Rate & Review: "One Angry Lisa" (UABF19)

[PreciousBodilyFluids]

Al, I've missed you.

Best Episode of the Season

 

[Kaine]

So the summary says Lisa gets called for jury duty while Marge becomes obsessed with her exercise bike while it should be more like: Marge becomes obsessed with her exercise bike while Lisa gets called for jury duty

The Marge plot didn't really interest me. I always like seeing more Marge-centric stories but unfortunately they often end up just being a marriage crisis or some slight variation of it, so for most part we just get a jealous Homer doing some stupid shit (like literally going to Jesse's house and try to beat him up) and giving us some rather unnecesary Moe's tavern scenes where the other husbands don't do anything. Kinda liked how Carl was talking them down though. I didn't really mind Jesse as a new character and the plot had some good jokes. The best part is the final act with Marge cycling to Jesse's house with a homage of the old Simpsons intro and almost acting ''cool'' to Bart and Millhouse. Also liked Jesse overreacting to fall off The Great Wall of China while he is just in his living room.

The Lisa plot was very much undercooked. I thought this was going to be the main story but as it turned out it was just used for a lot of side gags where the plot had no room to breathe and show any potential. I like the return of judge Harm and wanted to see her do more, but her security guard ended up doing most of the work who also had a funny scene where she talked down Lisa. Didn't like Gil being as pathetic as always and rather wanted to see more of Herman as the accused. The ending was whatever but it had a few good gags.

There is not a whole lot of weight to this episode. They mostly developed Marge's plot which I found the least interesting and didn't have enough time left to do Lisa's plot. Some characters were more unlikeable then I'm used to (jealous obnoxious Homer, Marge focussing too much on her new hobby, Lisa more annoying than usual). At least Bart for the few scenes he was in was likeable and even Maggie got a pretty good joke. The actual story is paper thin with nothing special to it. Its just the jokes that are mostly doing the heavy lifting for this episode. Overall a 2.5/5 but its getting rounded down to a:

2/5

 

[GlitterCat]

Since some people don't like the episode title (understandable) what would you rather it was named? If it was classic where they had simple titles I'd just go with Marge the cyclist. If they wanted a pun, Pedalon my wayward Marge. Just something to reflect the main plot.

 

[Jackomon]

What about Pedalon Marge? As in "Pedal On Marge", make a pun episode name instead of a reference name.

 

[Wile E. the Brain]

"Pedal to the Meddler" because I love stupid puns.

 

[Brad Lascelle]

Recycled Premises

 

[BloodySimpsonChibi]

Honestly, my biggest gripe with the episode was simply the fact that despite being called "One Angry Lisa", the whole deal with Marge and her bike husbando was the main plot. Not to mention how bare bones Lisa's subplot was! The main plot was ok but overall this was a pretty forgettable episode.

3/5

 

[PreciousBodilyFluids]

Marge'N'a Lisa

 

[Hilda Fanboy]

Honestly, this almost felt like a Scully episode with the subplot of 8 year old being on JURY DUTY…. what were they THINKING with that one? Just ridiculous.

 

[Agru-Agru]

with the subplot of 8 year old being on JURY DUTY

An 8-year-old being on jury duty seems like a good premise for satire about how ridiculous the American judicial system can get, though. So it didn't really bother me.
However, there was a simple way to make it a bit more cohesive and to tie it to the other subplot: Marge should have been the one on jury duty but she got too busy with her bike so Lisa went instead, thinking she'd be treated as an adult and that it'd be an intellectually stimulating activity lol. And since nobody cared enough to tell the difference between an actual adult and a child, Lisa got to stay.
I don't know man... this subplot had such an interesting concept. Anything would have worked if they had given it a bit more attention.

what were they THINKING with that one?

I don't think they really tried anything or thought about anything at all with that one. They probably forgot about the subplot until they realised the episode's name again.

 

[CousinMerl]

As for the alternate title thing, I'd have liked to see it having some silly pun title as well, but the more complex the better; 'They See Her Bikin', They Hatin' is one of those alternates that popped into my mind the other day (and it has a double meaning as well).

