Review: The Simpsons “Meat is Murder”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Grampa finds himself in a pickle when his hidden hamburger past comes back to haunt him.

Our Take: 

Grampa Abe has been in plenty of weird situations this season. First, he was tricked out of his inheritance by a lowlife phone scammer. Then, he led his retirement center crew to victory at a game of shuffleboard before Marge rediscovers her old pranking days. For the second-to-last episode of the show’s thirty-third season, he’s now facing a scenario more diabolical than a phony scam: meat. By that, I mean meat that’s part of a hamburger.

The episode serves as an origin story of how Krusty Burger began, with Krusty starting a burger restaurant war with Gus (John Lithgow) and his old restaurant partner, Grampa Abe. This resulted in Krusty’s restaurant being a worldwide phenomenon. Additionally, it centers on Abe and Lisa being invited by Gus to his billion-dollar corporation Redstar after Gus buys Krusty’s IP for revenge. During their visit, they discover a sinister plot by one of Gus’s children to put him into early retirement.

“Meat is Murder” offers a satirization of business corporations and IP purchasing, mainly Gus purchasing Krusty’s brand, resulting in the clown being fired and not being called “Krusty” again. More importantly, it centers solely on Abe and Lisa’s friendship being put to the test when Lisa discovers that Gus’s daughter wants Abe to vote his former partner out of business. However, it turns out that Gus wants Abe to vote him in to disown his children. This led to Abe nullifying the vote, resulting in Krusty getting his brand back.

The episode was admittedly carried over by its host of guest stars, including John Lithgow, who did a splendid job voicing Gus. It also features the likes of Krysten Ritter (Sheila), Edi Patterson (Jessica), Nicholas Braun (Cousin Greg), and TikTok artist Charli D’Amelio as part of a Board of Directors. While some of them were decent in their roles, the addition of D’Amelio felt forced for the sake of introducing newcomers to the video-sharing platform. Her appearance would have worked better if the episode focused on video-sharing popularity instead of a board meeting.

As for the episode’s plot, it was interesting to see how Krusty got into the burger business, even though it cost Gus his. However, the episode struggles to maintain that interest’s consistency with a story that’s played out in other shows and jokes that are as humorless as Krusty’s stand-up routine. The only part I liked regarding the humor was Krusty’s “Me and the Space Clown” movie that played at Krusty Fest to sell customers burgers. It cleverly parodies the 1988 cult film “Mac and Me”, which was used to promote the famous restaurant McDonald’s. Another scene I had a soft spot for was when Gus tries to be like Willy Wonka as he sings “World of Pure Imagination”, but with business elements thrown into the lyrics.

Overall, “Meat is Murder” offers an intriguing part of Grampa and Krusty’s early years as restaurant workers. Unfortunately, that’s the only thing keeping this business from completely falling apart. Aside from the flashback scenes and guest stars, the episode falls into the usual corporation trappings like the other shows but doesn’t have an investing brand to sell to its customers. It’s not the worst thing this season delivered, but it’s also nothing for me to remember compared to its other episodes. Hopefully, The Simpsons will end the season on a positive note with next week’s finale.