Rock, paper, scissors! This game is easily playable, it's played all around the world, and, it's a quick game to play to decide something, like who wins a dollar. But ever thought of a quicker game than the old Roshambo game? That game is called Odds and Evens. (It's also called choosies, swords, and bucking-up) How to play: 2 people decide who will be assigned odds and who will be evens. Then, one or both people say "One, two, three, shoot!" As the word "shoot" is said, the two people quickly show one or two fingers into the center. The sum total of fingers displayed is either odd or even. If the result is odd, then the person who called odds wins, and if the result is even, the person who called evens wins. Some games are just one, and some are a best of 3. And here's a small Youtube clip for you Seinfeld fans. (Skip to 1:00 for the game)
When Mr. Burns has all of his employees clean up a highway on a Saturday, Homer fakes his death. The next day, Marge finds out and orders Homer to go to the Springfield Hall of Records to explain himself. While sorting out the problem, Homer gets into an argument with a clerk who claims that Homer's mother is still alive, in spite of Homer's belief that she died while he was young. At the cemetery, though, Homer finds his mother, Mona, and the two have an emotional reunion.
Homer takes Mona home to meet the family, and she bonds with Lisa. But when a police car drives by, Mona hides in the house, making Lisa suspicious. She shares her suspicions with Bart, who checked Mona's purse and found several driver's licenses with different names.
Meanwhile, Homer and Marge questioned why his mother left him for 27 years. The family decides to confront Mona, and she tells Homer that she mails him a care package every week. Homer tells her he never received them, and they go to the post office to claim them. But Mr. Burns recognizes her and calls the FBI. The FBI invade the Simpson home, and Homer and Mona manage to escape. Mona and Homer say goodbye, as she leaves in a car, and after she leaves, Homer sits on his car in the night, looking at the stars.
My thoughts:
How many times have I watched it: Twice.
Chalkboard Gag: None.
Couch Gag: The Simpsons get set on the couch like bowling pins. The cat screaming was nice, but nothing special. (B-)
My thoughts: Some episodes are non-stop humour. They may have weak plots and possibly have the characters acting a little bit out of character, but the humour of the episode makes up for it. Other episodes, like Mother Simpson, aren't all too funny, but have great characterization and a solid plot.
'Mother Simpson' is a classic episode. The plot is good once it gets going. Homer is characterised well. Mona Simpson is an interesting character, and it's nice to see how her characteristics were passed on. Lisa inherited her intellect and musical talents, Bart inherited her rebellious nature, and Homer inherited 'D'oh!' (Lol). I felt feels initially sorry for Homer as he had to grow up without a mother figure for a lot of his childhood, and Abe never supported him. Yet by the end, Mona's reasons for her long absence are made clear. Then there's the ending, with Homer staring up at the stars.
Wonderful.
The only bad point is that it simply wasn't very funny. I am fine with plot-driven emotional episodes, but for an episode to be perfect, it usually tends to need both grade A humour, and an engaging plot.
People drive on sidewalks for different reasons. Some are late and need to get somewhere fast. Some are lost. And some don't have a reason. Here are some videos of people driving on sidewalks.
(Episode 6 is a Treehouse of Horror episode, I won't review those episodes)
Fat fat Homer! Mr. Burnsorganizes a morningcalisthenicsprogram at the nuclear power plant, much to the dismay ofHomer. After learning that someone who isdisabledcan work from home, Homer wants to achieve this goal. Homer soon discovers that any employee that weighs 300 pounds or more qualifies as disabled, and so he decides to gain the 61 pounds needed to reach 300.
With help from Dr. Nick, Homer begins eating lots of food despiteMargeandLisa's
repeated warnings that he could seriously endanger his health. WithBart's help, Homer soon reaches his goal, and Mr. Burns gets a computer for him to work at home.
Homer starts working at home on his computer, working, and learning the keyboard. But he gets tired midway through. Looking for shortcuts, he leaves the computer with a drinking bird to press the Y key to indicate "yes" on the keyboard and goes out. When he comes home, he discovers that the bird has fallen over, and a nuclear meltdown will happen, unless the system is manually shut down at the power plant.
Homer arrives at the power plant and reaches the manual shutdown button, but accidentally falls onto the gas store, blocking the release tube with his oversized body, preventing the explosion. Homer is a hero, Mr. Burns gives Homer a medal, and pays him to undergo liposuction.
My thoughts:
How many times have I watched it: 3 times.
