Rate & Review: "Habeas Tortoise" (UABF16)

[Smear-Gel]

I think it says something about how times have shifted so fast/far that even in 2012 Homer meeting with the republicans in Politically Inept still felt like him just being the average uninformed american. Just 10 year later and him being tasked to pick the next republican president or being on Fox would feel really odd unless they had very different choices from the people who would actually be the frontrunners or the satire was a bit outdated.

I feel like his politcs would be around stuff like hating Last Week Tonight because he refuses to get lectured by a british person or voting for Biden because he was on the postage stamps next to Obama or something.

 

[Stonecutter #7]

That has to do with the approach to satire the writers had back then. Homer being a fan of Birch/Rush Limbaugh wasn't seen as potentially polarizing since it's Homer simply being influenced by someone without understanding what they actually stand for. But nowadays the social divide between rightwing and leftwing politics is even bigger, so therefore Homer being shown as blindly following a conspiratorial/bigoted figure like this conflicts with their desire to make him as likable to the audience is possible. "How can the audience care for Homer if he follows someone with such despicable views?"
It's not only about Homer the butt of the joke (Which he still can be), they've imposed stricter rules on what kind of buffoonery they are comfortable showing him being a part of.

Very well said my friend

 

[CousinMerl]

I'm just gonna start by saying that the couch gag (indeed unusual for a Selman episode) was pretty funny and made me chuckle. Second, apologies if I'm gonna repeat much of what has been said already (which I think is likely). I'm also gonna apologize beforehand for my possibly rambling review style of this analysis.

So this episode, 'Habeas Tortoise', is an interesting one which ended up severly lacking. On one hand, it is well directed and the animation work is nice but on the other hand, the script feels too tame and safe, especially for a story where the main intention is being satire on something that is very much an actual problem. I really like the premise itself (that of Homer, while trying to find out what happened to a missing zoo tortoise, getting himself involved with a group of conspiracy theorists as he's looking for like-minded friends who don't judge him) & the satire on conspiracy trolls was well intentioned, but I felt it didn't really work so well due to opting to being gentler & kinder (I felt that satirizing what it did called for a riskier script) but also as I felt some decisions were odd.

I think the opening (the "city hall meeting") immediately revealed some problems with the thing about Columbus Day being cancelled because of Columbus being a problematic figure now (a much too lame and obvious joke with no subtlety or anything), but the outrage over the pop-up libraries was kind of a little amusing (hinting to the tinges of outrage culture satire). Then one of the main problems arose, with Homer making a point (getting rid of the pop-up placed by creating one big library, but forgetting they are already in the library and being laughed) but getting depressed about being unintelligent: That felt a little bit too much as he's never been that self-conscious and insecure about being dumb before (sure, he's gotten upset about others calling him dumb so it's understandable, but here him sulking, being downbeat and sad was a little much; likely exaggerated for the satire but it still stood out).

Then we have the Slow Leonard plotline with Homer getting outraged and engaged in trying to find said tortoise who's missing (and is his favorite at the zoo, something I did like) and this did kinda naturally play into the established outrage culture stuff but also the conspiracy theorist story which followed. Homer confronting the zookeeper about it and deciding to start an investigation (also to prove he is not so dumb, which wasn't stated outright but was obvious) got the story going in a decent fashion, but it still felt a little clunky with the dragged out, overexplained joke about the movie 'The Zookeeper', not to mention already being predictable: with the episode playing on the irrational outrage thing, I kept thinking that Leonard still very likely was at he zoo & Homer just immediately jumped to conclusions, which proved to be true in a scene later on in the story. At least the penny joke was pretty amusing).

Homer getting online, starting his social media group to find like-minded who'd be interested in helping him find Leonard continued to play on his deep insecurity (as he cannot even look at the replies at first, which felt a little overdone. I don't mind him being a little insecure and self-conscious on being seen as dumb, but this felt a little exaggerated. Also, him also being this driven and engaged was unbelievable and made me wish they used someone else and more down to earth for this plot: I love the idea of it being about Marge instead, as I felt it would've made more sense with her (who's a fairly lonely person without any real friends and have some fairly old-fashioned and conservative attitudes, the type of person who would end up in such a group), not to mention being potentially much more interesting as a focal character (and could've pushed episode into a bit of a more serious territory with more bite).

Anyhow, the tortoise-loving conspiracy group itself felt like a grab-bag of characters (a few of them I could buy being into it such as Liz Hoover and Gil, but over half felt like odd choices, such as Chalmers, Tatum & Mel. I think replacing a couple of them with Moe and Helen would've made more sense), but I still did enjoy some moments with Homer and them (dug the thing with Gil & Liz Hoover falling in love. I'd futilly hope that would carry on to future episodes). What didn't work so well was that it all felt such a toothless take on the alt-right conspiracy nutcases & trolls; it felt like such a lightweight take on a dark subject: Sure, they had these insane theories, did protesting & bothered the zookeeper (whom Homer believed abducted the tortoise), they felt too affable and the episode avoided satirizing on how bad these kind of people can really be (in real life). It felt like it begged to go in a darker direction.

