I have probably seen this episode less than 5 times in my entire life. Considering this is from the first ten seasons of the show, that points to the fact that this is one of the weaker stories of the season. That being said, I enjoyed the episode much more than I was anticipating. I my enjoyment of it relates directly to my reinvigorated love of baseball over the past 5 years; It has a lot of really solid baseball jokes. That being said, it doesn't come anywhere near the centric episode, Homer at the Bat, which might be in my top 10.
The first act of this episode was surprisingly funny - I really didn't have a complaint about any segment. The one oddity in the first act is the fact that Otto is driving the power plant's bus. I think this shows a dependency on the side characters that we haven't seen before. It could have been anyone driving the bus, but the writers were clever enough to use the bus driver that had already been established in the universe. It's little things like that that make the audience feel like they really get to know Springfield. Although Otto driving the bus might not make the most sense, it was a nice touch.
Speaking of things not making sense, this episode firmly kills all hopes for continuity in the show. The last episode ended with Burns swearing vengeance on Homer, and this one begins with him asking Smithers for his name. Lack of continuity isn't necessarily a bad thing, and I think it's good that they're abandoning it so early on.
The show does a good job of poking fun at baseball while still respecting the game. The sequence where Homer gives a parody of Lou Gehrig's famous speech shows that the writers, and animators, know their history. Even so, the writers have no qualms about saying how boring the game can be. From the long, overdrawn national anthem (by Bleeding Gums!), to the dependence on 78oz beer tubs, the audience either bored to death or intoxicated. On top of all that, most of the isotopes players seem to be either sleazy, overweight, or both. It's not the most flattering picture of the game, but Homer and Burns still find a way to have a great time.
The parts of this episode in Capital City are slightly weaker, but we are given our first musical parody. In fact, it's the first time the main theme hasn't been played over the end credits. The montage of Capital City's sights and Tony Bennett's take on New York, New York gives the episode a somewhat grand scale. I think this might be one of the biggest differences between the first two seasons. The second season, and the last two episodes in particular, almost feel like a saga. In Two Cars, Burns goes through the highs and lows of a political campaign in under 15 minutes. And in this episode, Homer begins a new job, thrives, is promoted, moves to a new city, and fails in 20 minutes. There is so much more going on in season 2 - especially compared to episodes like "the family gets lost in the woods" or "Marge considers having an affair with a bowling instructor".
Springfield Characters:
The Rich Texan - Although the owner of the Isotopes technically is not The Rich Texan, he is essentially a more realistic version of the character that is eventually introduced. In fact, in a later episode, The Rich Texan that we know and love (?) owns the Isotopes and there is no reference to this owner.
The Capital City Goofball - He doesn't appear in a lot of episodes, but I thought he was worth mentioning. I was always very disturbed by the human eyes you can see in the costume. They always looked really sinister to me. My favorite Capital City Goofball moment is when he's one of the celebrities singing "Sending Our Love Down the Well" in Radio Bart.
Other things I liked:
Moe has an ad in the Isotopes stadium. I wonder how the hell he paid for that. That establishing shot of the stadium is also used in the credits of Homer at the Bat.
In the last episode we were introduced to the running joke that Burns was extremely weak (we see that again in this one when Burns throws the opening pitch). However, in this episode, we get Burns' other main joke; he is insanely old. He makes a couple of great references that nobody else in the stadium has any chance of understanding.
I like how Lisa remains enthused and attentive during Bleeding Gum's song. It's a funny little detail and fits perfectly with her character.
Marge can't believe anyone would want a Simpson on a tshirt. That's another nice little bit of meta humor.
Was the Duff Brewery the first reference to Duff Beer? I haven't been paying close enough attention at Moe's.
Overall, it was better than I expected. This season has been a nice surprise.
6/10
No comments:
Post a Comment