LogFAQs > #904462388

Sweet Christmas, the Simpsons hit it out of the park with "Springfield Splendor" (s29e2)! Fantastic episode, barring a characterization issue and a mild slump towards the end.

Synopsis:
Marge and Lisa turn Lisa's experiences into a pop culture hit, but they struggle with creative differences.

One of my favorite lines from the episode that also sums things up nicely (major spoilers)
"Let me tell you something, Lisa. When you give birth to something, you have no control over what it turns into . All you can do is surrender to the nightmare." -Therapist

As I've probably mentioned before, Homer and Bart often do their best work as background characters. They have a number of pretty humorous supporting gags, but some of their best jokes (especially Homer's) comes from stuff that's just happening in the background (ie, to illustrate that Marge and Lisa worked throughout the night, Homer is seen with a pizza deliveryman and then later a waffle deliveryman)

It's also a great approach because it eliminates the need to do a shitty b-side story just to give Homer and Bart something to do.

The Lisa/Marge story is pretty strong and, for the most part, does a decent job of mixing humor and poignancy. The one *major* gripe I had was when Lisa and Marge were arguing in terms of their respective creative inputs in the basement because the scenario and even the dialog evoked shades of Homer doing the exact same thing as Lisa throughout the series, ironically enough to Lisa at times (such as the restaurant review episode).

And, of course, the fact that Lisa and Marge's situations are eventually reversed also feels like it's been done too many times already. While there's a fresh coat of paint and it's a very well-told story, the episode has been done quite a few times now -- although that's to be expected with a show that's run 29 seasons.

I should also mention that one of my favorite bits is that Sad Girl: the Musical very clearly seems to be aping the theme from Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, along with other homages to the show. It's incredibly apropos, especially given the previews-version of SM:TOTD which was criticized for its more avante-garde elements that felt a bit out of place. (As opposed to the revamp which felt like a musical version of the Raimi film.)

Favorite quotes from the episode:
After looking at a sailboat catalog, Homer picks up the phone and says, "Hello, coast guard? Get ready to search for my body in about a month." Later on in the episode, it's followed up by Homer dejectedly calling them again and calling it off.

When the Ralph actor lands on Ralph's lap near the end, Ralph asks, "Which of us is me?"

And, of course:
"Stupid recurring dreams. Why can't brains come up with something new? That's why they're losing viewers to Netflix!" - Homer
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There are precious few at ease / With moral ambiguities / So we act as though they don't exist.