Rate & Review: "Pixelated and Afraid" (UABF04)

How would you rate this episode?

  • Total voters
    76
I really enjoyed this episode, from start to finish.
Homer and Marge finally being on the same page for once was really refreshing! and its not a marriage crisis episode for once, LOL.
5/5
 
@CousinMerl, It actually would've been one thing if the plot didn't take so long to start (at least for me) and had a few more comedic moments throughout. Instead what we get is a pretty limp plot with only one real comedic moment I can think of (Homer teasing the wolverine while up in the tree) and the crew having very high expectations to expect you to put up with so much Marge in one go with no post-production sweetening.
 
@John95, I thought the episode was plenty comedic, but it was mainly dispersed within the dialogue and actions of both Marge & Homer, but the humor was mostly kinda subdued while letting the story come first (made me remember 'The Color Yellow' which had a similar style) and lacked that usual 'Simpsons' style of comedy delivery with the more overt approach of absurdity and goofiness, which lead to me understanding how some find it kinda unfunny (especially for those used to and expecting the usual 'Simpsons' trademarks).

Also, you repeated "high expectations to expect you to put up with so much Marge in one go with no post-production sweetening". What do you mean by that? What was wrong about Marge in this one? I felt she was written and performed well (especially compared to a lot of other modern episodes where she's been badly portrayed & annoying) so it feels odd to complain about her presence here.

Also, I'm sure lots of episodes naturally has a fair bit of post-production "sweetening" with changes and touch-ups, this one included, so I wouldn't think this one had as well. It feels a bit odd to use that aspect in a negative connotation.
 
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Financial Panther said:
This felt like anything but a Simpsons episode; it was far more like a drama. It sorely lacked anything resembling humor
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I could make the same argument with your favorite episode you have listed for Season 32. 🤷‍♂️

I always enjoy the loving moments on the show which is one of the key components of it. I especially just love how sweet and loving Marge moments are which is really shown in this episode which I did actually somewhat enjoy. So a 4/5.

And remember, according to Selman, “each episode takes place in its own universe” so some make sense and some don’t.
 
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CousinMerl said:
Also, you repeated "high expectations to expect you to put up with so much Marge in one go with no post-production sweetening". What do you mean by that? What was wrong about Marge in this one? I felt she was written and performed well (especially compared to a lot of other modern episodes where she's been badly portrayed & annoying) so it feels odd to complain about her presence here.
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I'm pretty sure he was referring to Kavner's voice, considering that Marge has to scream and sob quite a lot in this episode.
 
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BlitzPhoenix98 said:
But the question is - Harry Shearer is credited for what, exactly? I don't think he voiced anyone.
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All of the main cast members are credited for every episode no matter if they're in it or not. This happens mostly with Tress MacNeille and Pamela Hayden who most of the time don't voice anyone in an episode, but still, get credited. Probably has something to do with their contracts as well.
 
Well color me impressed, that was pretty damn good. It's been a while since the dynamic between Homer and Marge has been this interesting, and it really carries on the whole thing. I was afraid it would eventually turn into a gimmick or a played for laughs parody, so to say that I was surprised by how much the story was treated seriously would be quite an understatement. This character-driven survival story works on every level, starting like a typical Simpsons episode to turn into something more experimental without feeling completely like an out of nowhere turn. It still plays with the idea that the Simpsons is supposed to be the personification of a normal American family, with the TV as their guide and inspiration (Homer and Marge for their survival skills, and Lisa for her vision of a strong, loving couple), which helps the plot to move along smoothly.

Also, it's as wholesome as a survival story can get, and it actually goes hand in hand with Homer and Marge getting back to a more feral attitude, their primal instincts enhancing how much they care for each other. I know the way Homer cares for his family tends to flip-flop depending on the episode (and I love the line "I have a wife and kids, eat them !" as much as the next guy, still), but in such a context, it doesn't seem so farfetched to me. It's really nice to see the both of them on the same page and the way the episode makes us understand how strong their relationship can be, together in front of the TV or lost and naked into the wild (lovely scene during the credits with a call-back to the way Homer shares his food with Marge). You really feel their chemistry, whether they're afraid, going mad from starving, or relieved. Even the comedy isn't as predictable and slapstick as it could've been, again I appreciate that the characters aren't one-dimensional this time, and therefore don't bring the same jokes again and again ("I know what we don't have !" genuinely surprised me coming from Homer and made me laugh at the same time).

