Review: The Simpsons “Trust But Clarify”

This episode was written by the great, Harry Shearer.

Spoilers Below

Homer summons his oft-neglected sense of ambition to get ahead at the power plant, while Kent Brockman must re-discover his ambition after his journalistic embellishments bring him to rock bottom. For both men, their journeys are prompted by suspect information.

Homer is convinced that the reason he is getting passed over for a VP position in favor of the Tibor Jankovsky’s of the world is because he is not dressing for success. Coincidentally, at the same time, his brain’s Ambition personification has managed to break out of the prison it has been kept in for years by Apathy and Alcoholism. So he and Marge wander through a decrepit, mostly abandoned mall, which is apparently where the only tailor in town worth going to has somehow still managed to stay afloat. But Homer fails to realize that Mr. Burns is actually turned off by ambition that is so bald and open. His motivations are much more capricious. So Homer’s ambition is knocked aside once again, rendered even more inaccessible than it was before. But at least the heat between him and Marge manages to light up for a spell.

The Homer portion of this episode is a rather light subplot. It is valuable for the gag of the apparently tremor-inducing changing room sex, and the satisfyingly creative Inside Out-style peek in his head. But the real worth of his story is how it compares to and illuminates Kent Brockman’s, so let’s get into that.

Kent falls prey to the sort of scandal that has befallen the likes of Dan Rather and Brian Williams, which is hardly surprising, considering how prone the Springfield anchor is to hyperbole. He is swiftly replaced and also tossed out of the studio before being able to finish his Apology of the Century. Meanwhile, the kids at Springfield Elementary are becoming addicted to the new Krusty-branded treat Krustaceans, despite the shockingly false disclaimer of “Candy Not Delicious.” Lisa is understandably skeptical of a “food” whose only listed ingredients are “water, fun, and hydrogenated chuckles.” Her path converges with Kent’s, with her investigation serving as an opportunity for him to get back into the journalism game. They reveal that Krustaceans are just as dangerous as anyone with their eyes open would expect, causing serious paralysis, quite possibly lasting longer than the “temporary” 5 years maximum that Krusty was assured. And so, with a little help from Springfield’s littlest muckraker, Kent is restored to the only position in life that is right for him.

“Trust But Clarify” blazes through a lot of material about the media, corporate malfeasance, and the spectacle of humiliation, and it does it all with the aplomb of The Simpsons at its most satirically assured. The Late Late Late Show with Jimmy Jimmy is a simple, but effective dig at the homogeneity of late-night talk. As for the Bizzfad sequence, parodies of millennial-skewing new media companies are a dime a dozen nowadays, but not all of them are weird enough to feature the line, “‘The crunching is mutual’? What the hell does that mean?”

Grampa’s assurance to Lisa that she has received Hollywood’s highest honor (“shared credit, no money”) is the perfect capper. A point has been made, those in the right have been validated, but fundamentally nothing has changed. It makes for the best episode of the season so far, with a surfeit of crazy lines and super sign gags.

Memorable Lines and Random Jazz:

-Opening sequence sign gag: The message “Beware Rigged Voting Machines” is promptly replaced by “All Voting Machines Fine”

-“I don’t even remember what I said at the start of this sentence!”

-“Sweetheart, I’m always happy to temporarily lose weight.”

-“I feel like Mrs. Mad Men.”

-“Tonight my teeth will have … film at 11:00.”

-The passcode to Krusty’s lab corresponds to the number of jokes he’s written: 0000.

-“Why do we call it high five when we have four fingers?”

-The best of the Bizzfad headlines? That would have to be “The 6 Things You Don’t Know About 6 Things.”