Review: The Simpsons “Uncut Femmes”

 

 

Overview:

Homer’s bad luck is lifted when he scores a ticket to the Bob Seger concert. Unfortunately, that means he is leaving Marge to chaperone Bart’s field trip, where she ends up paired up with Sarah Wiggum.

The relatively unknown wife of Chief Wiggum has a few surprises up her sleeve. Including that she is a former criminal. Now, Marge finds herself wrapped up in an elaborate heist alongside her new best friend. While Homer and Clancy attempt to make things right with their wives.

 

Our Take:

Throughout these later years of The Simpsons, we have explored many of the background characters that call Springfield home. Everyone from Comic Book Guy to the old sea captain have found themselves in more established roles. Despite that, there is one valuable character that has gone relatively unacknowledged in the 32 seasons that The Simpsons has been on the air.

The Wiggum family offers some of the best comedic breaks for the show. Ralph and Chief Clancy each standout for delivering iconic one-liners throughout the years. Though this strange family has never gotten the screen time of the Van Houtens, the Hibberts, or the Flandereses. Leaving the mother figure, Sarah Wiggum going decades without much of a voice at all.

This episode starts off by acknowledging that Sarah is a boring character with no personality. 

But she quickly becomes a star player when given voice through guest star Megan Mullally. The larger-than-life actress is the perfect choice to take an unknown character and turn her into a vixen thief turned suburban housewife.

For those missing The Great North, which was absent from this weeks Animation Domination, there is good news. Mullally brings with along her real-life partner in crime, Nick Offerman for a special guest spot. He delivers strong in his few scenes but leaves plenty of room for his wife to steal the show.

Musician superstar Bob Seger also makes a guest appearance on this episode. The hilarious cameo involves the Ramlin’ Gamblin’ Man scolding Homer and Clancy Wiggum for abandoning their wives to attend his show.

Even without all the star power loading up this episode, it was a strong edition. The heist theme is always a winner, especially when it is a parody. This story takes much of its inspiration from the 2018 all-female Ocean’s 8. And it could be argued that The Simpsons did it better than the source content. Though it may just be exciting to see Marge become a part of an elaborate crime.

What helps to separate a solid episode of The Simpsons and a mediocre one tends to be the subtle things. And when it comes to delivering clever one-liners and humorous bonus scenes, this episode was prime. “What are your top ten ways to start a conversation?” was one of the funniest lines that I have heard in a while. But watching the bond develop between Ralph and his impromptu babysitter, Fat Tony, took this episode over the top.

For another episode about a character that nobody cared about, this set the bar. The last person in Springfield you would expect to fall in love with after three decades is Sarah Wiggum. However, this one episode managed to make her one of the most dynamic and interesting in a town full of over-the-top characters. If nothing else, that is impressive.