What a weird episode. As much as I was looking forward to Moaning Lisa, I was really unenthusiastic about watching this episode tonight. I hadn't seen it in years and I have always remembered it as one of my least favorite of the series. It's hard to tell if the episode is really that terrible, or if I'm biased from preconceived notions, but I didn't enjoy it very much.
Probably the most notable event of the episode is that we finally see the beginnings of the format that the show ends up using. More specifically, the first act of the show usually has nothing to do with the rest of the episode. In this case, there were a bunch of jokes about car salesmen, which was completely separate from the main plot about being lost in the wilderness. It's an interesting format because it essentially lets the writers write small skits. If they have a good bit about going to the movies, for example, they can have the family go see a movie and then at the commercial break introduce the real plot. I actually think this format might be the genesis of pretty much all the humor of Family Guy. Family Guy relies so heavily on non-sequiters, it takes this idea to the extreme. The Simpsons devotes the first act to a random funny event; Family Guy will cut away from the main plot every thirty seconds to tell random jokes.
In terms of character development, there wasn't nearly as much in this episode. Once again, Bart and Homer were paired together, and Homer tries to show Bart how much he knows about the wilderness. It's the second episode in a row where Homer's only concern is looking cool in the eyes of his son. I think that's pretty different than the Homer we saw in Bart the Genius. That Homer wanted to spend time with Bart, this one wants to impress him. As Homer's character gets more defined, I think we see a lot more of the later. Homer becomes more childish and less secure in himself. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing; I love naive Homer. It's just interesting to think that the most responsible we'll ever see Homer is in episode 2.
Marge and Lisa once again prove that they're the only ones in the family who can function as real people. It also shows that they're good at adapting to their surroundings - a skill that is necessary in the Simpson family. Marge calmly picking up a squirrel and neatly placing it on a log was pretty funny too. The only problem I had with Marge this episode was why in the world she let Homer take Maggie with her. For the first time, Maggie had a couple of scenes that were hers and hers alone. These are always a little hit and miss. I can think of one outstanding success (the great escape) and some other average sequences, but in general, I like Maggie the most when she's making subtle jokes in the background.
Springfield characters:
Tood: Todd is basically Bart's version of Flanders. I think the writers wanted to make Todd annoy Bart in the exact same way Flanders annoys Homer, except by doing kid things. It's funny how the family isn't overly religious yet, because that's their defining characterization later on
Other things I liked:
Since this episode was kind of a dud, most of my notes are jokes that I thought were funny. I really enjoyed the newscaster interrupting a presidential address to have a story on bigfoot. The news segments only get better when Kent Brockman is created.
All of the car salesman bit was great. I love how he tries every trick in the book. From calling Homer a god to blaming the pricing on someone else (he's not the owner, even though his name is on the sign... Long story). Homer is the perfect sucker in that scene
The music seemed very loud and out of place this episode. Most of it was in the Maggie scenes, which is understandable. But even when Homer and Bart were walking around, I was pretty distracted by it.
Definitely the most cartooney episode yet. An RV plummeting off a cliff is about as cartooney as you can get
A pretty sweet ending to a bad episode. Are all of these tender moments too sappy? I haven't thought so yet, but I could see other people rolling their eyes at them.
2/10
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