REVIEW: [RABF14] TSoCC & [RABF17] DoaT

[Stretch_Dude]

Stupid text limit. Anyway. Both very good episodes tonight.

"The Saga of Carl Carlson:"

Spoiler

Man, who'd've thought they could spin a one-off line from ten seasons ago into this? I really liked this. Very character-driven; the peek into Carl's character and background and the general relationship between Homer and his bar buddies was very well done. Homer, Lenny, Moe, and Carl were all great.

Everything in Iceland was very atmospheric, kind of bleakly beautiful. And the music - I heard they had some Icelandic group compose the score, and it is gorgeous.

I'm starting to wonder why Barney's fallen into the background, though.

"Dangers on a Train:"

Spoiler

I never thought I'd see the day where I could say I enjoyed Seth MacFarlane in something that wasn't Robot Chicken Star Wars, but here we are. Liked this one way more than I expected to.

I really loved the way things between Homer and Marge were handled here. Homer putting all this effort into a fantastic anniversary gift and playing dumb is a great reversal on things. (The argument with his brain was hysterical.) Marge was interestingly done here: Despite feeling something with Ben and being really ticked at Homer's apparently thoughtlessness, she firmly and utterly refuses to even consider giving in to any sort of temptation. I like it!

So, very good way to end the season. On to the 25th!

[SirMustapha]

The band that scored The Saga of Carl is Sigur Rós, the biggest musical act to come out of Iceland since Björk. Being a massive fan of them since about 2004, I became really interested in this episode, and I'll definitely try to catch it sometime soon. You should probably look out for more of their music if you enjoyed it, it's worth it.

[missy_misery]

Good ones!

Spoiler

I've long wondered why they've never gone ahead and examined the connection between Homer, Moe, Lenny and Carl - and I agree with Stretch, what happened to Barney? If he were still on the wagon his disappearance would be excusable, but not this way.

The moral was a simple, sweet, touching one - Carl being driven by honor - and being forced to make a less-than-honorable decision because of that makes actual sense. The visuals and plot devices were both unique and spectacular A really good little episode.

Spoiler

And this one had some fun conceits too. I loved the idea of Marge stumbling into an Ashley Madison-style situation without intentionally probing for one, and her finding a Downton Abbey-watching friend; I loved Homer's thoughtfulness and his going to huge lengths to surprise Marge (and Lisa shouldn't worry - there are far worse things to be named after). And hey - who knew Seth MacFarlane could emote so well (it's been ages since he's been called to do so on either Family Guy or American Dad)? The dating show website's jingle was insanely catchy, too.