Review: The Simpsons “Diary Queen”

 

 

Overview:

Flanders is having a garage sale, and the whole town is taking advantage of his generous nature.  Including neighbour, Bart Simpson, who uncharacteristically buys all of his old books.  Though his intentions for the material are less than respectful, Bart takes care of one special find, Edna Krabappel’s former diary.

Investigating his late teacher’s notes, Bart thinks he discovers evidence that she believed in his potential.  Attempting to turn himself around in honour of her, he later finds out the truth.  Thankfully, there is still one person that has some clues about how Edna really felt about Bart.

 

Our Take:

Kicking off this episode is a couch gag involving the family landing on Mars.  Making it almost fitting that the release was postponed from its Valentine’s Day release and instead come out after the historic NASA Rover landing on the alien planet.  The episode was unfortunately postponed due to NASCAR.

Thankfully, unlike other Animation Domination shows, the new edition was not incidentally released to VOD services the following morning.  Because this was a special episode for fans and the team that creates it.

“Diary Queen” is the long-overdue memorial episode for former Springfieldian, Edna Krabappel and spectacular voice actress, Marcia Wallace.

We lost Marcia Wallace in 2013, and she has been memorialized within the series.  Most specifically, the season 25 episode “The Man Who Grew Too Much”.  Though her death has never been explained within the show, it has been insinuated that Homer was responsible, as he was for Maude’s passing.

Edna Krabappel has been properly retired from The Simpsons.  And though we miss her, there has been an understanding from everyone that it is for the best.

However, Marcia Wallace and her beloved character have had a lasting impact on the series.  As Bart’s teacher, Krabappel maintained an integral part of the show, specifically in the early golden seasons.  Working around her absence must be a challenge for writers at times.  Thankfully, this episode manages to bring her back tactfully and respectfully.

You know, besides Bart reading her diary.

Edna and Bart’s relationship was one of the most dynamic of the series.  This episode does not fail to remind us of that.  Krabappel’s influence on Bart is as impactful as ever.  Just by the idea of her believing in his potential, Bart manages to turn himself around and become a great student. We are still no closer to understanding the canonical cause of Edna’s passing.  But it is the closure that Bart receives that is the most touching moment of the episode.

Additionally, other characters close to Edna play a significant role in the story.  The Flandereses maintain their connection to her, specifically Ned who pays his respects once again to her.  But it is certainly Bart who is dealing with the most throughout.

It may be a long time coming but The Simpsons did right by Marcia Wallace.  Giving her a proper homage to her character.  She even makes a vocal appearance within the episode, which must have been accomplished using collected audio.

While Springfield may have moved on without Edna, it is nice that her impact can still be seen all of these seasons later.  And we the fans can once again remember one of the shining stars that made us fall in love with this show from the beginning.