Review: The Simpsons “A Serious Flanders (Part One)”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

When a ruthless debt collector comes to Springfield, Homer and Ned’s lives are sucked into the artfully violent world of prestige TV.

Our Take: 

Fox’s Animation Domination returns from its Halloween break with a special two-parter for The Simpsons’ thirty-third season. The Simpsons is no stranger to two-part events as it has done so three times throughout its run. The most memorable one I could remember was the “Who Shot Mr. Burns” two-parter that bridged between seasons six and seven. So far, the show’s been quite successful with these massive events, so let’s see if the writers can go for four for four.

Part one of “A Serious Flanders” follows Ned Flanders as he discovers a bag full of money while picking up trash with Homer. He then decides to donate all of that money to the people of Springfield. However, this caught the attention of Kostas Becker (Brian Cox), a stranger who “collects” people’s debts. When Becker’s minions capture Homer and hold him hostage, Flanders will have to find a way to pay his debt and rescue him.

The two-part episode was described as an “epic” love letter to the Fargo series and streaming television. After watching this episode, I can see why. I haven’t watched Fargo, but I do understand the humor involving streaming. The best examples of the latter were Simpflix, a spoof of Netflix, and the ending credits in which its next episode wasn’t until next week. The comedy is one of the things that made the first part a riveting and funny start of the show’s special two-part episode.

Another thing that worked was its story. This is another episode that focuses on the faithful Ned Flanders. Flanders is the type of person who always believes in the Lord and does good deeds for others, including his neighbor Homer. However, sometimes he occasionally faces specific trials that force him to challenge his beliefs. “A Serious Flanders” appears to be one of those trials as his recent good deed resulted in Homer getting captured. It’s another suitable example of providing more depth into Flanders’ “nice-guy” personality.

The episode also featured many guest stars, including Timothy Olyphant as Ned’s father, Cristin Milioti as Barb, and Brian Cox as Kostas Becker. It also featured the return of Fat Tony (Joe Mantegna), whose appearance didn’t last very long, thanks to Becker. The guests did very well in their roles, mainly Cox, who nailed the threatening persona of Becker. Speaking of Becker, I thought the episode did a suitable job giving viewers a taste of how dangerous this new  antagonist can be regarding his motives. I mean, he blew Mr. Burns’ head off and turned Fat Tony’s head into a doughnut, for Pete’s sake! If those don’t convince you how villainous he is, I don’t know what will.

Overall, part one of “A Serious Flanders” started the bloody two-part event on the right foot. From its comedy to the guest stars, the episode proves that no good deed goes unpunished. It would be interesting to see how they will follow that up in part two next week. Until then, all we can do now is pray that Flanders would find a way out of this deadly predicament.