Review: The Simpsons ‘Opposites A-Frack’

Spoilers Below:

Evidenced by the title, The Simpsons were obviously doing another environmental episode, which, in the past, brought mixed results. Last night’s episode could be described with those same two words: mixed results.

During a visit from Patty and Selma, the Simpson Family discovered that their water was flammable, due to Mr. Burns fracking natural gas from underneath their neighborhood, in a building disguised as a place nobody would ever visit: the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Lisa wrote to liberal politician Maxine Lombard (Jane Fonda), who came to Springfield to confront Mr. Burns. Instead, the two fell for each other.

In order to continue fracking, Burns decided he would need a salesman whose “folksy façade masks a deep gusher of greed,” and appointed Homer to the position of Chief Energy Innovation Marketing Officer after seeing him turn a whole box of donuts marked “take one” into one giant donut. After promising each of his neighbors $5,000, they sold all the rights for the land under their homes to Burns. However, Marge refused to sign on her lease, the deal fell apart, and so did Burns’ relationship with Lombard.

Both hurt by the actions of their respective loves, Burns and Homer planned to resume fracking underneath Evergreen Terrace, but Homer reconsidered at the last minute after realizing that “fracking is great, but the only place it should happen is in other people’s towns.”

In Case You Missed It:

1) If you kept watching the two fish in the bowl where Patty & Selma threw their cigarettes, you’ll know they didn’t make it.

2) “They call these cigarettes? They don’t stain my fingers, my hair smells like hair, and what do I stub out in my scrambled eggs?”

3) Homer: “You can’t resist smoking in the house any more than I can’t resist drinking in the car.”

4) Bart used the fire-water to melt a plastic army man.

5) Mr. Burns once bedded First Lady Taft.

6) Power Plant worker Charlie (remember him?) is apparently now a glowing mutant.

7) During his sales pitch montage, Homer told each person that fracking will create more jobs, which will create more consumers to buy whatever goods various business owners sell, like “beer” from Moe, “useless left-handed crap” from Flanders, “magical nonsense” from Reverend Lovejoy, and “high quality methamphetamine” from Cletus.

8) The bulldozing of Burns’ house was allowed under the “Emotional Recovery and Revenge Act.”

9) My favorite of Burns & Lombard’s in-bed credits comments: “Why are cars all black and grey now? It’s like if you see a red one it’s a big deal.”

“Opposites A-Frack” was an interesting specimen. It had a single plotline, it was clearly making a political/environmental statement, and had a surprising amount of funny lines of dialogue. However, I think it honestly could have used a sub-plot to take the edge off the aforementioned topical issue and avoid preachiness, and most of the humorous jokes came in the first half of the episode. Honestly, I would probably give this installment a little bit of a lower score, but I think it started off pretty strong before tanking quickly beginning at the halfway mark. Basically, the funniest scene was the montage from ICYMI #7, but it was also the last funny scene.

Jane Fonda worked well in her role, but save for the final bedroom scene, it was odd to see Mr. Burns’ human element as much as this episode showed. And this new character was to blame. Honestly, it was almost as if Burns’ love interest was supposed to be the alternate storyline, but it was so intertwined with the main point of the episode, that the whole thing just came out looking very convoluted. I think I would have been happier if this was just a show about Patty and Selma living with the Simpsons for a little while.

To keep this short and sweet: an above average start coupled with a below average finish added up to a totally average installment overall. I think when this episode re-airs in syndication, people will watch, laugh, and then lose interest. Hopefully the season as a whole doesn’t follow suit.