Rate & Review: "Girls Just Shauna Have Fun" (UABF12)

How would you rate this episode?

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Brad Lascelle

Brad Lascelle

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Season 33, Episode 19
Original Airdate: May 1, 2022

Writer: Jeff Westbrook
Director: Matthew Nastuk
Showrunner: Matt Selman
Co-runner: Tim Long

Synopsis: When Lisa joins the high school marching band, she finds an unlikely mentor in Shauna Chalmers. Meanwhile, Homer becomes a craft beer brewer.

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R&R Poll Average Score: 3.85 / 5 (as of September 23, 2023 / 33 votes)
IMDb User Rating: 6.6 / 10
 
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This episode's not too bad, it was interesting to see Homer and Chalmers hang out, but the Lisa and Shauna plot was also good as well. And this time, I'll go for 5/5
 
I really enjoyed this one. I’ve always had a soft spot for Shauna; I thought she filled a gaping character hole the show had for years. Her relationship with Lisa was done very well; I liked how Shauna seemed kind of embarrassed about being with someone like Lisa, but she also realized how Lisa helped her. The big party was a scene where I very much empathized with Lisa. It reminded me of the party I went to after the high school prom and was shocked at all the alcohol and drugs that were present. I felt so out of place.

In contrast to Shauna, I’ve always found her dad to be an overused character, but I liked him in this one. I thought his relationship with Homer over beer felt natural, and the plot wove well into the main bit with the teenagers stealing all their beer. I loved the reveal that Homer forgot to put alcohol in the beer, leading to him and Chalmers not being arrested. Along with the good story and tight plot, I think this was the funniest episode of the season. 5/5
 
Now I guess I was right that Matthew Nastuk will be the director for this episode. And this time, Tim Long is a co-showrunner for this episode
 
Really liked this episode. The down-to-earth tone, Lisa and Shauna's friendship, a glimpse into the Springfield high school and the high school party, and Lisa's childlike nature when Shauna left her at the party. As you can tell, I can't stop talking about how much I loved this episode. 5/5.
 
The irony of the teens waging a beer heist only for Homer's incompetence in neglecting the alcohol in the brewing process saving his and Chalmers' bacon was too delicious. Maggie feeling slighted by Lisa's sisterly attention being directed elsewhere was also precious as hell.

Really the only grievance I have with the episode is that the character animation came off a little slapdash in spots. I suspect this was somewhat of a consequence of so much attention being paid to the marching/drumming sequences of Shauna, in particular, that attention was glossed over elsewhere. Otherwise, this was a superlative effort.
 
Might as well go ahead and comment now before this thread is eventually flooded with hate from the people going into this episode with an anti-Shauna bias.

I was enjoying it for the first two thirds up until the point where the guys came to get the beer from Shauna. Afterwards, the episode began to lose steam the same way several others do by the last act and a lot of the dialogue became more hokey and over-explainy (the kid's parents entire speil before they left for the escape room for example). The ending could possibly be seen as sappy, but when compared to Bart's in Jail it didn't feel sitcomy.

Subplot was just kinda there, but it's tie-in to the main plot didn't feel nearly as forced as it did last week and unlike Road to Cincinnati actually made an attempt to reinvent the wheel with Chalmers' character to make him less one-note.

Overall, this was probably the best we could've gotten for an episode with Shauna as a main character helmed by the people who showran and wrote it, but it still misses the mark to not come anywhere close to even a 4 let alone a 5.

2.5/5, currently undecided whether to round it up or down. Might add more the longer I think about this.
 
I'm oft surprised how I think average episodes to me will get crushed on here and I see 4-5 star reviews (like tonight's episode) but episodes I love (like last week's episode) that I expect to get hailed on here are met with 2-3 star reviews. Pretty funny/ironic.

Tonight's episode was average to be, I enjoyed it. But it wasn't a top episode of the season. I'd give it a 3/5.
 
