Elementary School Musical
First off, I signed up for an account here just so I can review this episode, Righters Untie gone into a hiatus and I've been reading the threads here so I hope I get a warm welcome. Moving on, first episode of the season and I didn't think it was up to par. I was initially put off by the fact that it took a title directly from South Park and The Simpsons have been leaning on them too much, they may be right about Family Guy but they should be better then them, not rely on South Park to cover for their own faults, an example being the lack of edge in recent episodes.
Firstly, I do not like The Simpsons adding another gag to the scene, I don't want to see gags such as Spiderpig flying or Otto flying a magic bus, I want to see clouds and only clouds. The opening scene involving the geeky characters was well done and reminded me of past episodes, very surprising and I thought the whole episode would be of this quality. The downhill decline in quality would be when they announced Krusty to be a Nobel Piece Prize winner. I mean if they're trying to lure Krusty to court then why have him win a Nobel Piece Prize, they should of used a letter or an opportunity or something, why ruin the Nobel Piece Prize for a bust? Anyways, Homer laughing was hurtful and just served to get him on the plane and on the side story, Bart was half-heatedly added in there just so he'd support the side-story in some way. It also served Lisa to get in a car and to our main plot point. The jokes relating to Krusty felt done, tired and boring throughout the entire episode, I'm just saying this to get this out of the way.
Lisa should still not be acting like a teenager, I mean sure she's part of a dysfunctional family but she's still 8 according to the still consistent timeline so she should act her age. The audiobook gag I did not like, I felt like the funny voice that tried to be boring was the joke itself... I feel like they should of played a song Lisa would listen to or something, it would of made it better. The performance arts camp reveal was good but it feels like all purpose has been sucked out of her, this isn't the Lisa we're watching, but a weird flash sideways Lisa who is boring and lacks compassion for anything. The joke with the pacifier didn't feel funny to me, it felt like Maggie was smoking the pacifier like it was good, we get it Al Jean, she likes the pacifiers.
When Lisa gets to camp, Glee stars start singing to her in the tune of Good Vibrations which I heard better on Lost, yes Lost. They don't sound like kids, they sound like teenagers even though they look like kids... Also Lisa's singing throughout the song was bad, It felt like she was not trying at all, she was tired and lacking energy. This is a consistent issue throughout the episode, Lisa has lost the magical singing voice and the ability to care, so have The Simpsons writers. Also the curtain transition is especially for the kids, aged 6-14. I'm surprised that Lisa has to signup for the camp, I thought Marge would of done it already, then comes the FotC which is the only good part of the episode, they like save the parts they appear in. I admit they're funny but it's not enough to bring the episode to classic status.
I was kinda mad when Springfield suddenly had New York style burrows, while Bart was raised in one, they did not have to rip off New York haphazardly. I mean Sprooklyn... Clever, so are all the other cities on the sign which Lisa passes by... It's like Capitol City and New York never even existed according to Al Jean, Bill Oakley and Josh Wienstien must be rolling on their graves. Moving on, yet another music number but this one's a rap, normally I'd be excited since I'm a fan of rap but I felt bored throughout the number. Not a big fan of the cow joke and the MC Hawking joke felt like it was done about 6-4 years ago when an actual MC Hawking made an album and released it on the internet. I'd appreciate it if it was a shoutout to MC Hawking but it was a joke about Stephen Hawking so... Yeah. They introduce the "go to the city" mentality into Lisa's mind, so I kinda know the outcome of this.
The sign gag (the one where it says "International House of Pancakes") felt lame. They need a court for Krusty's "heinous" crimes. I'd like it if it involved an actual incident involving an international politician but these crimes should be handled by a European court not an international court. Krusty's stuff still borders the same. And justice in The Simspons seems to be an odd version suited to fit their story. South Park this is not, this is just lazy sitcom writing. Back to the camp, the way Lisa was brought out of that camp seem aprupt, Marge obviously has been taking drugs because she has no feelings at all nor does she care about Lisa's feelings when she's leaving the camp, she seems really, really happy and carefree. The fat camp joke seemed uninspired, we get that they're slow and sweating Al Jean... Also when they're driving home, they play Raffi in the CD player, I am tired of these obvious reference to earlier episodes especially the monotonous sign gag, I do not need to be known that it is a reference, especially when Lisa is trying to escape. Marge shows slight care for Lisa but that is thrown away when she just misaddresses Lisa.
