Review: The Simpsons ‘The Yellow Badge of Cowardge’

Spoilers Below:

I felt like I missed something in last night’s Simpsons episode. It was almost reminiscent of the South Park Game of Thrones episodes, where I was fully aware that I fell outside the loop for most of the jokes. However, for this episode, I’m not sure what it was that I was supposed to understand.

I’ve read The Red Badge of Courage, but I failed to see the connection, other than general life lessons about courage and cowardice; and the different connotations behind the colors red and yellow.

In fact, the only thing the episode actually reminded me of was a deleted scene from a Family Guy episode a few years back. The big joke (involving The Red Badge of Courage) included cracks about minority stereotypes, the public school system, single-parent households, and domestic abuse – but still managed to be hilarious.

But I digress. This episode, “The Yellow Badge of Cowardge,” dealt with Bart competing in a three-legged race at his school and winning, but failing to come to the aid of Milhouse when he was being bullied & beaten by Nelson Muntz. We can all predict the ending, and I suppose it’s not really important. However, the lack of jokes was troubling, and that made for a lousy ending to a surprisingly satisfying season of The Simpsons.

In Case You Missed It:

1) Bart’s math homework included the problem: “Todd has 6 cavities. If Sally has 3 ½ times more than Todd, how many cavities does Sally have?” Has anyone actually ever had 21 cavities at one time? (Someone not from England?)

2) Cletus told his three-legged kid & fused-together wheelbarrow kids: “Don’t make yourselves up to look all freaky.”

3) Some of the small, one-time characters in the three-legged race included: Lewis, Jessica Lovejoy, Fat Tony’s nephew, Brockman’s little girl, and Jailbird’s (Snake’s) kid.

4) Giuseppe sounded like the Mafia guy in the steam room from the Season 7 classic, “Home Sweet Homedidly-Dum-Doodily.” (“Look, I do it first!”)

5) “If the Expendables movies have taught us anything, it’s that people do their best work after they’re old and forgotten.”

6) Personally, I loved the M*A*S*H tribute.

7) Sideshow Mel appeared in this episode THREE times. That’s gotta be a record for an episode not about Krusty.

8) While avoiding setting off the dynamite, Homer drove over cobblestones and a rickety bridge, through the Gas Lamp District, and tossed a cigar into the pile.

9) The Fireworks Sequence Music was: “Sometimes When We Touch.”

Not to be a dillhole, but this episode just didn’t do it for me. It’s not that the episode’s plot was overly complex (something I’ve lamented in previous reviews) or that the tone was too serious, or that it wasn’t funny. But at the same time, these were the exact problems.

The plot was simple, and the subject matter was light, but the story felt the need to deviate from its simplicity and tone to briefly become emotional and multi-dimensional. But still not in a buzz-killing or bummer of a way – just in an unnecessary one. And there were definitely some good laughs, but they were few and far between.

However, this appears to be a trend when you consider other episodes, like “How I Wet Your Mother” (S23E16), “The Scorpion’s Tale” (S22E15), “The Color Yellow” (21E13), and numerous others by the writing team of Billy Kimball and Ian Maxtone-Graham. I don’t know why, but their co-authored episodes always seem just a bit too complex. The plots seem just a bit too emotional. And the laughs don’t come quite enough.

Not to take anything away from either writer (especially Maxtone-Graham, who penned classics like “Burns, Baby Burns,” “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson,” “The Trouble with Trillions,” and “Trash of the Titans”) but the episodes they write together just fall a bit flat for me.

I was hoping this season would end with a bang, but unfortunately it did not.