@NOSaintsFan09 Well not yet at least. Give this episode some time and eventually the 2's or even 1's will start to come in as some are likely gonna go into this with an anti-Shauna bias.

Anyways, I agree that at best the episode was average though I do consider it a top episode of the season... But only because most of the season has ranged from mediocre at best to bad at worst.
 
I really wasn't into this episode. I don't really care for Shauna as a character, I get the reason she's in the Simpsons but I don't care enough to watch a whole episode. I'm not the biggest fan of making Chalmers her dad either. At least the main story was wholesome, I really didn't care about the B Plot. I'm not too sure how I felt about seeing Martin's older brother, I just know that the rest of the scenes set in the high school were uninteresting to me. I also thought that the comedy was too predictable.

This is one of those episodes that I just write off and tell myself the next one will be a good one.
 
This was pretty good. It was great to see Lisa bond with someone who has the exact same interest in music. Seeing it that it was Shauna took me by surprise. They acted like they were really sisters but they realized that they're in differant grades but still helped each other. I'm glad that Chalmers and Homer got along. This reminded me of the secret society episode Homer was in from the classic episode. I agree Chalmers was overused but at least they used him well here. Seeing him yelled SIMPSONNNNNNNNN! was a relief from yelling Skinners name. The 2 plots did blend well and Homer and Chalmers didn't go to jail. Seeing Lisa and Shauna play together at the end was music to my ears. 5.5
 
Eh probably no 1s from me. Because I'm just avoiding it. The show's current saccharine uwu tone with the same character that flashed Bart, forcibly made out with him and possibly even worse and, I'm guessing, STILL hasn't gotten any kind of karma from it? Fuck that. I don't take care of my mental health like, at all but this would be too much, if 22 minutes of the same flat, droning valley-girl voice wasn't enough of a put-off.
 
Where was Jessica in the trombone section?

I remember when my section use to annoy and slag woodwinds. And they deserved it.

Nelson Muntz plays the French horn? Sure why not, he looks like he can handle one of the hardest instrument to play.

Lisa, "I finally get to play with people who respect music theory and tradition." Ha! Well respect yes, tradition maybe, but music theory, ha!

Learned Hawaii 5-0 real song name is You Can Count on Me and it has lyrics. Who knew..

No Supertramp? That's just not right.

I guess in Simpson time, beer brewing is faster than normal time.

A drummer and a sax jamming... nope.

I honestly don't know what to think of this episode. The idea of a teenager hanging out with a grade-schooler seems to be odd. Homer learning how to make beer seems like something he could do with or without the yeast. I wish they stop trying to make Shauna a thing.

Anyways:
 
Well HOLY CRAP! That was probably the funniest episode of the Season for sure. It's been a while since they made a proper use of Shauna, but her chemistry with Lisa flows so well it's criminal they don't use her more as a primary character. Never even expected a good pairing of Superintendent Chalmers & Homer either and it's easily the best usage of him since Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts, while the secret brew alliance is a possible callback to Homer the Great. The 3rd act was possibly one of the best final acts in the Season where all the drama, emotion & plot twist ended in triumphant glory. From Lisa's childlike behavior to her acting like an immature teenager and then reverting back, Shauna bickering at her dad, the drumming sequences, chalk this up as the best Simpsons episode Jeff Westbrook has written so far and hope he continues improving from here.

9/10. Also, can people finally start to admit that Beware My Cheating Bart is a good episode, please?
 
So, that's one of the troll posters, right? Because asserting someone who appears more than most of the secondaries by now doesn't appear enough is a funny joke.
 
Well, it's taken nearly 20 years and 23 credited episodes, but Jeff Westbrook has finally written a great episode of post-classic Simpsons. There was very little wrong with this based on what it set out to do and it represents the very best use of Shauna to date. 4.5/5
 
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I really thought the episode would contain at least, one scene or one line, why Shauna is so meanie? But instead, we just has ordinary Shauna and ordinary Lisa mix. The story was like "let's add A to B, and see, what will be". Comparing to another Westbrook's recent story about the two - The Road to Cincinnati - this one was weaker for sure.

