Review: The Simpsons “Warrin’ Priests (Part Two)”

Overview:

While Bode settles in as the new pastor in town, Reverend Lovejoy heads to Michigan in search of blackmail to gain his position back. Securing the evidence, he needs, Lovejoy challenges the new reverend in a trial to share his findings. When it is uncovered that Bode once burned bibles to send his message, the town of Springfield turns against him and chase him out of town.

Our Take:

Last week, The Simpsons launched part one of “Warrin’ Priests”, only the third two-part episodes the franchise has released in its 31 seasons. Oof, it was hard to watch. Unfortunately, we were left to dig into some low numbers when scoring and reviewing the episode that lacked substance, originality, and humour. In fact, I have spent many moments this week stewing about just how terrible this two-part idea was. But there was still hope that the second part would make amends and we would see why extending this plot was necessary.

Well, while this episode was much more coherent and tolerable, it still does not make up for dividing this plot into two parts. As a complete story, “Warrin’ Priests” is not an original Simpsons story. Someone in Springfield loses their job, the town falls in love only to turn their backs in the end, and everything goes back to normal. 

This same plot has been used with everyone from Apu to Krusty to Principal Skinner. Not one of them has ever needed two episodes to tell its story.

Part one of “Warrin’ Priests” mostly involving the setup of the new pastor, Bode, which could have easily been squeezed down to the first ten minutes of this episode. There were even a few unnecessary scenes throughout the second part that could have easily been omitted. We really didn’t need to see Reverend Lovejoy driving to and then back from Michigan, where a simple airport scene would have sufficed. There was simply no reason to have this simple episode extended to a full hour.

Sure, there were some redeeming moments that made this episode entertaining. Watching Ned Flanders epic face-off against his new reverend through their interpretation of the scripture was a big moment for the Simpsons neighbour. Equally the trial to kick Bode out of town showcased a township of Springfield that we love: angry and cutthroat.

With all of the extra time, you would expect this story to wrap up in a big conclusion. Unfortunately, this episode sizzles off with Bode shipping out of town without much drama. Which makes these already troublesome episodes all the more disappointing. I spent most of the time waiting for something significant to happen. At least something big enough to condone breaking the formula that would fit this plot in an appropriate 20-something minutes.

Honestly, we cannot blame the showrunners for taking a stab at something new. All we can hope is that they never make this mistake again.  After thirty-plus years, it makes sense to push boundaries and change the game. However, this story didn’t do that at all, other than being expanded, there was nothing original to what we received. Thankfully it is over, and next Sunday everything can go back to normal.