An 8-year-old being on jury duty seems like a good premise for satire about how ridiculous the American judicial system can get, though. So it didn't really bother me.
However, there was a simple way to make it a bit more cohesive and to tie it to the other subplot: Marge should have been the one on jury duty but she got too busy with her bike so Lisa went instead, thinking she'd be treated as an adult and that it'd be an intellectually stimulating activity lol. And since nobody cared enough to tell the difference between an actual adult and a child, Lisa got to stay.
I don't know man... this subplot had such an interesting concept. Anything would have worked if they had given it a bit more attention.

Maybe I'm alone in regards to this, but I actually kinda loved that Lisa was summoned for jury duty for no reason at all (and that there was no explanation to it or reasoning behind it given). It just made the attempt at satire on the justice system even more absurd, bizarre & amusing (and besides, that entertaining scene with Lisa complaining to the thickheaded guard wouldn't have worked), at least to me, so in some odd way, I felt they were right in making it illogical. I dunno.

Your suggestion to make it more cohesive and tied to the other plot is not bad (I often like it that plotlines in an episode slighlt tied to the other), but I felt that could maybe been a bit too neat (in a sense) so I welcomed them doing Lisa's subplot as its own thing (barring the fact they should have dedicated most of the runtime to it instead).

 

[binary]

the lisa ''main plot'' was forgettable, and i really disliked watching the exercise bike plot, gotta say the season priemere was better.

 

[Hilda Fanboy]

I know we probably shouldn't judge a season by only two episodes, but already I have a feeling that we just got lucky with season 33 and now we're back to the same old slop.

 

[Jackomon]

I think the thing with Season 33 it was a bit overhyped, looking at my Season 33 ratings myself, the Season didn't get interesting until "Lisa's Belly" (which was the 5th episode) was released, and after that "Serious Flanders" released which seemed to change the perspective on Season 33 (alongside "Pixelated and Afraid").

 

[CousinMerl]

I have been worrying about that same thing as @Hilda Fanboy as well (thought about it yesterday, in fact), but I have to remind myself that there's only been two episodes so far & that in no way is any sort of a definitve sign of the overall quality of the season (especially as there's be a lot of stuff with and by Selman, Omine, more or less new faces, etc. coming up). I'll give it a 5-7 episodes before being more ready to believe we're back to something akin to season 32 (with it's run of more or less terrible Jean episodes). I'd advise patience to others as well.

 

[John95]

I honestly didn't even see 33 as that much of an improvement over 32 which I still consider to be the show's lowest point as someone who doesn't have a Selman bias. Just based on these first two episodes plus what's known about the next four, things are looking to be more of the same for me again as someone who doesn't view the show as going through a renaissance.

 

[Sandboy]

I honestly didn't even see 33 as that much of an improvement over 32 which I still consider to be the show's lowest point as someone who doesn't have a Selman bias.

Well shit, this is getting annoying.

Why do you keep perpetuating this stupid argument of yours that NoHomers and viewers/fans 'overrate' Selman episodes despite ample evidence to suggest otherwise, you don't even have to go that far and just the season premiere, which shows that they don't enjoy everything he does and that he doesn't always get a "free pass".

Christ, at this rate you're just ranting into a void.

 

[John95]

Because episodes like The Dad-Feelings Limited, Lisa's Belly, A Serious Flanders, My Octopus and a Teacher, Meat is Murder and Poorhouse Rock honestly feel 100% the same as an episode that Jean (who's been showrunner/fatigued longer) would put out, with the only difference being that the person whose name is credited as showrunner automatically makes something with Selman's name on it look "Better" even though he honesty wasn't ever really much better than Jean and has also reached his burnout/fatigue point after a little more than a decade.

 

[Jackomon]

Honestly, I feel the same way as @John95 does.

I think I've said this before in another thread (most likely the Season 33 thread), but I for one don't think there is much difference between the two showrunners, except one often references previous "Character of the Day" Characters more than the other.

