Season 26 Ep 3 Review: Super Franchise Me

Super Lame Me!

 "Super Franchise Me"

    This episode. *deep exhale*. What a letdown this episode is, after the relatively great (compared to the other two episodes I’ve watched thus far) “Wreck of the Relationship”. The story is actually kinda decent, but man, it’s just not funny. There were two things I really took away from this episode, and unfortunately, I feel they are two issues that plague these newer episodes of The Simpsons: firstly, side characters. This show, besides having amazing main characters and great-to-amazing secondary characters, there are also the side characters. People that will show up, sometimes for only one joke, for ten seconds for one episode, and it’s hilarious. There are three old-time side characters in this episode, and I think they are all godawful this time around. Of course, I’m talking about professor Frink, Gus, and Cletus. Thinking back to the “golden era”, these characters could pop up, like I said, for maybe one singular joke in an episode, and it would be very funny. I don’t mind giving maybe a tiny bit more time to these characters for episodes, but giving them more than one minute of screen time is too much. And now, some 20+ years after these characters were first introduced, they have been pushed to their obnoxious, exaggerated extremes. Gus is a one-joke pony: he’s a pathetic loser who can’t hold a job. It’s funny for a few throwaway jokes. Not funny for even a few minutes of screen time, having him work with Marge at her sandwich shop. Now, Cletus, the once-great send-up of extreme hillbillies, is just very, very annoying. I find him unbelievably grating. Finally, we have Frink. Firstly, why does he need a job at a sandwich shop? But that’s not my problem. My problem is the reliance on him just making those stupid noises after he talks. Hell, he’s only in this episode briefly, and the joke is specifically about him not being able to talk normally. It just isn’t funny anymore. And they take it way too far. Whereas in the better episodes, he might have mumbled on with his weird noises for one or two seconds. Now, it’s like four or five. I say: boo! Finally, this isn’t a problem that is relegated to side characters. Main characters, like Moe and chief Wiggum, are specters of their former hilarious selves.

     Secondly (boy, that was a long paragraph), I feel like they really just extend jokes/gags waaaay too far. There’s a part where Homer continually feeds Santa’s Little Helper bread crust. It’s not funny. And as it goes on, it’s even less funny. Makes me think of Family Guy (yikes!). There’s a part where Homer reminisces about a time he drank free-refill fountain soda. He just drinks and drinks. Where it was once funny when Homer just ate an endless mound of brownies that George Harrison pointed out to him is funny, this is just annoying. “Annoying” is a word I’ve already used twice (minus this time). I bet I’ll use it a few more. This episode really just bugged me. There’s even a gag about Mr. Burns being attracted to a cardboard standee of a motherly sandwich person. It’s not a long joke, but they go back to it at the end of the episode, and it’s probably less funny than the first time. Besides all this crap, this episode was just not that funny. I feel like I’m really eviscerating this episode, and I don’t think I was this critical of the Krusty premiere. I would say this episode is a smidge worse, but they are both pretty sub-par. I guess I got a little excited about that damn boat episode. Oh well, if nothing else, I know the “Treehouse of Horror” episode this year is at least 2/3 good.

    This episode has Ned realizing Homer has been stealing his electricity. He’s using Ned’s power to keep a large freezer (which he also stole from Ned) in his garage that is host to a large amount of meat. When Ned pulls the plug (both figuratively and literally), to avoid the spoiling of all the meat, Marge cooks and it all and makes sandwiches with it. Once those sandwiches become a hit at the school, Marge is offered an opportunity to open a Subway-style sandwich shop. The rest of the episode is just the hijinks and shenanigans of the Simpsons family trying to manage the shop. Once it gets successful, an “Express” variation of the same sandwich chain opens across the street. At the end, everything remains status-quo, as it always does in the Simpsons’ universe. Again, the story was okay, with no real B-story. But, this being a mostly Marge-centric episode, it was pretty weak. So far, through three episodes, we’ve had them center on Krusty/his dad, Bart/Homer, and Marge. Take a guess which one was the best, and which too were not that great? Let’s place the focus on FUNNY characters!

    Now is the time I talk about the couch gag. Fortunately, it’s the shortest one yet. Unfortunately, it is dumb and stupid. It’s just a strange song played over scenes in Springfield of various residents doing things, all in a watercolor-esque painted style. I’m sure this is a reference I’m not getting, but I’m not compelled enough to even check.

    Overall, this episode was not good. It had some good sight gags that made me chuckle, and exactly one quote I thought worthy to write down. Even this isn’t anything amazing. Oh well though. There are what, 19 more episodes in season 26? I’m going to remain very cautiously optimistic. But I'm still giving this episode a big ol' fat...

4/10

Let’s check out the all-knowing and omnipresent bullet point list:

• Ned has a VCR rewinder [important note: we actually owned one of these as well. What the FUCK was the purpose?]. He also has a DVD rewinder
• Ned's freezer that Homer stole is a "Freezerino". Made in Okily, Dokahama, Japan. Maybe the funniest gag of the whole episode
• During a short montage, Homer reads both "Time Passers" and "Can't Focus" magazines
• It seems there was an abundance of short flashbacks or thought bubbles. They all suck
• It's good to see that, after 26 years, they still take jabs at Fox
• My other favorite sight gag was Marge putting up a "first dollar earned". It's a dollar bill in a very nice frame. It pans out, and she has eleven one dollar bills hung up in a similar fashion. First through eleventh dollar earned
• Marge's voice really annoys me in this episode. She is very nervous/anxious/sad in this episode, and her voice, because of all that emotion, really just bothers me
• Homer's pants fall around his ankles. Marge then proclaims she's going to Moe's. Homer gasps very deeply, and his pants come back up from around his ankles to his waist. I greatly enjoyed this
• The prehistoric sandwich bit at the very end is sort of amusing
• The only quote I liked this week:
• Ned (inspecting his power usage): "Why, that's a higher power than even I believe in!"

Probably the funniest joke in the episode

    There you have it. A very disappointing episode in an overall disappointing (young) season of The Simpsons. Tune in soon for the next one! Thanks for reading