This The Simpsons review contains spoilers.
The Simpsons: Season 30 Episode 9
Sometimes it takes a classic to make a classic. We learned in 1973 that a hero ain’t nothing but a sandwich and real courage has nothing to do with a man with a gun in his hand. After 30 seasons, The Simpsons knows it’s as licked as a science museum ice cream cone before it’s begun but begins anyway and sees it through no matter what lunch Lady Doris or Moe may be dishing out. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. “Daddicus Finch” wins.
Further reading: The Simpsons Season 30 Episode 7 Review: Werking Mom
Further reading: The Simpsons Season 30 Episode 8 Review: Krusty the Clown
Soon the father and daughter bond over Boo Radley and Yay Radley supportiveness, but leave poor Bart to walk in another man’s skin. Advised by a therapeutic expert, a Solomon who can discern the elder status of identical twins, to act out for his father’s attention, Bart concocts a classic prank. Without saying what he does with the keys to an important event, this reviewer likens it to an episode on The Sopranos, when Robert Loggia’s Feech La Manna goes one step too far for an auto heist. Like the “All Happy Families…” episode, the incident ends with an angry mob screaming that only the American cars were left behind. Unlike the HBO crime family show, the mob winds up at Evergreen Terrace. They face down something more formidable than a waste management consultant.
Further reading: The Simpsons Season 30 Episode 2 Review: Heartbreak Hotel
Grandpa’s fight with Bart is a good example of a one-two combination punchline. The elder Simpson needs help getting his dukes put up, and easily gets his grandson to drop his guard for a Three Stooges-worthy TKO. Getting his dukes back down again serves as a kind of elder abuse. Marge is solidly the mom with too much blue hair. She readily accepts that she’s been hearing voices in the shower again, when she could just swear there’s catastrophe afoot, and provides the most daunting of solutions. Bart has the option of anything he wants for revenge, just deciding what that should be could drive a kid mad.
Further reading: Marge Simpson’s Julie Kavner Is a National Treasure
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“Daddicus Finch” is a very strong episode for The Simpsons. It finds a different angle for something the series always keeps sharp in its arsenal, the book or movie satire. But the episode works because it moves so fast. The asides, recurring gags and taboo-baiting are perfectly offset by the sweet character development in the creamy middle. Getting the footage from the original 1962 film is also a big plus and a marked departure from the all-animated series. Thus continues our long journey together.
“Daddicus Finch” was written by Al Jean, and directed by Steven Dean Moore.
The Simpsons‘ “Daddicus Finch” aired Sunday, December 2 at 8:00 p.m. on Fox.
Bart’s Chalkboard: “My pre-Christmas behavior really helps the coal industry.”
Culture Editor Tony Sokol cut his teeth on the wire services and also wrote and produced New York City’s Vampyr Theatre and the rock opera AssassiNation: We Killed JFK. Read more of his work here or find him on Twitter @tsokol.
