Review: The Simpsons “Bart vs. Itchy and Scratchy”

Itchy and Scratchy gets a reboot as an all-female show.

Overview:

At the Krusty the Clown convention, Krusty announces that there are significant changes to Itchy and Scratchy.  In an attempt to seem more gender diverse, Itchy and Scratchy have been rebooted to both be female.  Of course, all of the male fans are disgruntled with the changes.  Bart leads a cause against the program by hosting a boycott.  But, when he catches a glimpse of the show in Lisa’s room, he cannot help but enjoy it.  Unfortunately for him, Lisa caught him on camera and shares it online.

After the boys at school chase Bart down for betraying him, he finds sanctuary in the girl’s bathroom.  But, he runs into some of the sixth-grade girls.  The girls run their own feminist gang, but appreciate Bart’s graffiti work as ‘EL Barto’, and take him under their wing.  When Lisa finds out that Bart is fighting for women’s rights she is appalled, but also wants to take part.  The girl’s new plan is to destroy all of the master tapes to the original boy-version of Itchy and Scratchy.  To protect their favourite show, Bart and Lisa need to team up to stop the gang.

Our Take:

Is there any hotter topic then gender equality right now?  I can’t name one.  So, it is nice to see a show like The Simpsons that has been through all of the societal changes in the last thirty years to take on such a relevant subject.  And, instead of putting Lisa at the centre of the episode which would come off as predictable, Bart leads the plot.  This episode is also written by the talented Megan Amram, and thankfully not an episode about women’s rights from a man’s perspective.

One of the things at the core of the show is Itchy and Scratchy being re-imagined as females.  Which causes the boys to react.  They kind of hit the nail on the head with the quote “Girls aren’t funny, they’re hot, or they’re moms.”  “Or both.”  This might be backlash to that Ghostbusters reboot that was under such hot debate a couple of years ago.  But, gender equality in media and entertainment is at the forefront of the war for justice.

Speaking of girls not being funny, this episode features a trio of guest stars of the best female comedians you can find Awkwafina, Nicole Byer, and Chelsea Peretti.  The characters operate the feminist gang that is taking over Springfield with their women forward vandalism.  These three were such a highlight of the show I wish that they had way more screen time.  How about a spin-off?  The three comedians could come up with some brilliant content.

On the other side of the gender, with Bart betraying the boys they are left without leadership.  While you would expect a character like Nelson or Martin to take control, it is actually Milhouse who gets his chance to shine.  Honestly, this was one of the best parts of the episode.  Who doesn’t love an underdog?  Watching Milhouse wade through his lack of confidence in an attempt to lead the group he calls ‘B.R.A.’ is a perfect storm for comedy.  And, they deliver.  Though, I would have liked to see the character fail catastrophically at the end instead of it just turning around on him.

With any episode where Itchy and Scratchy are part of the story I always get excited to see some fresh clips of the cartoon within the cartoon.  I feel like I am always disappointed when they only give us one new short of the cat and mouse – seriously, give Itchy and Scratchy a whole episode again, remember how successful the Poochy episode was?  Though, at least what we got of Itchy and Scratchy was hilarious.  The clip involves the mouse beheading Scratchy and playing Anna Kendrick’s “Cups” on the skull.  Classic, female Itchy and Scratchy.  It was also humorous to hear Marge explain why she thought that the cartoon characters were married because they were fighting all of the time.

Thinking back this was one of the best-written episodes of the season.  Mostly because I was so ingrained in what was happening that I never found myself questioning what the creators were thinking, or stretching to find things that I enjoyed.  It also does an impeccable job of explaining women’s rights and what it means in the world today.  Even Bart learns his lesson as the last shot of the show is his latest graffiti piece “the patriarchy is a wiener”.  I love when The Simpsons takes on relevant topics instead of just reliving the glory days, especially considering how bored I am getting with seeing Marge and Homer’s marriage go through turbulence again.