Review: The Simpsons “O C’mon All Ye Faithful”

Overview

In this Disney+ exclusive double-episode, the residents of Springfield search for Christmas cheer.

Our Take

A Serious Flanders, Warrin Priests, The Great Phatsby, and others, no this isn’t the first-time The Simpsons have aired or streamed a double-episode but when they do boy do they do it and it seems when they do they like to focus on religion and Ned Flanders. That’s no different here as the brilliant Derren Brown guest stars as a mentalist that gets Ned challenging the church and his beliefs at a time of the year when most are spending one of two occasions during the course of the year of doing just that.

Carolyn Omine goes deep on this one across the 45-minute runtime that kicks off with a humorous, but short, take of Homer convinced that he’s Santa. We only get a bit of time with this funny idea, but really it’s the red herring to get people to see the comparison of believing in Santa or believing in whatever they believe in this type of year and she does it so that it’s not punching down but still begging the questions that come with faith. Just the other night, Billy Graham had purchased time on FOX about a prayer line during an episode of The Simpsons, so boy was it timely that Disney+ should stream this double-header.

Derren Brown’s guest appearance was excellent and was a homerun to act as a catalyst for became a complicated story to weave, but one that was well fleshed out and still respectful. I was a bit concerned about having two directors in Debbie Bruce Mahan and Matthew Faughnan splitting duties for the longer-than-usual episode thinking that the result wouldn’t be a cogent affair, but those fears were quickly dashed as the second half of the episode got cooking.

Overall, “O C’mon All Ye Faithful”  is by far the best Disney+ exclusive featuring The Simpsons that the streamer has ever done. Far more impactful than the shorts that are really just commercials in disguise and Carolyn Omine solidifies herself, in my opinion, as a top-ten/possibly top-five writer in the history of the show making this a destination dish worthy of your time. We still have a couple more episodes of The Simpsons to drop in 2024 for FOX, can the longest-running animated sitcom in primetime finish strong?