The Simpsons Season 21 Episode 12: Boy Meets Curl

Before we start, this was a Vancouver episode! This was when Vancouver hosted the 2010 Olympics. Do you remember anything from the Olympics 7 years ago?

Looking for a romantic activity after walking out of a movie, Marge and Homer find an ice rink and do some skating. However, they could not rent skates because it is curling night. They decide to try it and find talent for the sport. Agnes and Seymour Skinner notice and have Marge and Homer join their mixed-doubles team. When it is announced that mixed-doubles has been added to the Winter Olympics as a demonstration sport, the Skinner-Simpson team qualifies for the United States curling trials. Agnes cautions Marge not to let emotions get in the way of winning. At the trials, Marge's talented sweeping gets the team a win and a trip to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

The Simpsons arrive in Vancouver, and Agnes insists that Homer be cut from the team. Marge insists that she should stay, but she injures her right shoulder while sweeping to in the semifinals win. She is told that she will never curl again and that the American team must forfeit the gold-medal match to Sweden.

Marge reveals to Homer that she is left-handed, but has always used her right hand to avoid seeming unusual. They return to the rink just in time to stop Seymour from forfeiting the match and go on to defeat Sweden for the gold.

Meanwhile, at the trials in Springfield, Lisa gets Olympic mascot pin. Lisa puts it on her shirt and buys another, but her interest goes out of control. When she goes to Vancouver, Lisa's pin collection grows, and when she runs out of money, she trades her pearl necklace to a vendor in exchange for 1924 pin from France. 

Bart sees Lisa busking on a street corner and offers to help her end her pin-collecting addiction. He cuts the lower portion of Homer's face from his driver's license and making it into a pin, Bart creates "Fatov", a fake mascot for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. He trades the pin to the vendor for Lisa's necklace.

My thoughts:

How many ties have I watched it: 3 times?

Couch Gag: A teller gives tarot cards to Grampa of the Simpsons. Nice mini-scene with Grampa and Death, and I liked the cards. (A-)

Storyline:  This episode was not bad. The beginning was bleh, but I enjoyed Homer's speech when he found out about curling. Agnes and Skinner made a decent company for Homer and Marge, and the matches were entertaining and they avoided the marriage crisis conflict. The only real problem was the lack of real dramatic tension. There were no rival teams, and the conflict was introduced relatively late in the story. The main plot wasn't spectacular, but it was a decent sport-themed episode. The resolution was kind of weak but that was all.

The jokes weren't great, but some of them were decent. Bob Costas was okay. The opening ceremony I liked. The boob lady joke was nice to see a reference to the movie, and the animation in the background was good. The Milhouse and Nelson from another country/city/school joke is a little overdone by now, though. BUT the Vancouver sign was a 
total WTF.

On a side note, Vancouver was well shown. You can recognize BC Place, Gastown, Richmond Oval, and Stanley Park.

Lisa's subplot was really entertaining. Bart was great in this episode. I loved the start when Lisa was first introduced to the pins. Lisa having just pins instead of a dress was a little disturbing though (unless she just made a dress with pins, but if she has sticked them in her skin...ugh). The big Maggie line and Lisa playing sax in the street were funny bits. I loved the resolution of the subplot which was funny. Fatov!

At the end, I'm a bit biased because I live in Vancouver, but I thought it was an above average of an episode.

My grade: B+