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The Simpsons Season 7 Review

The seventh season of The Simpsons is another terrific season of television that is pretty much on par with the great previous one.

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“Eh, nuts to this.

I’ll just go and get Homer Simpson“

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Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two) is not the greatest conclusion to this intriguing story as it turns out it was Maggie. Having the baby be a shooter really felt anti-climactic and it reduced stakes, but still it was funny and silly in that way, and the rest of the episode was uniformly well crafted. Radioactive Man is one of the worst episodes of the season with a dull, dated superhero parody angle to it. It really did not stand the test of time.

Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily is an amazing, but difficult to watch episode where Marge and Homer lose their kids to the Flanders. The whole child welfare storyline was so realistic and well established while the third act is incredibly moving. Bart Sells His Soul is a solid Milhouse/Bart outing, but it overall should have been much better and more memorable.

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Lisa the Vegetarian is excellent. This episode influenced the future of the show actually as she stayed vegetarian later on, which I really appreciate. The highlight here is the episode’s message that everyone should respect others’ choices, and not be overly smug about it. A truly impressive preaching for understanding that everyone should listen to more.

Treehouse of Horror VI is pretty good and very fun in its first two segments, but it’s all about the third one. Yes, this otherworldly story was just magnificent. Homer is stuck in a 3D world, and it’s so fun seeing the CGI animation of the mid-nineties. I found the imagination here off the roof, the whole storyline has a lot of science and fun to it, and the animation is spectacular for its time and simply groundbreaking just as ‘Toy Story’ was.

King-Size Homer is another stupendous episode where Homer sets out to become so fat that they will let him work from home. Rarely has he been this childish and this lazy, and the results are hilarious, especially his silly clothing here. Mother Simpson is a pretty strong, though not great episode that deals with a lot of flashbacks, but it does finally answer us everything we wanted to know about Homer’s mother. She’s an interesting figure for sure.

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Sideshow Bob’s Last Gleaming is far from my favorite Bob episodes as it deals more with Krusty than I would have liked. The Simpsons 138^th Episode Spectacular is a different clip show episode in that it gives us some deleted scenes, and the earliest Simpsons moments before the show. In that regard, it’s better than others and more intriguing, but a clip show it remains nonetheless.

Marge Be Not Proud is another incredibly emotional episode. Yes, this whole season is very emotional, but rarely manipulative at it. This one wrings genuinely strong mother-son feelings as it’s the quintessential Marge/Bart episode undoubtedly. Team Homer is a very annoying, dull bowling episode while Two Bad Neighbors is a George Bush episode, and not being an American myself, I was pretty much bored with it.

Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield is a truly wonderful Marge episode that doesn’t take the regular route of a big fight in the finale, but it takes the graceful route of her deciding that they skip the rich party all-together. Marge has rarely been better used than in here. Bart the Fink is another forgettable Krusty episode, and I am simply not a fan of this character at all.

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Lisa the Iconoclast finds Lisa uncovering the truth behind the town founder, and it doesn’t look good. However, she still spares the feelings of the town residents by not revealing that truth to them in what is one growth-fueled episode for her. Homer the Smithers is an absolute classic. It explores just how much not only Burns depends on Smithers, but how vice versa is also the case. I found the whole episode very dramatic and hugely engaging with the Smithers scenes at the gay resort finally solidifying his sexuality in a very amusing fashion.

The Day the Violence Died is a terrific animation history episode that is very much inspired by Disney’s history and thus it appealed to me on a personal level. The ending, though, is very strange for better and for worse. A Fish Called Selma is a weird Troy McClure episode that is, yes, quite funny, but the character works better in smaller doses in my opinion.

Bart on the Road is entirely forgettable. 22 Short Films About Springfield presents a series of vignettes about its many characters, and although it works as a great introduction to the show for a newbie, it felt way too messy to me personally. The Principal Skinner segment is easily the best and the funniest one. Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in “The Curse of the Flying Hellfish” is an adventurous, cartoony, fun and wonderful Grampa/Bart story.

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Much Apu About Nothing deals with immigration and deportation in a very serious manner for the most part, and it’s another very sweet Apu storyline. Homerpalooza is utterly annoying and overrated as this dumb rock concert episode that did not appeal to me at all. Summer of 4 Ft. 2 is such a beautiful, heartfelt Lisa episode that finds her wanting to fit in. It works on so many levels – as an emotional episode about outcasts and nerds and as a strong sibling episode as well.

Overall, I loved this season. Clearly, some episodes here are quite weak, but many are very good and simply excellent, which is the case for at least half of these stories. I also liked the emphasis on Lisa in this season, and on genuine emotion too.

Worst Episodes: Radioactive Man, Team Homer, Two Bad Neighbors and Bart the Fink.

Best Episodes: Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily, Treehouse of Horror VI, King-Size Homer, Marge Be Not Proud, Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield, Homer the Smithers and Summer of 4 Ft. 2.