User Reviews

This is a review of the Simpsons' episode, Super Franchise Me. There will be spoilers ahead:

This is a reasonably decent episode of the show, with some good gags, though it certainly won't be considered a high point for the season. It's entertaining, if not terribly special.

For me, the highlight of the show was the couch gag, which shows my age. For the most part, the gag is largely a series of drawings of various characters set to the song, "Tea For the Tillerman" sung by Cat Stevens. The drawings are done to reflect the style of the drawing used as the cover for the album and the drawings are tied to the lyrics, with Homer drinking tea, Bart eating a steak, Marge and her sisters sipping wine, a three-eyed seagull flying, Mr. Burns dumping nuclear waste and kids on a swing, all connected to the lyrics. It becomes animated as Lisa and Bart start swinging, with Ralph remaining motionless save for his eyes. It works perfectly, but it helps if you know the song a bit.

As for the episode, Marge decides they need more income, so she buys a sandwich franchise. After their low-end help turns out to be unreliable, the family starts working there. Maggie has a nice bit where she works the register (and one particular customer) getting complimented by Marge and the customer. There are some good gags here and there, the standout being Mr. Burns falling for a cardboard cutout of the franchise symbol.

Things go sour when Cletus and Brandine open up another franchise store for the same company, using their multitude of children as cheap labor to stay open around the clock. Their commercial for the store is disgustingly hilarious! Marge finally manages to salvage things and they close the shop without too much trouble.

This is well worth seeing if you currently like the show.

The problem is this episode happened after the release of Bob's Burgers.

I know it's sandwiches instead of burgers but, the whole family working together in the restaurant feels like such a borrowed idea.