REVIEW: THE SIMPSONS “AT LONG LAST LEAVE”

Guest Cast Jackie Mason: Rabbi Krustofsky Maggie Roswell: Luann Alison Krauss: HerselfKelsey Grammer: Sideshow Bob

SPOILERS BELOW

The media is threatening a nuclear holocaust which causes  The Simpsons to take cover, that is until they get out and realize it was a setup for the rest of the town to hold a city hall meeting who are in the process of voting their asses out of town. However, despite Marge pleading her case to keep her family in the only town they’ve ever known, they get shipped out and eventually find new settlement in “The Outlands” complete with its own intro with couch gag. Its also here we meet Wikileaks founder Julian Assange as he is having a cook-out right outside his Death-Star inspired offices.

The place soon starts to feel like home for the Simpsons, however just like everything that is both underground and awesome, usually someone catches wind and wants in causing a word to mouth frenzy that brings all of Springfield’s townsfolk over to also lay claim to”Outlands” as their new home. Who knew? HAPPY 500th!!!

After last week’s terrible episode, I was beginning to worry if episode 500 would suck but thankfully…it didn’t. For one, this is the first time seeing a Simpsons couch gag that I had a tear in my eye as it took us down the rabbit hole of all the fabled gags that have come to pass over these past 23 seasons as it was almost like flipping through a yearbook with a perfect soundtrack  as its score. And of course, classic Simpsons with silly Homer eating talcum powder in a bomb shelter that was never there before, only to find out that the town(albeit temporarily) no longer wants them around anymore and I do not know if this was intentional or coincidence but there is a certain connection between this week’s episode, and Simpsons Comics #187, see if you can spot it!

With all the media hoopla that was going on this week about the 500th episode, the writers of the Simpsons did what they did best, they pushed aside the fact that this was a 500th episode and just gave us a great story, one that people may even talk about someday. The Simpsons have probably imprinted on to me more memories than I can even count or dare to remember, and for all that’s written about America’s family, for all the accolades this show has won over the years, and all the praise guys like Matt, James, Sam, and the rest of the crew have gotten about this show since its airing on December 17th, 1989, and even though I might be so far down the totem pole of people they would even care to get praise/ridicule from… that’s OK, as the only thing I can say to them after all these years is…Thank You.