16.1 Treehouse of Horror XV
In “The Ned Zone,” Ned acquires the power to foresee how people will die. When he sees himself murdering Homer, he tries to avoid it, but fate will not let him.
In “Four Beheadings and a Funeral,” Bart and Lisa are a detective team in the 19th century who try to thwart a Jack the Ripper style serial killer.
“In the Belly of the Boss” is a parody of Fantastic Voyage: the Simpsons clan is shrunk to rescue Maggie from inside Burns’ body.
The best part was the intro with Kang and Kodos cooking the Simpsons for their boss’s dinner.
None of it was bad, but it wasn’t spectacular. It’s a perfectly average episode and one of the weaker entries in the Treehouse series.
16.2 All’s Far in Oven War
Marge enters a baking contest and cheats to get ahead, until Lisa shames her into competing in the finals against Brandine fairly. Marge loses with her integrity semi-intact.
Meanwhile, after Bart discovers Homer’s old Playdude collection (Marge had conveniently cut out all the nude pictures), he and Milhouse start their version of a Playhouse Club. This goes well, until Homer explains what Playdude (and by extension sex) is, traumatizing all the children.
I love James Caan’s cameo. His love affair with Brandine and the parody of Sonny Corleone’s death in The Godfather is peak Simpsons. Thomas Pynchon’s second appearance on the show to critique Marge’s cooking is just as amusing as his first. A bag on his head is a hilarious workaround to his famous reclusiveness.
This is frequently listed as one of the better episodes of the show’s middle period, and it’s easy to see why. While not my favorite episode of the season, I can’t begrudge anyone who loves it.
16.3 Sleeping with the Enemy
While Lisa struggles with her body image, Marge, feeling unappreciated by her children, briefly assumes a mother role for Nelson.
The focus on the Muntz family was a nice change of pace and I enjoyed learning the backstory of Nelson’s dad. However, Lisa’s bullying by the twins for having a “big butt” was ridiculous and having Nelson help her prank them as retribution was equally dumb.
Marge’s constant need for affirmation is sad; projecting this neurosis onto Nelson is cruel.
It’s easily my least favorite episode of the season.
16.4 She Used to Be My Girl
In a slight improvement from the previous episode, Marge is visited by a former friend, Chloe Talbot (Kim Cattrall). Seeing what a successful reporter Chloe has become, leads a jealous Marge to fantasize about what could have been. When Lisa takes a liking to Chloe, this reinforces her burgeoning insecurity.
When Lisa stows away and joins Chloe on a dangerous mission to cover the explosion of a local volcano, Marge rises to the occasion to rescue her daughter.
The episode oddly doesn’t end with a reconciliation between daughter and mother, or even with Marge appreciating her family. It ends with her strangely unfulfilled. A very odd misfire.
16.5 Fat Man and Little Boy
Bart loses his last baby tooth and during the ensuing 1/8 life crisis, he starts printing T-shirts with slogans on them, which leads to an apprenticeship with entrepreneur Goose Gladwell, until Gladwell betrays him.
Meanwhile Homer and Lisa bond over her science fair project.
Much like the rest of this season, it’s a pale imitation of a good Simpsons episode. There’s not much new ground and the jokes are forced.
Not a horrible effort, but so bland there’s nothing to say about it.
16.6 Midnight Rx
After Burns cancels the power plant’s prescription drug plan, medications in Springfield become unaffordable. Grampa convinces Homer to help smuggle drugs from Canada and they are inexplicably joined in this illicit endeavor by Ned and Apu.
The burgeoning smugglers are almost arrested, but all is forgiven when Burns is convinced to reinstate the program to help Smithers get his thyroid medication.
Not the worst episode of the season, but it helped make the strong case season 16 was the show’s nadir.
