Hey hey hey amigos. Wookiee back with another episode recap from the current season of the Best. Show. Ever. We really like this as a feature on the site and even though real life and event goodness sometimes delay their arrival, we’re fairly caught up actually. You can see previous recaps here. This one is for Season 26, Episode 11: “Bart’s New Friend”. 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 I have to say that this is the episode I’d been waiting for this entire season and boy did it not disappoint. It was a bit different than what I expected but I’m sure a script written in 1989-1990 had to have some spit and polish thrown on it. All in all, I give Judd Apatow two furry thumbs way up for this gem. Now on to the recap…
Gotta love Pie Man and stretch dude flying over The Simpsons crawl. Bart seems to have an issue with anatomically correct snowmen and carrots too. The couch gag was a cute Simpsonized Goldilocks story. Poor Maggie didn’t really like the ending though.
Homer is singing at work and walks in on Don’s retirement ceremony. But who the heck is Don Bookner? Turns out he’s Homer’s counterpart as Safety Inspector 7-G. He’s been covering for Homer all these years. Makes the last 25 or so years of Homer’s shenanigans make sense. There was always someone taking care of nuclear safety in spite of Homer. Now Homie has to actually work and it’s super stressful. If Homer doesn’t do his job, atoms go BOOM! Just like they did in TSTO… hmmmmm.
Homer is working super hard and sticking to the one of the bedrocks of parenting… double standards. Losing his job in this economy would be a death sentence and since Marge and Homer never optioned any properties to become film directors… work it is
Workaholic may be Homer’s best “aholic” ever but Marge has decided he needs a break. It’s off to the circus they go. Now Homer can find out why a man would ever think a stool was a good defense against a lion.
Ahhhhh… stacked parking! “The early bird gets the shaft!” No wi-fi but there are lots and lots of clowns. But what if they’re all parked in stacked parking too! Honestly this joke has me laughing so hard. When I went to the Simpsons Take the Bowl event, we had to park in stacked parking and I thought it was the dumbest thing ever. Now it’s a joke in the show… excellent.
Homer is off to the freak tent to see if they have better signal. Insert lots of freak tent jokes in tribute to Judd Apatow: Freaks and Geeks, Drillbit Taylor, Funny People, Superfat, the 400-year-old Virgin. Bart convinces Homer to go see Sven Golly the Master Hypnotist. Insert Cletus doing some super smart math aka headbone-hurting hobo signs. Homer is the next volunteer to be hypnotized. Sven Golly makes Homer think he’s 10. Only a 10-year-old boy could be this annoying. “I know you are but what am I? Infinity plus one… jinx!” Bart’s right. “Only the coolest kid ever could think of that.”
Wiggum and the cops show up to arrest Svenjamin Golly for mesmerizing the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame to induct KISS. He’s wanted by the Police (Sting lol) and… Sven mesmerizes Wiggum and takes off. Marge takes Homer to Dr. Hibbert to see how bad it is and after Homer rejects a Dixie cup of beer, they realize the hypnotism is strong… dinner theater strong. They need to find the original hypnotist to undo it so they don’t damage Homer’s psyche. Marge has to treat Homer like he’s 10 in the meantime.
Booger pizza, tricks on Santa’s Little Helper, Homer now rooms with Bart and Marge is lonely in bed. Only one thing to do, pull out an oblong box from the side drawer and…. Knit. Lots of mittens lol. Homer goes to school with Bart and enjoys some tunnel tag with the school kids.
Bumble and Grumble lol. Homer had a fun day and bonds more with Bart. Bart learns that Homer might be secretly sad. “Wow… he doesn’t want to be my dad… he just wants to be a kid like me. Almost makes me not want to prank him… almost.”
Homer comes in handy against bullies, chicken fights in the pool, wrestles in the sand box, spray paints his Homo tag right next to El Barto’s and bonds with Lisa while she plays saxamaphone. Thank goodness Don got pulled out of retirement to cover Homer again.
Bart’s worried Homer might change back and stop being the closest thing he’s had to a brother. Meanwhile Wiggum has captured Sven Golly using blindfolded cops and Homer is all set up to be returned back to “normal”. Chief Kangaroo (love Maggie in Wiggum’s pouch) brings the hypnotist to the Simpson home but Bart and Homer have alighted elsewhere. Alas, Sven’s powers are good but not good enough to make Wiggum a competent policeman.
Bart and Homer took off to Itchy & Scratchy Land. Bart wanted him to enjoy being a kid just a little longer and they both go on a ride definitely lampooning Disney’s Soarin’ attraction. (Nerd note: the real ride is actually one of my favorites but it is much better when you don’t have to see the feet of the first row.)
The cops and Sven catch up to the duo, joke about Fastpass and Homer is returned to his adult self. Marge asks the hypnotist to change one thing about Homer involving his behavior after “snuggling”. Homer is back, exclaims about stacked parking, gets some smooches and later obeys the suggestion to cuddle his wife. There’s a sweet scene with adult Homer and Bart too. Hugs are nice. Lasagna is nicer lol.
Je Suis Charlie! The last scene a la the X-Men movie is funny. Sven Golly gets away again via hypnotism and… Loki! Definitely something added in to fill time but made my nerdy blood chuckle.
I thoroughly enjoyed this whole episode. It had lots of chuckles and a good amount of emotion. I think my guess that this could be like one of the older “classic” episodes made with today’s technology wasn’t far off the mark. I definitely wonder how much was Judd Apatow’s original script and what was completely not. Some you can tell. Here’s an interview article I found between Al Jean and Judd Apatow.
http://tvline.com/2015/01/09/judd-apatow-the-simpsons-episode-season-26-interview/
Also happy to see the writers of their Simpsons show support for the “Je Suis Charlie” movement. This isn’t a political blog but I’ll just say I truly am in the “pen is mightier than the sword” crowd. Stupid terrorists. Anywho… what did y’all think of the episode. Have any favorite moments? Like these recaps? Got any other episodes you’re excited for this season. Sound off below and stay classy as usual. TTFN… Wookiee out!
Also enjoyed this episode but I wanted it to last longer. 🙂 The Je Suis Charlie reference at the end was especially classy, given that these episodes take a considerable amount of time to produce and undoubtedly, they had to go back and add that after the episode was “in the can” as they say. Personally, I hope they add a full freedom of speech episode this season. (Also, one of my neighbors has had the Matt Groening character chasing homer with the giant pencil for days now — I wonder if this neighbor intended this as a tribute to what happened in France.)
HELP! The weekend dad quest part 4 is stuck on “1/1 Done!” And i’m not able to unlock new stuff now. I have tried selling kirk’s house and putting it in the inventory esc. But nothing works, i tought EA would fix it in some update but no. How can i fix this glitch??
Try going to krustyland and then back to Springfield. Many times this helps to clear the task on the side bar
I’d like to see Sven become a repeating character since there’s no way Wiggum will ever hold him for long. On a side note, I have a question. I want to boost my consumerism and to thus buy the fortress of choclitude, but when I double checked it on the red blazer guide it said 10 obedience, contrary to multiple other posts which give it 10 consumerism. Could someone please clarify this for me?
it’s consumerism. Just a mistake on the realty guide. Thanks for pointing it out 🙂
Maggie, to me, looks like Cosette in the poster for Les Miserables. I really like it. Especially since it’s a french show. Thought I’d throw that in.
Bingo! That’s who they had in mind when they were doing the artwork 🙂