23 replies to this topic

[InvaderNorbert]

Season finale time! From SNPP:

Lady Gaga's Gagasense is tingling..."What's that? An eight-year-old girl in Springfield tried to make herself less of a social outcast by posting fake messages on her school's blog, but now she's more unpopular than ever? We'll see about that!"

I hope Lady Gaga turns out to be a fat, bald mental patient this whole time.

ETA: Homer failing at the Wii Couch Gag was funny.

Springfield: Home of Home of the Brass Knuckle, the Nigerian Mail Scheme, Putting a tomato in a grilled cheese sandwich, and the Tomb of the Unknown Mascot.

Milhouse raises a good point about Cars: If gasoline is their food, why do they have teeth?

Lady Gaga was actually fun to watch, although it's odd that a rather weird celebrity on this show actually delivered and WASN'T a fat, bald mental patient this whole time. I liked how her platforms got progressively taller with each appearance. But this all had me thinking, was THIS episode born out of the infamous Prince sequel of Stark Raving Dad? If you aren't familiar with it, Leon Kompowski returns thinking he's Prince and convinces Springfield to be free with their sexuality, but Prince turned it down. Because this whole plot makes total sense if it was.

But I'm afraid Gaga was too much of a Mary Sue, until Lisa called her out on, well, being her. I liked that Lisa thought up her solution to her problem while tuning out Homer like always.

"Now unless you're gonna slap some wieners on them, take that off!" Wow, Flanders.

Well, this episode was better than I expected it to be. Not perfect by a long shot, but I liked it. And so ends another season, see you all in the fall!

Edited by InvaderNorbert, May 20, 2012 @ 7:30 PM.

[alynch]

That was terrible.

[Jyn]

No such luck.

Bart's right -- Lisa shouldn't be surprised that she's the least popular person in school. Although granted, there are kids like Ralph, Milhouse, and Martin in school, so I could sort of see why she was surprised. And she doesn't judge people? Excuse me, but that's all she ever does!

This must be the second time Bart's exposed something unflattering about Lisa, the first being her nerd background in that season finale Christina Ricci guest-starred in.

That said, I hate when she cries. She's always the one to cry over the dumbest things. Homer, Marge, and Bart all cry over things it'd be understandable to cry over, but not Lisa. And of course, she makes someone else cry basically over being more popular than she is.

Homer and Marge had super-hot sex over Hillary winning the NH primaries in '07? I can believe it. Though I laughed at Marge's reaction to kissing Lady Gaga.

On the whole, not a very strong season finale for me. I've seen several better ones.

[TVspectator]

I didn't like this episode ( I do like Lady Gaga but this episode was just horrible). Although, I did like how Lisa was trying to con her way into being popular.

[LTG]

So, on the one hand, there wasn't much actual story here. Basically, one weak 'A' plot, and nothing else. On the other hand, the visual humor around Gaga was top notch. And I was really impressed by her voice acting. (Her psychic trances in particular.) As a Simpsons episode, it was mediocre. As a Gaga animated special, it was excellent.

[JTMacc99]

Yeah, but Moe getting hit by the train was shockingly dark and laugh out loud funny, so I'm good.

[Kaboom]

Homer and Marge had super-hot sex over Hillary winning the NH primaries in '07? I can believe it.

For some reason when Homer referred to this I thought he meant Hillary was so amped from winning the primaries that ole Bill got some super-hot sex that night. From Hillary. D'oh!

On the other hand, the visual humor around Gaga was top notch. And I was really impressed by her voice acting. (Her psychic trances in particular.) As a Simpsons episode, it was mediocre. As a Gaga animated special, it was excellent.

ITA. I'm a Gaga fan so I loved her VO and the crazy visuals around her but as an episode and as a season finale I found it to be just meh.

[LTG]

I forgot the other excellent thing about the episode: "Homerface" sung over the closing credits.

[CantThinkUpName]

Milhouse raises a good point about Cars: If gasoline is their food, why do they have teeth?

The first time I watched <em>Cars</em>, I wondered why they had tongues. I had no idea it was going to be a plot point.

I don't like Lady Gaga, but I thought she did a decent job last night.

EDIT: I just think that I don't like self-important Lisa.

ITA. I'm a Gaga fan so I loved her VO and the crazy visuals around her but as an episode and as a season finale I found it to be just meh.

