Review: The Simpsons “Pork and Burns”

We check the temp to make sure we have even cook in the pork.

Spoilers Are Below and Covered in Barbecue Sauce

The Land of the Rising Sun has produced the latest sensation in self-help literature, and Marge is among the converts. A gas station convenience store is the place to be, as it is there where she discovers The Japanese Warrior Monk’s Guide to Tidying Up (a stand-in for Marie Kondo’s 2011 hit The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up). Its main principle is simple: if an object gives you loving feelings, keep it; if not, get rid of it and thank it for its service. This new dictum affects the whole Simpson clan, but two of them in particular.

Even though we don’t see him very often, Plopper the Spider-Pig has apparently still been living at 742 Evergreen Terrace since The Simpsons Movie. Marge would like to include the oinker in the tidying, but Homer cannot bring himself to get rid of the little pink fellow. Oddly enough, Homer is actually more in the right here, at least according to the principles his wife has set out. Plopper undoubtedly brings him joy – even more than he realizes, as it turns out.

Homer attempts to ensure that he can keep Spider-Pig by passing him off as a service animal for the sake of treating his so-called anxiety. But it, in fact, turns out to be true that Plopper is an agent of calm, as made clear when Bart spilling gravy on his dad – normally a top 3 strangulation trigger – produces no ill will.

Alas, a mishap involving barbecue sauce and hungry hounds leaves Plopper in critical condition, so his care is transferred to the facilities of Mr. Burns, who may just want to keep him for himself. Stricken by his friend’s absence, Homer cooks up a scheme to save the pig, which works out well enough when Plopper simply walks out of Burns’ mansion and Smithers looks the other way.

Lisa takes the exact opposite approach to tidying up as her dad does, as her own anxiety leaves her feeling no joy from any of the objects in her life. Even her beloved saxophone is not immune to this sudden existential panic. While Lisa believes that she is following the Warrior Monk way, she is actually not thinking straight. It is the uncertainty of life, not jazz, that is suppressing her happiness. Luckily, this is one of those episodes in which Bart decides to be a good brother, as he broadcasts her sax blowing to the whole school in a manner that also works as one of his pranks.

At first, I wondered why the tidying up book had to be Japanese, figuring it to be an excuse for hacky jokes. But then some cursory research reveals the real-life analog was Japanese in the first place. The gags, however, do remain mostly hacky, though the robot seppuku is quite memorable.

Anyway, this fits into the trend of recent Simpsons episodes whose two subplots could easily fill an entire half hour on their own. Homer and Plopper’s odyssey is hefty enough, though there could have been time devoted to it. On the other hand, it feels appropriate that the ending is so anticlimactic. But Lisa’s crisis, as well-characterized and kindhearted as it is, is rather cramped. It could have been expanded into a whole treatise on the state of jazz. Oh well, I guess we can save that for the inevitable La La Land parody in a few years.

Memorable Lines and Random Jazz:

-The Mayo Clinic sequences are much appreciated from someone like me who always mentally makes that “mayonnaise clinic” pun.

-The supermarket couch gag just about tricks me into thinking it is going to lead right into the episode proper.

-A nugget from the philosophy of Marge: “Comedy can be so surprising.”

-Skinner, as his car fills up with Squishee: “Why did I wear Mother’s blouse today?”

-“Oh no! I threw out my autograph book!” “Are you nuts? You had Dean Cain!”

-“stay outside like a common snowman”

-When it comes to malapropisms, “honk-a-ma flute” is great, but it’s no “saxomophone.”

-Is the first time that Bart and Lisa have ever connected their heads like puzzle pieces? I love it!

-Young Monty Burns at a college football flashback: “Yale wins! And only 3 killed!”