u/InvisibleAstronomer

BART STAR

"Confused would we?"

Okay that line is GENIUS.

OW fuck my ears!! That ringing was super annoying!

I can't touch my toes either Bart.

I wanna C U Omigod😂

Lisa wanting to be on the team until she found out other girls were on the team... Oof. I bet a lot of women "get it."

I don't watch sports but sports based episodes are always fun.

Nelson is hilarious this whole game.

Flanders! Flaaaaaaanderrrrrrrs!

Homer doing gymnastics??? 😳

Millenial dad's are much more likely to hug their boys. 😁

Lisa's "I got it" grabbing the car wheel is low key a sad gag on parentified children of alcoholics. 😢

Some great lines when the teammates yell at Bart.

Joe Neymouth?

Homer's special treatment of Bart is on the nose but so common.

Marges tick story was gross. 😬

Alexander Graham Bell suggested Ahoyhoy as the official phone greeting. That's why Burns says it cos he's old.

I gotta quit smoking 🚬😂

Hank Hill??? 🤣

I'm takin you to hooters.

I don't wanna bother mom at work. Holy shit that killed me. Also, hooters is cringe.

Bart taking the fall for Nelson was great.

I'd give this one 4.5 cups. It was honestly refreshingly funny. Bonus stupid gag during the credits haha.

🥤 🥤 🥤🥤.5

CARTRIDGE FAMILY

Richard Gere? My mom lived near him once. I think he might have been in Cheaper by the dozen? That's like the only movie I think I know him from.

Are we in Peru?? That was sudden.

Sports riots are utterly unbelievably alien to me. Like, as unthinkable as cannibalism.

Surely you can can't put a price on your families lives.

I wouldn't have thought so either but here we are 💅

That was good. 😂

Bloodbath and beyond 😂 the whole scene at the gun shop was hilarious. "five days? But I'm mad now!"

That was weirdly one of our first music montages.

"I thought Smithers did it!"

That would have made a lot more sense. I adore meta jokes. 😂😂😆

The king of England 😅 oh geeze this episode has some good bits.

The NRA is 100% a gun cult for ammosexuals.

No you're not! He's really not!

Was he... gonna use a cheese grater to remove the tattoo? 😅

Omigod the vibrating bed race 😂

📷 No, go back to sleep.

Loved the whole scene with Snake at the end haha. Great social commentary, great gags. 4 bullets. As someone who grew up at least partly surrounded by NRA gun fetish conservatives there was a lot about this episode that was funny and relatable.

🔫🔫🔫🔫

I saw a therapist for several months, years ago. I do not remember anything he said. I barely remember what we talked about. But I do remember that during the intake, as I shared my story, he began to cry. Not ugly cry, but he had tears streaming down his face. He didn't try to hide them. It is the only part of our therapy I remember, because it is the only time in my life another person wept over my story.

I do not often cry during sessions, but every once in awhile a clients story or emotions may cause me to wipe away tears. Sometimes I tear up because of the progress they have made filling me with a kind of proud and grateful pathos.

I almost always will address my tears, taking a page from yalom, certain that they are wondering and may even be surprised by my emotional response. I will usually say something like, I'm tearing up right now, your story has really touched me. I make sure that I never ever apologize. Our culture far too often causes people to apologize for Tears. I may ask a question later on such as, what was it like for you when you noticed my tears? There can be some real fruit here.

Please remember if you ever find yourself tearing up in session that it can be an incredibly powerful moment for your client, and maybe the first time in their life an adult showed grief in response to their trauma. 10 years from now your tears might be the most important thing they remember.

THOH VIII

Thank God! A treehouse of Horror episode! Spring forth horror treehouse, and save me!

That's not gonna protect us from anything!

Then don't use it.

I won't.

Good.

I know it's good.

So do I.

I'm happy for you.

You should be.

^Sigh. Am I gonna have to start an autopsy of this show? the above exchange is not particularly funny, or clever. It's barely comedy. It's our smartest character making empty banter with the mascot of the show. And it sounds like something my eleven year old would write. So much of the banter of previous seasons is *funny* because it's *witty*.

I will never not see the eiffel tower as a giant Canon from now on.

Everyone dead is kinda dark, but they were all zombies two seasons back.

