Doctor Who - "Into the Dalek"

Is the Doctor a good man?

This is the question our newly regenerated Doctor wrestles with through-out "Into the Dalek", and it's what the episode suggests will be a major running theme through the rest of the season. It's a question that the series has long dabbled in - after all, until "The Day of the Doctor", we were dealing with a protagonist who wiped out his entire species - and yet, the question has always more or less been settled on a hard "yes". This isn't to say that the series hasn't questioned the Doctor's true morality from time to time. Sure, there was the time war and the 10th Doctor losing his shit in "The Waters of Mars" and basically the entirety of Christopher Eccelson's run on the show, but even in its darkest moments, Doctor Who has more or less come down on the side of "yes" when it was forced to answer the above question. The most recent Doctors, despite having a fair amount of darkness pent up inside them, were figures that we could generally root for without having to question it much. The 12th Doctor, while not exactly a villain, is proving to be a figure that's more comfortable with his dark side, which makes him a figure that's a bit more skeptical of the idea of the Doctor as an all-saving prophet that brings good wherever he goes, even if he occasionally has to take questionable measures to get there.

So our current answer to the question of whether the Doctor is a good man or not is "I don't know", as Clara put it, but I imagine by the end of this Doctor's reign we may get a more definitive answer. If the 11th Doctor's era was focused on the mystery and specter of the Doctor, analyzing who he was and where he came from and the way he can have the people surrounding him give birth to a timelord baby that they've met several times already, then the 12th Doctor's era seems to be focused on analyzing his mind - what's in it, how it works, and most importantly, what it's capable of. And who better to help us do that then the Doctor's mortal enemies?

The fact that "Into the Dalek" actually remembers the connection between the Doctor and his Daleks, the fact that they hate each other because they're polar opposites but also because they're alike in so many ways, already makes it one of the new series' best use of the classic villains. Aside from the excellent "Dalek" way back in Season 1 (which this episode shares more than a few similarities with), most of the Dalek adventures in the new series treat them too much like typical bad guys, setting them up on a repetitive plot cycle - the Daleks invade somewhere, the Doctor fights them off, they go away. "Into the Dalek" smartly breaks this cycle by taking a single Dalek and jumping into it, in much of the same way we're meant to be jumping into the Doctor's mind through-out the entire episode. "Into the Dalek" takes the parallels between the Doctor and the Daleks and puts them right there in front of us. It might be too much if it wasn't so effective - the idea that the Doctor himself could make "a good Dalek" feels kind of earth-shattering, even if it's something we already kind of know. It's an interesting question not just of Doctor Who's built-in psych but of the morality of sci-fi and superhero adventures in general - we root for our heroes because we see them as the good guys, but aren't we really supporting them for doing the exact same thing the villains are doing?

All of this ties very nicely into the "soldier" runner, which extends from new character (and, assumingly, future TARDIS ride-along) Danny Pink to this week's gaggle of doomed zombies (every time the show introduces us to a group that the Doctor will be assisting for the episode, I immediately weep a little bit for them). Moffat hate may be super trendy on the internet right now, but "Into the Dalek" demonstrates some of the genius of a Moffat script (that, to be fair, he shared with Phil Ford), where he juggles a million balls in the air then somehow manages to tie them all together in a way that fits in a way that you would've never guessed. This is a skill that he seemed to lose somewhere around the end of the 6th season/beginning of the 7th season, so seeing it back here gives me a lot of hope for the rest of the season. And on a closing note - how great are Clara and 12 together?! They're like "Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy, Doctor Who edition". "Deep Breath" was a fairly solid start, but after "Into the Dalek" I feel extremely comfortable about where we're headed this season. Don't let me down, Peter Capaldi. 

Pilot Review: "Selfie" on ABC

 

So for whatever reason, the pilots for two upcoming comedies - ABC's "Selfie" and NBC's "A to Z" - have been posted online a month ahead of their premiere dates. Why? I have no idea! But I figured while they're here, I might as well review them, because we might as well get this shit out of the way as soon as we can!

Okay, that's not really fair. Comedy pilots are rough, and I wouldn't be surprised if even the worst of this years' crop turned into a really great show at some point. But the state of network comedy has been fairly disappointing in the past few years, so I'm having a hard time working up optimism for this years' batch of new shows. Especially when it includes a show that is titled Bad Judge.

