REVIEW: Smoke on the Daughter

Topic: Sometimes the voices tell me to change the topic.

Users: @SuzyQ

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[Stretch Dude]

Uh... Hmm...

...Yeah.

At least we got a good showing from Homer in act 3.

[A Spy in Mancunia]

Come on! I'm probably never going to watch this episode anyway, so why can't I hear how bad it sucked? 

[gkscotty]

Any redeeming features at all?

[Mattee]

The problem is that it didn't suck at all. It had a lot of funny moments.

But basing myself on the title, I was expecting a plot about Selma having to quit smoking for Ling before I started watching the episode

[Archonix]

See, now that would have been a good story.

[Stretch Dude]

Any redeeming features at all?

Well, there were some funny moments as Mattee said (and some drawn-out unfunny ones), but the overall plot was kind of blah. The potential was there, but it wasn't used to its fullest.

But like I said, the high point for me was Homer in act 3.

Spoiler (hover to show)

After catching a desperate Lisa about to take her secondhand smoke addiction up to firsthand, he gets pissed off and starts acting like a parent. Or close enough to it, anyway.

[A Spy in Mancunia]

See, now that would have been a good story.

It would actually have been a *story*, not just something thrown together on a plot generator.

[Lisabella]

This one road the line between decent and awful for me:

Summary for Chris:

Spoiler (hover to show)

Marge declares a sudden thwarted childhood passion for ballet (destroyed by the fact that she developed unevenly -literally) and decides to go take some lessons.  Her teacher is a Fossey-type (IMOHO, one of the funnier moments) who doesn't see her potential but chooses to offer Lisa lessons instead.

Lisa is horribly mediocre but keeps taking lessons, mostly because Marge desperately lives her dream through her oldest daughter.  During a rest break during a lesson Lisa learns that all of the young ballerinas are smoking cigarettes.  She's exposed to their second-hand smoke, and is led to believe that it's the reason for her gradual improvement. 

She intially fights her tobacco desire, until she has a dream about all of her pro-smoking feminist heroines urging her to take a puff.  She finally cracks and grabs a lit butt off the ground - Homer catches her doing it and is horrified.

His first reaction is to have Bart spy on her.  Lisa is aware Bart's around but her faltering skills, Marge's overt delight at her becoming a star ballerina, and peer pressure conspire to cause Lisa to begin inhaling again.  Bart tattles to Homer, who responds by training the b-plot raccoon family (see below) to sneak into the girls' locker room the night of the big ballet recital between the first and second act of Sleeping Beauty and swipe their cigarettes.

The smoke-addicted girls (everyone except Lisa, who noticably dances better than any of them) go to desperate extremes - among them smoking programs and sucking on the bottom of auditorium chairs to find wads of used gum - before a disgusted Lisa proudly declares her independence from the sport and quits. 

B-Plot: Homer and Bart start a beef jerky business.  When they try to sell their wares to Apu, they discover the meat's been stolen.  Homer finds out that a family of raccoons (which look exactly like Bart, Homer, Lisa and Marge) are the culprits, he initially tries to kill them before discovering how similar they all are and leaving them be.

What I Liked:

Spoiler (hover to show)

 * Kickass Homer is Kickass.  His actually-clever way of protecting Lisa was pretty awesome, and makes me want to forgive the writers for the horrible start and Adult-Swim-Reject B-Plot.  I love it when he goes out there and actually protects his kid.

* Lisa reacting in a realistically childish way, and the re-emergence of her feminism are always good things to watch.  The way they combined those sides of her were especially wonderful.

* A lot of the stuff at the Angelica Buttons Book Party was awesome, especially Lisa razzing CBG for his mistake about her costume.

* The Fossey-esque teacher.  He's probably my favorite part of this thing.

*  The family watching TV together - I love slice-of-life stuff like that.

Stuff I Didn't Like:

Spoiler (hover to show)

* The sight of Lisa throwing a book out of a moving car forces me into Comic Book Guy mode.  BUT LISA WOULDN'T DO THAT!

* The entire B-Plot should've gone out the window so we could've gotten some real resolution out of the Lisa/Marge plot.  It was pointless and felt like a lightweight version of Adult Swim humor.

* Marge being so intensely interested in living her dreams through her daughter felt a bit forced to me.  Marge has always been more self-actualized than that, IMOHO.

Final Rating: B+  Fast forward through the horrible B-Plot.  Can we hope that the fact that ratings for this (and family guy) sliding slowly into the 7. range stateside might mean something?

Sidenote: I read spoilers for Papa Don't Leach today:

Spoiler (hover to show)

And it sounds like it maybe possibly might not suck!  Even though it's another "The Simpsons Are Sharing Their Couch!" episode.  But I have a soft spot for Lurleen and The Dixie Chicks, so I may not be objective enough.

[A Spy in Mancunia]

I take it the Russian ballet teacher from "Homer vs. Patty and Selma" wasn't in this...

[Lisabella]

Nope - continuity takes another dirtnap in this ep.

[Stretch Dude]

Nope - continuity takes another dirtnap in this ep.

Considering the episode opened with a big nod to the Harry Potter spoof from a season or so back, that's a bit harsh.

[Lisabella]

Ahh, good point!    Sorry, SD.  The ep does have some nice continuity, which has been pointed out.

I liked the Fossey-type teacher though, Chris - he's a nice addition.