16.7 Mommie Beerest
While celebrating the end of his mortgage, Homer inadvertently causes Moe to fail a health inspection. Feeling guilty, he takes out a second mortgage to fix Moe’s dilemma, which leads to Marge becoming a partner in the bar. Moe predictably mistakes their partnership for affection, but Marge rebuffs him and reaffirms her love for Homer.
I think Moe is a funny character, but at a certain point it becomes an exercise in cruelty
16.8 Homer and Ned’s Hail Mary Pass
A viral video leads to Homer becoming the choreographer for the Super Bowl; when he can’t think of a routine, he enlists Ned’s help, who designs a controversial, Biblical-based performance.
The parody of religious films is on point and I enjoyed Homer’s antics.
The show famously used this Super Bowl episode to reveal Comic Book Guy’s real name; according to showrunner Al Jean, they wanted to maximize the number of people they could annoy with such a milquetoast name, Jeff Albertson.
It’s chaotic and silly and you could tell getting the plum Super Bowl spot energized everyone, resulting in one of the better episodes of the season.
16.9 Pranksta Rap
It starts off tamely enough. Bart sneaks out to go to a rap concert and to avoid punishment, pretends he was kidnapped. For some reason Kirk is arrested, but he’s better off in prison, so Wiggum convinces Bart to perpetuate the lie. When Lisa persists in finding the truth, it only leads to more people accepting the lie and going along with it.
The episode absurdly ends with Chalmers getting a job in the hip hop industry and nonchalantly saying the job is a side hustle to help pay for his (unseen) sick wife.
I liked the deconstruction of the sitcom tropes and 50 Cent’s cameo is pretty good.
One of the better episodes of season 16.
16.10 There’s Something About Marrying
To boost tourism, Springfield legalizes same-sex marriage. In light of the city’s newfound progressivism, Patty comes out of the closet and announces her engagement to an LPGA golfer. Marge takes issue with Patty’s sexuality and when she discovers Patty’s girlfriend is actually a man, she vindictively keeps it to herself.
Patty’s sexuality is a perfect fit for the character, and I liked the idea of Marge being on the more conservative side of an issue for once.
However, when the show gets political, it loses its potency. The Simpsons works best when it’s a timeless non topical show and struggles when it tries to be relevant.
16.11 On a Clear Day I Can See My Sister
When Bart is mean to Lisa, she gets a restraining order which forces him to remain at least ten feet from her, causing myriad familial complications.
Meanwhile, Homer inexplicably gets a job as a greeter at Sprawl-Mart.
The jokes don’t land. It’s not the worst episode of the season, but it’s a race to the bottom.
16.12 Goo Goo Gai Pan
Selma has a midlife crisis and goes to China to adopt a child, where, In order to get approved, she pretends she’s married to Homer.
The ruse is discovered and the family is chased through Beijing (briefly reenacting the Tiananmen Square massacre).
Because of the overt political stuff, this episode is banned in Hong Kong and China, which makes me like a little bit more.
I appreciate the idea of Selma adopting a daughter, but everything else is pedestrian at best.
16.13 Mobile Homer
Marge tries to buy life insurance for Homer, but he’s uninsurable. Worried about their potential future, she decides to save money. Her frugality angers Homer and, in protest, he buys an RV. Marge and Homer fight (what else is new) and he lives in the RV while she stays in the house.
Bart and Lisa attempt to return the RV to save their parents’ marriage which ends in a harrowing interstate chase.
I didn’t like this episode. Homer’s impulse purchases are hit or miss and making the kids choose between their parents is a very tired Simpson trope.
This feels like an episode that’s been done about four hundred times already.
16.14 The Seven-Beer Snitch
Jealous of Shelbyville, Marge convinces the people of Springfield to build a concert hall designed by Frank Gehry. When the premiere performance is a bust, the new venue is converted into a prison, where Homer gets a job and becomes a prison snitch.
In the b-story, Snowball II adopts another family.
The Frank Gehry cameo is top notch, but nothing else; the Snowball stuff is obvious filler.
It’s decent by season 16 standards, but that’s it.