But here we go! Since it's hard to get anything too insightful from a pilot, I'll be reviewing my pilots this year with a template that covers most of the basics and addresses whether I think they're worth tuning into again.

Selfie

ABC, Tuesdays at 8:00 PM E.T.

Who's involved? "Selfie" was one of my more anticipated pilots this fall, mostly because Karen Gillan and John Cho are both high-quality individuals and Emily Kapnek created Suburgatory, which was a pretty good show that could've been a great show if it didn't try so hard to fit into the mold of a family network comedy. Generally, my rule with pilots is that the people working on it are often just as important as what's on the screen, because a pilot is rarely a good example of the potential of what the people working on it are capable of. Now, sometimes, this rule steers me very wrong. (Remember Up All Night?!) But other times, getting a bunch of talented people in a room together is enough to make a show at least worthwhile, once all of the quirks are worked out.

What's it about? "Selfie" has been sold as a modern day "My Fair Lady" (or, more recently, "Pygmalion"), where John Cho's Henry attempts to take vapid, social media-obsessed Eliza Dooley (Gillan) and transform her into a person that's actually...not awful? And worthy of being loved? It's kind of shallow premise, and I don't think the "My Fair Lady" template has enough of a modern spin to fully land. But at least the show actually has a premise, and seems to want to be about something more than just "look at these silly people hanging out together!". There's also the potential for this to eventually develop into a pretty solid workplace comedy, as the company that Eliza and Henry work for seems to have plenty of comedy to mine, and there's some potentially interesting supporting characters hanging around the margins.

Is it any good? The pilot itself is...not very good, no. There are parts of it that are kind of amusing, and there's plenty of nuggets inside the show that could turn into something worthwhile, but it seems deliberately off-putting at points, and its strong reliance on social media trends of the moment make it feel instantly dated. There's a handful of internet memes from the not-too-distant past referenced that already feel more like throwbacks than current references (Flappy Bird was the biggest offender, along with the phrase "epic fail") that demonstrate some of the problems with doing a show so heavily influenced by social media trends: what was relevant when this script was written or even going into production are going to feel dated by the time this is airing. It also doesn't help that the shows' view on social media sometimes borders on "get off my lawn" territory - sure, there's plenty of annoying people on Instagram, but boiling the entire trend of the internet and social networking to shallow, vapid catchphrases feels quite reductive. That said, there are parts of this pilot that unquestionably work. Karen Gillan and John Cho have really solid chemistry, and while neither of their characters are fully formed yet (and Gillan's character needs to be toned down a few notches), it's not hard to see both the actors and the writers figuring them out to the point where watching them interact will be a real treat. And while the "let's make this shallow person have a big heart!" premise is groan-worthy, the show seems to be aiming for a more interesting "these people are both flawed and will help each other grow into better people" route, particularly by the end of the pilot. The key to Selfie's success will be if it can tone down its grating and shallow "social media is so vapid and people like Eliza Dooley need to be fixed!" side and highlight the smaller, intricate details about these two people that exist in spades. I'm not sure if they're up to the task yet, but I really hope they are, because this one features a lot of talent that's far too good to be wasted.

Will I be watching again? This is one I'd like to keep an eye on for a few weeks, until it becomes clear what, exactly, it's setting out to do. I'll watch at least a few more episodes, maybe just for Gillan and Cho alone.

A brief word about the Emmys

I don't really have too much to say about the Emmys, but being a TV blogger (of sorts) I figured I should at least address their existence. The Emmys are perhaps the most continuously disappointing of all of the major award shows - the Oscars can be maddening but at least have an element of spectacle to them, the Golden Globes are little more than a boozy fiasco and the Grammys don't really give a shit about anything. But the Emmys have an aura of wanting to matter and wanting to be this grand celebration of the art of television, but they always fall short. Their winners usually feel a few years dated, the ceremony itself often seems like it doesn't know what to do with itself, and there's just an overall "meh" feeling to the entire event that's hard to shake.

