Sunday, December 7, 2014

25 Days of Christmas #5b: "Homer vs. Dignity"

Okay, I'm not going to put a lot of effort into this. Frankly, I almost didn't write this post at all, but it's on my Simpsons Christmas DVD, and I watched it, and there will be some good to come out of this, possibly.


That's right, it's "Homer vs. Dignity," the episode in which Homer is violated by a panda. I really thought I was the problem, at first. I watched a whole lot of these episodes in a marathon, and I thought, during this episode, that I should take a break. I'm glad I didn't -- this would leave an awful taste in my mouth.

So, to sum up, Homer is broke (again), and Smithers is out of town for a while (again), so Mr. Burns hires Homer to take Smithers's place (again). Mr. Burns pays Homer mostly to pull pranks, like the time he apppears naked in the park, shocking an old lady (patterned after Margaret Dumont), or the time he dresses up as a panda, which I think I might have already mentioned.


There's about two minutes of Christmas content in this episode, which involves Homer dressing up as Santa (again). Mr. Burn wants Homer to throw fishguts at the Thanksgiving parade audience, rather than gifts. And, Homer finally makes a halfway good choice. I say halfway good because, though he doesn't accept the money and spoil Santa for everyone, neither does he do anything to stop Mr. Burns.


This is widely regarded as one of the worst Simpsons episodes ever, and I don't think I can argue -- if you want us to believe the heartwarming redemption story, that's one helluva tonal swing from panda rape. (For the record, I don't feel offended by outrageous comedy in general. My dislike for Family Guy is artistic rather than moral or high-minded; it's just not funny after about six minutes. Also, I kinda like the ending of Multiple Maniacs, which I think we can all agree is much more offensive on all levels, even artistically.)

As a Simpsons episode, I rate this 1/10.
As a Christmas show, I rate this 0/10; I was promised a Christmas present, and got fishguts and panda rape instead.


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