“This looks like the work of crazy old Sideshow Bob.” – Chief Wiggum “No, chief, Bob’s innocent! It’s the truth.” – Lisa Simpson “The truth, huh? That sounds like the testimony of crazy old Lisa Simpson.” – Chief Wiggum Sometimes Zombie Simpsons makes it hard to tell the difference between fan service and one of its regularly craptacular plot zigzags. Was the fact that Sideshow Bob chased Bart and Lisa to the top of a dam at the end of “The Man Who Grew Too Much” supposed to be a shout out to “Brother From the Same Planet”? Or was it just the only thing that came to mind when they decided that it had to end with him plummeting to his apparent death and having gills? Whatever the motivation, they chose an ending with a perfectly superficial resemblance to its predecessor. To get the basics out of the way quickly, “Brother From Another Series” patiently and steadily built up to that climax. The dam’s construction is the center of the plot, and it is only at the end that we find out that Cecil is the one behind its imminent collapse. So when Bob and the children are confronted with their own deaths in and above the dam, we know how they got there and what’s going on. Zombie Simpsons literally just hopped up there: Here we see Sideshow Bob demonstrating his “grasshopper thighs” on a public street in downtown Springfield. The very next shot: Grasshopperus Bob lands squarely in front of Bart and Lisa on top of a dam very far from downtown Springfield. And just in case there was any doubt about where they were supposed to be, here’s the zoomed out view from right after he lands: I coulda swore there was a city around here somewhere. Huh. Guess not. Zombie Simpsons has a lot of long running problems with setting and object permanence, but this is pretty impressive even by their standards. A genetically engineered supervillain leapt from downtown straight to the top of the dam while Bart and Lisa teleported to the same location. It’s like listening to a four-year-old tell a story: Adorable Child: And then Sideshow Bob jumped from the street and landed on the dam! Patient Parent/Guardian: And were Bart and Lisa on top of the dam too, sweetie? Adorable Child: Yes! Beyond the basics of how each episode got to the top of the dam, however, are what Sideshow Bob says and does once he’s up there. Here is the entirety of Bob’s spoken dialogue at the end of “The Man Who Grew Too Much”: “Python jaw: unhinge!” “Who am I kidding? My only exit is a final one.” “Farewell, Simpsons, and, Lisa, when you’re older, write an autobiographical novel trashing the rest of them.” “Oh, right, I gave myself gills.” By any measure that’s very weak, especially when you remember that part of this is him trying to kill himself because of the horrible genetic freak he’s become. But…
Tag: The Man Who Grew Too Much
Behind Us Forever: Diggs & The Man Who Grew Too Much
“Grasping the child firmly in his talons, Socrates here will fly him to safety. Just watch . . . I don’t think he’s coming back.” – Falconry Guy First we got a nice long break from Zombie Simpsons, and then they made their triumphant return by dropping two great big steaming piles back-to-back. The first one, “Diggs”, is among the more tone deaf episodes I can recall in a while. It’s about a mentally ill kid who likes falcons and then gets hauled off to a loony bin for the rest of his life. They play it for sad, but it’s so stupid and nonsensical that I couldn’t register anything more than bemusement. The second was a Sideshow Bob episode where he’s a scientist. In a turn that nobody could or should have seen coming, he’s also a genetically enhanced superman who throws himself off a dam for some reason. Plus there were a bunch of teenagers in a church abstinence program that made no sense for them to be in. They also briefly fought Sideshow Bob for some other reason. – The couch gag, by Sylvain Chomet (a/k/a the Triplets of Belleville guy), was kinda interesting and managed to eat 60 seconds. It’s all gonna be downhill from here. – They should’ve made the couch gag longer. The first two scenes, one in church the other a montage of Homer asking Bart to repay his $20, were pure filler. – And now Bart is eating things for money, including a dead frog that Jimbo just happened to have on the playground. Does any of this make sense? Of course not! It doesn’t even make sense within this scene, as Jimbo comes along offering Bart the full $20 he needs, making the rest of it pointless. – Okay, having the Potter boy says “Habemus Papam” after the falcon craps was kinda funny. – But is immediately followed by a Quahog style quick cut to Homer yelling at the dog to sit. – “I wasn’t drinking, I was learning that nature isn’t a complete waste of space”, “That doesn’t sound like you”, “But it does sound like the kind of lie you’d make up after the first time you got blitzed”. Telling us what we just saw, then telling us what we already know, and then returning to a joke that had already gone on way too long. It’s hard to imagine how the writing on this should could get any worse. – And how about some falconry montage? Hey, at least there’s no dialogue! – That’s right, Krusty’s just standing out in a field without his nose. Carry on. – Nice of the kid to just leap off the tree and get the plot moving. – Why is Homer caring for the bird? Better question: why am I asking? – “I never heard of this new hospital, so I looked it up and printed it out” – Ah, there’s the pointless exposition that had been absent for almost twenty seconds.…
Sunday Preview: The Man Who Grew Too Much
On a research trip, Lisa is shocked to discover that Sideshow Bob is now the chief scientist at a massive chemical engineering company, but they bond over their appreciation for high-culture. Marge attempts to preach healthy sexual practices to a teen church group, which goes awry. Now for part two of our special double episode extravaganza. Not only will Sideshow Bob grace us with an appearance, but apparently him and Lisa will buddy up tonight. I would say here’s hoping, but we all know what’s going to happen here.