Rate/Review Please Homer Don't Hammer 'Em (HABF20)

Can't touch this


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Mike Scully

and now i have slapped a king
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Hoping to see a new side to Homer, Marge convinces him to buy a refined collectionof carpentry books. To Marge's dismay, the books only gather dust until she accidentally breaks a nightstand and uses the books to fix it herself. Soon Mage is hammering everything and decides to tansform her skills into a business. But the esidents of Springfeld don't tust her to make repairs so she hires Homer as a "front" while she handles the real work.
Meanwhile peanuts ae no longer allowed at Spingfield Elementry and Bart finds out Skinner has the allergy.
 
4/5
I really enjoyed this episode. There were lots of laughs, and unlike the season opener, I thought everyone was in character. I loved Skinner's little nightmare sequance, that was fun. The fact that everyone was so sexist was hilarious. I found this episode to be really entertaining, and it kept me interested and smiling. This was a very nice change from the season opener where I felt annoyed and disappointed. And this is weird because I didn't like that episode and the polls say most did. But, I did like this episode and the polls say most didn't. What's up with you people!? (Just kidding).
 
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I really liked it. 5/5. Some of my favorite lines were when Homer was talking to Lisa

"Don't you want daddy's lies to be true?"

"For daddy the real world gets fainter and fainter every day"
 
i thought it was a very interesting plot and subplot. it was the little jokes that made it good. i'll give it 3.5/5
 
Subplot - 5/5
Plot - 4/5 first two acts, 3/5 last act.

Overall: 4/5

Very enjoyable episode, best/second best of the season (which is not saying much)
 
Marge seemed really made at Homer for doing what she told him to. She didn't have to hide.
 
I can't think of anything that worked in this episode at all, except for the animation and sound effects. The "We Will Rock You" thing...holy shit. This will fit pretty easily in my bottom 10.

F
 
Starts out in Springfield Mall, which has turned to a dump ever since they killed the Mayor's father there. What's sad is that I've been to a mall like that. Loved the episode. Will watch it again tonight for some of the finer lines..."Are you ready to be lightly assaulted?"
 
Sigh, another bland episode. The main plot, was kind of interesting at first, then I ceased to care. I think it's ridiculous that the entire town would shun a female carpenter. I also was annoyed by the fact that Marge becomes a great handywoman in the matter of a few minutes, whatever happened to development? The subplot, which I had anticipated was nothing more than an annoying Bart taunting Skinner. Not to mention that all of the allergic reaction jokes were disgusting. If the writers thing that the good way to do Bart is basically have him threaten to kill someone, then I want what they're consuming illegally. The characterizations aside from Bart were alright. Marge was better than she had been in the past. Homer was average Jean-era Homer. Lisa was practically non-existent until the end. The climax on the roller coaster was another annoying "life or death" ending, and I couldn't buy that Marge could repair the roller coaster that quickly. If the first non-holdover episode doesn't improve from this, I'm going to keep watching the show, but I'm not going to hold high hopes for it.

C
 
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The premise was too ridiculous for me; as if people would really have that much of a problem with a female carpenter nowadays. That and the scene with Marge making that annoying noise was just painful.

2/5
 
Act 1: Not one laugh. Not a single chuckle...except for the eels. Very, very, very ‘meh’. I can’t even comment on it. It wasn’t bad, it was just...nothing. 1/5

Act 2: Aah, the first pointless Homer and Marge argument of the season (-1). Marge created the situation and asked Homer to cover for her, and then gets mad at her dim-witted husband for (probably not knowing) that he’s taking advantage of the situation (-3). Use of Ramones song (+1). 2/5

Act 3: Laughed at Skinner and CBG’s conversation. Enjoyed the peanut vs. shrimp battle, and “I...was...El Barto”. Still really didn’t like the Marge/Homer story. Enjoyed the Skinner and Bart ending. 3/5

It was an interesting episode. I enjoyed the B story more than the A story. As much as I hate the “marital problems” episodes, I can usually understand why Marge is mad at Homer. Most of the time in this episode, it seemed like Homer was lying to protect her, and not as a credit glory hound. Then suddenly he has that t-shirt, for no apparent reason.

Marge got mad at Homer for taking the credit after she asked him to. My problem is that she focused her anger on Homer, and not the town’s people who would not accept her for who she was. Homer seemed fairly sympathetic, but caught in the middle. He’s not the brightest, and did not know how to react to the situation. This did not disserve Marge’s anger.