One of the thing I like about this show is that I don't think it generally pulls out any stops for its season finales. Even guest star heavy finales don't really seem that much different from the guest star heavy shows they generally do, and which luckily they've gone away from in recent seasons. It seemed there was a period when the show about cramming as many guest stars as they could into an episode, and they generally played themselves.

Overall, I left Season 23 with a positive feeling.

Edited by CantThinkUpName, May 22, 2012 @ 12:17 AM.

[Lazlo]

I'm trying to think if they've ever done an episode quite as heavily focused on a celebrity guest character as this. At times Gaga almost felt like the protagonist more than Lisa. That's not exactly a criticism but it did give the episode a weird vibe, like it fell out of an alternate universe.

Suprisingly given the aesop I found a couple of parts pretty mean spirited too like Moe getting hit by the train and Lisa saying she always tunes out Homer when he is advising her.

[JTMacc99]

Moe getting hit by the train was my favorite part.

As Mel Brooks said, "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die."

[TVspectator]

I'm trying to think if they've ever done an episode quite as heavily focused on a celebrity guest character as this. At times Gaga almost felt like the protagonist more than Lisa. That's not exactly a criticism but it did give the episode a weird vibe, like it fell out of an alternate universe.-Lazlo

Here is a weird idea, but what if Gaga was supposed to be the actual main character, for this episode? It could be that in this episode that Gaga was the main character, only because it felt that the Simpson Family (and the rest of Springfield) were secondary characters (also was there ever a B-plot?).

Edited by TVspectator, May 24, 2012 @ 10:23 PM.

[Lazlo]

Here is a weird idea, but what if Gaga was supposed to be the actual main character, for this episode? It could be that in this episode that Gaga was the main character, only because it felt that the Simpson Family (and the rest of Springfield) were secondary characters (also was there ever a B-plot?).

I can actually see that - this felt more like episode Lady Gaga's nonexistant (I assume) cartoon series where our heroine crosses America raising people's esteem and possibly fighting crime.

[TVspectator]

I can actually see that - this felt more like episode Lady Gaga's nonexistant (I assume) cartoon series where our heroine crosses America raising people's esteem and possibly fighting crime-Lazlo

Somebody needs to tell FOX that they should make a Lady Gaga cartoon and that they could use this season finale as its pilot episode.

[RL1]

Terrible episode. I didn't laugh even once.

[Brandi Maxxxx]

Not a fan of the episode as a whole, but cracked up at the part where Homer ended up climbing the wrong tree. Also got some amusement from Bart saying that without award shows, we wouldn't know Glee was a comedy.

[Kel Varnsen]

I actually liked this episode. I am far from being a Lady Gaga fan by I apprecaite any celebrity who is willing to go on the show and totally make fun of themselves. And the train and the ridiculous costume changes and the higher and higher platform shoes were hilarious. Then again I also like New Kids on the Blecch for the same reason. The plot was ok (kind of a take of Moaning Lisa from Season 1), but there were also tons of awesome jokes (which seems to be the way The Simpsons works these days).

Bart's right -- Lisa shouldn't be surprised that she's the least popular person in school. Although granted, there are kids like Ralph, Milhouse, and Martin in school, so I could sort of see why she was surprised. And she doesn't judge people?

I think the difference at least for Ralph and Martin is that they probably have accepted their position in life. Martin knows he is a nerd and is happy with it and isn't going to try and change things. Ralph isn't aware enough to know what is going on, and Milhouse has at least one solid friend (bart). Lisa wants to be liked by everyone which probably hurts her popularity more than Martin, who doesn't care as much. Plus comparing lisa to milhouse she doesn't seem to have any friends at least not as close as milhouse is to bart.

[blackwing]

I'm not a Gaga fan, but I thought her bits were the best part of the episode. The sight gags and the over the top ridiculousness are part of her act, and I thought it translated well onto The Simpsons.

However, Lisa is far and away my least favorite character. There are two kinds of Lisa-centric episodes I don't like: 1) self-righteous and know-it-all Lisa, and 2) sad sack Lisa. I'm not sure which I dislike more, but Sad Sack Lisa is not entertaining in the least.

Best part about the episode for me was "Homer Face". Loved every bit of it. Wish it could have been longer. If they ever release another Simpsons episodes songs CD, I would like a full length version.

I love my Homer Face,
Yeah, that's what I said.
Right where it should be,
On the front of my head.
Double muzzle overbite two eyes that really bug.
These are the components of my Homerific mug!
D'OH! Oh oh oh! OH! oh-oh-oh-oh

[JTMacc99]

It is kind of sad that Lisa doesn't have the one solid friend like Milhouse has in Bart. I wouldn't be against them adding in a recurring character to take on that roll here in the last couple of years. It'll never happen, but I wouldn't be against it.

