Review: The Simpsons ‘Dangers on a Train’

Spoilers Below

Years ago, Homer used to be quite the gift giver on anniversaries. Almost 10 years later Homer tries to rekindle those memories but their one time ‘spot’ a romantic kiddie train ride, is in ruins. This doesn’t discourage Homer, as a matter of fact he decides to cart the train home so that he can rebuild it for her. Marge on the other hand signs up on a web site that she thought was going to be sending snacks but is instead a site for spouses looking to cheat. Right off the bat Marge gets a whole bunch of instant messages to which she declines all, but Homer puts on an act that he forgot all about the anniversary in an attempt to cover up his surprise. Marge believes it and isn’t thrilled so she starts messaging back and forth with this guy named Ben who seems like a swell son of a bitch.

She tries to let him off easy, but Marge runs into Ben at the grocery store, and thanks to Maggie the two turn the normal chore into a casual convo over coffee. Turns out the two have quite a bit in common but Marge is trying to make sure this thing stays cordial. When Homer runs off to the bar to continue his project, Ben Skype’s into the bedroom so that they can watch their favorite show together. Unfortunately, Ben tries to make another pass at Marge but she is NOT having it. Nope, not one bit…On the day of their anniversary Homer pretends to throw his back out so that everyone can help with the train construction while Marge goes and gets pain pills for her husband. Thought bubbles invade Marge’s psyche about Homer’s future and Ben’s advancements but when she gets home Homer breaks out the surprise! Unfortunately, Mona (aka Ben’s wife) shows up and she is PISSED. Homer confronts Ben, but Marge breaks it up before anything gets serious and Ben and Mona go to work on their marriage.

I’ve said this time and time again. The coolest thing about The Simpsons (in my opinion) is how they continue to evolve with current technological trends. For instance, this one revolves around not a dating website, but a site for unhappily married couples that featured normal every day concepts like live-blogging, Skype-ing, and more integrated into the site. These are  ideas that probably wouldn’tve worked 15 years ago. So, when I was watching the promos for this episode, I honestly thought we were going to get something closer to the ‘Life on the Fast Lane’ episode of yesteryear with a modern twist, complete with Seth MacFarlane’s ‘Ben’ character in place of Albert Brooks’ “Jacques” character. Thankfully, I was wrong and as a matter of fact I thought Seth’s character was used just right and wasn’t over bearing like some guest stars can be. There were a lot of funny moments this episode too, like Bart sucking on manne-tits, and Homer drinking a Big Gulp with a hot dog straw. Hell, the highlight (besides the winning gag intro and Simpton Abbey outro)  might have been the animated vignettes made for the website. I would also be re-missed if I didn’t give a shout out to Lisa Lampanelli as ‘Mona’ as she played the disapproving wife of Ben quite nicely.  A lot of your plot points were rather standard when you factor in that at the end of the day this week’s Simpsons was another one where she seemed disappointed in Homer, but that twist near the end made this one all its own.