Sunday, January 28, 2007

The Simpsons: "Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Three Times" Review

It's time for a Simpsons mainstay: an episode divided into three parts, with three separate stories. Usually, this format is used in the Halloween episodes, but the last few years have had a Spring time counterpart to this Fall tradition. "Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Three Times" is such an episode, with Marge, Lisa and Bart trying to convince Homer that revenge isn't the way to go when The Rich Texan cuts him off in traffic.

"The Count of Monte Fatso" is a Simpsonian take on the classic revenge story "The Count of Monte Cristo". Like the Hamlet parody they did a while back, Moe eliminates Homer from the rest of his family. While in jail, Homer plots his revenge and kills Moe when he escapes. The twist is, even though he got his revenge, Homer's family rejects him. That's the plot, now the fun jokes: Homer and Marge snoring in French, Moe only have a door in his name, Homer's escape, and his Uncle Scrooge-like swimming in his new riches. This opening stanza had me in laughter and started the episode off great.

Unfortunately, the next tale, Lisa' "Revenge of the Geeks" was poor. It was the standard story about absolute power corrupting absolutely, with Milhouse seeking revenge on the bullies with a glvoe that grants him power. Milhouse then turns his powers on his friends, finally getting punished by Nelson with Nelson's own use of the glove. There really wasn't anything I found particularly funny in this second act, save for maybe a cardboard cutout of Hitler urging the kids to read and Bart's brief cameo in Lisa's story.

Luckily, the last revenge saga, Bart's "Bartman Begins" perfectly made up for Lisa's section. "Bartman Begins" is the reimagining of Batman's origins and adventures with Bart in the lead role. He seeks revenge against Snake, who killed Homer and Marge. He trains with Grandpa with old-timey activities (throwing a medicine ball, the classic vibrating belt) and dons the Bartman costume. To get to snake he has to go through visual and punny villains like The Toker (Otto as The Joker), The Diddler (Flanders as The Riddler) and Poison Lenny (Lenny as a tranny Poison Ivy). When he finally gets Snake, now called The Serpent, he actually feels good about his revenge. Bart's moral? Revenge is certainly sweet. Of course, by this time, Homer has caught up the Texan and they find they have a lot in common. The episode ends with a completely random memoral for all those who died in the Star Wars movie. The End.

I found this episode entertaining and amusing. Unless I am not as savvy as I think I am, Lisa's tale was not a homage/parody as the other two were, and I think that messed with the flow and storytelling of the ep. Either way, it seemed slightly out of place. Still, it was sandwiched inbetween two quality acts that more than made up for its shortcomings. This season has steadily improved and each new episode brings something new to laught at.

4 Silly French Jokes out of 5.

1 Comments:

Blogger Gonch In Goal said...

Bartman Begins was of course entertaining, and when they title it Revenge of the Geeks, you expect to get something at least resembling the film, but it was strange. But not as strange as the Star Wars death thing...what the heck was that about? It was funny but it didn't make any sense with this episode. I swear, nowadays these writers are just looking for excuses to throw their old ideas into the show.

9:45 AM  

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