Much of the satire was not only too lightweight and beat around the bush but felt really obvious and a bit too on the nose (with commentary from Marge & Lisa on Homer's group starting to seem like a dangerous conspiracy society) & while I did like the scene of the family discovering Homer had been hiding Leonard in the house (kinda funny) and Homer revealing he did find Leonard in the zoo eventually (and in a literal rabbit hole), plus I did enjoy Marge try to talk reason Homer & saying group had gone far enough and made them all look like truly dumb (obvious irony, yeah), it didn't really do anything for the plot which had already lost steam. There needed to be more nuance on top of it needing less dancing around the heart of the matter, instead fully committing. It just felt too clean, safe & a little too nice to be any effective (not to mention too clear and obvious, sometimes more than necessary.

While I did at least like some individual scenes and found some good moments in them & that the pacing was fine, toward the end it really got pretty clunky: Homer & his conspiracy group go to some island retreat (for the marriage of Gil & Hoover) & much too late in the game, it started to get interesting with Homer's friends starting to plan doing really questionable to outright cruel things to the zookeeper (which I think should've happened at least an act before), but then Homer objects and they immediately turn on him, Marge is suddenly there with Leonard (teleportation?) and reveals the tortoise was not abducted at all & we get Homer doing an on the nose lecture speech to the group (saying they are wrong, have gone too far, etc.) and it felt much too heavy handed. Again, I think the intention was good, but the episode just lacked that nuanced writing it really needed for such an ending to really work

That said, I did like the scene where Homer retools the group away from the harmful conspiracy theorizing and they do it just for fun (as they start doing harmless theories on the calamari that Homer made them earlier, also on a cartoon that predict the future), though then we have the commentary from Lisa & Bart (who's spying on them from the stairs, with Lisa openly wondering who'd benefit from what they are doing now) and it was just unnecessary, which was even more so the case with the pointless final gag with the mini camera in Homer's ball of yarn (that reveal they are spied on by the yarn producer who's keeping tabs on all conspiracy groups, which was going too far. Why not end with the group having harmless fun?). It was an overdone ending, not knowing when to really stop.

3/5 (rounded up from 2.5/5). There was a good premise and a good plot here and a number of good scenes, jokes & character interactions, but it should've been edgier, with a somewhat darker & more serious tone and satire that took extra steps, better character selection for the group & having Homer more in character (less deeply insecure & less driven) or better yet, substitute him with Marge for a way more intriguing story. As it stands, it's alright and generally inoffensive (which might be its biggest fault). I also thought it never was all that funny and surprisingly many jokes fell flat. Had it been more like 'Bart's In Jail!' (though less PSA, of course) I think it could've worked out even better than it did, but they took the safe & kind route, leaving it feeling counter-intuitive.

 

[Dark Homer]

I think it was basically fine, not a standout or anything. I wish the animation was looser, all the staging feels really staid and it kills some of the comedy. Interesting that you can track social progress through simpsons gags: just a few seasons ago getting rid of Columbus Day is seen as a crazy out-there demand from sjw snowflakes, now even Springfield normies see it as the right thing to do

The bit about Homer coming up with the idea of libraries seems to be directly cribbed from twitter where there's a subgenre of tech bros getting ratioed for reinventing the bus and I'm not sure how I feel about the merging of twitter and simpsons. The internet is an unavoidable part of modern society but it's a worrisome trend that debut episodes from new writers tend to be about the internet - trolls didn't like Ghostbusters 2016, Homer fears getting dragged in the comments. Look up from your phones dagnabbit

I like the weirdness of Gil and Ms. Hoover getting together, but I have to say I'm not fond of the continuing evolution of Superintendent Chalmers, the only normal guy in Springfield, into a weirdo conspiracy nut; also not fond of Homer becoming Matt Selman. An aspect I appreciate (pointed out by henry gilbert from talking simpsons) is that it's basically about QAnon but instead of just being "look at these rubes" it approaches it with empathy and a curiosity about human nature: "why would someone be attracted to this community?" Though I kinda wonder how many Springfielders would happily bomb a childrens hospital if libs of tik tok told them to.

Points off for miscoloring hans the german guy.

 

[PreciousBodilyFluids]

Arthur Crandall was also miscolored. He used to be yellow! He's brown in stock art originating from (I think) TAPPED OUT. What the H?

