Review: The Simpsons “Last Man Expanding “

Overview

A drug called Othinquic is invented that helps people lose weight. This is taken by every fat inhabitant of Springfield….except for Homer Simpson.

Our Take

ANYTIME the FOX-aired episodes of The Simpsons gets a TV-14 rating that isn’t a Treehouse of Horror episode, my hopes sky-rocket because it means the writers and producers are in a “fuck you” attitude like the old days and we’re gonna get a good episode. I’m happy to report, everything that you just read, is 100% true as we get maybe one of the better episodes of the show in recent years.

The one-and-only J. Stewart Burns checks into the show’s 36th season (his first of the season, but he’s got another one dropping on Disney+ before the end of this month) and gives us a perfect antidote for our depression caused by Adult Swim’s Common Side Effects first season coming to a close and all of the prescription drug company savagery that came with it. The Simpsons takes on weight-loss drugs, and arguably makes a funnier example of weight-loss drug satire than even South Park’s attempt roughly a year ago.

We’ve seen other weight-loss/gain episodes from The Simpsons before, but this Timothy Bailey directed effort is the bravest example of satire at prescription drug companies that I can recall and the script is just an absolute savage take down of the trend that has ensnared our country by storm. Especially coming from a town that preaches body-positivity all-the-while blocks away from the plastic-face capital of the world, The Simpsons Shohei Ohtani-d this one out of orbit and took no prisoners while doing so.

So far this season, if you only watch ONE episode of The Simpsons for the show’s 36th season, this might be THE one to watch and showcases that the four-season renewal recently handed out by FOX has been worth every penny because these guys still have a lot of ammo on their tool belts and I’m absolutely here for it.