Well, that was disappointing.
I'm not going to mince words - The script for this thing is atrocious. Every single line, every sentence, is overwritten to the point of absurdity. There is not a single moment of quiet to be had here, it's all noise. Characters yelling, loud noises, overwrought action. It's an exercise in the least subtle, most over-explained storytelling possible, with an underlying nasty and cynical streak which seems to have been carried over from prior future stories even if the setting isn't wannabe-Futurama, and Bart isn't portrayed as a complete failure (though even his portrayal is still kinda iffy). Poor Lisa gets it the absolute worst, reduced to a screaming caricature who lacks any of the warmth and kindness that made her so potent in Classic, and who the show itself seems to treat with a kind of lowkey contempt, where she just makes things worse while Bart we're entirely meant to see as really a good guy.
What especially sucks is that the general premise is fantastic. Lisa's watching of I&S and Krusty has always been a consistent narrative issue, a remnant of the Ullman shorts depiction of her as "girl Bart", but the most plausible interpretation is that she was doing it just to spend time with Bart. This makes the question of what happens to their relationship when they grow up, what happens when they no longer have something as basic as a juvenile kid's show to bond over, a really potent one to ask. But the episode isn't interested in actually discussing that question, given that it takes the most superficial route possible to handle it. Instead of seeing them drift out of it through natural interests shifting, we get an overblown kid riot sequence where they shout about the show being "for babies" (this is never actually addressed after the time-skip, I'd note) and an awful Toy Story 2 parody. Instead of any actual conversation about their feelings and viewpoints, Bart and Lisa reconcile through a big dumb setpiece where they rescue their senile father from a state prison/old folks home, with them watching the show reduced to another overdone gag skit atop of a bizarre final punchline with Marge calling back to an "iconic" episode (am I the only one baffled by the show doing that while still working off the sliding timescale?). There's no nuance or really even passion to be felt here, just more going through the motions with the set dressing of something new. It's all just sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Legit, if this is how Selman Simpsons now is....I dread these next four years.
1.5/5.....and that's because I'm trying to be less harsh with my ratings.
(Also, yes, new Milhouse is bad)