Part of this is that the TV academy, despite how far television has come, still seems to have an inferiority complex with film. It was hard not to let Seth Meyers' joke about TV being the mistress and film being the date you take to dinner cast an aura on the entire night, where the best television that aired in the past year, if it was even nominated, was mostly ignored in favor of old stalwarts. Don't get me wrong - I love Breaking Bad, I love Julia-Louis Dreyfus, and I can respect that a lot of people still passionately adore Modern Family for some reason, but all of them have been showered with so many awards that it just seems like getting together to shower them with some more is wholly unnecessary. This is why, more than ever, I really wish the Academy would consider a "one and done" rule for the Emmys. It might help to get them out of the rut they're in and need to be brought out of. Television is changing and evolving - it's spanning across different mediums and platforms now and it's being watched in new and interesting ways. It's being taken slightly more seriously than it ever has been before, and it's no longer seen as the boozy mistress to film's classy evening date anymore. (It never actually was that, by the way). It's time that we had an awards show that actually celebrated what television is now, rather than what it was 20 years ago, or what it is in the mind of out-of-touch Emmy voters. The Oscars are far, far, far from perfect, but they at least feel like they're celebrating film in a way that the Emmys don't.

Every year around nomination season, we hear things about how certain shows aren't "Emmy material". "Oh, The Americans isn't the type of show the Emmys usually go for." "Sure, Broad City is great, but it's way too niche for Academy recognition". "We all love Community or Parks and Rec or It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia or The Middle or Review or Nathan for You, but it's not just going to get nominated because it's just....you know, not an Emmy show". But why? Why can't we actually just honor great television instead of only recognizing shows that fit a specific and reductive mold? We don't need the Emmys to tell us what television is great, but having a night where we can all get together and actually celebrate the best of television is something that would be nice. Maybe one day it'll happen. Until then, let's all just sit back and watch Sofia Vergara rotate on a car platform, I guess.

Doctor Who - "Deep Breath"

 

"Here we go again."

After many months, countless hours of speculation, tons of Moffat complaining and so many pointless Tumblr wars, Doctor Who has returned with a brand new doctor at the helm. Peter Capaldi is now portraying the 12th doctor, replacing Matt Smith's widely beloved portrayal of 11. And as fantastic as Matt Smith was in the role...damn, is Peter Capaldi good.

Capaldi pretty much nails the Doctor right from the start, and why shouldn't he? He possesses just the right mix of comedy, drama and outright terror that's required for the role, and he also puts just enough anger to make you believe that this truly is a wearier, more world-weary version of the Doctor than we've been accustomed to lately. The 12th Doctor jumps from a lovable, sarcastic goofball to a genuinely terrifying force in a moments' notice, and Capaldi completely nails what could be a difficult transition. Sometimes it takes a few episodes for an actor to completely settle into their new role as the Doctor, but Capaldi's 12 already feels nearly fully-formed. He's a mysterious incarnation, someone who is far less earnest and trustworthy than his immediate predecessors and more obviously carries the weight of his past on his back. I'm incredibly excited to see where he's going to take us from here.

And I'm even more excited knowing that he has a solid companion by his side. Clara's half-season with Matt Smith last year was something of a letdown - it had some incredibly enjoyable episodes, sure, and the 50th anniversary special remains a high point of the new series, but Clara and 11 weren't given enough time to properly click, and the show became too obsessed with the mystery behind the character that it lost sight of who the character actually was. As such, "Deep Breath" feels like a quasi-reboot of the Clara character, presenting her as a confident control freak that holds a lot of trust in the Doctor but isn't afraid to call him out on his shit. This contrasts nicely with the 12th Doctor, and it results in a dynamic that already feels natural and is a complete joy to watch even in its nascent stages. Jenna Coleman is also given some of Clara's weightest material yet, particularly during the several times where she suspects the Doctor has abandoned her. Sure, we all know the Doctor didn't actually abandon her, but the way Coleman plays the scenes allows us to completely feel her pain. It's always been clear that Coleman was better than a lot of the material she was being given, and it's nice to see her talents finally being properly rewarded here.

Capaldi and Coleman's strengths managed to hold together a script that was mostly pretty strong but also sort of faltered at times, particularly when the show felt the need to call attention to the fact that Capaldi is, yes, older. I get that a lot of Doctor Who fans are used to young, pretty faces and that the show probably needed to make those fans comfortable with Capaldi, but having Madame Vastra practically look at the camera and address them felt a bit too on-the-nose. (It also didn't help that Vastra, Jenny and Strax didn't really serve that much of a purpose in the episode outside of those scenes and maybe to provide more of a bridge between the last Doctor and this one). Besides, all the show really needed to comfort those fans was that excellent Matt Smith cameo, which did a fantastic job of explaining just what's a little bit different about 12 and also put a perfect bow on his time on the show. That scene nearly single-handedly made an episode that occasionally felt a little bit all over the place snap into focus, and it made me appreciate the episodes' somewhat languid pace and darkened tone. This is going to be a different show than it was before, so if this episode wasn't quite the sweeping adventure that "The Eleventh Hour" was, it's not supposed to be. This is a different Doctor, a Doctor who's a little bit more serious and a little bit more contemplative. With a great actor and a newly strong companion to help him along the way, I'm excited to see just how this all ends up.