16.15 Future-Drama
Professor Frink builds a time machine and shows Bart and Lisa a version of their future (of course this ‘future’ is now ten years ago).
In this future, Bart steals Lisa’s college scholarship, but ultimately decides to give it back. Meanwhile, the show continues to cement Lisa and Milhouse as endgame.
I liked this brief glimpse into the near future. Main characters perpetually stuck at the same age has kept the show around but prevents it from exploring who these characters could be. I enjoyed this brief glimpse of teenage Bart and Lisa.
16.16 Don’t Fear the Roofer
Homer enlists the help of his new friend Ray (Ray Romano) to fix his roof. No one else has met Ray and everyone believes he’s a figment of Homer’s imagination. This misunderstand eventually gets Homer committed.
Ray Romano is a great guest star; Stephen Hawking makes a surprise, hysterical appearance; and I loved the references to Romano’s long running sitcom. This is one of the highlights of the season.
16.17 The Heartbroke Kid
New vending machines at school lead to Bart developing an eating disorder. The clan sends him to a fat camp run by Tab Spangler (Albert Brooks) and pay for the treatment by renting out their house to itinerant German youth.
It’s a slightly above average episode, but the plot feels more South Park than Simpsons. It is, however, always good to see OG guest star, Albert Brooks.
16.18 A Star is Torn
Lisa enters a singing competition. Homer is her manager, until his aggressive tactics cause Lisa to fire him. He then works for her main competition, Clarissa Wellington (Fantasia Barrino). After father and daughter reconcile, Lisa wins the competition.
It’s a subpar parody of American Idol (complete with an obligatory cameo of a winner). I don’t mind inconsiderate and buffoonish Homer, but mean Homer is not something I enjoy. One of the weaker episodes of a fairly weak season.
16.19 Thank God It’s Doomsday
As a child, I read the Book of Revelation and this, coupled with my dad’s death when I was six, led to an obsession with heaven and eschatology. Much like Homer, I was looking for signs everywhere, so this episode was tailor made for me.
I suspect it may rub some the wrong way, but it checked all my boxes.
16.20 Home Away from Homer
Ned is having financial problems at the Leftourium (when is he not?), and briefly rents out a room of his house, which is used to film pornography. Humiliated, Ned moves to Humbletown only to realize how happy he was next to the Simpsons. Meanwhile, Homer’s new neighbor is a bully so he conspires to bring back Flanders.
I like the “better to deal with the devil you know attitude,” but by season 16 we know Ned and Homer are secretly close friends. Any episode that doesn’t deal with this is disingenuous.
16.21 The Father, The Son, and the Holy Guest Star
When Bart contemplates joining the Catholic church, Marge, Ned, and Rev. Lovejoy try to prevent him.
l like the idea of critiquing religious intolerance, but the episode’s conclusion suggests all religious differences are inconsequential. Taken to the extreme, what’s the point in believing in any religion if they’re all the same thing.
I can’t agree with its premise, so I can’t recommend the episode, although I enjoyed Liam Neeson’s cameo.
| 1 | Thank God It’s Doomsday |
| 2 | Don’t Fear the Roofer |
| 3 | Future-Drama |
| 4 | Pranksta Rap |
| 5 | Homer and Ned’s Hail Mary Pass |
| 6 | The Heartbroke Kid |
| 7 | All’s Fair in Oven War |
| 8 | Treehouse of Horror XV |
| 9 | The Seven-Beer Snitch |
| 10 | Home Away from Homer |
| 11 | A Star is Torn |
| 12 | Mobile Homer |
| 13 | Fat Man and Little Boy |
| 14 | Goo Goo Gai Pan |
| 15 | The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star |
| 16 | Midnight Rx |
| 17 | There’s Something About Marrying |
| 18 | Mommie Beerest |
| 19 | On a Clear Day I Can’t See My Sister |
| 20 | She Used to Be My Girl |
| 21 | Sleeping with the Enemy |