Review: The Simpsons “Frink Gets Testy”

Who is the stupidest person in Springfield?

Overview (Spoilers):

Due to the predictions of Nostradamus, and today’s current political scene, Mr. Burns starts to question the stability of life on this planet.  Enlisting the help of Springfield’s local Mensa group, Mr. Burns plans on building an arc capable of space travel.  The only problem is, who are the brightest and most worthy in town to join Mr. Burns and be his slaves?  Enter Professor Frink with a surprise musical number about the Personal Value Questionnaire (PVQ), which will determine more than who the most intelligent members of Springfield are but, the most valuable.  After the entire town takes the mandatory exam, the results impact the Simpson family in different ways.  First, with Lisa dealing with Ralph Wiggum scoring higher than her.  Then, it is thought that Bart had scored the lowest in town when a mix up shows it is actually Homer.

Our Take:

This was a refreshing episode that went back to some of the storytelling roots that we have missed since the height of Simpsons quality and popularity.  They could not have lucked out more with being politically relevant than touching on nuclear war the day after the Hawaii scare.  While America is still shaking off the stress and heart attacks, The Simpson family is there to make light of the situation and help everyone breathe a little bit.

The plot to the episode itself was a great idea.  In the real world, how would we decide who is most worthy of saving?  And, if we did do a mandatory exam like this what kind of social implications would there be?  When Homer discovers that he is the lowest rated citizen in Springfield it was discouraging but, in the end, he takes it as an opportunity to improve, and teaches himself cursive.  It is a good lesson for all of us about constant betterment and how there are ways we can all individually improve.

What stands out in the episode though, is that it is a larger encompassing plot that involves every piece in one storyline.  The Simpsons is always more entertaining when the whole town is involved in a broader story, and we get to see a wide variety of characters.  Using the one event that causes side stories through-out the episode creates a more fulfilling show overall.  They did an excellent job of avoiding predictability, and the episode moved fluidly.  There were some memorable jokes, and they even involved a spaceship and robots.  This was one of the highest quality, well-rounded episodes of The Simpsons in a while.  Even though it ended abruptly, they left us on a high note which is better than giving us an underwhelming finish.