"and the rest" is a funny ref on Gilligans island. The show had two versions of the theme song. The original said "and the rest" which left out two characters in a very small cast. They later updated it to "the professor and Mary Ann"

Thank God his pants magically came back.

Afraid of a coffin when he's surrounded by dead people.

Everyone with the guns was funny.

So a spy VS spy joke?

Now Homer's playing with portals! We getting Glados?

Was cat dog a thing yet?

And now Kafkas metamorphosis? How many references we getting?

Wait, when fly Bart says help me while trapped in the web. Was Emperor's New Groove spoofing this episode?

Okay I actually thought the fly minisode was descent. Would have been spooky as a kid.

Easy bake coven? Man this really was the nineties.

A witch burning? That's dark even for Simpsons. Poor Milhouse. "we didn't burn witches, we set women we disagreed with on fire.".

Patty and Selma would be witches wouldn't they. 🤔

Dad that's our house!

She's a witch! Get her!

This episode felt a bit better than previous! I'll give it 3 broomsticks.

🧹🧹🧹

These are questions I've gathered from various sources over the years. In truth you probably only need 5-6 good questions for therapy, but these all tend to be useful. I notice most of them are "what" and not "why" or "how" questions. Feel free to add your own.

1. What has this been like for you? How are you experiencing this?

2. What are you learning through this experience

3. What has been the hardest part about this?

4. What are your options right now?

5. What are you going to do?

6. What has this caused you to believe about yourself?

7. What do you contribute to this dynamic?

8. What do you want most out of this situation / relationship?

9. Why is that important to you?

10. What do you get out of that behavior?

11. Who's emotion is this?

12. What happens next?

13. What do you notice?

14. How do you know that?

15. Are there any exceptions to this? Any times when things go differently?

16. How satisfied are you with that?

17. How was ___ expressed in your household growing up? Were you allowed to show ___?

18. It sounds like there's a story there...?

19. Can you give an example of the first time, worst time, and most recent time?

20. What is most helpful to focus on right now?

21. Where did that thought / behavior come from?

22. What made it possible to discuss this today?

23. Where do you feel that in your body?

24. If that feeling / sensation had a voice what would it be saying?

25. What did you learn growing up about what it means to be a man/woman?

​

LISA THE SIMPSON

School lunches cost 45 cents??

I remember in 2006 it was $1.80.

Wait, Lisa stayed up all night AT SCHOOL to solve a brain teaser? Did anyone notice she was missing?

🥶He froze himself in the... Kwike mart ice cream freezer...

Dumbening lol. My spell check thinks it's a word.

Someone's in the kitchen with DNA is a descent pun.

Why is Troy orange.

It stands for deoxyrhibonucleic acid, buddy.

I don't even know freezer geezers name. He's just Abes... Friend?

"I've hit my mental and creative peak at the tender age of 8!" No Lisa, not you, that's this show you're thinking about.

Oh, it's the Join us room for one more meme! I knew there were a few left in hadn't seen yet.

The house of usher? What IS with this shows refs to Edgar Allen Poe?

Omigod ew... Obese Lisa predicted Honey Booboo. 😬 "Mama's watchin er stories."

"you have to listen to the notes she's NOT playing!" I could do that at home. 😆

Against discount bus tickets for war widows? Next thing you know Lisa will be driving a Tesla and dancing on stage with a chain saw.

Homer and Bart are pretty unlikeable this episode. 😐

OK the pot helmet fight brick joke did get a chuckle.

Oh, I remember seeing that mirror number brain teaser in school lol.

This episode was pretty forgettable. Other than freezer guy I'm not sure how much of it I'll really remember.

2. 5 pots.

🍳🍳. 5

LISA'S SAX

This song bit with Homer and Marge is... Weird.

Homer, half of being a good parent is thinking about how you're better than half the parents out there.

The song bit isn't over?? Is this a gag on some famous show?

Miller time? Everyone drinks Duff though.

Kindergarten Bart is super cute. 🥰 My son drew a "sad" picture about kindergarten. I still have it.

Why is the doctor randomly Mr T? 😂

Bart's gay? (Milhouse file). Okay that was funny.

"Gifted" 90s kids. We either became millionaires by 32 or we still don't own a own home.

