Now we are getting into the actual show and beginning with the season that started it all! The first thing I would say is that in this season it was clear that they were still trying to figure out these characters and how they bounced off each other. The family was clearly dysfunctional, to the point where George H.W. Bush even said that Americans should be "more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons" a few years after this show started. The main difference is that later seasons are clear that the family members truly love each other, even if they fight. I would say that some of these episodes are better at establishing the dysfunction than the underlying love. This issue is particularly prominent when showing the difficulties in Homer and Marge's marriage. I think the flashback episodes in later seasons are better at illustrating why Homer and Marge love each other and stay together during the hard times. It also didn't help that the season included 3 episodes with a marriage crisis in the last 5 episodes of the season. The Simpsons is an episodic show, so it is not like these episodes are featuring events in sequential order, but clogging up the last few episodes with that much marriage trouble makes it seem like Homer and Marge's marriage is hanging by a thread. This season also spent a lot more time focusing on the family's troubles with money. It makes them very relatable and while money is certainly an issue in later episodes, they address it in almost every episode here, showing that the family wants to get great gifts and make good memories but that they also need to balance that with staying financially afloat. It would limit the show if they had to address money in every episode, but it does play a role in making the family seem more grounded.
In terms of specific character changes, I would say that Homer was the character they had the most trouble establishing at first. It seems like the show started off with Homer as a generally responsible, image-conscious man who wants to prove himself to his boss and make sure his family looks perfect. His obsession with how others perceive him is something that shows up prominently in episodes like "There's No Disgrace Like Home" and his sense of pride also propels him to beat Bart in a video game in "Moaning Lisa." He has his trusting, dumb, and angry moments as well that are more consistent with his later characterization, but his desire to establish a good image does not match with the man who will lie naked in a kiddie pool in his backyard in later seasons. It leads to some weird episodes of characterization in this season.
I have heard that Bart was the most popular character in the early seasons of The Simpsons and I think these episodes do a great job showing that he is a bit of a troublemaker, but that he has a sincere, sweet side to him as well. This means that he is less evil and more morally grey in his depiction. I also love that this season has several instances featuring Bart's active imagination. This imagination comes into later seasons as well, but it was nice to see that they started early with this depiction.
Lisa is depicted as a smart character, but it is also clear that she has strong emotions and convictions as well. One of the things that makes her character particularly funny in this season is the way that they juxtapose the side of her that is clearly a child with her intellectual side. She may enjoy a show like The Happy Little Elves that was clearly intended for young children, but the next moment will have her explaining to her aunts that they shouldn't malign her father. As she explains:
I wish you wouldn't because aside from the fact that he has the same frailties as all human beings, he's the only father I have. Therefore, he is my model of manhood and my estimation of him will govern the prospects of my adult relationships. So I hope you bear in mind that any knock at him is a knock at me and I'm far to young to defend myself against such onslaughts.
There is something intrinsically funny about having someone who seems like a young child say something so eloquent. In later seasons, they try to make Lisa act so much older than her age that they have less opportunity for jokes like this.
This season had a very consistent tone, so while there were a few standouts on both the good and the bad side, many of the middle episodes might fluctuate for me. Since this season is so much shorter than a standard season of The Simpsons, I have decided to rank all the episodes, but in future seasons, I will mainly be doing a Top 7 and Bottom 7 list, this also helps because every season is bound to have a few "meh" episodes and it can be hard to explain which qualities make something "meh," it is much easier to explain what makes an episode work and what doesn't. It also will make it easier to see the general trend or "flavor" of the season in both its highest and lowest moments. I think countdowns make the ranking more fun and suspenseful and I think I will start with the best episodes.
Top 7 Best
7. "Some Enchanted Evening"
This episode is a fun adventure as the children try to escape from a truly threatening character. It is suspenseful to see the babysitter's face on America's Most Wanted and great to see the kids defeat her. The marriage crisis that prompts Marge and Homer to go on their enchanted evening seems forced to me and makes their marriage seem extremely rocky due to the marriage episodes all falling toward the end of the season. Also, the fact that the agency refuses to send a babysitter to the Simpsons, but sends one to the Thompsons when it is clear that they are the same people makes me wonder if they were in on it and sent the evil babysitter on purpose.
6. "Life on the Fast Lane"
Out of all the marriage crisis episodes, this is one of the better ones and definitely the best one in this season. Jacque is a good temptation for Marge because you can see how his classiness would appeal to her. I also love the hilarious part at the end when Marge is driving down an ironic street with so many images of happily married people. The part where she visits Homer at the end is also very sweet. The only downside of this episode is that Homer's decision to buy Marge a birthday gift that was clearly intended for him makes him look extremely self-centered. It becomes especially sad when Jacque buys Marge a bowling glove with her name stitched in and Marge is so happy to finally receive a gift that was made for her. This makes you wonder why Marge and Homer love each other at all, which undercuts some of the sweet emotional moments in this story.
