Reviews

Every single scene was perfect for building tension, and did an excellent job of tying up loose ends from the previous three episodes, as well as introducing new plot threads and development for the second half of the season.

This episode is excellent at setting up a high stakes situation - despite only being the third episode, the characters involved already feel fleshed out, which brings a sense of urgency to the problem Jimmy faces.

Jimmy's negotiation skills are very present in this episode, and Tuco again is portrayed very well as a maniac. The drama & high stakes of the opening scene make this a very engaging episode.

This episode does a good job of setting up some characters - but tends to just introduce them rather than developing them as characters. However, Jimmy is developed well, you can see the beginnings of his personality - just that the other characters at the law firm remain out of focus for now.

My rating: 7.6/10.

It always feels like they're following a trend and trying just a little too hard to be funny - and it comes off as focusing a whole episode onto a single concept.

However, this does it better than most. Season 33 has been fairly solid so far, but I am hoping for less of these modern episodes, and more of a return to classic storytelling or brand new ideas.

Overall, this was a pretty good episode to me, but the concept brought it up higher than I'd usually give it. The Simpsons has done this before with "Homer Badman", but I think that it was a good enough twist on the subject to keep it up to date without feeling too contrived or poorly planned.

Overall, Season 33 is currently looking like a bit of a resurgence in the Simpsons - there have been much more solidly good episodes than usual.

The episodes this season have been a lot better than previous seasons, and this is no exception. It's entertaining and a nice Bart & Martin episode, which is always a good pairing.

Again, I dislike how much this show relies upon an "aesthetic" or "cinematography" to convey it's story, rather than acting, situations, or dialogue. However, the plot had some nice conclusions and expanding of the world in this episode, and it was much more passable than previous episodes.

It's gone into its third episode, and the plot hasn't been able to engage me much at all - the only highlights have been the cinematics of it, but when I watch a television programme I expect to be entertained or gripped by the material, not just looking at some artsy camera shots where everybody looks very sad.

I regret my initial 4/10 rating for the Pilot, as I think this is more of a 4/10 episode. This feels like background footage that would play on the television in some depressing movie. It's just not that fun to watch, although the music is nice.

Things can be emotional and still gripping, but this has the student-film aesthetic it hasn't been able to escape yet.

I mean, this is the episode that introduces Nelson. What more do you want?

Besides that, it's also a good story to get development into the season, and it does it very well with the relationship between Bart and several characters, and the premise itself entertained me throughout the episode, with several good jokes throughout it whilst still maintaining a sort of "seriousness" about the army theme it carries.

This episode chooses to focus on development, and it does that very well. The sole storyline that carries throughout the episode really benefits it, rather than having to shove in a B-Plot that may not even get resolved, it dedicates its energy to making one story the best that they can. I think this is a solidly good episode, and definitely one of the best from the "New Simpsons"

Sketch Rating & Ranking:

Weekend Update Pt.1: 9.8/10

Paw Patrol: 9.5/10

Weekend Update Pt.2: 9.4/10

Workplace Harassment Seminar: 9.2/10

Monologue: 9.1/10

Inventing Chloe: 8.8/10

Home Repair Show: 8.6/10

Aerotoilet (Cut for Time): 8.3/10

Aidy's Dream: 7.9/10

Fiction Workshop: 7.7/10

Weary Mother In Her Darkest Hour; Ego Nwodim: 7.5/10

Don't Say Gay; Kate McKinnon: 7/10

Fox News Ukraine Cold Open: 6.5/10

Meatballs: 2/10

Average: 7.95

Several sketches were highlights - the serious political advert about Paw Patrol was one of my favourites, and the Weekend Update quick-fire joke segments were especially good this week. The Workplace Harassment Seminar also was quite well laid out. The monologue was also very good - the videos were especially fun to watch.

However, there were a few middling sketches, like Aidy's Dream & Fiction Workshop that were focused around just one drawn-out joke rather than consistently keeping up the comedy.

The cold open could have done with more tightly packing in jokes, rather than having an eight minute segment, but it had good jokes in there. The only bad sketch I would say is the Meatball sketch, which relied upon one joke but the joke was that it was just "surreal" - not much of an actual joke there. I would have preferred the cut for time sketch to make it to the air.

This, to me, establishes the current dysfunctional family feeling that the Simpsons come to have, whilst still maintaining a side plot that is able to build the world of Springfield, as well as the main characters.

You can tell that the first season is primarily focused on building the world of Springfield, as well as specifically the main family members. I think this episode does that well, although it's not full of comedy like you'd come to expect in later seasons.

This is a good introduction to Bart's character that becomes more defined over the following seasons. The plot at points feels a little rushed, but overall it is tightly packed with memorable moments.

It's a heartwarming start to the show, and introduces the characters in a succinct manner. The comedy throughout the episode is maintained, although understated to make room for the more emotion-focused plot.

Well, this was certainly quite a tense episode. In my opinion, I'd say it's one of the strongest, if not the strongest ones of the show. The acting was of course very good, as the actors have been able to settle into their characters more profoundly throughout the seasons, yet this episode seemed to really heighten their performances.

I would say that one particular reaction causing a certain fall on the ground (Spoiler-free), was highly impactful, especially after the tension in the scene surrounding it was finally broken, it was an extremely good piece of acting.

I especially quite liked Skyler's actress in this episode - her emotions were very believable, as well as her body language, it was a highlight of the episode acting-wise for me.

I feel that the atmosphere of this show will turn people off it. It is so melancholy and drab in itself that it seems like a student film where the assignment was "emotional". It looks pretty, but it seems just heavy-handed to me. I found the plot quite engaging for a pilot, and I will continue watching the series.

On the performances, I think that Schafer gave a strong performance where the emotion was quite believable, but Zendaya it just felt like she was acting, rather than watching something that actually happened. It's a little hard to explain, but it came off as that.

The main issue with it is that it's so "different" that it ends up having the same clichés as other series with such subject matter, just in the opposite direction, it felt noticeable how they were trying to avoid them. The script left a little something to be desired.

Despite this, the music was quite lovely, but in my opinion it's a "look at me, I'm sad" show.