plot include the scenery in Iceland. They're really captured the atmosphere of traveling in interior Iceland very well, and that is something I loved about this episode (Yes, I've been to Iceland in my school trip!). Homer, Lenny, and Moe learning and pronouncing the Icelandic language and accent is also something that was fun to watch.

The interest level for me in this episode is above par for season 24, managing a decent and not-so-boring plot.
between 6.5/10 and 7.0/10

Off topic: I don't like the promotion poster. The arrangement of the guest stars are above the title "Saga of Carl Carlson", which makes it feel like it's slanted towards advertising guest stars instead. The attention should be on Homer, Lenny, Moe, and Carl, instead of on Sigur Ros. The layout isn't appropriate, but at least it's not a huge issue.
 
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Not a good episode at all. But the poll doesn't make sense, shouldn't the "at least Seth MacFarlane wasn't in it" option be 2/5? Wouldnt the thinking be, this was a bad episode but I'll give it an extra point because no Seth. 1/5 is the lowest possible score, so Seth or no Seth doesn't matter as it doesnt earn it any points. All right, I'm done nitpicking.
 
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