Szyslak100
Stonecutter
I made a mistake. I underestimated this episode before it aired. After all, it was a Lisa-gets-a-Friend episode penned by Joel H. Cohen. I've read live-tweets, I've read some reviews and I spoiled myself. What an error. This was worthy of watching and of rewatching in the near future. It definitely was one of the nicest surprises this season.
Maybe this worked because Lisa doesn't crawl to have a friend?
After Homer takes the mailbox into the house because it brought weeks without being emptied –which was clever enough to initiate the story–, Lisa receives a letter from Addy, her new friend, to attend her birthday. The Simpsons family, as well as me, wondered how and when Lisa made a friend. They didn't recall too much for the details of the beginning of their relationship except for a little memory told by Lisa when she reveals that Addy is a girl she knew in a Library, who has similar tastes to her, including the Gallop Girls book's saga and, consequently, horses in general. They maintain a nice relationship during the birthday until we knew the other invited: three rich, malevolent, and snobby girls. They are mainly the typical girls of nowadays who belonged to the high-society that only care about social media, reputation, and popularity, and whose vocabulary is limited to modern expressions and trending topics. All three of them basically represent the same model of a character although their recurring grace differed from one of the other. They fit in the role of the antagonist because they are also deliberately mean people more than just the artificial archetype of the rich teenager. Furthermore, they bully Lisa in a really tough way, laughing about the gift she bought, humiliating her in social networks, stealing her phone. I've read some of you were not affected by it but I personally felt sorry for Lisa and I found the situation really desperately for the girl. It may be torture sharing a sleepover with people with only bad intentions. They are good characters if a bit annoying, and they have some amusing comments, like "she's trying to influence you, and she's not even monetizing it", and situations, like the "you need to calm down" sequence.
Taking into account how important is the appearance for these girls, this was the Best. Revenge. Ever.
Lisa and Addy's friendship was not pre-eminent. That's not a complaint nonetheless, because the focus was not on their bonding but in their individualities and personalities for separate. Addy was one of those characters that have two opposite facets. She has an innocent, tender side that resembles her to Lisa, destroying that stereotype of the rich-mean-snobby girl, whereas on her other version she wishes to be part of a group composed precisely by rich-mean-snobby girls. I loved her even if I am not sure if she can qualify as a nice or a bad person. After all, she was indifferent to Lisa's suffering until the very end where she takes the correct decision when Lisa was finally able to reach her first status again. Addy's brightest moment was the one when she confessed her sinister plan to Lisa. Joey King's acting was incredible, and it showed off the best of Addy/Addison and the different personalities she can adopt. It's a shame we surely are not gonna watch her again. For her part, Lisa plays a sad role here, being a victim of bullying and affronting a complicated night in a sleepover with her apparent friend who betrayed her and with the other three bad educated girls, realizing activities that she is not used to doing, like watching adults TV shows or make braids, while the things she considers attractive are motive to laugh at. Even if it was a cruel situation, at least it feels different than the average story that this kind of episode is used to offer. It was funny how Lisa's options to escape were discarded until her last salvation was Bart. Neither sending messages to Homer –which arrived with fuzzy indications– nor talking with the party-planner –who also was humiliated by the squad– were helpful options. They were really smart at the time to explain why Lisa was trapped there.
Inviting a girl to your birthday just to be excluded from seems a bit unforgivable, right?
The most enjoyable aspect of the episode exceeded Lisa's new friendship and enmities. Surprisingly, what I loved the most about it was Bart. This season, oppositely to the recent trend, did a great work characterizing Bart. He was in his most classic mood, being a rebel yet an agreeable boy. I enjoyed a lot the jokes he made throughout the episode: he bothers Lisa with the horses and especially rejects the pink one, he hangs up the phone when Lisa started to express an emotive speech (with the great detail that he makes her wait when she calls back), he rates with one star out of five Skinner's driving service, and he scares Lisa through the window making random clownish faces. That is Bart Simpsons in the purest form. Light-hearted, gleeful, human. Ghosh, I wish Bart always receive treatment like this one. In the pros/cons' thread about Joel H. Cohen's scripts I've only found one positive aspect consolidated over time. It was the adequate use he has always done characterizing the boy of the family. It was exhibited here. It's also great how the strengthened the sibling relationship. I am a sucker for their hit-and-miss relationship and when it is well-handled it's a pleasure to gaze. I enjoyed their imminent conflict, how Lisa tries to hurt him destroying the sibling's bind and how Bart reacts to it, throwing off farts from the horse's ass. Those fights are great as long as they prioritize their loving side when things turn ugly, as they did here. Bart rescues Lisa when she needs it and he gives her a piece of advice to take revenge, and then Lisa motives him to overcome his fears to horses. Incidentally, I decided to conveniently ignore the established in Saddlesore Galactica because this was a nice last-minute plot-twist and I don't care for that episode, so I'll let pass it.
