Strong Arms of the Ma - Review

Topic: The Matrix...It's like it's from another millennium

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[Tibor]

Wow, I was pleasantly surprised.  I was really afraid about this episode.  A lot of great laughs, some genuine emotion, Homer acting like a husband again.  I can't believe that they handled the mugging scene so well.  That made the first act for me.  It hit WAY more than it missed, which is saying something these days.  The only two gags that I didn't like was the knife in Homer and the whole school bus thing.  Ralph Wiggum getting maced probably should have been funny, but I didn't laugh because I have something of an affinity for poor little Wiggum. Also some great parodies/refs, from Twilight Zone and Godfather.

"Disco Stu shoulda disco ducked"

"What am I smokin'?  Oh, yeah, pot."

These and the tetris gag were a few of the funniest things I've seen on OFF for a while.

4/5

3 good episodes in a row...  Could The Simpsons be on their way back?

I also saw Large Marge for the first time, and it was better than I had imagined it would be.

[Mr. Plow]

This was certainly one of the better eps of the past few seasons. The mugging scene was absolutely perfect with emotion we haven't seen since the "classic" years.

I absolutely got bent in half during the Tetris scene, man, when they're on, they're on!

The whole weightlifting business was kinda like a rollercoaster, really funny in certain spots, a bit over the top in others and downright creepy in the bedroom...Poor Homer!

Oh, and the air hockey scene was great.

With regards to Large Marge, I had a rude awakening...the three stooges bit...D'oh!!
Either I came in late for the initial running of this ep, or I'm beginning to suffer from acute memory loss...Why didn't I see that the first time? Fact is, I probably did and voila..."Gee, I think I'll write a Three Simps episode". Well, I haven't written anything new in the past couple weeks and this revelation will probably throw this on the backburner for a bit.
(Heads out to the local cemetary to begin work on a short story) Wouldn't it be neat if Maude died! (Begins writing)

[Jake]

I thought S.A.o.t.M was pretty decent, but the third act kind of dropped the episode from an A to a B-.

Jake

btw, I hate to bring this up, but "Arms'" plot reminds me of an idea I came up with three years ago on alt.tv.simpsons:

#08: "Big, Yellow Momma": After gaining a few extra pounds in a very short amount of time, Marge decides to work out, but she ends up hitting the weights big time.

[Stretch Dude]

Some time ago, I observed that the endless streaming of complaints over this episode was almost identical to that which surrounded "Large Marge", which ended up being a good episode. I then predicted that "Strong Arms of the Ma" would be a good episode.

I love it when I'm right.

This episode was a near-classic mesh of Simpsons humor and emotion. My favorite parts:

The return of the "Eye on Springfield" opener
The Tetris Scene
The mugger's Goofy hat, which I found very funny
The Twilight Zone spoof
MARGE: 10! 10! 12! 15! 703!
The return of Ruth Powers
FRINK: Gwah, nice lady?

But my all-time favorite gag from the episode had to be Marge waving the bus fender in the air and cheerfully saying "Bye, kids!" I thought that was laugh-out-loud hilarious.

[Mr. Plow]

...and Bart as Apu, complete with mustache and a strong Indian accent...LOL...loved that part.

[Molloy the Catburglar]

Arrrgh....now I want to see this!

[delta3030]

as did i...but here it wasn't on for some damn reason..instead i watched large marge(again) and that one where u know....lisa gets framed by that crooked detective ( at least this time i watched the whole thing and taped it  ).

Oh well, i guess i'll have to wait till next Sunday to watch this ep.  And with all this positive output i'm reading, it should be worth the wait

[Hera]

Tetris? Sounds like I missed one of the best parts!  

Anyway, there were some good and bad parts. Good being Maggie (she looks so cute without her pacifier!  ), the unconscious (sp?) guy on the fan, the return of Ruth Powers...

I didn't like the sterioids, Marge's bed scene, and the bar fight (but it had some funny parts... gotta laugh at Disco Stu!).

As for Large Marge... actually worse than I thought it would be, in my opinion. But the subplot was a scream.  

[Molloy the Catburglar]

Just saw the episode....

Not bad.  Not that great, but a lot better than it could have been.  The emotion and drama was surprisingly good, the scene near the end had Homer at his most emotional and tender that I've seen him in years.  Marge's situation was believable and pretty well handled, and quite a few of the jokes were funny.  Loved the Tetris gag.  The couch scene and a few others bits such as Apu-Bart and the 'number system' were enjoyable, too.

Much as I love the fact that they brought back Ruth Powers and Pamela Reed as her voice, I have to say that her part in the story and her characterization weren't that great.  Rather out of character for her.

Still, a well-handled episode with some stuff.  I give it a B.

[Robowolf]

I can relate to the Tetris thing...[tic][tic]
ROBERT: I thought we got rid of your Gameb- hey! There is no Gameboy! The hell-
HADISIA: [Holding air Gameboy and punching air buttons] I don't need it anymore, I've moved on to the next level. DAMN IT!! I should've moved that block to the left, to the left!

[A Spy in Mancunia]

So... instead of having Marge being paranoid about Homer leaving her, Manjula convincing her to get liposuction, and Marge ending up as some kind of freaky object, we have Marge being paranoid about robbers, Ruth convincing her to use steroids (which she downs like they're oatmeal) and Marge ending up as a strong, independent woman who can deal with the world and her place in it?

It's a deal! This episode has repaired the irreparable damage done by "Large Marge"!

Seriously, I liked this episode. Not brilliant, but better than average... better than anything in S11 etc. by far. They're treating Marge as a human being again! Of course, she was grossly out of character throughout the last act, but at least that implies that there *is* a character for her to be out of, like in "$pringfield" or "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield". No-one was horribly out of character. Tibor, you said it, Homer acted like a husband.

I found rather little to complain about, which is quite a feat. I seem to recall something about bikini-wearing women, but it's OK, since they were wearing bikinis in order to show off their grotesquely hypertrophic musculature, not in order to be passive objects of male desire. So it's OK. Oh, and that bedroom scene. I finally understood that Marge was not actually trying to kill Homer, she was trying to... urgh. I'll never do steroids, no matter how strong and aggressive they'd make me.

STEVE: I don't think you need to be more aggressive, Chris.

Also, I think Marge's agoraphobia went over the top, but I guess that's what you get. It's supposed to be a surreal show. Anyway. The Tetris scene was beautiful (one of those great psychedelic setpieces they used to have, remember?), the home therapy was marvellous, and I actually recognised the Twilight Zone ref, which is kind of impressive for someone who has never watched a single Twilight Zone episode.

Is it just me, or did Marge act a bit like Leela when she beat up the robber?

That robber. It's my last nitpick... sure, he was hilariously frightening in his Goofy cap, but I thought Springfield had a no Disney, no Coke, no McDonalds, no Heineken policy? Maybe he was from Shelbyville. Hmmm. He also reminded me slightly of the junkie in Futurama. I got quite a laugh out of Marge's dream scene with his tawdry girlfriend, though. "I just put it in the drawer at night!"

Finally: am I imagining things, or does that promo pic which was not in the episode look like someone inexpertly drew clothes on a nudy pic? Again, urgh. (It's even worse than those pictures of women with no veils on which got posted on this site a while back.)

[Molloy the Catburglar]

It's best not to dwell on that thought, Chris.  It just makes you mad, and lord knows we don't need you any madder...*cough*

It was a nice return to form, though the matter made things a bit iffy.  If they'd handled Marge better in the last act and done Ruth Powers a bit more in character, this would've been a great episode.