Review: The Simpsons ‘My Fare Lady’

Spoilers Below:

Sometimes a description of a show can be hint as to whether or not it will succeed. You read something and you just know it’s going to be an amusing and entertaining adventure. Other times, an advanced description can help catch a dud even before viewing it. However, for last night’s episode, it wasn’t exactly as clear cut as that.

Homer made an early morning trip to Moe’s to avoid helping Marge drive the kids around, and ended up watching the bar while Moe attended the opera that night. Homer, Lenny, and Carl decided to start a lady’s night to drum up some business, and the bar got trashed, forcing Moe to take a job as a janitor at the power plant. He was quickly promoted, but his attention to safety ended up alienating him from his co-worker friends.

Meanwhile, chauffeuring Marge joined an independent Uber-like car service to make some money. This made the regular taxi drivers unhappy, and Marge exhausted.

The two storylines merged when Marge picked up Moe one night and the two realized they both needed to quit their new jobs in order to be happy.

In Case You Missed It:

1) The entire intro was the pixilated version reported about here.

2) Abe Simpson’s old newspaper headlines were “War in Mideast” and “Peace in Midwest.”

3) Look how far we’ve come: Baby Gerald invited Maggie to his birthday party. Or maybe it was just the mom.

4) According to Moe, the most important things in the bar are the shotgun, shotgun shells, blood mop, and bag of lime.

5) The marquee for Laney Fontaine’s performance stated: “Absolutely no smoking, except for Laney.”

6) There was a job opening at the Nuclear Power Plant because an employee defected to North Korea.

7) Homer: “Moe, the least you can let me do is anything I want.”

8) Continuity in a Simpsons season? Moe referenced “all the money this plant lost on that nitwit Elon Musk.”

On paper, I was a bit unsure about this episode. Another change to Moe’s bar? We’ve already seen a family restaurant, a trendy bar, a gay bar…what is left? And for Marge’s story – a cultural reference to the recent rise of car services – it seemed like this could be another lame attempt by the show to stay relevant.

However, both plotlines totally worked. Moe’s was simple. He made the poor decision to leave Homer in charge of the bar, Homer comically ruined things, and Moe had to search elsewhere for a calling in life. It didn’t work out (although, for once, not due to a character’s failure, but rather their success), he eventually returned, and everything was tied up nicely. Easy come, easy go.

The same was true of Marge. Her story didn’t get into any sort of social commentary (other than pointing out that people have a right to tidy & timely transportation) and followed a natural arc along with Moe’s. They even came together in the end. The stories, not the characters.

However, in the simplest of critiques: it just wasn’t that funny. There were some good jokes, but nothing was especially memorable. I think the main reason could have been what I touched on earlier: the plotlines just didn’t lend themselves to a lot of humor. This isn’t something that’s always necessary, given that The Simpsons writers can do a lot with very little, but it helps to have a story that already sounds humorous.

Also, Moe is capable of carrying an episode (see: season 11’s “Pygmoelian,” season 14’s “Moe Baby Blues,” etc.) but usually there either needs to be a lot of participation from Homer or a solid alternate storyline counterpart. Moe’s unsuccessful family restaurant was enjoyable to watch in season 7’s classic “Bart Sells His Soul,” but Bart was still the main focus of the show, albeit in a separate plotline. The other one here? Marge – and she was basically by herself. That’s not going to cut it.

However, I will mention that it was nice to see Moe succeed at something. He didn’t snap at a customer, or make a mistake that brought down his success; if anything he was too good at what he did. I know this doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme, but maybe on Christmas Day Moe will keep his head in the oven for a little shorter than usual.