This episode was a big step down, in my book. Overall rating: 2/5
 
Not as bad as the last two episodes, but still not good. Just another "Homer and Marge conflict" outing with a lot of Homer whining and a predictable "everything turned out ok in the last 30 seconds" ending. The sub-plot with Bart and Skinner was lame - another example of Bart's mischief being out of character for him since it has no point other than him being a brat for cheap "laughs". Speaking of laughs, I don't think I laughed once in the whole episode.

Also it was yet another great example of how the writers seem to not really know the characters anymore, but rather use their stereotype as a vehicle for cheap gags. IE, Homer = whines, lazy! Bart = troublemaker! Lisa = Complaining activist! etc. and they are reduced to just that label with none of the human qualities we used to be able to relate with.

I voted 3/5 but I feel that is being waay to generous... I'd say 2.5/5 and thats still giving it the benefit of the doubt.
 
A really weird episode for sure. While I enjoyed the basic premises and several jokes from both plots, each had their fair share of problems.

For the main plot, Marge was once again rather uninteresting, and felt OOC during the roller-coaster finale ("I'll never be able to tell him 'I told you so'!"), while Homer was way too much of a jerk in the latter half ("I'm perfect" etc, various women remarks). On the plus side, most of the gags worked fairly well, such as Homer's butt ("Yeah, it'll do that"), Krusty's small role, Homer using the books as a footrest, and the large tube of old gummyworms (though the second punchline with Homer eating them was overkill). At least it wasn't a marital problem story, and it did have some sparks of creativity and originality, but it felt like it could've done so much more with its woman-using-a-man-as-a-front premise than it did. And since when can a carpenter fix a roller-coaster?

As for the subplot, it's a terrific idea, and several good jokes emerged out of it (Milhouse being allergic to his own tears, the blackboard gag, the stick-on-stick climax, "Eat shrimp and die!"), but a major aspect of it did really bother me--Bart was too over-the-top. Sure, they're rivals, and the Bart/Skinner rivalry is always fun to watch, but it's far more endearing when the viewer can root for Bart and/or Skinner (like in Boy Who Knew and Sweet Seymour). In this, Bart making Skinner eat garbage and having soda cans shot out of a ball machine at his head (ouch!) were just too malicious. I'd have liked to see more gags like the chalkboard gag--eye-for-an-eye payback for Bart's years of detention, as opposed to randomly inflicting pain on Skinner.

Anyway, I was still fairly interested throughout, even with the large number of strange or over-the-top scenes (Lenny and Carl come to mind). It's yet another palatable-yet-forgettable Jean-era episode, that has a few too many major issues keeping it from greatness.

C+
 
2/5 for me,usally I'm giving out 5/5 or 4/5 but there was really nothing that kept me intrested except for the Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith parody. Also I felt Bart was acting a bit meaner than he usally does. Oh and why no mention of the Leftorium at the mall.

The Future- The promo for the THOH looked interesting and the fact that they'll be showing a preview for The Simpsons Movie makes it all the better.
 
Ugh, pretty damn bad. Homer buys some carpentry books and doesn't even use them, and Marge decides to use one of the books to fix the floorboards in their room (what happened to the carpet, anyway?). After this, she decides to start building other things. Apparantly, Bart, and now Marge, are magically capable of learning anything very quickly.

I don't really feel like getting into this much more. I'll just say that Bart becomes way too malicious and completely tortures Skinner in a bad subplot. Overall, this episode gets a weak 2/5.
 
There were a number of good ideas this episode. I liked that the writers got to both of the plots by the end of the first act, and they moved along at a brisk pass until the third act. From there things got a little disjointed and didn't work as well. I don't that much of a problem with Marge getting jealous, but I wished that the writers had found a better solution than to have Homer build a rollercoaster. I didn’t like Homer with the construction workers. And the climatic scene didn’t work either.

As for the subplot, I thought it was good, but Bart was a little too malicious at times. The more interesting parts like Comic Book Guy were more interesting than just having Bart taunt Skinner, which happened for much of the plot. The resolution with the duel between Skinner and Bart wasn’t that bad, but it seemed like something was missing. I did like Bart and Skinner continuing to fit in the hospital room, and Marge walking out to see the new babies.

Overall, this episode seems to be a lot like the other two episodes this season, a good plot and some ok jokes, but it had a lot of wasted potential. C+
 
4/5. B

YES. Finally, a decent Simpsons episode. The best I've seen in a long time!

For some reason I get extremely happy whenever I genuinely like a Simpsons episode. This one really felt like a classic epiode (FELT like one) and a lot of the jokes were really funny. Not as many cringe-worthy jokes as usual, and the A and B plots were both interesting and connected together at the end nicely. They were both developed and the show didn't seem very rushed. The characterizations were really good (Bart's was questionable). Very good character humor and I really thought that Marge's plot was original.