THERE'S A SIMPSONS MARATHON ON TV WHY AREN'T YOU ALL WATCHING

 

Everyone! EVERYONE! There's a Simpsons marathon on TV right now! They're showing EVERY SINGLE EPISODE. Go watch! What? Why aren't you watching?

What's that? You've NEVER WATCHED The Simpsons? Who are you?! Are you a member of this planet? Oh, what's that? You were born in the '90s and didn't come of age until The Simpsons was already past its prime? That's no excuse! So was I, but reruns and the internet existed, dummy! Go, educate yourself on The Simpsons right this very second! It's the greatest animated show of all-time - no, the greatest sitcom of all time....no, the greatest television show of all time. And right now the marathon is only on Season 3! You've already missed so much, but there's still six more of the greatest comedy seasons of all-time that will help educate you as to why The Simpsons is, indeed, one of the grandest achievements of mankind. You might be laughing. You might think I'm not being serious. But here's the thing, I am being completely serious. As you might have gathered, I'm a big fan of the art of television, and The Simpsons is a show that demonstrates everything television can be. It's hilarious, it's heartwarming, it has perfectly sculpted characters that reflect society at large, it cuts down to the bone of what it means to be a human being while simultaneously throwing out silly gags that involve a man getting hit in the face with a rake...it is, in other words, everything you could ever want a television show to be. And yes, the show hasn't achieved these heights since the turn of the millennium, but that doesn't change the fact that there's still hundreds of golden Simpsons episodes that represent the medium of television at its very peak.

Okay, fine, here. I'll give you a list. I know how much you like those. But I'm not just going to rattle off my favorite episodes, not only because it's impossible and changes nearly every day but because it doesn't quite give you a scope of everything the show is truly capable of. Instead, I'm going to break down the types of episodes the show did and give you a few examples of the very best of those episode types, from humor to heartwarming to bizarre pop culture motifs. Let's go!

Humor

First things first...wait, no, stop! Stop singing Iggy Azalea, this is Simpsons time! Anyway, first things first, The Simpsons is fucking hilarious. That goes without saying, but it's hilarious in a way that was so influential that you can watch nearly any comedy that came after it and just feel the Simpsons touch in it. South Park? Arrested Development? 30 Rock? Community? All of these shows used The Simpsons' unprecedented mix of well-crafted jokes, pop culture references, social satire and good, old-fashioned slapstick to hone their own comic styles. Also, I mean, every time I watch an episode of classic Simpsons, I'm left hysterically laughing and quoting said episode for days after. It's just really, really funny, and here are three episodes that perfectly showcase why.

Last Exit to Springfield (Season 4, Episode 17) - Centering around Homer and his fellow plant workers going on strike after Mr. Burns takes away their dental plan Lisa Needs Braces, this episode is often singled out as the single-best episode of The Simpsons. Some of that might be its surprisingly deft take on union politics, but mostly it's because it's a non-stop 22 minutes of perfectly executed gags. From the aforementioned DENTAL PLAN! repetition to Lisa tripping on laughing gas to Homer's brief appearence on Smartline to Grandpa's never-ending story about tying an onion to his belt because it was the style at the time to "and that's the tooth!", this episode gets off the ground running and doesn't stop until the fade to black. If you want an episode where you'll feel at risk of death from laughing so much, this is the one for you.

Cape Feare (Season 5, Episode 2) - An episode that relocates the Simpsons family to a town called Terror Lake to escape Sideshow Bob, "Cape Feare" is notable for just how insane it is - it's basically a collection of extended surrealist sketches that add up to a loose Cape Fear parody. But in that typical Simpsons way, it manages to take that format and turn it into something very specific to the Simpsons family themselves, from Homer accidentally brandishing Bart with a knife while offering him brownies to Bart convincing Sideshow Bob to put on an elaborate H.M.S. Pinafore routine that winds up saving his life. What most people remember this episode for is the famous rake gag, which features Sideshow Bob stepping on rakes for what seems like eternity. That kind of "double down until it's not funny anymore then comes back around to being funny again" humor is prevalent and perfectly done all through this episode, from the rake gag to Sideshow Bob getting run over by the longest parade ever to Homer taking an entire night to learn the name of his new alias. It's a humor styling that can be very easy to become overbearing (looking at you, Family Guy) but "Cape Feare" gets it just right enough to make it one of the funniest episodes of television ever.