I definitely wouldn't have minded if this one was a two-parter like A Serious Flanders, because it's a really thrilling story. Usually I have a softer spot for grounded stuff, but I'm glad that the show is starting to experiment more and more outside of the annual Treehouse of Horror episode, especially since it seems like, currently, that's where they get us engaged the most. 4/5
 
Over the last few years, The Simpsons under Matt Selman has noticeably shifted away from comedy (or the pretence of comedy) to drama that's played straight (with some elements of humour) and, y'know, I kinda don't mind it. This episode is the latest example of that and I think what worked for me was the palpable sense of danger Homer and Marge were in. There were moments that felt genuinely scary and threatening and, crucially, their reactions to what was happening were suitably grave which made all the difference in the end. I think the point of the episode - and it's a very simple one - is that married couples can lose perspective and start taking things for granted as the years go by. By putting Homer and Marge in such perilous conditions and situations, the episode forces them out of that complacency. It doesn't so much renew or reaffirm their love exactly (that would be pointless), it just rekindles their appreciation for each other in a way that's only possible when faced with the reality that they might lose each other forever. That the episode never undercuts the danger or contrives petty squabbles is the key ingredient to its success (relative to the show's contemporary standards) and I thought it was fantastic. Schmaltzy or not, the ending rings true to me for these reasons and I was deeply moved by it.
 
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And not to mention, we didn't see Maggie in Pixelated and Afraid. Oh well, there's always next time, fingers crossed!
 
When I watched this, I thought that this is the kind of show I love tuning in every week to see. I cant beleive I started tearing up at the end, just truly magnificent. The kind of episode that makes you go back and see if you have to lower your previous episode scores.

Even with its first act the episode still manages to pack so much meat into them being lost, probably because of no B plot. That's not to say the first act was bad, seeing them being cute together at home, going through the mundane moments of marriage was also lovely, as well as seeing the kids' reactions to it. Not a wasted second and I thought this was the perfect amount of humour, even if this episode was all time hilarious I dont think there's any version of this episode that has more jokes and isnt worse for it. No need to say much more, @CousinMerl and @B-Boy said enough.

Just brief shoutouts to the fishnet stockings joke, and the animation as the camera does a 360 around the Simpsons in their hut as the wolverine is outside.

Bohdan said:
About Omine's role on episode.
Matt Selman: Tonight's TheSimpsons — "Pixellated and Afraid" — was creatively supervised by the hilarious and passionate CarolynOmine.
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Well that explains it.
 
I'm in agreement on @B-Boy's explanation in about why the episode works and shines as it does (also agreed with @Smear-Gel on his writing directly above this post. That fishnet stockings joke was indeed great).

Selman do tend to shift the series more into the drama catergory and play things more seriously than usual, in kind of an extreme fashion here and there (such as in the wolverine attack scene) and I love how they pulled it off without any nonsense or forced drama butting in and ruining things (as I was dreading, especially in the last act). It is a commendable effort from the production team, with special shout-outs to Omine & Selman as well (as I am sure they are the reason Frink's script worked out).
 
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Also, I was reflecting on how the episode turned out being a bottle show (fulfilling my wish of seeing the show do one of those) and begun wondering: This has got to be a record when it comes to the smallest amount of main & recurring/secondary characters in an episode, right? There was only Homer, Marge, Lisa & Bart as well as a brief voice cameo by Milhousee (and no Maggie), while the other few characters appearing were just brief one-offs (such as the TV characters in the intro), with not even the park ranger having a speaking part. I think the only one that can be classicfied as a major supporting "character" in the story was the wolverine (and that was an animal).
 
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Yeah, but it's no Mountain of Madness - all 6 main voice cast members (even though multiple characters). No "Also Starring", no "Guest Starring".
 
This one definitely was interesting to watch. Not as I had imagined, but still.

There is a bite truth about "routin romantic" in many of modern families - by the level of old black-and-white movies it's nothing. So, I understood Lisa's worry. And Bart's fantasy made me laugh a lot, for some reason.🤣 In advance I say, the start was the weakest part, though

Next, the rest part of episode: just Homer and Marge. The survival story is definitely entertaining - and the new romantic (=the feeling about something unusual, according to origin romance term) of being in dangerous appears (these times I do know, what said). You can't take a breath most of time! These plot parts were awesome. Add here the real feeling of love - not "marriage crisis", but heartful love - and we got a good episode.🥰

Confess, I didn't think, H&M would be really naked… and pixelated. It was unexpected a bit, but I laughed the detail, when Homer's breast was blurred.😂

Nearly to end Homer and Marge again show the origin thing: they love each other ANYWAY and common grief brings us closer.😍🥲

In summary: beautiful in all way episode. I happily give to it 5/5 (up from 4.5). It's the new best of season for me so far
 
Aw hell yeah! Hope he keeps 'em coming, it's been a while since he reviewed something Simpsons-related.
 