I came away from this episode feeling most satisfied. Far from perfect, but pleasing. It's unusal for me to watch a new Simpsons episode and not feel offended/embarrased, so kudos.

Actually a good ep, so I expect to see many 1/5's and 2/5's this time around. ;-/
 
Jake said:
It started out with a 4/5 first act then it was all downhill. I don't feel like writing too much, so all I'll say is this episode started out like a good Jean era episode and ended like a bad Scully episode.

2/5, or D+
That is crap. The "Skully Era" ended FIVE years ago. Al Jean has had plenty of time to completely recover from Skully-isms if he really felt obligated to, but he hasn't. Every time a new episode sucks, you can't just say "oh, it was more a Skully episode", as if Al Jean can do no wrong. There have been more than enough episodes in the Al Jean era that compare to Skully episodes that its safe to say that their styles are not as different as fans seem to think.
 
TriforceBun said:
...At least it wasn't a marital problem story, and it did have some sparks of creativity and originality, but it felt like it could've done so much more with its woman-using-a-man-as-a-front premise than it did....

I feel the same way. They had many opportunities for humor, and they went with annoyance and aggravation instead. I wonder why?
 
2.5 rounded up to a 3

i laughed a few times but nothing memorable at all.

wait what was this episode even about? i can't remember

edit. oh yeah the carpenter thing. that was ok
 
AngryDad33 said:
The Future- The promo for the THOH looked interesting and the fact that they'll be showing a preview for The Simpsons Movie makes it all the better.
I missed this, so could somebody put it up on youtube or something? That'd be great. I live in Canada, so Global cuts things like this out.
 
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4/5 for me. I actually didn't like it as much as last week's but it beats out the Mook one. There were a small amount of blundering goofy bits that were reminiscent of the crap episodes over the last 8 years. However, it was the abundance of good jokes that made the episode solid for the most part. But let's break this down:
Act 1-5/5. This was a great intro for the show that set up the plot nicely and had some killer jokes. The old frozen in the 80s Springfield Mall was classic, to me. The first act ran like one from the golden days; quick pacing, good jokes, sensible characterization.

Act 2-3.5/5. The episode started to get kinda weird and out there. Marge getting mad was a bit too sudden. She seems to lose patience at the drop of a hat nowadays. Blame it on time constraints I guess. Anyway, the bit with her growling in the tool holder thingy could've gone somewhere once Lenny asked Homer if he had left a power tool on. Then Homer tried to drown it out and the gag got pretty stupid with all the "We Will Rock You." Bart kinda got too cruel to Skinner as well. Still, Bart was more in character than I'm used to; sadistic, prank-happy and rebellious for a change.

Act 3-2.5/5. This act kinda bit the bullet because of a series of silly Homer gags and general whackiness. Ok, at least we didn't see Jerkass Homer. Homer cried way too much, as usual, and his behaviour was a bit hard to explain at times. Why would he ride the coaster if he knew it was unsafe? How the hell did Marge get around to nailing in those trouble spots so fast and then was waiting for him when the ride ended? And the whole coaster collapsing on him was unecessary. The closing in the hospital was just going over the same stuff; yes we get it, when Skinner and Bart come into contact with peanuts or shrimp they get puffy. Their Star Wars lightsabre duel was pretty good though and his dream sequence a very twisted touch. Still, it seemed too unfocused and Scully-esque an act, to me.

I must say there were lots of funny gags and really good jokes throughout. They may be running out of plot ideas these days, but Simpsons writing is comedically improving and is at its best since season 9 if you ask me. Unfortunately, there were so many jokes that some were bound to fail. Quality over quantity next time, writers! Too bad the overall quality got squandered as it went along. They made fun of NASCAR really well ("Oh my, we are worse than the Ancient Romans!") plus emphasized the stereotypical attitudes of Springfieldians nicely. I also really liked Homer "blah blah" reading the carpentry books to Marge's pleasure (kinda like the "whack whack whack/Woo woo woooo!" from season 4) and then him finishing by saying "Ok, now do me!" as he hands the book to her.

The archaic arcade was pretty good ("Am I supposed to be destroying these triangles or putting them together?" "Oh great, a free game!") as were Homer's explanations to Lisa. They reminded me a lot of classic interplay from the past where he'd always end up saying something reassuringly but having it make no sense (usally "Lisa, daddy's trying to-fill in the blank). The roller coaster nerds from out of town were a nice additon to a stale 3rd act. I also noticed Bart bowling with trophies using Homer's bowling ball (an item dating back to season 1 and used sporadically since).
 
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