King-Sized Homer (Season 7, Episode 7) - King-Sized Homer takes a simple premise - what if Homer Simpson got even fatter? - and turns it into a thing of beauty. Sure, Homer trying to become clinically obese just to have an excuse to work on medical leave is a funny premise in an of itself, but the specifics that the show adds to it are what make King-Sized Homer one of the shows' most memorable outings. Not only is Homer not ridiculously overweight, he's wearing a mumu and spends a significant part of the episode driving an ice cream truck. Not only is he working from home, he's pressing a button on a computer over and over again and is so lazy that he winds up using a toy to press it for him. And in a plot development that demonstrates The Simpsons' impeccable ability to build up the stakes, Homer's laziness winds up almost causing a nuclear explosion. All of this makes King-Sized Homer such a delight, but also...Homer wears a mumu!

Sweetness

Going for an "aww" moment is extremely difficult to do without seeming overly saccharine or pandering. And yet, The Simpsons managed to do it on a regular basis, because deep within the core of the series is a true, strong love between its core characters. That love is what kept the show together even as its humor was going into uncharted and outlandish territory, and it's part of what makes The Simpsons more than just a funny comedy, but also a genuinely earnest look into everyday American life.

Lisa's First Word (Season 4, Episode 10) - Lisa's First Word is a flashback episode centering around Lisa and Bart's early childhood years, and it's in those flashback episodes that The Simpsons often went to its sweetest places. They provided a down-to-earth, family-centric vibe that's often rarely seen on television, as if a bunch of people really were just getting together and reminiscing with each other. Lisa's First Word is a sweet Bart and Lisa episode that documents Bart's struggle to adjust to a new sibling in his life, but it also turns into a surprisingly sweet Maggie-centric episode when Maggie utters her first word at the episode's end: "daddy" (famously voiced by Elizabeth Taylor). Lisa's First Word was, all in all, an episode that really celebrated family love, even through the rough patches.

The Last Temptation of Homer (Season 5, Episode 9) - Homer and Marge had plenty of marital troubles, but one of the most memorable was when Homer feared he was falling in love with a new co-worker, Mindy. Mindy seems to be the perfect woman for Homer - she's lazy, crude, and loves donuts. For a while, it seems like Marge can't compete. But the episode then turns around and shows us how strong Marge and Homer's bond really is when Homer ultimately rejects Mindy because he knows that while Mindy may seem alluring, Marge is the one who truly loves him. This episode demonstrates why the character of Homer Simpson works so well - sure, he's kind of a lazy slob, but he's a guy who truly does care about the people he loves under it all. It's that detail that separates a character like Homer from many of the future "lazy husband" knock-off characters that would attempt to recreate his magic after the show became a hit.

And Maggie Makes Three (Season 6, Episode 13) - Another "flashback" episode that recalls the events leading up to Maggie's birth, "And Maggie Makes Three" is a perfect portrayal of a couple whose lives haven't quite turned out how they expected, and who find themselves having to sacrifice some of their dreams at the expense of their children. Sure, Homer's dreams in this episode aren't quite high-reaching (he dreams of being a pin monkey at a bowling alley, because he's Homer) but the episode still addresses what it's like when you realize that your dreams just aren't going to pan out. That sounds horribly depressing, but the episode ends with what might be the all-time sweetest Simpsons moment: completely head over heels over his newborn baby, Homer covers the desk of his dead-end job with pictures of her taped over the message "do it for her".

Emotional Gutpunches

But The Simpsons was capable of being deeply sad at times, too, when it really addressed some of the heavier aspects of its characters that were lying under the surface. These are all episodes that succinctly deal with the tragic side of some of these generally comic characters. Sure, we may spend much of our times laughing at them, but the show wanted them to feel like we knew them and could relate to some of their deeper insecurities.