 

[MDB]

BEFORE THE EPISODE
I was not interested in the plot or themes of the episode, In fact as soon as I heard about the turtle I got afraid of a possibly plot point that turned about to be real, however I was still excited since season 33 was really strong and a new writter is always welcome, so let's see how this episode goes.
THE GREAT
+ Marge. She was supportive and understanding of homer in quite a nice way, this was supported by some nice gags (props to the animation of Marge massaging homer forehead) and lines ("Well, these people are finally taking your father seriously. He's not used to that. Bart, you're always telling him his ideas are dumb. And, Lisa, you're always proving it. He deserves a chance to be a big fish in a small, weird pond. So let him have this.") But she knew where put the line whitout feeling nagging.
+ "Mom, it's late, I'm worried. Why isn't Dad at Moe's? Is Moe all right?"
+ "Why would I kidnap an animal? That's what a zoo is: a bunch of kidnapped animals."
+ "I finally have a group of friends who think I'm smart. Who haven't used a skeptical emoji with a monocle even once with me." This is a good current line
+ The ending gag with the Yarn compañy. That's just some dumb fun even though the "Keep defunding schools, America" seems like a little bit too much. I laughed anyway
+ The credits gag. I know, i know, it's really basic stuff, but the way the delivery of the lines was just great.
+ Some other conspirancies: (The Skinner one is perfect, Loved it.)

THE GOOD
+ Homer and the group, I could predicted homer was gonna be the one who kidnapped the turtle as soon as I heard the description of the episode, BUT the way it was made was good, not excelent just good. I was afraid Homer was gonna do it for some selfish reason (such as keep respect and leadership of the organization) but I actually bought Homer reasoning. The episode makes a great job at showing that these people are just looking for aprobal, they are a bunch of loners looking for some friendship, it's kind of sad and patetic (and even dangerous) but it is very much human. I don't think the characters of the group work that well as individuals (Comic book guy should be smarter than this), but as a group, they are fine.
+ Not complaning about Gil and Miss Hoover either, I admit they don't do anything with their established character traits, but they work fine as a plot device.
+ The group itself it's quite wholesome if we ignore that they can also be quite dangerous.
+ Couch gag was a nice reference, As I person who used to lose internet frecuently, i loved it.
+ "Illuminati strength. Nine out of ten scientists are afraid of it."
+ "Disney returns fox: It's good to feel clean again" (are you sure about that Disney?)
+ Nice animation with the pets in the background:

THE MEDIOCRE
+ Not a big fan of the reason why Homer got called out for being stupid, he was done/said plenty worse.
+ There is something odd about the edition of the Dolly gag, it's planted as a fast cutaway gag but the edition made it seem like a actual scene. Weird, could have funnier.
+ I also thought the rabbit hole joke could have been funnier told differently
+ Really wished they have done more with such a juicy concept as a conspiracy-themed wedding.
+ The climax isn't as powerful as it should be.
+ The line about a tv show that can predict the future, eh.

THE BAD
+ That penny strecher gag was really unfunny to me.
+ The first time that Homer went to the police station felt flat. Actually chief wiggum in general didn't do anything for me this week.
+ "Marge, fan out those cocktail napkins. Or did you not watch the TikTok I sent you?" This is a bad current line.

ALL IN ALL
Good episode! I think it started really slow, the first act it's quite weak, but once it finished setting up the group it got better. Homer was charismatic all the way though and the group was portayed as flawed (and quite dumb) humans being tryng the best to get a little love. it's quite hearthwarming to me. It got some solid lines and gags but a couple of scenes dragged out. It's not perfect but I enjoyed. I think this an example of how an average simpsons episode is gonna be from now on.

(Round down to 3)

 

[tyler]

Pretty bad and to echo Ryan toothless affair, which is a shame because the idea is pretty sound. Conspiracy theory culture is interesting, there is a sense that people find kinship in the absurd because it manifests a sense of belonging and purpose, and its a clever rabbit hole for Homer to fall down, his authentic and simple dimwittedness able to masquerade as the calculated ignorance of a group of conspiracists and endure it before it gets out of hand and is no longer worth it, but the jabs are all too surface level, the references to 5G or flat earth etc are the absolute bare minimum of illustrating this kind of cult-like group, and while its a constant issue this reeeeaallly would have benefited from original characters, even if canon be damned its hard to reconcile this gaggle of secondaries when we don't really get much context for their characterization here, they all Happen to really care about this turtle and Happen to have insane theories. I suppose the intent behind recognizable characters is to create a bond between familiars through these unhealthy rituals, and they get partially there by understanding the strange camraderie inherent in such groups that may more powerfully enable them than the conspiracy at the core, life fails to give people direction and purpose and guess what happens, but this would work so much better with mutual context for why they're in the group rather than just focusing on Homer's desire for attention, start from there but then reveal how mutual it is because of course it would be, in simplifying that aspect it leaves the satire too wimpy and the conspiracy group pretty faceless, they're caricatures who just blurt shit about robot turtles. I almost like the dark ending with the group remaining because it speaks to the truth of the culture but its not glued together firmly enough, they should like each other but still feel nefarious and dangerous to the audience, its weirdly trying to be wholesome on all fronts and makes the whole thing seem silly when this shit Is dangerous. its a tightrope walk they barely seem to try.