5. "The Crepes of Wrath"
This episode has a lot of funny moments like the political debate between Lisa and Adil about America's potential. I also love that Adil is clearly a spy but Homer thinks that he just wants to bond and learn more about his job. Homer innocently does not consider the security concerns that come with working at a nuclear power plant. This storyline is good at making Homer seem sweetly oblivious rather than dumb. It is also such a great payoff at the end of the episode to see that Bart's immersion in France has allowed him to learn French and free himself from horrible mistreatment. The only downside is that the evil winemakers that Bart is sent to live with torture him a bit too much. It becomes a bit meanspirited and it is hard to believe that two unscrupulous men like that would be able to work as a host family for a foreign exchange student.
4. "Bart the Genius"
This one has a particularly hilarious scene where Bart is trying to visualize a math problem but his overactive imagination causes this to be more of a distraction than a help. It is also fun to see Bart pretending to be a genius. It is actually a good visualization of how imposter syndrome feels when you are in graduate school. There are also some fun jokes at the opera and some great observational humor when the family is playing scrabble. Also, the fact that Bart confesses everything at the end is a great testament to the goodness that is inside of him. He might do bad things, but episodes like this show that Bart has a conscience and is willing to confess and make things right.
3. "Krusty Gets Busted"
This is the episode that starts Sideshow Bob on his vengeful quest and also establishes the way that Bart refuses to believe the worst about Krusty the Clown. While some of this could be a mistaken belief that he knows who Krusty is, Bart is also a good judge of the lines that Krusty will not cross. I also love the way that this episode features Bart and Lisa's detective skills, the episodes where they team up together to solve a mystery are always fun and clever. This episode is particularly good at leaving clues that make you feel like you could solve it as well. I also find it amusing that the children are just as fond of Sideshow Bob's show as they are of Krusty's when Bob's show is clearly a great deal more intellectual than Krusty's. To be honest, I probably would do a similar show if I were a children's entertainer. I really don't like talking down to children and they can do a lot of great things if you just speak honestly to them.
2. "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"
The first episode of The Simpsons is certainly a classic one! Even though I started watching The Simpsons after several of the seasons were on DVD, this was still the first episode I ever saw. I think it is funny how Ned Flanders is unintentionally competing with Homer but putting up fancier decorations or getting better gifts. It would be mean-spirited if Flanders was trying to rub it in Homer's face, but instead, Flanders is just going about his life. It is also amusing to see Bart's imagination as he imagines that his mom will like the Mother tattoo that he gets when she certainly never would like him getting a tattoo at his age. I also think this episode is good at subverting the standard formula for Christmas movies and specials: Instead of getting Christmas money by winning the dog race or through the kindness of the community, the Simpson family is able to have a great Christmas by taking in the dog who lost the race. It is a charming episode and is still a fun one to watch at Christmas time!
1. "The Call of the Simpsons"
This episode is so much fun! I love how it brings back both Homer's competitive streak with Flanders and the Simpson family's financial difficulties. The family buys a very cheap RV and it is so fun to see Homer try to taunt Ned with his purchase when Ned has already bought a superior RV. Once the family is stranded in the wilderness, it opens things up for so many great jokes! It is funny that Marge and Lisa can build a shelter and a fire while Homer and Bart shiver almost naked in the woods. It is hilarious to see Homer set a trap for a rabbit and the trap instead launches it over the forest. I also love the series of misunderstandings and accidents that make Homer look exactly like Bigfoot. And the confusion from the media when Marge says that Homer is her husband. This leads to a series of funny news headlines while the scientists try to prove Homer's humanity. Maggie also has a cute storyline in this episode when she generally fell to the background in this season. On a deeper level, this episode is great at making you feel like you are enjoying a camping trip with them. It reminds me of my family vacations where little things might go wrong, but it usually makes for a fun and memorable experience. In the end, no matter what goes wrong on the trip, the main things that you take away are the fun times you have with your family.
Top 6 Worst
6. "Moaning Lisa"
This episode explores some interesting ideas, including the effect that inspiring people can hold in brightening our lives. It also explores depression (It's odd how many season 1 episodes do that), in particular, those days when you are feeling blue and cannot precisely figure out why. It also makes a good point that you should not repress your emotions to be more socially acceptable. Marge tells Lisa to hold her sadness inside like she was taught as a little girl and she quickly realizes that this is a mistake. But there are some things that bring this episode down for me. The first thing is that Marge unplugs Homer and Bart's game so that they can pay more attention to Lisa, but Homer was just about to win and only would have needed another minute or two to do so. This bothers me because we spend so much time with Homer as he trains to win this game and it is frustrating to see him fail in this way. If he had sacrificed by unplugging the game himself or allowing Bart to kill his character so that he can give Lisa the attention she needs at this moment, that would have made sense to me. Marge unplugging it makes it seem like Homer's goals are less important than Lisa's vague emotions. It also bothers me that Lisa does not have a specific reason to be sad. I know that many people have days where they just feel blue and cannot put their finger on why. There are times when I need to figure out what my emotions mean, so if Lisa eventually realized what she was upset about, that would make sense to me. Just allowing Lisa to feel sad makes some good points about emotional honesty with yourself and others, but it also makes Lisa seem a bit wishy-washy and mopey. Especially since her song makes it sound like she is upset at Marge for giving the last two cupcakes to Bart and Homer when she told Marge that she didn't need one. I think Lisa is likable and relatable in this episode, but to me, she comes very close to falling into unlikability.