Lisa's Substitute (Season 2, Episode 19) - The first two seasons of The Simpsons are chock full of earnest moments, as the show hadn't quite discovered its more outlandish side yet and was more focused on being a skewed take on the traditional family sitcom. But of all of those more serious moments, the most memorable is this one, which finds Lisa falling in love with her substitute teacher Mr. Bergstorm. Lisa's fascination with her teacher is rooted in the fact that she sees the loving, fatherly qualities in him that are absent in her own father. When Mr. Bergstorm leaves and Lisa's dissatisfaction with the father figure she's been given come to a head, the episode quickly becomes tense and heartwrenching as Lisa completely loses faith that Homer will ever be the father she really needs. The episode ends on a sweet note with Homer and Lisa sharing an honest moment together, but the brutal fact that Homer can never quite live up to what Lisa needs is still present, and often carry themselves through-out the series. (In defense of Homer, he really does love Lisa a lot, and that often proves to be enough).

A Streetcar Named Marge (Season 4, Episode 2) - This isn't so much a quick gutpunch as it is a steady, slow one where you begin to realize over the course of the episode how Marge really is trapped in a marriage that doesn't allow her to live to her full potential. The episode smartly mirrors A Streetcar Named Desire (the local community play that Marge is starring in) in its story about how Marge struggles to stand out as anything more than just a mother and a wife to Homer. As with Homer and Lisa's relationship, Marge and Homer's marriage is saved by Homer truly loving Marge and understanding that he'll never quite understand everything she needs but promising to try his best anyway. That's more than many marriages, and it's enough to keep Homer and Marge's relationship on steady grounds, even if Marge often finds herself wondering if there's anything more.

Mother Simpson (Season 7, Episode 8) - Here's an episode that helps get to the bottom of why Homer is the way that he is. This episode finds Homer's long-lost mother Mona returning after unexpectedly leaving him and his father when Homer was a child, and it nicely cuts to the bone of some of Homer's issues relating with other people. The way that Homer re-opens himself up to his mother and finding so many of his deep-rooted issues being solved only to have them re-opened when Mona runs off again is deeply unsettling, and the image of Homer sitting on top of his car looking at the stars after watching his mother leave once again (pictured above) is a contender for one of the saddest images ever animated.

Political Satire

Another one of The Simpsons' many talents was skewering the establishment in ways that most shows of its time weren't adept to do in a meaningful manner. The Simpsons still contains some of the most potent political statements of all time, including the following episodes:

Two Cars in Every Garage and Four Eyes on Every Fish (Season 2, Episode 4) - The show's first foray into political satire was also one of its best. After it's discovered that the nuclear waste from his plant has been harming the town's ecosystem when a four-eyes fish is discovered, Mr. Burns decides to run for governor to keep the plant from closing down. The way Mr. Burns is able to sway the residents of Springfield puts the shows' succinct ability to cover mob mentality, and the way Mr. Burns' plan completely fails when he refuses to eat the four-eyed fish is one of the shows' most cathartic endings.

Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington (Season 3, Episode 2) - Following Lisa and her family's trip to Washington DC after winning an essay-writing contest about why she loves America, this episode becomes a story of disillusionment after Lisa witnesses a bribery scandal first-hand. Not only does this episode succinctly showcase the moment when you realize that America isn't quite as clean-cut as you'd been led to believe, it also features one of the shows' greatest and most sarcastic endings, where Lisa's speech manages to convince everyone in Washington DC to stop being corrupt and do the right thing from now on.

Sideshow Bob Roberts (Season 6, Episode 5) - The shows' most upfront example of political satire, Sideshow Bob Roberts tracks the Simpsons mayorial election between Mayor Quimby and Sideshow Bob. Like many episodes, "Sideshow Bob Roberts" takes large-scale events and boils them down to a small-town level, and by doing so manages to present a cutting takedown of the American electoral system. What's great about this episode is how timely it remains even 20 years later, as the figures satirized in this episode are only more prevalent and powerful today. Classic Simpsons episodes are so wide-reaching and such a succinct take on our society that they may never lose their relevancy.

Religious Takedowns

The Simpsons was one of the first shows to openly question religion, and its questioning of Christianity paved the way for shows like South Park to further skew one of the most powerful institutions of American society. Religion-skewering is far more commonplace now, but The Simpsons' religious questionings remain potent because of how, despite how deeply they question beliefs that were once believed to be a necessity, it also acknowledges some of the positive aspects of faith and what draws so many people to it. That allowed the show to tackle religion in a way that was both skeptical and knowledgeable about the material it was covering.