It is gorgeous when Bart is correctly used.
The insinuation of a subplot was not something particularly interesting. I guess the idea of it was just to keep Homer and Marge aside from Lisa while the sleepover took place. And they achieved the objective. They just have a nice moment in a ship during the sunset, Homer suddenly ruins it because she was jealous of the singer who was apparently flirting with Marge and quickly solves it with a wise yet overlong speech. The said speech takes special meaning in these times where stay at home is literally of vital importance, but I think it is a thought-provoking concept that I felt identified with. I mean, I am not an anti-social but not either someone who actually enjoys going to dance each weekend nor overfill my schedule with rides and sallies. This discourse makes me feel comfortable with this style of life I opted for. Honestly, even if it came from nowhere and was a bit out of context, I don't have anything to grouch about. I reserved space at the end of my structured review to comment and praise the great work in terms of animation. The episode as a whole was elevated in quality thanks to another class of animation courtesy of Jennifer Moeller. The third episode directed by her that stands out in the entry. Her ambition and techniques are brilliant and she is quickly becoming one of my favorites directors of the show. Scenes like the one where Addy transition into Addison, the one where Bart gets out of the home to help Lisa or the entire chasing sequence were improved thanks to the special effort in animation. Music was another sector that worked perfectly. It helped to create an atmosphere in some scenes. I enjoyed The Weezer's participation too. Everything worked in harmony as generally happens in Matt Selman's episodes. Just another day in the office.
Overall, it was just a little distraction from the main plot, and worked for what it was.
The Hateful Eight-Year-Olds was in a mold where is hard to stick out because of the repetitive story on paper but it was an elegant exception, presenting a great story about Bart and Lisa with four achiever guest stars, majestically directed by Jennifer Moeller and great work in each apartment, including writing, in one of the best contributions from Joel H. Cohen in the HD era.
4/5
Maybe this worked because Lisa doesn't crawl to have a friend?
After Homer takes the mailbox into the house because it brought weeks without being emptied –which was clever enough to initiate the story–, Lisa receives a letter from Addy, her new friend, to attend her birthday. The Simpsons family, as well as me, wondered how and when Lisa made a friend. They didn't recall too much for the details of the beginning of their relationship except for a little memory told by Lisa when she reveals that Addy is a girl she knew in a Library, who has similar tastes to her, including the Gallop Girls book's saga and, consequently, horses in general. They maintain a nice relationship during the birthday until we knew the other invited: three rich, malevolent, and snobby girls. They are mainly the typical girls of nowadays who belonged to the high-society that only care about social media, reputation, and popularity, and whose vocabulary is limited to modern expressions and trending topics. All three of them basically represent the same model of a character although their recurring grace differed from one of the other. They fit in the role of the antagonist because they are also deliberately mean people more than just the artificial archetype of the rich teenager. Furthermore, they bully Lisa in a really tough way, laughing about the gift she bought, humiliating her in social networks, stealing her phone. I've read some of you were not affected by it but I personally felt sorry for Lisa and I found the situation really desperately for the girl. It may be torture sharing a sleepover with people with only bad intentions. They are good characters if a bit annoying, and they have some amusing comments, like "she's trying to influence you, and she's not even monetizing it", and situations, like the "you need to calm down" sequence.
Taking into account how important is the appearance for these girls, this was the Best. Revenge. Ever.
Lisa and Addy's friendship was not pre-eminent. That's not a complaint nonetheless, because the focus was not on their bonding but in their individualities and personalities for separate. Addy was one of those characters that have two opposite facets. She has an innocent, tender side that resembles her to Lisa, destroying that stereotype of the rich-mean-snobby girl, whereas on her other version she wishes to be part of a group composed precisely by rich-mean-snobby girls. I loved her even if I am not sure if she can qualify as a nice or a bad person. After all, she was indifferent to Lisa's suffering until the very end where she takes the correct decision when Lisa was finally able to reach her first status again. Addy's brightest moment was the one when she confessed her sinister plan to Lisa. Joey King's acting was incredible, and it showed off the best of Addy/Addison and the different personalities she can adopt. It's a shame we surely are not gonna watch her again. For her part, Lisa plays a sad role here, being a victim of bullying and affronting a complicated night in a sleepover with her apparent friend who betrayed her and with the other three bad educated girls, realizing activities that she is not used to doing, like watching adults TV shows or make braids, while the things she considers attractive are motive to laugh at. Even if it was a cruel situation, at least it feels different than the average story that this kind of episode is used to offer. It was funny how Lisa's options to escape were discarded until her last salvation was Bart. Neither sending messages to Homer –which arrived with fuzzy indications– nor talking with the party-planner –who also was humiliated by the squad– were helpful options. They were really smart at the time to explain why Lisa was trapped there.