Then again, when it comes to majority of episodes of television as a whole, episodes feel the same to me regardless of writer, director or showrunner.

As rude as it is, I'm the type of guy who doesn't read credits (the slow credits of video games made me very uninterested in credits), so I don't tend to notice a lot of things most reviewers, critics, analysts or people here on NHC would notice (although, I sure wish I could).

also, when it comes to bias...I don't think NHC is biased at all in any regard. A lot of people probably coincidentally share the same opinion, that's all.

 

[Brad Lascelle]

Let's see how I feel about this particular subject of discussion...

Of the 4 co-runner dynamics we've been treated to thus far, I think it's both easy (given that we've seen the entire sample size) and accurate to consider the Selman-LaZebnik pairing as the weakest of the lot. I'd even go so far as to deem it barely a step up above Jean... and probably even worse than a motivated Jean-run effort as opposed to a phoning it in Jean-run effort (I suspect we're getting one of the latter this weekend).

Well, what do you know? I agree with @John95 on something! There doesn't appear to be much in the way of a step up between a Jean effort and a Selman-LaZebnik effort. And what do you know? The first two episodes of this season have fallen into those buckets.

Oh no, Season 34 is awful! The folks hailing a renaissance have misled us all!

 

[Wile E. the Brain]

@Szyslak100 or @B-Boy, any of you guys would like to make a thread about what distinguishes a Selman episode from a Jean one ? Not to prove that Selman is better that Jean or whatever, just to end this tiring debate about their episodes being the absolute same but with a different name showing up first during the end credits so it must be nonsensical to prefer one over the other. This bias BS is really annoying me.

 

[Jackomon]

Honestly, I was debating about asking or not, but since Wile E. the Brain has, I second that request, if its okay with everyone else. Unless there is a thread or site that already distinguishes those differences.

 

[CousinMerl]

I would actually love an in-depth thread like that @Wile E. the Brain suggested (to end the Jean vs. Selman debate & possibly put the notion of a "Selman bias" to rest) so thirded. It's time to finally make a be-all & end-all thread on the subject.

I was considering making one myself once this debate on whether or not there's no disconcernible difference between Jean & Selman's episodes rose its head again, but I figured it'd be better if someone a lot more well-versed on the subject and could explain it better in-depth could do it instead (as Wile E. suggested, I think either @B-Boy or @Brad Lascelle would be the best choices).

 

[Sandboy]

Because episodes like The Dad-Feelings Limited, Lisa's Belly, A Serious Flanders, My Octopus and a Teacher, Meat is Murder and Poorhouse Rock honestly feel.

... *sigh*

Should I be surprised that you answered with a evasion when that's basically what you do ALL the time?

"Honestly" those are opinions John, that does not prove anything nor are they proof of what you say about Selman's "bias" because it is subjective.

Way to shit on those who make deep analogies and analysis of their episodes just to bring them down to that.

 

[GlitterCat]

I've noticed Homer seems to be trying harder to be a good dad and give advice in dad feelings, belly, teacher, etc. There is an earnest, almost full house kind of feel to many recent episodes. I'm not always in the mood for so much wholesomeness but it does click for me sometimes (octopus) and sometimes fail (Bart in jail.)

 

[John95]

There is an earnest, almost full house kind of feel to many recent episode

This also comes at the expense of something like Lisa's Belly feeling way too much like an ABC Afterschool Special (and Bart's in Jail! feeling like a PSA at times), and when they're not doing that, we get episodes with endings where there's a forced sentimentalness that's akin to a sitcom and largely unearned (Poorhouse Rock, though largely because it felt like it wasn't properly concluded).

 

[Brad Lascelle]

This also comes at the expense of something like Lisa's Belly feeling way too much like an ABC Afterschool Special (and Bart's in Jail! feeling like a PSA at times), and when they're not doing that, we get episodes with endings where there's a forced sentimentalness that's akin to a sitcom and largely unearned (Poorhouse Rock, though largely because it felt like it wasn't properly concluded).

