Review: Papa Don't Leech

April 13th - Papa Don't Leech

Season 19 Episode 16 [KABF09] 

*Warning: Contains spoilers.

The Simpsons returned this week after taking last Sunday off. According to The Hollywood Reporter, 6.9 million people watched this episode. In my opinion, The Debarted was the last good episode this season. This episode is probably on the same level as the previous episode from this season, Smoke on the Daughter. My expectations for new episodes haven't been very high in a long time. I'm sad to say this episode did not break any ruts.

When Homer smothered Abe with his hand to kill him, I was a bit shocked. It seemed really out of character to me. I know Homer always acted spiteful against Grandpa Simpson, but killing your own dad? That's gotta be a new low. And then Homer woke up. What a surprise. Not funny at all, seriously, writers. I will admit that when they showed Patty and Selma in the car that ran Homer and Abe off the road, I laughed out loud. Haha, typical Patty and Selma. I almost laughed at how the car kept falling and Abe keeps yelling "Ah, no! We're gonna die!" Abe's voice was tickling my funny bone. I also couldn't help but laugh when FEMA scammed Springfield out of $25,000. I wasn't expecting that at all, haha!

Simpsons songs have been pretty catchy for the most part. The new song sung by Lurleen, her dad, and the Simpsons family in this episode was not as catchy, but I still think it was a pretty good song. When Lisa sang "I'm reading Harry Potter" I cracked up for a moment. "And here comes Grandpa with an otter" was funny too.

Easily the funniest part for me was when Homer, Bart, and Lisa were at the carnival photobooth. "Daddy's special pair." Oh man, that killed me.

The Dixie Chicks follows a long string of famous Simpsons guest stars in this episode. However, all jokes involving them were pretty lame. The show basically went south after their debut. 

Something interesting happened while I was writing this review of the episode. Right after I finished watching it the first time, I thought the episode was a C, but after watching the episode two more times I realized there are many parts that I found funny. So I'm raising the grade to a B-. The beginning part when Homer kills Abe really left a bad taste in my mouth, but I can forgive the occasional tasteless joke (hell, Family Guy and South Park do it all the time). 

Grade: B-