![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
You know, that subject line (which I'm not sure I got exactly right, but I have no way of checking right now) would be a good one for someone listening to They Might Be Giants' live album for the first time. Anyway, there are spoilers for last night's Simpsons episode in this post. I wouldn't normally even bother warning people, but there are more surprises in this one than in your average episode, so...
The main thing I was worried about in this one was that it would turn out that Abe WASN'T Homer's real father, because it wouldn't make much sense. Not only do the two of them look very similar (as mentioned in the episode itself); but Herb Powell, who has the same father and a different mother, also looks just like Homer. It looked like the show was going that way, but there was a twist at the end that fixed things. Now why couldn't they have done something like that with "The Principal and the Pauper"?
I was also somewhat concerned that, after Michael Fairbanks brought up the lost emeralds of Piso Mojado (the one bit of Spanish that anyone who's been into a newly-cleaned bathroom knows), the whole thing would turn into an action/adventure story. The show has done such things pretty well in the past, but it really wouldn't have been appropriate in an episode centered around something as significant as Homer's real parentage. Fortunately, the search didn't take up much of the episode, and it was used to help Homer change his mind about Abe. Still, most of the best jokes appeared near the beginning. The old letters being delivered reminded me of Terry Pratchett's Going Postal. (I wonder if anyone on the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
discworld community has noted the similarity.) I liked the characters' reactions to these letters, and Homer's fantasy where his real father was a giant question mark was a great moment of surrealistic humor. As for what didn't work, I found the feeding tube gag to be pretty lame.
I had to get up really early this morning, so I went to bed before Family Guy came on.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bethje taped it for me, though, so I'll probably watch it later today. Of course, as is usually the case when I have to get up early, I had trouble sleeping. While driving this morning, I heard on the radio about how Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, and Rick Santorum all support Samuel Alito. The fact that these hatemongers seem to love him doesn't exactly make me feel confident in his nomination to the Supreme Court, to say the least.
I also flipped by a talk radio station where a guy was talking about how annoying it was when people would drive slowly in the left lane. Usually, I would agree, especially on sensibly built roads like the parts of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Turnpikes I've driven on seem to be. Sometimes, though, there are confusing roads like the Schuylkill Expressway, where lanes will end or become "exit only" with little warning. If you know the right lane is ending in a few miles, I see no problem with getting over to the left and not passing anybody. I mean, it's a lot less dangerous than trying to merge over there at the last possible minute, isn't it?
The main thing I was worried about in this one was that it would turn out that Abe WASN'T Homer's real father, because it wouldn't make much sense. Not only do the two of them look very similar (as mentioned in the episode itself); but Herb Powell, who has the same father and a different mother, also looks just like Homer. It looked like the show was going that way, but there was a twist at the end that fixed things. Now why couldn't they have done something like that with "The Principal and the Pauper"?
I was also somewhat concerned that, after Michael Fairbanks brought up the lost emeralds of Piso Mojado (the one bit of Spanish that anyone who's been into a newly-cleaned bathroom knows), the whole thing would turn into an action/adventure story. The show has done such things pretty well in the past, but it really wouldn't have been appropriate in an episode centered around something as significant as Homer's real parentage. Fortunately, the search didn't take up much of the episode, and it was used to help Homer change his mind about Abe. Still, most of the best jokes appeared near the beginning. The old letters being delivered reminded me of Terry Pratchett's Going Postal. (I wonder if anyone on the
discworld community has noted the similarity.) I liked the characters' reactions to these letters, and Homer's fantasy where his real father was a giant question mark was a great moment of surrealistic humor. As for what didn't work, I found the feeding tube gag to be pretty lame.I had to get up really early this morning, so I went to bed before Family Guy came on.
bethje taped it for me, though, so I'll probably watch it later today. Of course, as is usually the case when I have to get up early, I had trouble sleeping. While driving this morning, I heard on the radio about how Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, and Rick Santorum all support Samuel Alito. The fact that these hatemongers seem to love him doesn't exactly make me feel confident in his nomination to the Supreme Court, to say the least.I also flipped by a talk radio station where a guy was talking about how annoying it was when people would drive slowly in the left lane. Usually, I would agree, especially on sensibly built roads like the parts of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Turnpikes I've driven on seem to be. Sometimes, though, there are confusing roads like the Schuylkill Expressway, where lanes will end or become "exit only" with little warning. If you know the right lane is ending in a few miles, I see no problem with getting over to the left and not passing anybody. I mean, it's a lot less dangerous than trying to merge over there at the last possible minute, isn't it?
