EPISODE REVIEW: Rome-Old and Julie-Eh

Topic: Dear Note

Users: @gkscotty @Graham @SuzyQ Beb Chris Enhas fellranger

irc.simpworks.com

[Lisabella]

Wow, I'm surprised there aren't more dropped jaws over here...

SPOILERS ARE INCLUDED IN THIS REVIEW BUT ARE TAGGED.

SUMMARY: Homer's try at refurbishing the basement leads the Simpsons to bankruptcy court, and Abe to leaving the SRC and coming to live with the family.  Wanting time away, Homer and Marge entrust the kids to Abe, and then entrust Abe to Selma.  The two bond over Selma's daughter Ling and begin to fall in love.

A horrified Patty and Homer try to break up the couple by faking an affair between Selma and another man.  This only drives Selma into Abe's arms, and the two marry.

Selma takes a promotion at the DMV and quickly becomes the family's sole breadwinner. 

Spoiler (hover to show)

The stress of her new job begins to get to her, and when Abe's incompetant babysitting puts more stress on her she decides that perhaps love isn't enough to keep them together.  It is implied the two divorce, and Abe moves back to the retirement castle.

Meanwhile, Lisa and Bart feud with a group of UPS (ASS, yes)-type mailcarriers when they scheme to get a bunch of free boxes for a backyard fort runs them afoul of the company. 

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after a dramatic battle with the ASS people, Bart and Lisa eventually tire of their game and melt the fort down with a garden hose

THOUGHTS:

POSITIVES: *Hugh Parkfield Voice* "Yes, yes, that wasn't too bad, was it?"  For a premise that's wild enough to make a person burst out in that oh-so-infameous song from "Gump Roast", this was handled pretty well.

Selma and Abe fell in love in a realistic way - he treated her like a lady, she treated him as if he weren't a senile old man.  He accepted her relationship with her adopted daughter and bonded with the child.  They acted like two adults in an adult relationship, and Selma's reason for eventually

Spoiler (hover to show)

dissolving the union

were reasonable - though she could have just taught Abe to use the microwave, who's to say he wouldn't accidentally harm Ling?

There was a ton of actual continuity in this episode!  Ling still exists (and I'm pleased to see Maggie is still her friend - score one for my fic-related ESP)!  Selma is still highly involved with the DMV, and Patty's lesbianism wasn't retconned to oblivion (her fantasy girl is Edna?).

The subplot was amusing, if not a tad unrealistic.

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the dragon and flying beasts pushed it, but Bart and Lisa ignored the dragon - maybe they were products of their overractive imagination?

Was that a joke about browncoats I heard?  Something that REQUIRED A LITTLE THOUGHT FROM THE VIEWER?!  *amazed*

Negatives: again, the occasional flash of Family Guy-style humor.  Pigeons do not explode in Simpsons-verse, they never have before, so they should not now.  Home's joke

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about feeding the rice to Patty to see if she'd blow up next

improved the joke.  But honestly, Simpsons writers - you're above that.  Now please don't follow behind FG's writers and turn Lisa into Meg or something.

Best Joke: Abe's G-rated war stories.  "They say it gets easier after you've tickled your first soldier..."

Wrap-Up: This season has been uneven all around (I think part of that might have to do with the looping still going on for the movie), but what do you know?  Outlandish premise is cancelled out by emotional grounding.  But don't fear - they DO have shows for years (doo doo doo).

Rating: A-

Missy's Reccomendation: Watch the whole thing - it's a rare recent relationship episode that feels sensible.  Fast forward over the Lisa/Bart/ASS battle sequence if "A wizard did it"-type reasoning won't let you get over the dragon. 

[Stretch Dude]

What Missy said, basically. Wouldn't rank it an A- (though I haven't graded an episode in a while), but the main plot was better than expected.

[Meghan]

 I thought Homer and Patty working together was a interesting twist and I loved the "Lord of the Rings" parody they did when they fought with the UPS-esque deliveryworkers and Nelson HAH that was awesome!

[aoifestorm]

Pretty much cut and paste...

First of all, I loved the subplot.  If you try to describe it to someone, it sounds like the dumbest idea ever.  However, the writers were able to pull it off, and I loved the battle scene, especially.  Bravo.

