Review: The Simpsons “Boyz N the Highlands”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Bart, Martin, and the bullies are on the run for their lives when a wilderness weekend takes a chilling turn.

Our Take:

From one disastrous wilderness trip to another. The family just can’t seem to get some relaxation in the great outdoors without running into a problem or two. Fortunately, that’s what makes this show fun in the first place.

The episode sees Bart and the bullies being sentenced to a Scottish wilderness trip for their crimes. Joining them on the journey is Martin, who volunteers to tag along. When they rescue a baby goat trapped in a cage, the boys unintentionally begin a fight for survival as a dangerous satanist cult chases them throughout the wilderness. Meanwhile, Lisa tries to spend as much time as an only child as possible with Homer and Marge.

This is another episode that centers on Bart attempting to fit in with the bullies. It also puts the spotlight on Martin Prince, who is usually the target for ruthless bullying throughout the series. It has been a long time since I’ve seen Martin as a supporting character in The Simpsons. Then again, I hadn’t got caught up on the show before watching its latest season, so it’s hard for me to know what I’ve been missing out on these characters. However, based on what I’ve seen from Martin, it looks like I haven’t missed a thing about him.

The storyline follows a familiar formula in which Bart tries to make himself cool like the bullies by picking on Martin. Later on, Bart learns that he shouldn’t care about what they think of him while saving them from the cult. By cult, I mean a group of film students. While there’s nothing we haven’t seen before regarding its plot, the episode delivered enough humorous moments to inject some energy into this hiking trip.

Much of the humor comes from the boys’ chaotic wilderness adventure and Lisa going through her “only child” list with Homer and Marge. The latter may not generate as many chuckles as I hoped, but it is still amusing to see Lisa going a bit too far with her living without her brother around. The one joke that I liked the most was when Martin mentioned that he watches Cailou instead of “Itchy & Scratchy”, which happens to be just as worse as a cat and mouse trying to kill each other.

Overall, “Boyz N the Highlands” is another wilderness trip that’s as dangerous and fun as being chased by a satanist cult. It doesn’t quite match what Homer and Marge went through in their trek through the great outdoors regarding its plot. However, its humor involving Martin and Lisa being the “only child” is enough to make this latest adventure in the wild more enjoyable than spending our endless days in front of our screens.