Homer the Heretic (Season 4, Episode 3) - Perhaps the shows' most famous example of religious skepticism, Homer the Heretic finds Homer deciding to stop and wonder "why am I doing this to myself every Sunday?". Sure, part of this is Homer's laziness and his dislike of leaving his bed, but he has a point that resonates with many disillusioned churchgoers: "I'm not a bad guy. I work hard and I love my kids. So why should I spend half my Sunday hearing about how I'm going to hell?". The fact that he says this to God is a great example of how The Simpsons skewered some of the less likable aspects of religion with the parts that draw so many people in.

Bart Sells His Soul (Season 7, Episode 4) - Okay, so maybe this episode doesn't directly deal with religion, but the way Bart goes from being so confident that souls aren't real that he decides to sell it to being convinced that he's turned himself into a monster is a nice way of dealing with how it can feel when you start to realize you're a bit of a non-believer. But the biggest religious message this episode contains is the idea that the soul is real and that it's the connection you have to the people who love you. Lisa "returns" Bart's soul to him physically, technically, but she also does so by showing herself as someone who truly does care about him and his soul. In its own twisted, weird, way, "Bart Sells His Soul" has some of the most potent messages about divinity in the entire series.

Lisa the Skeptic (Season 9, Episode 8) - One of the shows' more cynical takes on religion, Lisa the Skeptic revolves around bones discovered at the digging site of a new shopping mall that are believed to be the bones of an angel. Practical Lisa denies their theory and is outcast for it, but she turns out to be right when it turns out the owners of the shopping mall created the bones themselves as stealth promotion for their mall. As Lisa is outraged that the developers would use peoples' faith to get them to spend money, the townspeople that she's defending despite their treatment of her are too lulled by the spectors of capitalism to give two shits about what's just happened here. The message borders on being too heavy-handed by manages to stay on the right side of the line by also centering around Lisa and Marge's attempts to understand their conflicting viewpoints.

Meta Humor

Long before Community was a twinkle in anybody's eye, The Simpsons was the most reliable source of meta humor on TV. And while it seems unlikely that a small town like Springfield would really be a considerable hub of entertainment, these episodes still demonstrate some of the most powerful in-humor in TV history, which paved the way for shows like Arrested Development, 30 Rock and Community to toy with the concept of self-referencing.

The Front (Season 4, Episode 19) - An episode that centers around Bart and Lisa submitting scripts to Itchy & Scratchy under their grandfather's name, The Front is one of the most meta episodes in TV history. The entire episode is an analysis of what it's like to be in the writers' room of a cartoon, making it full of in-jokes and references that give us a bit of an insight into what it takes to make the greatest comedy show of all-time.

Bart Gets Famous (Season 5, Episode 8) - A story about how Bart stumbles onto the set of Krusty the Klown's TV show and turns himself into a national phenomenon, "Bart Gets Famous" succinctly deals with the rise-fall aspect of celebrity status and how life in the spotlight can be gone before you know it. It also deals with how getting a platform to express your talents inevitably becomes a cycle of monetary schemes and diminishing returns. This deals with how even The Simpsons struggled with the idea of appealing to so many people, and the episode's ending, where each Simpsons character obnoxiously shouts their catchphrase, seems to say "we're no better than the people we're making fun of". But The Simpsons is better than those shows, because they're smart enough to have Lisa rolling her eyes at everyone and muttering "I'll be in my room".

The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show (Season 8, Episode 14) - Constantly referenced whenever a television show makes an unpopular decision, The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show follows the Itchy & Scratchy Show's decision to add a new character named Poochie, voiced by Homer. This episode is an interesting study of the decline of a once-loved television show, which can best be summed up by a Lisa quote from the episode: "there is nothing wrong with the show, it's as good as ever, but after so many years, the characters lose something of their impact." This could reflect how the Simpsons writers themselves felt at the time. Season 8 is still indisputably a classic season, but it was around this time that some of the cracks in the Simpsons framework were beginning to show. Of course, The Simpsons didn't heed their own advice and wound up continuing for at least 18 more seasons after this, but this episode remains an interesting analysis of what happens as a television show begins to lose its luster.