[Jyn]

Plus comparing lisa to milhouse she doesn't seem to have any friends at least not as close as milhouse is to bart.

Doesn't Lisa at least have Janie? What happened to her?

However, Lisa is far and away my least favorite character. There are two kinds of Lisa-centric episodes I don't like: 1) self-righteous and know-it-all Lisa, and 2) sad sack Lisa. I'm not sure which I dislike more, but Sad Sack Lisa is not entertaining in the least.

Actually, what makes this worse is that this episode combined those two sides of her. She was a sad sack for most of the episode, yes. But her self-righteous, know-it-all side erupted in full force when she went off on Lady Gaga and made her cry.

It's sad, too, because over a decade ago, Lisa was my most favorite of the family. These last several seasons have slowly dragged her down to fighting it out with Bart for being my least favorite.

Edited by Jyn, May 30, 2012 @ 4:09 PM.

[TVspectator]

Doesn't Lisa at least have Janie? What happened to her?-Jyn

All of Lisa's friends have been either too old for her (to be her friend), turns out is crazy and/or stupid, moves away/dies, or are the fair-weather type of friends (like Janie, Sherry, and Terri).

I am surprised that Milhouse didn't come to Lisa's defense when she was voted the most unpopular kid (I was half-expecting Milhouse to be the one posting the good stuff about Lisa).

[beadgirl]

I am surprised that Milhouse didn't come to Lisa's defense when she was voted the most unpopular kid

Class: "Lisa likes Nelson!"
Milhouse: "No she doesn't!"
Class: "Milhouse likes Lisa!"
Janie: "No he doesn't!"
Class: "Janie likes Milhouse!"
Mr. Largo: "Nobody likes Milhouse!"

But the show was different then.

I didn't really like this episode, too much of a love letter to Lady Gaga, but I have to give her props for her voice acting, and I did like Lisa's little rant against her.

[CantThinkUpName]

It's strange. I was thinking today about how much I hate Lisa, and I too don't know which one I hate more- sad sack Lisa or self righteous Lisa. I don't know when the change occurred or who is responsible for it, but at some point the show began to see Lisa as the "right" one. She's always had elements of that in her, but over the past couple of year it's gone overboard to where she's gone from being the "alternative" point of view to being the correct point of view. All of the characters' lives suck (to some extent), but only with Lisa does it seem as though we're supposed to feel bad because of it. At least with Bart's wish fulfillment episodes, there's a level of fun there. But with Lisa's, it's just about being superior to everyone and seeing a world that doesn't conform to your ideas as tragedy. And I get that that might be the point of view of Lisa as an eight year old girl, but is the show actually made for eight year old girls? Would a pre-tween girl be into The Daughter Also Rises? She's like the show's Princess Penelope except it's an entirely wrong demo.

It's also part of the reason I think the bite has been taken out of the show's social/political commentary. Even when it took sides, it used to find the humor in both points of view. Now, they've eliminated that element, as though their first duty is to make their (without getting FOX News-y) left-wing point with comedy incidental to that mission, and Lisa has become their mouthpiece. (I've found Saturday Night Live to suffer from a similar problem.) I always have to think back to how the show handled Lisa The Skeptic in Season 9 compared to The Monkey Suit in Season 17 because I have to believe that if the former episode aired during its current run, we'd lose the hand squeeze ending.

Edited by CantThinkUpName, Jun 10, 2012 @ 6:20 PM.

[Jyn]

I did like Lisa's little rant against her.

Why? I didn't. I thought it only made her look worse. Yes, being the most unpopular must suck and can definitely bring you down. But that gave her no right to bring someone else down along with her. Especially since that someone else had spent a good part of the episode trying to bring her out of that slump.

Not that what she said wasn't true. Just felt empty and hollow coming from her. Had it been from Homer, Marge, or even Bart, it would've weighed more heavily for me.

Class: "Lisa likes Nelson!"
Milhouse: "No she doesn't!"
Class: "Milhouse likes Lisa!"
Janie: "No he doesn't!"
Class: "Janie likes Milhouse!"
Mr. Largo: "Nobody likes Milhouse!"

I see you've seen the cut version of that. They cut out this part of the exchange before Mr. Largo's line:

Uter(sp?): No, she doesn't!
Class: Uter likes Milhouse!