REVIEW: Smart and Smarter

[Sheana_Molloy]

Spoilers ahoy, you know the drill.





SUMMARY: When taken to an excuisite pre-nursery school to try out, Maggie is revealed to be a genius baby. Not only that, but a genius baby with an IQ higher than Lisa's. Lisa is upset at no longer being the special one of the family and, feeling lost with no identity, she runs away from home.

Hmmm...hard to peg down this episode. There were some blah, flat and unnecessary jokes, but there were some really funny ones, too. It was nice how Maggie was one of the main characters along with Lisa, and it had some nice sweet parts and dramatic parts to it. Started off a bit meh and all, but the couch gag was fun and there were some good things througout. The guest star appearance was actually rather funny, especially since they didn't go out and say Simon whatever's name and just had the jokes with him. The big with Moe and Barney didn't make sense, though. Anybody know what Lisa's dream is a spoof of? Some fun things throughout, though, including a reference to Mr. Bergstrom. Lisa trying to find her identity and the song that played was rather neat, though Goth Lisa was just scary (in a fun sort of way).

APU: [to his swarming toddlers] Yes, yes, fight for your place! We can only afford to send two of you, the rest of you, better luck next life!

HOMER: Marge, I always loved you. Bart, you were a worthy foe.

MARGE: All our kids are smart! Some are just...smarter than others.
BART: [leering] Welcome to...The Others!
LISA: NOOOOOOOOOO!

[Tony_Baritone]

The ref is to a movie called "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" in which former child star Bette Davis is surpassed in fame by her younger sister (Joan Crawford) and forgotten.

I agree with a lot of what you said; after hearing about Cowell and watching the first few minutes, I was prepared for the worst, but Homer did get in some classic lines, Lisa's reaction was well developed, and the relationship between Lisa and Maggie was extremely sweet, and raised this ep to a B+ in my opinion. Speaking of which, nice gag on how Lisa's position on the exhibit's tongue changes her attitude.

@Sheana's sig: "Oi, and you know I'm not afraid to use this, too!"

[Abe_Simpson]

I thought that it was pretty good. There were some slow parts, but for once the guest appearence actually worked. I loved goth lisa!

Homer: Oh no! It's Old Lady Simpson!

Grade: B+

[Sheana_Molloy]

Bette Davis and Joan Crawford are sisters? Never knew...

Oh yeah, forgot to rate this, didn't I? I give it a B+/B.

[Tony_Baritone]

Um...they play sisters in the film. You knew that, right?

[Sheana_Molloy]

I obviously didn't. I don't know anything about the film, which is why I asked, silly.

[hadisia]

The credits were funny as well.
Dan Castellaneta...too ethnic.
Nancy Cartwright...more like Nancy Cartwrong.
Oh, shush yourself!

[Vulgaris_Prime]

Wait a tic... "Goth Lisa"?

I MISSED THIS?! Son of a Vehicon, I should never have touched that remote!

From what I saw, quite entertaining. Episodes like this lift the cynicism I've developed over the past few years.

[Jon]

This was almost icky, but not quite! It was just ick.

C+/B-

[capadde]

Quite disappointing, actually. Far from as good as last week.

What did I like about this episode?
Lisa dressing up as a soccer player, a cowgirl and a cheerleader
Bart: "Welcome to... the others!"
If you can read this you're almost as smart as my baby.
Lisa: "I already have one of those."
Nelson: "Yeah, well. You're gay!"
Lisa: "That's right! This spells: Dooog."
"Z-z-z-z-z-z-z"
The Pin Dress
Lisa playing the sax on the moon.
Maggie's reaction when see realized that Homer, Bart and Marge were about to drown.
Maggie playing the sax.
Lisa: "Not for babies!"

Things I hated:

Simon Cowell
other stuff

Grade: B-/C+

[gkscotty]

Simon Cowell and the wacky cartoony stuff severely drag it down, but the rest of the ep is quite satisfactory.

B-

[Stretch_Dude]

Oh, this is definitely one of my favorite Season 15 episodes so far. Simon was actually pretty funny, despite my festering hatred for reality shows. Lisa's growing jealousy and her attempts to find a new identity were well-done. (Goth-Lisa... ) The way they revealed how Lisa was subconsciously giving Maggie the answers reminded me of the story about a horse that could apparently do math, but it turned out his owner was unknowingly telling him when he had reached the right answer by changing his expression. Nice touch there. Absolutely loved Simon insulting the end credits.

Favorite parts:
Homer vs. Bart: Battle in the Bathroom
Homer's record against collection agencies
The Admissions Officer
Ice Rice Price
"Welcome to 'The Others!'"
T-Shirts
Phonic Frog
"I already have one."
Whatever Happened to Baby Lisa?
Lisa's failed idenities
Museum Life
Temperament by Taste
Optical Illusions
"Marge, I always loved you. Bart, you were a worthy foe."
Evacuation: Wrong Yet Funny Because It Was Thankfully Off-Screen
Butlers and Maids
"American End Credits"

Five bucks says that within a week, someone here has a Goth-Lisa avatar. Grade: A

[capadde]

What to do when you don't have any better things to do?

