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Oi oi oi… how y’all doing? One of the features we like to have on the site is Episode Recaps of the newest Simpsons episodes. Of course with all the holiday goodness, we’ve fallen a little behind and I aim to fix that over the next week or so. You can see previous recaps here. Keeping with our goal to catch up, here’s a recap for Season 26, Episode 8: “Covercraft”. I know some people prefer to watch these on their own so only click more if you don’t mind SPOILERS. I know everyone can’t watch them so sometimes reading them can be a nice replacement. Also fun to see what others took away from an episode.
So on a blah/meh/oooh/aaaah/wowza/woo hoo scale, I give this one a meh. A simple plot with some laughs. I enjoy Simpsons episodes regardless but this is probably the lowest of Season 26 so far. Here’s my notes:
- Couch gag shows our favorite family all walking and texting to the couch. They collide, fall down… and keep texting. How many of you know someone who’s had a texting collision? Alas, I know a few.
- Moe’s taking out the trash but so is his next door neighbor, King Toot, who’s also using Moe’s dumpster. Toot is making room for a tanning salon with cameras. Of course a brawl ensues but is broken up by Wiggum who doesn’t know what edamame is. Moe and Toot almost make up but Moe is driven mad when he learns King Toot has been stealing his catalogues. Moe wins and demolishes King Toot’s ultimately closing it as a crime scene.
- Lisa was headed to King Toot’s with Homer but now has to go to the big box music store. It’s in the same area as Sprawl*Mart, Just Linens Etc., Toys B this Babies B this, and Pets and Lamps. The name? Well, folks that played during the episode tie-in know it is Guitar Central, where dreams become purchases.
- The store is mainly guitars with a tiny woodwind section. The clerks call Homer out as a mid-life crisis. Stig tells Homer he has the muscular stumps of a bassman, not the weak womanly fingers of a guitar princess. After one vibratory lick, Homer is talked into a whole cart of stuff: bass guitar, case, amp, PA, how-to books, stand, pedals, fogger, mic with Aerosmith scarf… the works. He even gets stage lights.
- Homer takes his licks home and the vibrations and racket draw Marge’s attention. Homer likes laying things down, this time it is grooves. Unfortunately his bass playing doesn’t fit in with all his normal activities with the exception of ice cream during dinner.
- Marge complains to her lady friends (Mrs. Lovejoy, LuAnn, Manjula and Bernice). All the women’s husbands have picked up instruments to fill the holes in their lives only able to be filled by jamming. Soooooo much extra-marital jamming. Marge’s fix is to set up all the hubbys in a Dad band.
- Their jam starts off slow but once the men realize they all love hard-driving rock, the jam is on. Apu shows up to join and offers his services as a singer. He knows the classic power ballad, “Open For a Dream” by his favorite band from the 1980s, Sungazer. Turns out Apu sings classic ballad rock very well. It sounds nothing like terrible, terrible world music.
- Apu learned to mimic the voice listening to ballad rock on repeat in the Kwik-E-Mart. The Dad Band is feeling it. Now they’re more than just a garage band desperate to do anything than hang out with their families. They’re now a cover band and they shall be called Covercraft because they play covers and it’s their craft. So now the episode title makes sense.
- Covercraft is off to play some gigs. First stop is the Springfield Cabbage Festival. People can enjoy the thrill of live music without the fear of hearing something new. Apu has a little stage fright but Homer cures it by having Apu wear his K-E-M uniform shirt. People love them!
- They play all over: the Sauerkraut Festival, the Springfield Policeman’s Ball, the Purple Cabbage Festival, Sideshow Mel’s 45th Birthday Party, the Kimchi Festival, the “Don’t Text and Drive” School Dance, the Savoy Cabbage Festival… wow… lots of cabbage love in Springfield. I also find it delicious.
- Homer finds himself really popular in town but he’s just a regular guy jamming with his buds. “Yup… It’s all about the music and it would take a pretty unforeseen development to change that… pretty unforeseen.” Flash to Hollywood and Sungazer Studios where mysterious rockers have found what they’re looking for in a video of Covercraft.
- While the cover band discusses the Squidport Senior Jamboree, Freddy Freeman, Shredder Stevens, Nick Delacourt and Peter DeBruisio surprise them. They’re 4 out of 5 of the members of Sungazer. Their lead singer Greg LaDavid passed away. We’ll keep exactly how off the family site. Turns out Apu is the only man on the entire internet that has the pure Sungazer sound. They want him to be their new lead singer and join them on their stadium tour.
- Homer tries to deflect the offer but Apu wants to do it. Homer is a skoshi jealous and wonders why the Gods of Rock are so cruel? Speaking off, said gods are apparently John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Sammy Hagar. What’s that you say? Sammy’s not dead? Well… he was when Homer asked. He had choked on a jalapeno popper with too much breading but was resuscitated.
- Apu is a dead ringer for the dead singer. He’s doing great on Sungazer’s Last Final Hell Re-Freezes Over Ultimate Goodbye For Serious This Time Never Again Part Two of ??? Tour. Homer’s not jealous but he sure is envious.
- Covercraft still jams but aren’t the same without Apu. Homer kicks everyone out for being Yokos. He now jams alone. Marge thinks his licks are juicy but he says they’re dry and scratchy like a cat’s tongue (this makes a dialogue joke in TSTO make sense btw).
- Apu sent Homer front row tickets and backstage passes to his show at the Costington Center. The family go to the show where they really did get great seats and parking. Stubborn Homer decides to ruin Apu’s career by getting rid of the shirt that cured his stage fright. Back stage passes come in handy for that. While he’s trying, Apu and the band return so Homer hides in the closet and finds out Apu’s life isn’t as glorious as Homer thought. Apu is a union scale slave stuck in a contract.
- Homer’s now okay with Apu’s fame since it’s not a happy thing. The two of them set out to fix the situation by feeding the other band members K-E-M hot dogs causing a mysterious case of hot dog poisoning. Now Covercraft gets to perform instead. Apu and Homer are caught but they do get to chat with Sammy Hagar in jail. Moe and King Toot are there too.
So meh… that’s the episode. Plain and simple with some jokes. I think the writers wanted to poke fun at Guitar Center, aging rock stars and cabbage… The End. I enjoyed seeing the Dad’s jam but it seems much more could have been added. Oh well… ya win some, you bust a gut at others and then you watch some. Hope life is great for everyone and stay classy like usual.
TTFN… Wookiee out!