Lisa is still overreacting, like she was in this state on purpose. Otto playing a video game while driving seemed uninspired. The bullies picking on Lisa like he was Bart also seemed uninspired, they don't even beat up Lisa, they just let her walk. Lisa in the music classroom is decent but I did not care for the musical composers misery, I get that Springfield Elementary is full of depression but do we really need a Mr. Edna moment here. Lisa must be obsessed with being Lisa again. The gag where Bart and Homer look through YouTube videos was more of the same for Krusty especially when they admit something but this is what concerned me about the Electric Company gag, how can Krusty remain the same age, that was the 1970's version of the show, how can he remain the same. This goes against any known continuity known to man, like his Talk Show past did not happen at all.
Lisa has handled boring dinners before, I guess obsessing about art camp like you were in love with it can make dinners seem boring. Lisa easily escapes from the house for the nth time and escapes to what appears to be a transplanted version of New York, straight down to the Brooklyn... er I mean the Sprooklyn bridge, Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstien must be rolling over in their graves. Looks like Sprooklyn is automatically a dump, realism be damned. The scene where FotC are living in poor conditions is good but then there is suddenly crime in a city that appears to be completely empty and bare. I swear, that job must of payed them nothing at all as they're working at Sprubway (get it? Al Jean wants you to get it?) And in another music number, Lisa's voice still sounds grating and Krusty does his usual thing. One things for sure, The Simpsons suck at satire.
The Euro gag is meh, only thing I liked is the cuffs, I liked that they would even consider using these things. Then appear Bart and Simpson to save Krusty, there comes a lame DVD region gag which relies on the fact that the USA is better in Homer's mind and the number 1, the clock gag felt like I was watching Family Guy... And they're behind South Park why? Also when the video is played, it felt like it was to wrap everything in a pretty package without regards to intelligence and Krusty still looks the same!. The ending of the subplot, they go and get high... Great. Back to the Springfield Burrow who's name shall not be mentioned, we're in a coffee bar which is also torn apart as is the rest of this city. Every building in a burrow of Springfield should not be a slum., this is supposed to be realistic not something trying to be satire. FotC appear and they save any scene of which they're in. Lisa's scene were decent and likable, especially the clapping scene.
The scene where Marge barges in like she was at Disneyland looking for her child. It's like "There you are Lisa!" instead of "Oh Lisa, where were you, you could of been hurt!" and she's wearing a smile. What kind of drugs is she taking, seriously? The last FotC joke with Lisa when they're leaving is good but the scene after that felt like "The State of New York vs. Homer Simpson". Especially the poster (which some people will like) which FotC painted using Magic, and this is apparently enforced by having them fly to Sprubway (the series should not be using surrealism like having people fly and having people use magic.). The scene in Sprubway felt alright, we finally get to see them working and "surviving" but that's it, the sandwhich dropping was alright and the last line was alright to close the episode. The stuff that happened at the end of the episode felt wrong, they should of had the moo replace the shh instead of the otherway around.
So... This episode is a bad premiere, I felt like they were superheating the oven eveywhere they go, a lot of errors, bad jokes, forced personalities and a general sense of weryness and undeadiness. It's almost like this show will go on to try to parody and satire instead of bring us what we really want, a show about the family. It's not South Park, It's not Family Guy, It's not The Boondocks. It's The Simpsons, not any other show. I swear, this show needs new blood, new writers and a new showrunner. I don't know how anybody gets hired on The Simpsons but somebody should post that stuff on the internet, so people can improve The Simpsons and make a show that people should watch, for free, not for any sort of paycheck. I have a bad feeling about this season if the episodes end up like this episode.
3.0/10
EDIT: I just watched the Family Guy episode "And Then There Were Fewer" (which aired on the same night) and compared to this, it's just better and more risktaking overall. Let's hope "Loan-A-Lisa" will be better then this drek.