I have a friend whose child placed into an extremely competitive private school but couldn't attend bc of the cost. And they are a minority.

Did he just pronounce Lava as Lava??

All of the episodes this season feel like Simpsons fanfiction.

Ah, grade school, when a kid being lactose intolerant was "personality"

I ate a worm on a dare once.

Didn't we get an air conditioner bit with the refrigerator tent a few seasons ago.

Fruitopia? Not sure it exists anymore, but it was owned by an evangelical missionary who became super rich.

Okay the ending montage with Lisa playing the sax was fun.

I'm sorry guys. I can't give that episode more than 2 flat saxes. I love Lisa. She's my favorite character. But this episode just... Was flat.

🎷🎷

Okay, since I started this project I assumed Simpsons never really trailed off in quality. I assumed fans were just nostalgic or biased. Maybe yall had a point.

THE PRINCIPAL AND THE PAUPER

the rod up that man's butt line was great!

The hells coffee flavored bevarine and creamium? ☕

Skinner has been the principal since 24 years old? Geez, at least the man's dedicated.

America balls haha.

The flag in the Skinner tribute has a white bottom stripe. A common mistake, as IRL top and bottom stripes are red. Also, I'm pretty sure cartoons don't usually depict a realistic flag because it's against the law or something.

Flipper gag. Man that show was odd. But as a kid I loved all two times I saw it.

I've always liked Skinner because he feels like the most human guy in town. Everyone else feels cartoonish but he's just this random vet who loves trains, stargazing, and still lives with his mother.

That's a very small cake for that big crowd.

#HE'S A WHAT

An Imposter???

WHAT the FUCK

Armand Tamsarian? Why the hell are they doing this?? I just said he was NORMAL!!! 🫪 😭😭

This flashback is ... So weird. Is this the episode they jump the shark? 🦈

"the lie made us both happier than the truth ever could have." that's a decent line... But... Wtf is this plot twist. So like, no one in the entire town realized that the guy who came back was not the real skinner?

This is so unnecessary and disappointing.....

Why did anyone sign off on this idea.

And the guy who shows up gets tied up and dragged off on a train????? So suddenly the whole town is engaged in criminally ruining this guy's life?? What the hell is this?! It is super weird, like something out of a Shirley Jackson story to have the entire town engage in this bizarre conspiracy.

. . .

sigh.

. . .

That... That was awful.

One silhouette.

This was my least favorite episode of the Simpsons ever. This episode is so bad, every episode I rated less than 5 should get one extra point in comparison. I'm not even sure I should give it one star. It should get zero. It should get negative. I actively dislike this episode so much. It's not just that it isn't as good as previous seasons, it actively dismantles a character we have spent eight seasons getting to know and get attached to, and completely betrays the audience. There are so many amazing episodes that feature Principal Skinner and so many great moments with him, and somehow they are all retroactively stained. Sure there are some episodes that have not been my thing and I didn't rate them super high because I didn't care for them, but I could always appreciate the place they held in the series even if they didn't click with me.

This is the first episode that feels like it is actively harming the show. It's like the writers said, "You know what, we've spent 8 years establishing a pop culture phenomenon with a zany town full of memorable characters, hilarious energy, and heart warming antics. Wouldn't it be funny if we shit all over that for no reason just to establish that as the creators we can do whatever we want with these characters and nothing is sacred? And then they just "return to status quo" with a dumb line about "nobody ever speak of this again?"

Principal Skinner was seriously one of my favorite characters, with Willie, Lisa, and Smithers. Now.... Ugh.

I give it negative one silhouette.

– 👤

I have a small therapy office but would love an abstract game to have on my desk both as decor and potentially to use with clients. The Dvonn series comes to mind though they may be too large of a footprint. I never tried Abalone and I'm not sure how it works holds up today. Any ideas?

CITY OF NEW YORK

Designated drivers? Actually a fun episode idea.

"you got the black egg"

I enjoy alcohol.

But I can't help feeling society's alcohol culture is extremely weird and immature.

New York is a hell hole? We say shit hole these days.

Twin towers sighted. 🏢🏢 🫡

Homer's memory of NYC was, uh... Not very funny. 😐

I know rural folk who think cities are giant death traps.

The tall guy on the bus wasn't funny either. Is Simpsons losing its edge?