[aoifestorm]

I thought this episode was absolutely hysterical. There were so many fantastic one-liners, and it also had the great jokes and gags that make this season so good. This episode seemed to be an homage to the earlier seasons, there were so many parts that were classic Simpsons moments. I am also convinced that there was a gay writer who worked on this one, and was able to get some of his dream Simpsons bits out there.
Favorite Parts:
Bart and Homer's bathroom brawl
"It's Old Lady Simpson!"
Let's all go out for.... pancakes....tacos
Homer calling Simon's character, "Your Lordship"
Pita (in a tiny bowl?), "Hummus", Tempe and Tofu at Malibu Stacy's Beach Party
Einstein didn't speak until he was three....and even then he could only speak German
Maggie could teach at Florida State
Evil Preschool lady's lines- "This better be important Henry, I was busy choking on something", and "That's pretty good for a Christian"
Advanced Peek-a-boo, and Got Your Nose and Other Lies
The I'm with jealous t shirt
Marge- "You seem so blue, did the last of something die?"
The Mr. Bergstrom moment
"Katie Couric didn't just become the world's most famous dwarf, she escaped from the circus, and went for it!"-- This has to be my favorite Homer line in a long time.
No one's more happy or well-adjuested than stand-up comedians
There was a field trip where the destination was a field
"The following ha-ha is not from amusement, but an expression of comtempt"
Goth Lisa-- Definitely my favorite.. especially after she got Milhouse to kiss that rock in a most disturbinng way
The Eurythmics "Who's That Girl" identity montage!!!!!! - This was my favorite part in the whole episode, also makes me want to listen to old Eurythmics songs.
Phonics Frog!-- Every single way this was used made me laugh so much,
Ha-o-ma-e-er's abuse of it was wonderful..."You are a disappointment to
Ha-o-ma-e-r"...the z-z-z-z thing had me and everyone I've showed the episode to dying.
The "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" moment!!- It was perfect!
Skinner continuing to ruin everything
"Red plastic sandals are not good running-away shoes"
CBG's frisking and, "I'm baking muffins as I speak".
All trees have bark...except for poplar, ash and maple
The sleepy dinosaur closed sign for the musem
Lisa makes a fabulous dress and matching earrings out of the museum clip-pins
Lisa's sweet/"bitter" moments on the giant tongue
Marge- "I hope this typeface catches people's eye, sure didn't move our old fondue pot"-- it looks like such a lame line written down, but it worked on screen
The Cops moments, the sidecar motorcycle, their fascination with all the things at the museum
Lisa washes her hair in the geyser display
The giant transparent person gag
Homer- "Don'tg try to be something you're not, namely food"
The weird Moe and Barney butler/maid thing-- in another episode, this random moment might have been a useless gag, but it worked here somehow
Homer beating the piss out of Simon, and Barney and Moe dragging him out to the curb
Maggie's saxaphone ending- There seem to be so many endings with Maggie that are tiny peeks into her world, showing the intricate layers of her personality. Add another layer and talent here.
Simon Cowell doing the end credits

Well, aside from things I mentioned above, I don't know what it is about this episode that made it seem so very funny to me. I loved it- B+/A-

[Kif White]

Hmmmm... a rather drab affair this one. While I'd say there was very little wrong with it, there wasn't much right with it either.

The first act was, just... well... weak, really. Homer and Bart fighting at the start was kind of stupid and just reminded me of similar antics we'd seen between them before with nothing new or funny. I suppose it was good that they got into the main plot rather soon for a change, but there wasn't really anything interesting of amusing about it. Simon Cowell's cameo was a mixed bag. Glad he wasn't playing himself, but all his lines came out so dismally and were barely funny or witty at all.

The second act picked up a bit though, and had a few good moments. The ref to Mr. Bergstrom's note was cool, as was Lisa trying to find herself. It was good to actually see, overall, that Lisa was acting like a kid again. A good trend continued from last week I must admit. I hope they keep it up. Oh, and I also liked Skinner's condescending Lisa as well. A nice running gag that worked just because of his casual tone every time. Contrastly, Homer with the frog though was stupid though, and used too often.

On a side note, not the fault of this episode really, but when Maggie pointed at Snowball II I couldn't help but look at it and think "that's not Snowball II at all. It's that stupid replacement cat from I D'oh-bot." I don't like that feeling, and I realise that that's probably going to come back every time I see the cat thanks to that awful plotline.

Moving on, Lisa's nightmare was quite good, as was Wiggum and the police evaluation form. Lisa in the museum was okay, but there wasn't really anything funny about it, even when they tried. Homer's 'Free Beer... Now I've got your attention' posters were just a rehash of the 'Sex' posters he made for Bart in Lisa's Substitute and the Moe and Barney Butler and Maid thing was just randomly stupid and added nothing. I'm glad the revelation at the end came, because the notion of a baby having that IQ was just stupid. At last, a solution that makes sense.

Two final points though: There was quite a major error towards the end. When the woman with Henry said "Now rotate and magnify" regarding Lisa helping Maggie, the thing had already rotated and was halfway though zooming in. They obviously added the sound in a bit late there. The second point was that I actually liked Cowell's credits reading, although that may be because we haven't had an alternate credits with VO for a while. My favourite was him saying "Good, but what has he done lately" when Danny Elfman's name popped up. A fairly clever joke considering Elfman did the theme tune for OFF and then nothing since.

Anyway, overall... well... as I said, not bad, but not great either. The storyline was sound enough, and it was good to see Maggie as a semi-main character here, but it was just too dull and unfunny to really consider a good episode. There just wasn't really anything that stood out as good or particuarly funny. I'll give it a C-