Review: The Simpsons “Daddicus Finch”

Whiff…

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Lisa and Homer bond over To Kill a Mockingbird much to the chagrin of Bart who feels like he is the odd man out. He tries reading the book, but no luck, so Marge decides to step in and be more of a hero to Bart than before. That doesn’t work either, so Bart turns to therapy where he’s told to act out for any additional attention. Together with his silly pal Millhouse, the duo decides to fuck around with a Bat Mitzvah congregation that turns into a rumble. Milhouse rats out Bart, however, Lisa and Homer are able to help him out before he gets the ire of an angry mob.

Obviously, the truce with Lisa and Bart doesn’t last long and Marge decides to visit the school therapist. Marge leaves feeling like Lisa shouldn’t be idolizing her father for the good of the family. It doesn’t take long, but Lisa gets a new hero, and so does Maggie.

Our Take

While I appreciated the JK Simmons and Jon Lovitz guest spots, this week’s episode of The Simpsons was pretty much all over the place in the point it wanted to make coupled with a bizarre ending. Usually, The Simpsons episodes that have good moral endings are pretty good, but this Al Jean-written effort doesn’t quite cut it. The jokes weren’t really there, and there were significant plot holes to be found in that neither Bart nor Lisa got what they really wanted in the end…or did they? It’s not exactly explained, and it’s not even addressed all the way through why the hell it’s wrong for Lisa to look up to her father in the first place. There has been a slew of Lisa-Homer episodes where the contrary holds true, so I’m not sure why this one would be any different.

I will say that I’m going to give extra points for both the Ricky Jay send-off and the couch gag intro which was well-produced. But, the rest of the episode is rather weak, and can probably be skipped.