Chalkboard Gag: Indian burns are not our cultural heritage. I laughed. (B+) Couch Gag: The Simpsons are five malfunctioning wind-up dolls who buzz and waddle their way to the couch. I liked Maggie's flips but that's it. (C+)
My thoughts: "King-Sized Homer" is a funny episode. I liked the towl rack while weighing himself joke and Homer eating absolutely everything, including Maggie's non-toxic playdough. Mr. Burns has another of many "who's Homer" jokes (who's this gastropod, Smithers? Smithers: Its Homer Simpson, sir, one of your chair moisteners from sector 7G). There are some funny moments with Homer starting to work at home on the computer ("There isn't any any key" when the computer says 'press any key to start', and "where's my tab? I'm thirsty." after he pushes the tab button). I also found funny the scene at the movie theater, the manager won't let him in because of his size. Homer protests, and the manager says "sir, if you just quiet down, I'll treat you to a garbage bag full of popcorn". The ending was weird in a way, not the biggest fan of Homer stopping an explosion with his big body, but it was OK. Overall, I loved this episode, this one is a classic and any Homer uses a computer is very funny (S12 E6). My grade: A
In this episode, The Simpson family visits a petting zoo, where Lisa pets a lamb and loves it a lot. That night, Marge serves lamb chops for dinner, but Lisa is troubled of eating a lamb, and announces that she will no longer eat meat. Bart and her father Homer mock her relentlessly. At school, when Lisa requests a vegetarian option to the cafeteria food, Principal Skinner labels her an "agitator". The students are then forced to watch a Meat Council film, starring Troy McClure, which criticizes vegetarianism. Lisa does not like the film, but her classmates tease her.
At home, Homer invites everyone to a barbecue, complete with roast pig. On the day of the barbecue, Lisa makes tomato soup for all the guests as an alternative to meat, but they laugh in her face. Hurt, she climbs aboard a riding mower and drives away with the roast pig. Homer and Bart chase her, but she pushes the pig off a slope and they are too late. The pig rolls through bushes, into a river, and the pig gets too far away from them.
Homer scolds Lisa for ruining his party, and she rebukes him for serving a meat-based dish. She leaves the house. Lisa soon decides that she can no longer fight the pressure to eat meat, prompting her to grab a hot dog (costing 12 cents) from the grill at the Kwik-E-Mart and she takes a bite. However, Apu, a vegan, reveals that she has eaten a tofu dog.
Apu takes Lisa through a secret passageway to the Kwik-E-Mart roof, where they meet Paul and Linda McCartney. The McCartneys tell Lisa that they are old friends of Apu from Paul's days in India, and discuss their interest in animal rights. After a discussion, Lisa is committed once more to vegetarianism, but she realizes that she should tolerate those who disagree with her views. Lisa begins to return home and finds Homer frantically searching for her. She apologizes to Homer, he forgives her and offers her a "veggie back" ride home. My thoughts: How many times I have watched it: Twice. Chalkboard Gag: The boy's room is not a water park. That's funny. (B) Couch Gag: Robotic paint guns color the Simpson family. The transformation from grey to full color was great. (A)
My thoughts: I didn't like Lisa this episode. Her taking the pig out of the backyard ans yelling that she will leave the family was so uncharacteristic. She can get mad, but this was a whole new level of mad throughout the episode. However, the jokes were funny and kept coming. The "You don't win friends with salad" was great, and the chase scene for the pig was great, and Mr. Burns' cameo was funny. I enjoyed Homer this episode. From his mini sub-plot with his barbecue party and funny invitation card, to him talking to Ned Flanders and accidentally inviting him to his party. And finally telling Lisa to go to her room even though she is actually going to her room.
I think the biggest problem with this episode was how long some of the scenes were. The Storytime village was OK (2 min), but the Troy McClure movie was WAY too long (3 min). Also, The McCartneys were cheesy and pointless to be in the show. That's also why the end was sort of rushed, as the reunite of Homer and Lisa was short. Overall, the episode had good laughs but the long scenes were boring. Troy McClure was boring in the movie IMO. Not the best episode, but maybe just because Lisa was a bitch? Haha. My Grade: B-, if Lisa was nicer, maybe a B.
Rock, paper, scissors! This game is easily playable, it's played all around the world, and, it's a quick game to play to decide something, like who wins a dollar. But ever thought of a quicker game than the old Roshambo game? That game is called Odds and Evens.