Adolescent Pains

The Simpsons also features some of the most painfully accurate accounts of growing up ever shown on television, mainly because it allowed its kids to actually be kids and learn and grown and make mistakes, instead of portraying them as perfect beings like so many family sitcoms tended to at the time. These episodes best exemplified some of the growing pains that the show would throw their way.

Separate Vocations (Season 3, Episode 18) - This was an episode that took Lisa and Bart's established personalities and swapped them, turning Lisa into a rule-breaking rebel and Bart into a militant rule-following hall monitor. It was a nice way of covering the fact that kids don't always have to stick to their established boxes like they tended to on TV, and although Lisa and Bart eventually return to their natural habitats, watching them experiment with the other side felt more honest than the way most sitcom children of the time were forced to stay in their pre-determined corners of adolesence.

Lemon of Troy (Season 6, Episode 24) - Focusing on the Springfield's kids rivalry with neighboring town Shelbyville's kids, "Lemon of Troy" is a gleeful look into the world and stakes of being a kid, as a simple dispute over a lemon tree becomes what seems like a life or death situation. What makes "Lemon of Troy" truly succeed is the way it sizes itself down to the size of Bart and his friends and makes their seemingly trivial feud into something we all truly begin to root for. The way it eventually involves the adults of Springfield shows us that sometimes it's okay to get into a fight over a lemon tree with the cousin-loving weirdos from the town across the way.

Summer of 4 ft. 2  (Season 7, Episode 25) - Most Simpsons fans could probably relate strongly to Lisa Simpson's childhood, the way that she could never earn the respect of her classmates no matter how hard she tried, and the way that, when offered the opportunity to bring a friend along on the family vacation, she opts for a stuffed animal instead. So when Lisa found acceptance by pretending to be someone else in "Summer of 4 ft. 2", all of those fans probably felt a little piece of themselves being accepted. And when her friends decided they liked her no matter what clothes she wore, those fans probably got a little bit misty-eyed but tried not to tell too many people about it.

Romance

The true heart of The Simpsons is Homer and Marge's marriage, the idea that if someone like Marge could love someone like Homer, then it really is possible to truly see the best in anyone. Their marriage may have been on the rocks many times, but these episodes demonstrated how their marriage was one of the most loving ones ever depicted on television, even through the tribulations.

I Married Marge (Season 3, Episode 12) - What's more romantic than the story of how Homer and Marge originally met? Well, to be fair, Homer and Marge's origin story is not really very romantic at all, considering their wedding was a shotgun wedding after Homer accidentally gets Marge pregnant. But what comes of it is proof that a seemingly bad situation doesn't have to be the end of the world and can, actually, turn it into something beautiful. Homer and Marge's marriage wasn't supposed to happen, but it did, and it wound up being something much more special than anyone could've predicted.

Duffless (Season 4, Episode 16) - This episode is perhaps the best proof that Homer truly does have a deep-rooted love for his wife and family that he prioritizes over everything else. After Homer gets a DUI, Marge persuades him to give up alcohol for a month - just a month, "for her". Homer begrudgingly agrees, but soon finds that he doesn't necessarily need alcohol to be happy and finds enough love and comfort from his wife. The episode ends with Homer ending his alcohol-free month not with a (finally allowed) trip to the bar, but with an evening bike ride with his wife.

El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (Season 8, Episode 9) - This episode probably should've be the end-all of "Homer and Marge have marital problems" plotline. After another embarrassing incident at the local chili tasting festival, Marge storms off and declares herself done with Homer's antics. Simultaneously, Homer has a drug trip on some kind of super fucked up, extremely spicy chilli prepared by Chief Wiggum and embarks on a drug/pepper-fueled quest to find his true love. The episode ends with Homer realizing that Marge is the one for him in a way that is both completely strange and trippy but also deeply honest in a way that makes us buy the bond between Homer and Marge, no matter how unbelievable it seems at times.

So that's it! Are you convinced now? Are you convinced that The Simpsons is truly the greatest television show of all time and you've been missing out on it all of these years? What's that? Oh, you want me to...ugh. Fine. Here are my top 5 episodes, as of this moment, subject to change in like three minutes:

5. Deep Space Homer

4. Bart Sells His Soul

3. Last Exit to Springfield

2. Cape Feare

1. And Maggie Makes Three

ARE YOU HAPPY? I RANKED THEM. Now, please, do yourself a favor. Make your life worth living and watch the Simpsons marathon.