REVIEW: Gone Maggie Gone

[Stretch_Dude]

Spoiler

There now exists a shortened version of the new intro!

A quirky little romp, this was. There were some very funny bits, like Kent's breakdown, Homer and Bart's efforts to fool Marge, and pirate nuns, which is awesome.

Never seen Da Vinci Code or any of those movies, so I can't really judge how good a parody it was. I thought it was pretty good on its own, and the riddle-book act breaks were a nice touch. And nuns...you can't go wrong with nun-based comedy...which is kinda ironic. I liked Marge fretting over whether she should have taken Maggie back at the end.

Oh, the ending...people are gonna bitch about this. 'Course, this fandom can and has bitched about anything and everything they can, but this one's gonna be pretty divisive. Personally, I thought it was a riot.

[fellranger]

Spoiler

I'm not sure there was enough to it to bitch about, it was just a bit of an obvious gag.  The rest of the episode was was quite enjoyable though!  The writing certainly seems to have picked up a bit in the handful of latest eps I've seen.  There's still a fair bit of what seems to be laziness (Can't think of a good reason for something to happen?  Never mind, just do something random and wacky to drive the plot along...we've been getting away with it for ages!) but they are at least putting some thought into proceedings.  It's nice to see another story with some emotion in it (maybe a little tacked on...) and was that just a hint of depth to Lisa's character again?   I liked the way they started the puzzle theme before Lisa began her search for the jewel, it helped tie the episode together.  And they've really pushed the boat out on the animation these days, there were some beautiful little sequences in there and they're doing some great work with the backgrounds.  Another few years movement in this direction and who knows, the real Simpsons might emerge again...

 

[Terry Y]

Spoiler

This whole season has been pretty hit or miss.  Either I've loved an episode, or I've hated it.  Not this one.  It was good, but not great.  Funny, but not terribly so.  Very bland.  As my old band teacher would say, very vanilla.

It did have some pretty great moments, particularly Kent Brockman's line: "There's an eclipse when I SAY there's an eclipse!"  Also, the part where Homer fashions a fake Maggie hand puppet and Marge tried to feed it was pretty hilarious ("Oh, you're getting so chubby!  Who's a chubby baby!").  The actual plot?  Meh.  Maybe it's because I never saw "The Da Vinci Code," I dunno. 

It reminds of what Sheana said about the "Tales of Springfield" spinoff and what a good idea that could have been.  You know, it's not too late to go that route!

GRADE: B

[gkscotty]

Spoiler

I liked the ep overall. One thing I liked about it nobody's mentioned is that Lisa was smugly convinced she was right but totally wrong at at least two points. That, and the actual solution to "the biggest ring" in Springfield was really well thought out and actually foreshadowed.

The lowest point would be Homer's Ratatouille parody, which was so throughly explained it was rendered utterly pointless. Don't make a joke about seeing WALL-E and then do a WALL-E parody guys.

[missy_misery]

Spoiler

This's one of those episodes that's hit or miss; if you hate wacky, skip it altogether.

For a sorta-wacky episode, though, it hit some fun spots; everyone was IC, and I liked the Skinner/CBG team-up (those two have a helluva backstory together, don't they?

The fact that I haven't read or seen the DaVinci Code probably effected how much I enjoyed this.  I'll give the producers credit for at least giving us a plausible reason for Marge to go (temporarily) blind.

The Ratatoullie parody was completely painful - mostly because the movie's of such a high caliber it deserves a much more tightly-honed parody.

Final Grade: B if you like wacky; C if it's not your thing.  Could've been far more painful.

[D.B.]

Spoiler

Just watched it online. I must admit, i kinda liked this one. Sure, it's wacky, but it worked in a way that most previous wacky episodes didn't for me. It felt snappy rather than rushed, and while there was no real character depth or anything similar, there were no failed attempts at character depth or likewise either.

[Dewey Finn]

Spoiler

many people in nohomers club seemed to like it, but not i... i dunno, i thought the mystery writing here was too obvious, not too much 'tension' (yeah, the ring thing wasn't good enough for me either) and the rest of the episode wasn't really good either imo.  i do agree that it was wacky since it kind of has this modifying of religious principle (is it what happened in 'da vinci code?'), sevearl historical modification, etc.  but whilst i do like wackiness sometimes in the course of the series, this one did not do it for me.  C-... several funny moments, but big letdown