How unexpected to get a Phil review after he quit since a few years back. He do feel a little awkward at times and definitely get the feel he stopped reviewing since he got fed up with modern 'Simpsons' (and here I can just feel his seething hatred for the marriage crisis plot trope, which I don't think is inherently bad), but it's a really good review and he's on point in regards to the episode (aside from not finding it all that funny, which I did, but I seem like one of few). I kind of hope he'd review 'A Serious Flanders' too.
 
CousinMerl said:
How unexpected to get a Phil review after he quit since a few years back. He do feel a little awkward at times and definitely get the feel he stopped reviewing since he got fed up with modern 'Simpsons' (and here I can just feel his seething hatred for the marriage crisis plot trope, which I don't think is inherently bad), but it's a really good review and he's on point in regards to the episode (aside from not finding it all that funny, which I did, but I seem like one of few). I kind of hope he'd review 'A Serious Flanders' too.
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He briefly mentioned A Serious Flanders in his Honorable Mentions of his top 20 Episodes Review of the year. He basically said he enjoyed the experimentation but didn't exactly love the way it was written.
 
I tell you, it was so great to hear from Phil Payton again, he hasn't done any Simpsons reviews on YouTube in a while until last night
 
Well here I go. I didn't like how it started with the first act. It was nice to see Homer and Marge together but she was starting to turn into a female Homer. We know that Marge has always look out for Homer and want him to be fit both physically and mentally but being a couch potato was out of her league. It was cringey seeing both her and Homer hugely obese in Barts' fast forward dream scene. Seeing them throw diapers into trash cans was a WTF moment. Marge is never lazy and seeing this way was bad. Nobody I know in the entire world is not that lazy. It got better in the second act and the pixelated part was the only highlight. But seeing them build shelter and still love each other made their relationship stronger. Seeing Homer fight the Wolverine was the best part of Act 3. Overall, this was the best episode since A Serious Flanders but this is second to it. I'm giving this a 3.5 because of that awful first act.
 
I forgot that a new episode aired but was pleasantly surprised to see how good this turned out to be. They actually managed to make a whole episode centered around Homer and Marge without fighting each other even once. Something I eagerly waited for after so many marriage crisis episodes. Also surprising that not a single secondary character appeared, its just the 4 family members while Bart and Lisa are only in the first act.

The first act is also the weakest because it felt rather off to see how Homer and Marge were enjoying their time with each other, a character trait we just don't ever really see back. I liked the few Bart gags with his VR and bringing his potential future girlfriend to his parents grasp. Lisa gets the idea to bring them to ''The Saffron Togetherness Center'' which we never even see, but apparently everything they do is at sunrise.

Then with the second act we get to the survival part in the wilderness and apparently they wanted to parody ''Naked and Afraid''. At this point its just a lot of dialogue with Homer and Marge while we don't even see a single other character with the exception of a brief appearance of a park ranger. I do like all the of the survival aspects they were going through, having to try to dry their clothes which ended up getting burned, a censored Homer and Marge trying to scout around the area, finding leftovers of some abandoned lovers camp and ending up using all its materials to build a home. Also really liked the joke where Homer used his phone to make a fire.

The third act has Homer and Marge fishing and attract a wolverine which attacks their house. I thought the action scenes with the wolverine were done really well while they managed to make it look more realistic, ending the fight with Homer just smashing its head in. I liked the aftermath of them getting fired up for each other and just enjoy the views which also deserves credit for its beautiful animation. They follow a park rangers trail and end up at his lodge. Apparently they enjoyed their time so much that they were not in a rush to be saved which might actually be one of the better scenes of them enjoying the view one last time and moving slowly to the lodge.

Overall a very solid episode to continue with this season which had quite some good episodes already. I do agree with a lot of people who say that the humor was lacking, it felt much closer to a drama but tis not like the show has had these kind of episodes aswell. Lisa's Substitute also lacks humor and has a lot of drama, still very solid. Other than the humor I think they pretty much nailed everything else: the characterisation (which were just the 4 family members), the pacing, dialogue, writing, and mostly credits to the visuals and animation. This episode might compete with A Serious Flanders as this seasons best episode so far (though the former is a two-parter). Rating it a 4.5/5 and for the poll:

5/5
 
@CousinMerl, He didn't really quit, he just moved his reviews over to Patreon where he normally groups all the FOX shows from a week together for one single video. This is actually the first time he's made an individual video on a current episode since Manger Things nearly a year ago.
 
John95 said:
@CousinMerl, He didn't really quit, he just moved his reviews over to Patreon where he normally groups all the FOX shows from a week together for one single video. This is actually the first time he's made an individual video on a current episode since Manger Things nearly a year ago.
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I see. Though I seem to remember it was stated, I think on this board, he quit reviewing the show as a whole, even for his Patreon followers, and only made a surprise comeback with a 'Manger Things' review last year and now a review for this one, but I probably recall wrong (I might even have mixed him up with another reviewer).
 
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