“Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-Leader! Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-Leader!” – Movementarian
“Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-Leader! Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-Leader! Leader! Leader!” – Suckers
“Batman!” – Homer Simpson
Happy 20th Anniversary to “The Joy of Sect”! Original airdate: 8 February 1998
You left out the tag for the episode.
This is one I have mixed feelings about. It’s not terrible, but it’s not great either. Something to watch if there’s nothing else good on, I guess.
Personally I would consider this one among the top of Season 9. Jerkass Homer is not as bad here, the plot is creative and original and it doesn’t suffer from really bad pacing or joke-free, dancer-free action sequences (even Marge escaping the sect is relatively quick). I do think, though, that the “let’s kick Homer’s head together” or the fast conversion of Bart aren’t great, but for Season 9 isn’t that bad.
I like this one a lot, especially for Season 9. It helps that this is a David Mirkin episode in the midst of a trough of Mike Scully-scented garbage.
This episode has one of my favorite opening jokes in Simpsons history, an establishing shot of the airport with a sign that says “No Crashes Since [Tuesday]” and a commercial airliner literally tumbling end over end through the air in the background before exploding offscreen. Such a pure David Mirkin moment – dark as hell but screamingly funny, and over so fast you barely have time to process it.
I love that joke too, it has a Season 5-6 feeling. The first minutes are very strong for a Season 9 episode.
I think this might be one of the last classics.
^SeriouslyI? Theres like 40 quotable lines. Its still better than anything on TV