Review: The Simpsons ‘You Don’t Have to Live Like a Referee’

Spoilers Below:

Based on the sneak peek of this episode, it didn’t look too appealing. The exact summary given on our site: “During a speech contest, Lisa sings her father’s praises about his honesty and integrity on the youth-soccer field, and this leads to him being recruited as a World Cup referee. Once the family arrives in Brazil, Homer is approached by a gangster with a reputation for bribing officials and fixing matches.” Yawn. Speech contest? Honest and integrity? Soccer? Oh Ganesha, please spare me the torment!

But, as can often be the case, a short summary can’t do an episode justice. Sure, a silly story can set the stage for laughs, but its just not a necessary ingredient. So let’s look at how it actually unfolded.

At the “Meaning of Freedom” assembly at Springfield Elementary, Lisa’s “hero” speech subject, Madame Curie, was taken first by Martin, and Lisa was forced to improvise a speech about her father instead (although, as Marge later pointed out, why didn’t Lisa think to do a report on her instead?) It was a hit, and soon went viral.

After a World Cup soccer executive saw the video (specifically the part about Homer giving his own daughter a red card in a youth soccer game for diving) they offered Homer a job as a referee for the upcoming World Cup, in hopes that he would be an honest judge amid a sea of corrupt officials and bribing gangsters.

Soon, the Simpson family departed for Brazil (Déjà vu, anyone?) and Homer, inspired by Lisa’s support, serves as the most honest official in the game. However, after finding out Lisa only chose him as a last-second back-up hero, Homer almost gave into the monetary temptation just prior to the World Cup Championship Final. Of course, in the end, he did the right thing.

In Case You Missed It:

1) The schools banner read: The Meaning of Freedom (Attendance Mandatory)

2) One of the newspaper headlines read: “Lincoln Assaulted in Bored Theater.” More impressively, each article in the paper actually had legible stories attached. Pause and read, if you DVR’d it.

3) Pretty sure Homer has to be in some history books. I mean, he did go into space.

4) Further confirming Homer’s amazing taste in music, he sang his own version of Foreigner’s “Jukebox Hero.”

5) Some love for the New York Football Giants: Homer claimed the greatest sporting event on earth was “The 2008 Superbowl.” This joke also had shoutouts to Eli Manning and David Tyree.

6) Homer called soccer “Human Foosball.”

7) There was a cameo by Spiderpig, appearing as a “fresh pork sandwich.”

8) I wish “It’s okay, I’m an American” worked more often.

9) Man of Steel was encapsulated with the statement: “Superman was never less fun.”

10) Germany vs. Brazil = Nazis vs. Nazi-harborers.

11) Props for the nod to Tom Petty with the episode title.

To be honest, the storyline wasn’t particularly appealing. The Simpsons already did a soccer episode (S9E5 “The Cartridge Family”), they already did Brazil (S13E15 “Blame It On Lisa”), and the bribe scene in “Bart Carny” (S9E12) was better than the whole bribe concept in this entire episode, yet somehow the show pulled through.

As evidenced above, there were a ton of funny lines and gags, and at one point I just had to begin letting some really good ones go because, like I said in my Bob’s Burgers review, I don’t want to have to transcribe all 22-minutes to get every one.

Although this episode wasn’t as good as the Bob’s before it (less funny lines and a less interesting plot) and wasn’t nearly as good as most of The Simpsons episodes before it (but we’re all used to that by now) this one worked, as far as later-day Simpsons go. And as much as I can give endless reasons and provide ample evidence of the claims of decline within the series, I’ll also stand up for these recent seasons, because in the end it’s all relative. Although the show now pales in comparison to its former glory, it still kills in comparison to most of the so-called quality shows today. And as it always did, the show still provides relevant dialogue, social commentary, sight gags, witty humor, and everything about the characters we have always loved. They might not always have nonstop laughs, or unique ideas, or even big stars, but the show itself has enough star power to carry almost any installment.

So I implore you, Simpsons creators, to keep it up. Don’t let the haters stop a show still pulling its weight, and – to borrow a phrase from last night’s Bob’s Burgers (because we’re all friends here, right) – remember: “Always believe in yourself.”