Out of the first four episodes of the series, three of them have focused on the Simpson family learning to embrace their flaws, and to some extent, their social class. And while you might expect this theme to quickly overstay its welcome, Simspons Roasting, Bart the Genius, and Disgrace all vary enough in plot for me to accept their repetitive stories. Luckily, the next few episodes change the formula with a war parody episode followed by a Lisa-centric story.
As for this episode, the first thing that I noticed was the change in Marge's character. Right off the bat, we see that Marge is flawed. She can't always be the supportive parent in the dysfunctional family; every once in a while she needs to let off a little bit of steam. In fact, this theme comes up again and again in the show. Marge will occasionally have a stress-cigarette, need to drink a "Large Island Iced Tea", or go to Rancho Relaxo. It's nice to see that the writers realized how stressful Marge's life would be right from the beginning of the show.
In addition to her behavior at the party, Marge's behavior around the house is somewhat surprising given her role in the first three episodes. She is embracing the dysfunction of her family and even contributing to it. You would expect Marge to be the one to try to fix the family, but instead it is Homer. It seems a little bit out of character for Homer to try to make a perfect family, but after observing Homer's behavior in the series so far, I think it works well. Impressing Burns is just another task that over-enthusiastic Homer becomes obsessed with. Just like with his quest to make Springfield safe in the previous episode, Homer is determined to have a normal family because he doesn't like to admit defeat. But in doing so, Homer makes the family even more dysfunctional. He makes five jello desserts, prods Bart into giving him a kiss, and sneaks into the neighbors yard without realizing that he is being more absurd than everyone else. It's believable that Marge has accepted her fate in the dysfunctional family; there's no way she could survive if she were constantly at odds with everyone she lives with. Instead, Homer is the one that needs to learn the lesson. Interestingly, the past two episodes have ended on the same note. Homer basically sells out and gives up, but makes the best of the situation. I'll have to pay attention to this theme as we get into later seasons.
I also always associate this episode with stretching the envelope in terms of what's acceptable on television. Its the first episode where we see Homer begin to strangle Bart, and I know that the shock therapy scene raised some eyebrows.
Springfield characters (not many this episode):
Itchy and Scratchy: Ah the demented Tom and Jerry. I think Itchy and Scratchy were the reasons why I wasn't allowed to watch the show as a kid. I distinctly remember turning on the tv right as an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon was starting. Itchy created a cloning machine, cloning Scratchy, and sending the clones directly into a killing machine. My mom was not pleased. The best part about Itchy and Scratchy is how hard Bart and Lisa laugh at them. Perfectly captures kids' love of cartoons.
Eddie and Lou: They were in the episode, but didn't do anything remarkable. Should I talk about them here, or wait until they actually are given characterization? I skipped Chief Wiggum in the last review... I think I'll wait until they actually do something.
Dr Monroe: It's unclear whether Dr Monroe died in the canon of the show. He was used occasionally in the first couple seasons, but his voice was too strenuous for the voice actor so they killed him off.
Other things I liked:
Another Bart-ism with "Don't have a cow". It's funny how his most famous lines came so early in the show. I guess this was when most people were watching.
I noticed the first reference of the show (at least the first reference that I caught) - The perfect family is serving dinner just like the family of Whos from the animated grinch.
Lisa wants to go to Vassar - fantastic.
I liked this episode more than I was expecting. Maybe it was due to watching it so carefully, but it had a lot of laughs and I really enjoyed the conclusion.
6.5/10
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