Oh man these WTC jokes feel weird now.

Bart licking the handhold was legit funny. Kid got covid twenty years early.

Sleeping upside down and inside out 😂😭 low key one of the grossest moments outside a THOH ep

Seriously though, being caught with a full bladder and nowhere to pee is one of the most universal human experiences. Everyone from Marcus Aurelius to the bagger at Walmart experiences it.

Maybe I've been predisposed bc of this sub, but this is the first episode that feels like a departure from classic Simpsons?? I'm watching like 😐 , it feels like another show wearing a Simpsons skinsuit.

I have thought the MAD magazine kid was weird my whole life.

This musical number is oddly decent. Wtf. It's so random.

Third time in this show someone's exhaust has fallen off.

Jimmy getting in the car when Homer said everyone in was a great gag. 🤣

This episode is one I don't know if I'd ever bother to rewatch.

I'd give it 2 planes.

Shit.

uh... I mean, 2 car boots.

⚠️⚠️

SECRET WAR OF LISA SIMPSON

Okay love wiggum showing up late and getting the key under the mat.

The shows depiction of jaded teachers is always funny and painful.

"The moon belongs to America"

I need to say this all the time.

TESTING 📢📢📢📢📢📢📢 this shows depiction of crazy kid antics is the best.

This plot feels like a season 1 thing.

Female cadet after 185 years? Wind ain't blowing that way anymore.

Who's Tim? 😂

Since you attended public school I'm going to assume you are already proficient with small arms.

This was this pre Columbine right?

Poor Lisa! This might be one of the first times the show just lets her abjectly fail without being naturally gifted.

Abes so funny and heartwarming. 😄

The knot tier shoelace joke was 👌

Pitching the kids against each other in a 2 day battle Royale? We got hunger games in 1996?

Corn? That was some good corn??

Wait what about the bees.

Most of the fighting will be done by small robots? Geeze that gives me heebie jeebies.

Build and maintain those robots? Damn this feels pretty accurate. Kinda amazing looking back on predictions like that in modern day. It felt so ridiculous back then.

Huh. That must be the first Lisa centric episode I didn't really care for. We didn't get any of her typical wit or grit or heart. Just... She struggled through cadet school? It wasn't really satisfying.

3 meatballs. 🍝🍝🍝

So that was Season 8. Another awesome season full of banger after banger. Some standouts include Sitter, Density, Brother Another, Phobia, X files, Move Twice, and one of my top five favorite episodes, Marge We Trust.

Really loved 7-8 but the past three seasons have all been fantastic.

SIMPSONS SPINOFF SHOWCASE.

Man I have probably spent more time thinking about Homer's Enemy than any episode in the show. I just keep coming back to it in my head.

Wait is this a clip show.

Wiggum PI? Oh I wish this was real. I'd watch the fuck outa this. And Wiggum isn't even in my top 10 characters.

I want a skull pencil holder. Someone tell me that's real.

Well I certainly wasn't expecting the old alligator through the window.

A corked warning gator? 🐊😂

I don't know why everything big daddy says is so funny 😅

I remember growing up in Florida thinking air boats weren't cool af. I guess they still are.

It's a funny running joke all of Wiggums lines are super lame.

Well that was an interesting random shot of cleavage?

She told me she was washing her hair tonight, following Barneys line was a great joke.

Ugh, I'm so glad Simpsons doesn't have a laugh track live audience thing.

Okay, I could also watch an entire spinoff of Abe as a wise cracking love machine making friends with Moe. Holy shit this is amazing.

Was Moe's camera eye contact shot a spoof on saved by the bell or something?

Cute little payphone lol. The spinoff was funny because of all the cliches haha.

OK I'm starting to think every one of these 3 spinoffs is spoofing a specific older show that I don't know 😐

Sophomore prom queen five years running? Bouta be 38 years running.

I appreciate beaver Homer speaking with a pencil in his mouth.

Okay, I'm getting nervous. This final spinoff gag is making me afraid of the direction the show is heading...? 😬

Omg the sexy cowboy Smithers almost redeemed it.

Wtf is even happening?? So many random quick cuts.

Love how Lisa refused to be apart of the live show slop lol.

Ozmodiar? That must be referring to the Martian guy who ruined the Flintstones after the show ran out of ideas? DID THE SIMPSONS PREDICT IT'S OWN DOWNFALL??