 

[B-Boy]

I still think this episode would have been better as a Marge-centric one. Homer is a dimwit, absolutely, but that means there’s nothing surprising or unsettling about him, of all people, being seduced by and caught up in a conspiracy theory. I think the character choice here immediately undermines the story (which is itself too frivolous). Whereas Marge – a grounded and rational woman who has nonetheless been prone to moral panics (i.e. Itchy & Scratchy & Marge) and has next to no social circle – would have been so much more incisive. The power of a conspiracy is its ability to exacerbate and exploit one’s very real anxieties, fears and paranoias. I think the episode needed a more sinister touch (you're right, it's too wholesome), showing how someone rational and reasonable can still be susceptible to falling into these traps wherein they entrench themselves alongside like-minded individuals.

 

[StarfishHair]

Okay episode but other than Snowball II's reaction to Slow Leonard not all that funny 2.5/5

 

[Nameless]

Frustrating, because it legitimately feels like it's doing something the show hasn't done before, and there's an important point trying to get out here that even rational people can fall victim to internet conspiracies. But the satire doesn't go as far as it could or should, so it misses the mark, and there aren't really enough laughs to make up for it. C+

 

[Bohdan]

Oh, shit! Here we go again.

Gosh! After rewatching I liked it much more. I did expect I would like it more, but didn't expect I'd give so high mark.

The start with Homer's self pity "gosh how dumb I am" after throwing REAL dumb thing was bad done approach. Homer doesn't know what is the library? C'mon - that's too ridiculous.

I thought about @B-Boy or whoever said the story should round not around Homer, but the surrounding of conspirogist - his family. Like Homer should be just an intro to the theme of "life with conspirogist". That would be better, agree, but in episode there was enough little time of showing this.

Meanwhile the community plot was better for me this time because of transferring it to… NHC (and any other Internet forums). I mean, we're also strangers online, who have and not shared interests and sometimes go too far into speculation. If thinking so, Homer become the part of community sounds nice.

The theme of conspiracy was portrayed similar to the theme of scams from Bart's in Jail! a season earlier: original story with diving into problem and many examples. However if in BiJ examples were good, here they felt more random and didn't allow to complete all in unite story. With that, here we got more down-to-rabbit hole earth plot.

I liked acts 1 and 2, but act 3 fell and there wasn't any "morale" as a result. A wedding on the Island turned to another conspiracy meeting turned to Simpsons house again. Uninteresting.

Speaking of Elizabeth and Gil, initially I thought this part is just time filler, but must say their specific "love story" wasn't so bad (appeared and gone nowhere, though).

There were some funny moments, but they are already dated. Guess in year-two we as those zebras "won't get the reference".

plot 16/25
absurdity level (the possibility of what is happening and whether I liked it) 23/25
comedy 16/25
originality (level of references and whether I liked them) 24/25 (mostly in that music)

TOTAL 79/100 (strong 4/5, or B). GOOD!

 

[muppet]

I'm heading into s34 now. This episode was a bit of a dull one. It doesn't help that it's a slow start (no pun intended) that makes its point clear far too late into the story. I couldn't really get over how odd the plot was overall, with Homer feeling slow to then finding the tortoise it all felt like a bit too shaky of a connection to me. I did like the cast of characters that made up the club (I enjoy Chalmers presence more and more as the years go on), but Miss Hoover and Gil getting romantically involved was bizarre. Even if they call attention to how they have nothing in common in the third act, it's still weird to me.

As for jokes, not an especially funny outing but I did smile at Mel's massive tattoo that he realises he needs to get lasered off, as well as the newspaper headline of Fox being released from Disney's grasp. Homer's line "Or Sherlock after..." before getting interrupted was good and Chief Wiggum's little ad-lib at the end "Making up stuff is fun." got the biggest laugh of the episode from me. The couch gag was cute too. Other than that, wasn't a whole lot there that I really resonated with. I like the animation of Marge rubbing Homer's head, but I don't think they should have added shadows to it if there's no shadow anywhere else. This is such a nitpicky thing to say, but it just looks a bit strange to me as it is.

Habeas Tortoise would be a forgettable opener for the season if not for how strange the premise is. Once it's clear what the episode's about though, it feels like it's too late to say anything meaningful or funny.

2/5