The main plot was awful. Almost as if amateur fanfic writers wrote this one.
Grandpa and Selma? Wtf? There are more original ideas out there for the basis of an episode.
Homer and Patty working together was fairly amusing, though.

I gave it a 3/5, because I liked the subplot that much.

[Meghan]

Pretty much cut and paste...


Grandpa and Selma? Wtf? There are more original ideas out there for the basis of an episode.
Homer and Patty working together was fairly amusing, though.

I gave it a 3/5, because I liked the subplot that much.

 I agree, even Lisa or Marge should of realized the terrible consequences behind it, not the age difference for sure, but the fact that they are technically FAMILY! I mean I don't know if its incest but in-laws marrying one another within the family that has got to be illegal somewhere!

That has got to be the laziest worst pairing I have ever seen and I am not trying to sound like CBG either I am dead serious I hope they never do that again sometime soon!

[Lisabella]

Eh, I have an extremely strong stomach for strange pairings (I've been hobbying around fandom so long I'm immune to nearly every kind of pairing you could throw at me), so the whole thing with Grandpa and Selma being together didn't horrify me much, especially because the plotting and writing were, IMOHO, sensible.

It's sad that we didn't get callbacks to Grandpa's first affair with a Bouvier - "Lady Simpson's Mother".  Actually, that's the fact that Abe fell for Marge's mother and then her sister, more than anything in this episode, comes close to squicking me. 

[Wilde Grey Yonder]

Actually, that's the fact that Abe fell for Marge's mother and then her sister, more than anything in this episode, comes close to squicking me.

Not the first time.

1) Burns falls for Marge ("Marge Gets a Job"), then for Jacqueline ("Lady Bouvier's Lover")
2) Comic Book Guy falls for Agnes ("Worst Episode Ever", aptly if not quite correctly titled), then for Mrs. Krabappel ("My Big Fat Geek Wedding") - all right, they're not biologically family, but close to it what with Edna's relationship with Skinner

I haven't seen this episode, and thus shouldn't say anything, but the premise made me feel slightly faint. To me, it's not that the pairing is disgusting, it's the fact that the show resorts to what appears to be randomly-generated pairings to keep the viewers' interest. What, haven't they got another character they can turn homosexual? I know, someone else could have a baby! That's *so* not a sign of desperate attempts to revive a moribund series!

Abelma: a match made in fanfiction.net.

[Stretch Dude]

I agree, even Lisa or Marge should of realized the terrible consequences behind it, not the age difference for sure, but the fact that they are technically FAMILY! I mean I don't know if its incest but in-laws marrying one another within the family that has got to be illegal somewhere!

First of all, I'm fairly certain it's not incest unless you're related by blood (i.e. siblings, etc.). And I doubt the second part is a problem, otherwise "Lady Bouvier's Lover" would have produced an equal amount of outrage.

[Dark Mage]

I agree, even Lisa or Marge should of realized the terrible consequences behind it, not the age difference for sure, but the fact that they are technically FAMILY! I mean I don't know if its incest but in-laws marrying one another within the family that has got to be illegal somewhere!

First of all, I'm fairly certain it's not incest unless you're related by blood (i.e. siblings, etc.). And I doubt the second part is a problem, otherwise "Lady Bouvier's Lover" would have produced an equal amount of outrage.

  "If he marries your sister Marge, we'd be... hang on... er... uncles and nephews or you'd be my daughter, or something!"

[Wilde Grey Yonder]

What Alex said.

I personally don't see it as incest (if it doesn't mess up the gene pool, I don't see a problem with it), but the laws of various times and cultures have considered sex between relatives-by-marriage to be incest. Remember, in "Hamlet", Claudius' having married his brother's widow is regarded (at least by Hamlet) as nearly as reprehensible as his having murdered his brother in the first place.

[Lisabella]

I will say that the best thing about the episode is that there aren't any horrendous sex jokes in the episode.  A teeny silver lining for those of us slightly discomfited, if you will.

[aoifestorm]

Also, the subplot was so much fun.  If it hadn't been for that, and the battle scene, this episode would have just been horrible.
I'd say watch it, and just fast forward some of the grandpa-selma shtick, if it is that annoying to see.

[Meghan]

 They should of just skipped the Grandpa and Selma plotline altogether and just focus more on the subplot. It would of have worked.