Review: The Simpsons “Grampy Can Ya Hear Me”

Why does this episode even exist?

Overview (Spoilers Below)

This week’s couch gag is a charming little trip through time, following The Simpsons and their couch as they live the American dream, immigrating to the United States in old-timey fashion, living through the 50s and going even to the future where they leave the planet on a spaceship. Strange, but amusing.

The Simpsons take a day trip to the Springfield Planetarium as a way of celebrating Grandpa Simpson’s 87th birthday, but things go awry when Grandpa’s poor hearing embarrasses the family and cuts the trip short. Yet, in a positive turn, new life is breathed into Grandpa Simpson when he receives a hearing aid from one of his friends at the retirement home. Meanwhile, Lisa and Bart break into the elementary school at night to correct an error on one of Lisa’s papers where she said the universe was 13 million years old instead of 13 billion. During the course of their escapade, they find that Principal Skinner has been living in the school’s basement. Skinner recently discovered that his mother, who he’s, of course, been living with all this time, lied to him about getting accepted into Ohio State University to be a marching band drummer, which has apparently been Skinner’s lifelong dream which we just found out about now.

Grandpa’s newfound hearing allows him to hear what the Simpson family and the rest of the world has actually been saying about him. The results are unpleasant, as Grandpa realizes that the world pretty much thinks of him as an annoyance to be shied away from at all costs. Meanwhile, Lisa is guilt-stricken over her last-minute test correction, while Skinner goes to Ohio State University, resolved to make up for lost time and take his position in their marching band. When that doesn’t work out, Skinner moves back into his mother’s house after a heart to heart. In similar fashion, Grandpa makes up with the Simpson family after they pretend to like him by literally reading from a script to finish up the episode. Oh, and Skinner and his mother watch Game of Thrones.

Our Take:

If this review seems a tad short, it’s because this week’s episode of The Simpsons is something of a non-episode. Each of these plots is small, self-contained, and ultimately doesn’t really go anywhere. It’s rather baffling really, almost as if the writers of the show ate too much Halloween candy and just kind of phoned this one in after waking up from a sugar-induced coma. The three stories in the episode each feel like a “B” plot to an episode with no “A” plot, leaving only some pointless character stories where nothing changes and nothing is learned. And as far as jokes go, you’re not going to find anything chuckle-worthy here. The only gag I found some laughs in was Groundskeeper Willy getting cracked out on licorice that Bart had been supplying him as a cutaway to why Bart and Lisa were able to get inside the school without incident. Frankly, I’m convinced this episode only exists to fill the time slot. Hopefully, next week will bring something that doesn’t feel like a rushed piece of homework turned in at the last minute.

Score
2/10