REVIEW: THE SIMPSONS “NED ‘N’ EDNA’S BLEND”

When the town of Springfield discovers that Ned and Edna have secretly gotten engaged, Marge offers to throw them a congratulatory reception. However, bringing everyone together makes them all realize that no marriage is perfect. Meanwhile, Edna tries to help Ned’s children become more socially acceptable by changing some of the rules.

Spoilers Below

With Homer Simpson acting as Jesus Christ how the hell can a passion play go wrong? During the crucifixion of course! As there was no way they were going to be able to hold Homer’s fat ass up, he comes tumbling down and nearly kills Flanders. While being loaded up into the ambulance for transport to the hospital, we find out Ned and Edna have been married this whole time.Turns out they aren’t big fans of making a big deal out of everything and they are still getting used to the idea of being in a long term partnership. Their first test comes when Edna takes Rod and Todd out of private school and sticks them in Springfield Elementary.

When Marge throws a party for the new Flanders family, Ned flips out over all the changes Edna is making in both his and his kids’ life. Ned leaves the house and sleeps over the Simpsons’ house where he gets a first class seat on how real marriages work thus proving that his marriage isn’t as bad as he thought it was so he eventually goes home.

I really loved the Ned Flanders dream sequence and actually think that should be watched by all if for no other reason.  Also the Avatar inspired couch gag was great complete with the opening title sequence claiming how even Al-Jazeera is a better news channel than FOX news. Other than that, this plot seemed rather ‘sprung’ on top of us and it made us want to reach back to the episode last season when Ned and Edna first got hooked and part of me thinks that’s just too far of a throwback. The Simpsons very seldom have long story arcs and this weeks episode proved why.