In short, I liked act 1 - here there were really similarities and some weak connection between L and S.

As I said, Shauna was the meanie (I had predicted she wouldn't going to change). "For no reason" rude to Lisa, her dad, sometimes too much Shauna things sarcasm.

Ok, the episode isn't just 22 minutes of her. The B-plot was stupid, but funny. At last, the staff came to think about similarity with Chalmers and Homer. The moment, where they actually NOT GUILTY, and the teens just pretended to be drunk (and listen to Wiggum's lesson) was hilarious.:lol: Like the rushing all the stereotypical drunk teenagers behaviour from "TV-shows Lisa isn't supposed to watch".

Also 2 moments I really loved:
1) Gary's speech about Shauna with old photo as a little girl in hands. That was nice🙂
2) Lisa and Maggie's "quarrel", then reunion. Also great.:maggie::lisa:

Probably deeply inside I had a hope for super-puper instead of my preview analytics. I forgot to note there, Shauna isn't typical teen, but stereotypical teen, an image, a way real-life teens could behave. Here, actually we've got a BUNCH of such teens.😂

Hmm… reading earlier reviews here, I can't join their prasing the episode. However, despite described negative in the start, I actually don't name it bad. IMHO, the episode is "avarage": not great, but not bad or weak at all. Strong 3.5/5 so far, rounded… down for the poll.
 
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Decided to ultimately round my score down to a 2. Felt like that was fair as someone who was actually going into this without any biases.
 
Surprised to see everyone saying they liked this episode considering Shauna's not well liked around here. Pleasantly surprised of course because I enjoyed this episode as well. Shauna and Lisa's relationship was very cute and seeing Homer and Chalmers bond over craft beer was kinda wholesome tbh.

This, plus seeing the trailers for the new Jurassic Park and the Bob's Burgers movie put me in a very good mood that evening so of course it gets a 5/5
 
This episode was well-plotted and nicely paced, but I didn't really find it very funny. Whenever this show does something teenager-centric it always runs the risk of coming off as like, a Nickelodeon show written by aliens. Shauna is still a bland character with an annoying Tress MacNeille voice and there isn't really a lot of interesting fleshing out you can do with her at this point. I did actually like the Homer and Chalmers stuff, and the way it intertwined with the plot was clever

I'm still not sure how to feel about them giving the recast actors random bit parts in episodes now. Yeah, it's realistically better than hearing Hank or Tress voice everyone, but at the same time, I am shaken a bit when an epic Jenny Yokobori teen character delivers a line. It's not a negative or anything... just has me weeping that the Limited Cast days are dead and gone
 
@The Goode Family, The dialogue in the last act definitely feels it was written by someone completely out of touch, particularly what the parents were saying before leaving to the escape room by over-explaining everything to the point of coming off as something from FG.
 
@John95 That's probably what I don't like about this episode. It does feel like something Family Guy would write/have written. It started with the kids talking about how cool the teacher was. It was like meta commentary.

"YOU GET THE JOKE RIGHT? HA HA ! IT'S FUNNY, HA HA!"

also the hot sauce joke was lame.
 
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Scrooge McDuck said:
Learned Hawaii 5-0 real song name is You Can Count on Me and it has lyrics. Who knew..
Click to expand...
The real name is Hawaii Five-0 theme. Sammy Davis, Jr. recorded a version of the song with lyrics called "You Can Count on Me" but it had nothing to do with the original composer or the TV show.
 
John95 said:
Decided to ultimately round my score down to a 2. Felt like that was fair as someone who was actually going into this without any biases.
Click to expand...
Love how you keep managing to work in these little thinly veiled jabs at other people.
 
