My past posts on The Simpsons have been episodes I think might gems but also not from the early seasons. This one is not that. This one is a controversial episode from season 19. I'm going to remark that season 19 came out in 2007 and 2008. "That 90's Show" aired in January of 2008, and time is important for this post.
This episode doesn't seem to be well liked. I checked IMDB because I wanted to see how people on that site rank the episodes of season 19. This one isn't the lowest rated, but it's in that zone. There's reviews from the episode I found from different places, from the time it aired and it also doesn't seem to be well received.
I'm not going to be saying people wrong or tearing the episode apart, but giving a look and also a look at some context of why this episode isn't beloved. (No, Patrick, it's not because it's a season 19 episode)
One of the biggest things I've seen as something that brings the episode down is the continuity thing. The episode has Bart finding Marge's memory box and the kids find out that Marge went to college, that's not the continuity thing that makes the episode less appealing to Simpsons fans. What does is that Homer mentions that he and Marge were a young couple in the 1990's.
The Simpsons has and is a current show, its main thing is that it takes place in current times (plus the months it takes to make an animated episode). The series started in 1989. (Yes, and earlier with shorts) That's not to say the show can't and hasn't done things that are timeless and feel timeless, but it is also interlinked with times. The show has never really fully locked the characters into the time the series started, since the characters don't really age. We, on the other hand, sadly do.
This episode is a flashback episode, something the show did before this one and did after this one. The difference though, was that a flashback episode about Homer and Marge in The Way We Was (Season 2; Episode 12) from 1992 told a story of Homer and Marge met and fell and love in 1974. Which works for an episode that takes place in 1991-1992. That would be hard to work in for an episode that takes place in 2007-2008 and still have the characters meeting in 1974. Being a network show , and even more at the time this one aired, they wanted a targeted demographic. The broadest part is 18-49. The youngest viewer in that demo, turning 18 would have been born in 1989 or 1990, if they had a January birthday. It would also be coming in when 90's nostalgia was really starting to become a big thing, much like how late 60's/ early 70's nostalgia was in play during the Simpsons' early days.
I don't think the continuity thing hurts the episode, because it is kind of understandable why there would be a 90's flashback in a show that started in the 90's , but was on long enough to where if it had ended earlier, there'd probably had been a 90's nostalgia fueled bring up the show to the point it might have been brought back in the 2010's. I can see how someone would be bothered by the show doing this when the classic stories were the ones that they really attached and loved.
That doesn't mean that the episode is strong. Some of the episode is very much like "HEY IT'S THE 90'S REMEBER THE 90'S!" That's many of the jokes the punchline is the 90's thing. "Heh dial up internet." Homer, Carl, Lenny, and Officer Lou are part of an R&B group, which kind of feels like them going with that time Homer was part of a doo-wop group in the 90's in a flashback episode in the 90's. (stop that) That's kind of a nice touch.
This is how the 90's looked/ Copyright Fox
Homer finds out that Marge applied to college and has gotten accepted and finds out that college is expensive. Homer decides he going to work to help her pay for it and his Dad runs a laser tag spot. Marge goes to college. She also has 'The Rachel' haircut because 90's. Marge has a professor named Stefane August who is like the professors a talk radio host would go after.
Imagine wearing a jacket, sweater, and shirt/ Copyright FOX
The episode, really though, is using the flashback and the 90's to really kind of cover over that it's a basic plot the show has done before in some way. Homer sees the professor and that the man is handsome and that Marge seems to be infatuated on him. Homer gets jealous and maybe he's justified, but it's not an episode that's trying anything new or interesting as a story, except using that hook of the flashback. That actually kind of hurts it more because you really know that Homer and Marge are going to end up together, so whatever happens here in the flashback doesn't matter and doesn't bring anything interesting to the table. Going back to "The Way We Was" , there we also know Homer and Marge are going to get together, but it presents an interesting story about the characters as teens and why Marge ended up liking Homer and why Homer likes Marge.
It uses the 90's as a way to go "Hey I remember that" for the viewers they hope were able to remember 90's things. Hey look it's Seinfeld, Homer is drinking Zima. The plot has Marge feeling stuck between being loyal and loving Homer and probably a crush on the other guy. Even the professor gets in there because he might kind of like Marge. It's not even a very strong episode on the questioning of Homer and Marge's relationship. This is something the show did many times especially around this time. There's a bait episode they did in 2015, that got news coverage, like where the freakin' Washington Post covered it like it was news, that Marge and Homer were going to get divorced. (LOL not really) The lowest gimmick.
So this episode, oh no, Marge might not got with Homer, in flash back. There's not even moments of Homer doing anything wrong to make it where Marge going to someone else could make the viewer work with her, she looks bad here. Homer is working to help her pay for college, he's supported her and so really we should feel bad for him. Then he shows up finding Marge in the professor's office as he chanting at her (that makes more sense in context) and he's confused , she says he's embarrassing her- some how.
Homer feels down and this allows the episode to make a Nirvana and Grunge reference because 90's. He converts his group to a grunge group. Marge and Homer have a fight (oh no! Anyway) because he is angry and bitter in his feelings about Marge and the professor and Marge is mad that he's upset that it seems like she's into the professor. Things are going great.
Homer and Marge break up (oh no! Anyway) Homer's group becomes a popular group in the grunge world. Marge starts to figure out that professor isn't all that interesting either. (He also opposes marriage) Homer becomes addicted to coffee and he's not sad. Also Weird Al! Marge tells the professor is he's a jerk and leaves him and random joke. Marge sees that Homer's latest song is about her, she's touched. I do like his songs this episode.
Back when MTV had News and music videos. and Kurt Loder. The episode remembers, do you? He gives a plot convenient mention of Homer not doing well and addicted to drugs. He's not, he has was addicted to coffee and had insulin injections. Marge did help him and asks him to take her back.
We have to go back/ Copyright FOX
This episode was weak, but not because of the whole 90's continuity thing, it's just an interesting plot of Homer and Mage having a relationship problem. It really does nothing interesting with that. If anything, the 90's flashback stuff doesn't help it. It's just their way of shoving in 90's references and even squishing them together. Like grunge music wasn't very big when Britney Spears was showing up, and, randomly inserting anything 90's they could find. The professor character isn't very interesting or funny. The flashback makes it harder it invest into the story because there's nothing there to make it interesting. I did like Homer's grunge songs, that was kind of fun. Krusty wondering how he's going to get oxygen now was funny, but that was it. I think the flashback and stuff is the only reason why this episode might even have anyone remember it. If you really wanted to see a better story of Homer and Marge having some relationship troubles in the 90's , watch an episode from the 90's.
That's it for now, tune in next time, when we tell you that people born in 1974 can be grand parents now.
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