Inviting a girl to your birthday just to be excluded from seems a bit unforgivable, right?
The most enjoyable aspect of the episode exceeded Lisa's new friendship and enmities. Surprisingly, what I loved the most about it was Bart. This season, oppositely to the recent trend, did a great work characterizing Bart. He was in his most classic mood, being a rebel yet an agreeable boy. I enjoyed a lot the jokes he made throughout the episode: he bothers Lisa with the horses and especially rejects the pink one, he hangs up the phone when Lisa started to express an emotive speech (with the great detail that he makes her wait when she calls back), he rates with one star out of five Skinner's driving service, and he scares Lisa through the window making random clownish faces. That is Bart Simpsons in the purest form. Light-hearted, gleeful, human. Ghosh, I wish Bart always receive treatment like this one. In the pros/cons' thread about Joel H. Cohen's scripts I've only found one positive aspect consolidated over time. It was the adequate use he has always done characterizing the boy of the family. It was exhibited here. It's also great how the strengthened the sibling relationship. I am a sucker for their hit-and-miss relationship and when it is well-handled it's a pleasure to gaze. I enjoyed their imminent conflict, how Lisa tries to hurt him destroying the sibling's bind and how Bart reacts to it, throwing off farts from the horse's ass. Those fights are great as long as they prioritize their loving side when things turn ugly, as they did here. Bart rescues Lisa when she needs it and he gives her a piece of advice to take revenge, and then Lisa motives him to overcome his fears to horses. Incidentally, I decided to conveniently ignore the established in Saddlesore Galactica because this was a nice last-minute plot-twist and I don't care for that episode, so I'll let pass it.
It is gorgeous when Bart is correctly used.
The insinuation of a subplot was not something particularly interesting. I guess the idea of it was just to keep Homer and Marge aside from Lisa while the sleepover took place. And they achieved the objective. They just have a nice moment in a ship during the sunset, Homer suddenly ruins it because she was jealous of the singer who was apparently flirting with Marge and quickly solves it with a wise yet overlong speech. The said speech takes special meaning in these times where stay at home is literally of vital importance, but I think it is a thought-provoking concept that I felt identified with. I mean, I am not an anti-social but not either someone who actually enjoys going to dance each weekend nor overfill my schedule with rides and sallies. This discourse makes me feel comfortable with this style of life I opted for. Honestly, even if it came from nowhere and was a bit out of context, I don't have anything to grouch about. I reserved space at the end of my structured review to comment and praise the great work in terms of animation. The episode as a whole was elevated in quality thanks to another class of animation courtesy of Jennifer Moeller. The third episode directed by her that stands out in the entry. Her ambition and techniques are brilliant and she is quickly becoming one of my favorites directors of the show. Scenes like the one where Addy transition into Addison, the one where Bart gets out of the home to help Lisa or the entire chasing sequence were improved thanks to the special effort in animation. Music was another sector that worked perfectly. It helped to create an atmosphere in some scenes. I enjoyed The Weezer's participation too. Everything worked in harmony as generally happens in Matt Selman's episodes. Just another day in the office.
Overall, it was just a little distraction from the main plot, and worked for what it was.
The Hateful Eight-Year-Olds was in a mold where is hard to stick out because of the repetitive story on paper but it was an elegant exception, presenting a great story about Bart and Lisa with four achiever guest stars, majestically directed by Jennifer Moeller and great work in each apartment, including writing, in one of the best contributions from Joel H. Cohen in the HD era.
4/5
. Just come to think - it's those glasses "he lost 6 years ago". The whole subplot wasn't bad - pretty decent. I don't understand "the best solution to invite Weezer as themselves is just insert music clip at the end":gatorshrug:
The Hateful eight music background was incredible. Just love all that:gatorlove:
. However, it was undercovered by good story and lines. That's ok.
. He was… Bart. Not sociopath or problem child - just 10-year old prankasta boy with own coolness and fears
. By the way, I really love the moment he revealed his fear to horses - remember I even cried during first watch.
. Yeah, it isn't perfect, with some up-and-down's, pretty squeezed sub-story and so, as it turned out, sensitive "Lisa Gets Friends" premise.