Well, just watched "Girls Just Shauna Have Fun" and surprisingly, I liked the episode. I would give it a 8/10 (a 4/5 on the poll at the top of the page). Shauna surprisingly doesn't come off as creepy in this episode, and more just comes off as a reckless teen. The Homer & Chalmers B Plot was okay, the singing & chanting part was annoying (I just hope I don't have to hear Chalmers sing again).

So yeah, let's talk about Shauna, given she is a controversial character. I have stated my dislike of the character on this site before in other threads, and I mainly tie it to 4 episodes, those been "Beware My Cheating Bart", "Bart the Coo Kid", "Friend with Benefit" & "Livin' La Pura Vida". This episode however, I feel like puts Shauna in a positive light, yet keeping her negative aspects of her too (the fact that she is a bad influence and a bad teenager). The reason why it isn't a 10 or a 9 is mainly because of 1 reason, and it doesn't have to do with Shauna.

The reason is:
1. The Chalmers & Homer Plot was just okay, not great, I did enjoy Homer & Chalmers chemistry

I do have other stuff I want to point out about the episode that I found interesting, along with a few nitpicks.
  • Interesting Thing 1: The High School has yet a new design, and I love this one, its bigger than the previous two.
  • Interesting Thing 2: Chalmers House has also had a redesign, and honestly, I prefer the previous design. I see why they changed it thou.
  • Interesting/Nitpick Thing 1: Martin Prince has an Older Brother (surprised nobody has brought it up yet, unless they have and I either forgot or missed it). Not sure how to feel about it, it has been implied in previous episodes (mainly "Bart of Darkness", "Grade School Confedential" & "Bart on the Road") that Martin doesn't have a brother. Not sure if there were any time where Martin's other family members other than his Grandmother was mentioned or not.
  • Interesting Thing 3: An image from Shauna's childhood implies that her & Chalmers were closer, so it seems like Shauna has just gone bad due to been a teenager. If anything, she reminds me of Haley Dunphy in Early Modern Family (Mainly Seasons 1-3).
  • Nitpick Thing 1: We don't really see Laura Powers. While I can see why we didn't, I wish we got to see her. Given that we saw Ruth Powers have a cameo at one point (beside Mr Taylor & Allison, which is interesting)
  • Nitpick Thing 2: Speaking of Allison, her & Janey seemed to be missing in the Springfield Elementary School Band, which was slightly annoying. Especially since Allison isn't really seen in the Elementary School Band much in Modern Simpsons despite in her episode, she was practicing for First Chair. Also, Nelson is in the band, interesting.
  • Nitpick Thing 3: I do wish we got more lore regarding Springfield High School, and honestly, I do wish we got to see if the Principal was still Harlan Dondelinger or if there was a new one.
  • Nitpick Thing 4: While I didn't mind the Hot Sauce Joke, the bottle itself looked really out of place in the episode, not sure if I'm the only one who feels that way thou.
  • Nitpick Thing 5: There is one nitpick I do have regarding Shauna, although its not really her character. It has to do with the fact that in "Pretty Whittle Liar", she is seen at Springfield Elementary School, yet she is in High School in this episode. I know Simpsons isn't one for consistency (especially in recent years), but it is noticeable, and annoying.
  • Nitpick Thing 6: Thinking about it, I do have another nitpick, but its rather minor, and that is regarding Jesse Grass. I don't know if we've seen him cameo in any episodes since his debut (I know he made a cameo in the movie), but it would of been nice to see him in the episode as a cameo.
So, there is two more things I want to say.
1. I really loved Chief Wiggum's surprisingly intelligent and wholesome quote towards the end of the episodes towards the teens. Its honestly something I think should be said to teens more, at least from what I remember from my teenage years and those around me (let's just say, I kind of felt like the only sane guy there).

2. More importantly, I don't think this episode will change the opinions of those who outright hate Shauna. I myself still view her as a controversial character, but I can at least look back at this episode to view her in a positive light. Another thing is that I think she was a bit of a one note character, but this episode kind of explores her a bit more.

Don't really have much else to say about this episode aside from what I've already said.
 
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