4 Broadway dancers. Episode was intentionally lampooning and corny but still mostly enjoyable. But only bc it was trying to be ironic.

🕺🕺🕺🕺

Just something I wrote:

When the big selling point of Christian faith becomes salvation of the egoic self from eternal torture by means of a transactional debt exchange obtained by agreeing to a proper set of facts, it's no wonder Christianity is a mess.

If the church is to survive and have any relevance, we must move towards a gospel vision which has at its heart a transformational model of love that seeks not Salvation of the self, but of all humanity and planet earth,

not from hellfire in the afterworld, but from the all too familiar fires that threaten to engulf this one.

This Salvation is not a cosmic blood debt paid beneath the boot-heel wrath of an angry god, but the defiant, explosive growth of a single seed finding life in the sidewalk cracks of human hearts longing for a world where all souls realize they already belong. We are already Home.

Salvation means waking up to the knowledge that Christ is within and around every one of us, flowing through the love we show each other, a depth dimension of human experience that needn't be believed in, only Known.

Not promising a kingdom in the clouds of a future paradise, but one which exists in the here-and-now, a kingdom where everyone is a citizen, not because we believe, but in spite of the fact that most of the time, we don't.

Not a religous system which binds belonging by bars of dogma, but a community of outcasts that braids hearts together through common value, just action, and shared humanity.

Not swaddled in certainty, but humbly cradled in doubt.

Not concerned with the anti-gospel of empire building by guns and gavels, but with loving one's neighbor, and finding the glint of godlight in the eyes of the Other.

A church whose creed is kindness, whose sacrament is wonder, whose god is love.

HOMER'S ENEMY

Okay I'll try to adjust my expectations, but I have heard this episode referenced as the best episode in the entire show. I remember even seeing a video once titled why they will never make another episode like Homer's Enemy.

Is this the guy who lives above a bowling alley.

Has Grimes ever appeared on the show before?

Really funny bit how Burns just fixates on whatever he has seen on TV recently. I've heard rumors a US president does that too.

Fighting over the pencil. 😆✏️

Frank Grimes must be the single most competent person in springfield. Hell, he's more competent than most people in the US government.

I ADORE the bit with the Auctioneer! I have been to a handful of auctions and that weird speak drives me up the wall. Turns out there are both Auctioneer trainings you can go to to learn how to do this or just YouTube channels to teach you.

Homer's intelligence and buffoonery fluctuates wildly with each episode but his stupidity is pretty hilarious this time around 😂.

Did Bart buy a hangar?

"That's the man who's in charge of our safety??! It boggles the mind!"

It's best not to think about it.

Why is this so uncomfortable to watch in current year. 😭😭😭💀

I like this Grimes Guy

Children's model building contest? What a random poster to have in the background. Wait I just realized Burns had the vice president dog! Lol

"Okay. Do I have to do anything? "

Aahhhhh!!!!! 😂😂😂🤣

Other kid? 😬 Poor Margerie.

🚀Holy crap we actually have Canon continuity of Homer going to space??

Omigod the dinner scene conflict is amazing!! The whole concept of failing upwards in the face of a guy like Grimes. I hope he's not a one off.

☠️Funniest thing about Bart's factory is none of the adults question it.

"should we continue this conversation later" these days we say "We should circle back"

Wait, the poster actually had relevance?? 😂

That turkey picture has been on the fridge for like three seasons...

So this is my life. At least I've done better than dad. 💀 Not sure most Millennials can say that.

First it started Fallin over. Then it fell over!

I love how it's Ralph and Martin.

This guy is really crashing out 😬 oh, I've seen that meme.

HOLY SHIT HE DIED??????????

Noooooooooooo! Omigod that was hilarious. I'm gonna go watch that YouTube video now about why this episode was the peak of the show.

Oh, yeah. 5 personal pan pencils.

✏️✏️✏️✏️✏️

https://youtu.be/Tq-qU\_GCCLI?si=e-0Ylf6cx7LrTn\_\_

Okay so this video with 4 million views does a pretty thorough job of describing the significance of this episode. Basically Mr bowling alleys is the anti Homer and the writer's conception of what it would be like to live in this cartoon town if you were a competent adult