Review: The Simpsons “Havana Wild Weekend”

Break out those cigars, The Simpsons visit Cuba!

Spoilers Ahead (But If You’re a Longtime Viewer, Maybe You’ve Already Been Spoiled?)

Travel to Cuba is a lot easier than it used to be for Americans, so the Simpsons head on down, a little over a year after one of their most famous writers did so. After a family TV night viewing Shark Tank stand-in “The Vulture’s Nest,” (including guest voice Stacy Keach as H.K. Duff), a urine stain that appears to be the handiwork of the dog has actually come from another old-timer. It seems that Grampa is doing even worse than usual, and neither the Retirement Castle nor the V.A. hospital is equipped to handle his ailments. But when a fellow vet points out that medical care is a lot cheaper in Cuba, we end up with another Simpsons vacation episode.

Screw medicine, because as it turns out, all Abe really needs is a change of scenery. Cuba proves to be the ideal place, because a lot of its culture is just recycled American culture, but decades behind. Grampa thus rediscovers the vitality of his youth, particularly via the automobiles, as all of cars imports from America were built before 1960, which means they have front seats for newborns, useless triangular mirrors, and revitalizing lungfuls of leaded gas.

It is a bounty of pleasures for Grampa, as he also runs into his fellow veteran friend, Wheels McGrath, now a fugitive hijacker. He also even hits it off with a bartender chica. There ends up being a bit of intrigue involving those two, as the barkeep turns out to be a CIA operative using Abe as bait to lure criminals like Wheels who have been hiding out in Cuba. Thus Grampa finds himself on a plane back to the U.S., an unwitting servant of the American government, just after he had decided to stay in Cuba permanently. It is a little heartbreaking, but it all resolves too quickly for the emotions to get too heavy. And while the paradise cannot last, the trip is undoubtedly worth it for everybody.

Latter-day Simpsons episodes often struggle to fill out a full episode’s worth of story, padding their runtime with extra-long couch gags or bonus segments at the end. “Havana Wild Weekend,” on the other hand, burns through plot almost too quickly. There are at least three story threads here worthy of devoting an entire episode to: new love, old friend, rediscovered youth. At least all of those complement each other, making for a bounty instead of a chaotic mess. Either way, with all the great lines in this episode (see below), I have to wonder why there are not more Grampa-centric episodes.

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention the heavy I Love Lucy presence. If the implications of “Havana Wild Weekend” are to be believed, then Desi Arnaz is still the most famous Cuban-American around. These references feel beyond stale, but the silver lining is that what may look through today’s eyes like the casual sexism and racism of that era is addressed and improved upon.

Memorable Lines and Random Jazz:

-I assume there were two post-election chalkboard gags planned. The victor is “Being right sucks.”

-The couch gag provides a fun mythological lesson, as Lisa is born from her father’s head, just like Greek goddess of wisdom Athena.

-Homer’s assessment of Milhouse with grills? “Now that’s a Milhouse I’d marry!”

-“I love seeing people I know fail.”

-Homer, to Santa’s Little Helper: “Chewing your leg is not a yes. I learned that in a real estate deal.”

-“We specialize in keeping seniors from bothering their families, then gently releasing them just before death.”

-I knew the V.A. was understaffed, but now I can put a number to it: A doctor can see Abe in 5 minutes … 23 years from now.

-“Tell it to me in an anecdote.”

-Now that “that commie Trudeau is there,” Canada is no destination for Grampa. “We’re going to Cuba!” he declares instead.

-The Simpsons plan on visiting the house of Mariel Hemingway’s grandfather. “Apparently he was a writer. Like Mindy Kaling!”

-Marge is always a delight when she makes a new sensual discovery: “There’s heavy petting?”

-“I haven’t seen you since you dropped that A-bomb off the forklift.”

-Abe really loves Cuba. “It’s like Florida before all the Cubans came.”