5. "Bart the General"
At this point, the episodes are not bad, they just are not as good as others. For this episode, I enjoyed the military strategy and the way that they used military imagery and training on what would otherwise be a fairly standard "facing your bullies" kind of story. It also shows Bart's good heart, because he only gets into trouble with the bullies because he is trying to help protect Lisa's cupcakes. I find it a bit strange that Lisa fades from the story in the second half of the episode since she indirectly was such a prominent part of the early conflict in this film. I think this episode would have been stronger if Nelson was picking on Bart for a reason more directly connected to him or if Lisa had played a more prominent role in the story.
4. "The Telltale Head"
For this one, I enjoy the flashback storytelling and I think that Bart's crisis of conscience is good at showing that Bart is decent and principled deep down. This one has a few funny moments, but it doesn't really shine in the humor department. The only exception is the way that it exaggerates the heartbreak the whole town feels about the decapitated statue. What bothers me about this episode is that it does not make sense for the bullies to advocate for decapitating the statue and then claim they want to pummel the person who did it once it actually happens. It reminds me of a bad short story I wrote in college where the main character's father is suddenly disappointed with her for making too many compromises when she was trying to make him proud. It's the kind of sudden turn that makes sense if you want to hammer in a point but does not seem consistent with the way people actually act. It could work, in principle, but would require more set-up and discussion than the episode actually gives it. I think the only point of having it was so that the episode could point out that peer approval is fickle and ultimately not worth it.
3. "There's No Disgrace Like Home"
This episode is pretty funny and has a lot of scenes I like. I enjoy the contrast between the nice family at the plant that he imagines as angelic and his own family that he imagines as a bunch of demons. I also think it is amusing that Homer takes his family to go observe other healthy families through the window and then afterward, the police are on the lookout for "a creepy family of Peeping Toms." It is also funny to see how every member of the family draws Homer as the source of their unhappiness and that they ultimately "earn" their new TV by failing to achieve family bliss at Marvin Monroe's clinic. With so much to like, why is this one midway through my bad list? The first reason is that it highlights the family dysfunction without fully showing that the family members truly care for each other and why they care. The other issue is characterization. It is strange that this episode has Homer worrying about the family's image and how this reflects on his job and Marge getting drunk and making a fool of herself at the picnic. In any other season, Marge would be the one trying to fix the dysfunction and pawning the TV to get them into therapy. The episode is fun in many ways, but the mixed characterization bugs me and the dysfunction can seem a bit mean-spirited at times.
2. "Homer's Odyssey"
This episode is a strange one that gets a lot darker than you would expect in such an early episode as it addresses the issue of suicide. I saw a great video essay on this episode and the way that it depicts the way that depression and dark thoughts can compel someone to make some tragic choices. (I will include that video here because I think it does a good job analyzing the deeper messages in this episode). The main issue with addressing that kind of subject matter is that the majority of the episode is not particularly funny. Other than the occasional dark joke here and there. Also, while it is sweet to see how Homer's dedication to safety ultimately gives him his joke as the nuclear safety technician, later episodes show that he is not particularly safe and that this position is rather ironic. As a result, the darker themes make it less fun to watch this episode on its own while the depiction of Homer's job in later seasons goes against this supposed canon and makes a lot more sense for the character.
1. "Homer's Night Out"
What bothers me about this episode is that it is the second episode showing marriage issues between Homer and Marge and for some reason, they decided to put the two episodes back-to-back. This episode is definitely the worst of the two, but both of them make Homer extremely unlikable. In later seasons, Homer gets into fights due to mistakes he makes or dumb things that he does, but he clearly means well and cares about Marge. These episodes are much less clear about that, so Homer often comes off as a jerk who only cares about himself. Another thing that bothers me about this episode is that the progression of the story does not make much sense. Homer dances next to a woman at a bachelor party and then Marge is upset about how this objectifies the woman in the picture. While Homer would never cheat on Marge and so I am glad the episode does not go in that direction, Marge is extremely angry and not for a reason that makes sense, like thinking that Homer was lusting after this other woman. Also, many Simpsons episodes are able to be hilarious while also making a good point, but this one tries to suddenly tackle sexism in the second half of the episode. It would take a whole episode to address an issue like this with humor and nuance, so instead the episode seems preachy and heavy-handed.
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