Review: The Simpsons “Frinkcoin”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Lisa has decided to write her “Most Interesting Person I Know” Essay on Professor Frink just in time to watch him become a billionaire. Frink’s cryptocurrency creation, Frinkcoin, has helped him dethrone Mr. Burns as the richest man in Springfield. Unfortunately, he discovers that money can’t buy you happiness. When Homer takes him out for a night a Moe’s, Frink shows them how fun he can be.

Meanwhile, Mr. Burns takes exception to Prof. Frink’s newfound wealth and plots to bring him down. When replacing his crypto coin doesn’t work, Burns tries a more personal attack. Burns convinces Frink that his new friends are only spending time with him because of his riches.  

 

Our Take:

 

Modern Simpsons has a few wells that it collects water from. You get your satires and themed episodes. You get the traditional family sitcom with some drama affecting the main family. Then, you get episodes like this one. Where a member of Springfield becomes the centre of attention while the family gets involved in one way or another.

Generally, I am a major fan of these episodes.  Just last week, I was pouring over how excited I was to see some background on the Sea Captain (to be fair, it was good). And this week, we get to follow the always enjoyable Springfield resident genius, Professor Frink. This should have been a knockout.

Unfortunately, the episode lacked a lot of the allure and fun that we expect. The biggest flaw is in having Lisa play the most prominent role. 

While her woke attitude and philosophical mindset are often the highlight of the show, sometimes we just need some dumb Homer. Lisa and Frink are too much alike, and they don’t have as much to learn from each other as Homer would. Additionally, the guest star was Big Bang Theory star, Jim Parsons. Maybe one too many nerds for one episode.

The introduction would have been better served if we got to see Frink’s road to creating his cryptocurrency. In fact, it could have been a great Iron Man satire, or something much to that vein. Then Homer could have been added to the mix intentionally hanging out with Frink because he’s a billionaire. Instead, we get Lisa writing an essay that plays no part of the episode later.

On the flip side, we get some funny scenes. There are some great Mr. Burns-Smithers moments played out. The special Cats couch gag was executed better than the movie floating around theatres right now. And, Patty and Selma have officially quit smoking, at least since Disney now owns them. But none of this is enough to fix a broken plot.

I never like a disappointing episode of The Simpsons. It’s hard to ever stop cheering the series on and expecting the best out of it. Still, there is no argument from me that The Simpsons is the best that Animation Domination has to offer. It is unrealistic to not expect a flawed episode here and there after decades of content. This episode was structurally flawed from the beginning. Even with some hilarious moments, there wasn’t much that was going to save it. Too bad. 

There was potential for a fantastic episode.