You know... if forced sentiment isn't your jam... and clearly it isn't because you gave Pixelated and Afraid a 1 out of 5 score and thus consider it to be a piece of shit that we're all too BIASED in our adulation of all things Selman to dare criticize (we'll just ignore that IMDb gave it a favorable 7.6 out of 10 even though they don't have a clue about showrunner distinction)... there's Season 11 right over here to watch. No forced sentiment there. It's just wacky.

Here, I'll hook you up with a link to Beyond Blunderdome to stream to get you started. Enjoy!

FYI, I'll let you in on a little secret about bias... we're not actually biased in favour of Selman because he showran an episode. You, however, ARE actually biased against him for those exact reasons. That's right... you're projecting your own behavioural tendencies on to the forum at large. And it's quite disrespectful to do so, I might add.

If we don't enjoy an episode he's behind, we're not afraid to say so.
Just like we're not afraid to give an Al Jean-run episode top marks, if it's decent. And, oh look, you enjoyed this one, too. Fancy how that works.

 

[B-Boy]

Not to prove that Selman is better that Jean or whatever, just to end this tiring debate about their episodes being the absolute same but with a different name showing up first during the end credits so it must be nonsensical to prefer one over the other. This bias BS is really annoying me.

@John95 has made up his mind on this topic and seems unwilling to budge on the talking points he repeats ad nauseam. He doesn't really engage with opposing viewpoints in any substantial way so I'm not sure any argument, no matter how well-crafted, will ever change his stance on the topic. That being said, I do have such an editorial in the pipeline, but not specifically with the intent of proving John wrong.

My problem with John has always been the arrogance and sense of superiority underlying his distaste for and opposition to pro-Selman sentiment. He continually accuses others of flagrant bias if not cognitive dissonance, overlooking his own highly subjective and entrenched viewpoints in the process. That's what rubs us the wrong way. Even Mike Amato over at MeBlogWriteGood has never conflated his (often scathing) criticism with jabs at fans.

FYI, I'll let you in on a little secret about bias... we're not actually biased in favour of Selman because he showran an episode. You, however, ARE actually biased against him for those exact reasons. That's right... you're projecting your own behavioural tendencies on to the forum at large. And it's quite disrespectful to do so, I might add.

If we don't enjoy an episode he's behind, we're not afraid to say so.
Just like we're not afraid to give an Al Jean-run episode top marks, if it's decent. And, oh look, you enjoyed this one, too. Fancy how that works.

Bang on, Brad!

 

[Wile E. the Brain]

That being said, I do have such an editorial in the pipeline, but not specifically with the intent of proving John wrong.

Nice ! I get your point, even if a bigger part of me just wanted this debate to end rather than to prove anyone that they're wrong or something. Just as I said, it's the notion of bias I can't stand whenever it's incorrectly used. Either way, I'm eager to read your editorial !

 

[CousinMerl]

@John95 has made up his mind on this topic and seems unwilling to budge on the talking points he repeats ad nauseam. He doesn't really engage with opposing viewpoints in any substantial way so I'm not sure any argument, no matter how well-crafted, will ever change his stance on the topic. That being said, I do have such an editorial in the pipeline, but not specifically with the intent of proving John wrong.

First off, cool to know you're working on a related editorial on the Selman factor so I'm looking forward to reading that. And like @Wile E. the Brain above, I'd also have wanted a end to this silly debate on the "Selman bias", but I think editorial will do nicely (knowing how well you put things with extensive, analysing posts and all that, I feel it will be great).

I also agree on the fact he's slamming fans for liking the Selman episode is the problem. It is fine to not enjoy certain things (such as episodes) even when one is in a minority, but yeah, criticizing or mocking others for liking something you hate is always a bad thing; one should always try to tolerate & respect the opinions of others, even when one completely disagrees.

Also, with such a thread/editorial or whatever form the writing may come in, I don't think some of us (such as myself) want to change a particular someone's viewpoint (as he has really firmly made up his mind), but rather put it out there for everyone who doesn't think there's any difference between the Jean and Selman episodes, something not limited to one person. That way, there can at least be some form of explanation why some of us fans make a distinction for those who don't.