Season Two: The Heart and Soul of The Simpsons

Introduction

Although I really enjoyed season one of “The Simpsons”, the show’s introductory year had not been without fault. The writers were clearly trying to determine their focus, and as a result characterisations and plots occasionally wandered into the zone of inconsistent sitcom fare. It didn’t help that the show’s animation process was still in relative infancy, with quite a few model and lip-synching errors. Fortunately, Season Two changed all that. Opening to the programme’s biggest ratings ever (for “Bart Gets An F”), the second year of “The Simpsons” marked its transformation into a television juggernaut. Ironing out previous flaws, the small but determined writing team churned out hit after hit after hit, notably increasing the humour quotient but retaining the series’ depth and intelligence. Instead of assuming that the viewers needed a gag every two seconds to maintain their attention, a lot of time was expended into lovingly developing the titular family and their universe, producing many of the show’s funniest, most memorable and most moving moments.

Episode List
(Highlights in bold, lowlights in italics)

1) Bart Gets An F; 2) Simpson and Delilah; 3) Treehouse of Horror; 4) Two Cars In Every Garage and Three Eyes On Every Fish; 5) Dancin’ Homer; 6) Dead Putting Society; 7) Bart Vs. Thanksgiving; 8) Bart The Daredevil; 9) Itchy & Scratchy & Marge; 10) Bart Gets Hits By A Car; 11) One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish; 12) The Way We Was; 13) Homer Vs Lisa and the Eighth Commandment; 14) Principal Charming; 15) Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?; 16) Bart’s Dog Gets An F; 17) Old Money; 18) Brush With Greatness; 19) Lisa’s Substitute; 20) The War of The Simpsons; 21) Three Men and A Comic Book; 22) Blood Feud

Brief Discussion

In general, I think you can get a barometer for your feelings on these episodes by seeing what comes to mind when someone says “The Simpsons”. If your preference is for the more surreal, rapid-fire joke style, season two will likely be a disappointment. Although I certainly have an appreciation for the later seasons (well, some of them), in terms of consummate good writing (humour + plot + characterisation), the show never topped the period between season two and season four. Simply put, what’s presented here is far more sophisticated than the bulk of the series, and as such requires a deeper level of viewer engagement to enjoy. The jokes are there, but they’re witty, good-natured and come from an implicit understanding of who the characters are, rather than abstract craziness. Likewise, there’s some quality satire, but it’s subtle and clever rather than cheap finger pointing. All I can say is that as a viewer, I want to be emotionally involved with what’s going on, and I want to think about the plots, characters and themes I am being presented with. Season Two does that for me in abundance, and as such I find it one of the peaks of “The Simpsons” – and television in general. I strongly recommend this box set, but bear in mind that your mileage may vary.

Detailed Discussion

Much like season one, season two of “The Simpsons” is heavily grounded in exploring what it meant to be a middle class American family at the turn of the nineties. While the lovable buffoon Homer (voiced by Dan Castelanetta) toils at a nuclear power plant to keep his family afloat, his wife Marge (Julie Kavner) keeps house and looks after their baby daughter Maggie. The Simpson brood is rounded off by ten-year-old Bart (Nancy Cartwright), who’s an “underachiever… and proud of it”, and eight-year-old Lisa (Yeardley Smith), who is supremely gifted but ignored by pretty much everyone.

With the characters having been established in fairly sketchy form during season one, the show’s second year is dedicated to fully fleshing them out. Excellently, the quality of writing is such that even when the characters are behaving in unpleasant ways, the audience can understand their motivations; they’re three-dimensional and complex rather than the flat joke-mules they would decompose to in later seasons.

Take Homer, for example. “Simpson and Delilah” shows us that Homer’s workplace failings are more from a lack of self-confidence than anything else, while “Dead Putting Society” paints him as a malicious monster yet makes his jealousy of neighbour Ned Flanders completely understandable. Even though he’s written to be noticeably more aggressive and boorish, he’s always likeable, and comes through for his family in the end (“Homer Vs Lisa and the Eighth Commandment”). Then there’s the excellent “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?”, which has a great guest turn from Danny DeVito as Homer’s long-lost half-brother Herb, who happens to be a millionaire. There are some interesting dynamics shown between Homer and Herb, and the interactions between Homer and his father suggest that his parenting faults stem from having an uncaring dad himself.

Bart was undoubtedly the main focus of the show in the early seasons, but proves that he deserved the attention in a lot of strong episodes. “Bart Gets An F”, “Bart Vs Thanksgiving” and “Bart The Daredevil” show his rebellious side well balanced with that of a fundamentally good kid, while “Bart’s Dog Gets An F” is a cute tale of a boy and his pet despite its deus ex machina ending. The character is continually fun to watch, his different qualities displayed enough to make him stand up to repeated and extensive examinations.

Even the usually ignored Marge gets a chance to shine, and is given some of her best material. “Itchy & Scratchy & Marge” is an excellent meta-commentary on the influence of TV on children, echoing real-life concern over “The Simpsons” itself, while “Brush With Greatness” sees her holding her own against Springfield’s face of evil, power plant boss Charles Montgomery Burns. Yet her single coolest moment comes in the phenomenal “Two Cars In Every Garage and Three Eyes On Every Fish”, an intelligent satire of the American political process that sees Marge giving Burns a surprise that instantly demolishes his campaign for governor. Throw in the truly lovely flashback episode “The Way We Was” (showing how Homer and Marge met and fell in love), and you have a full house of quality for the Simpson matriarch.

Little Lisa goes fairly ignored for most of the season, but her shining moment arrives in “Lisa’s Substitute”, which is one of the best episodes of the series. A lot of people characterise it as being about Lisa getting a crush on a substitute teacher, but doing so misses the point somewhat. The episode starts with Lisa’s teacher Miss Hoover taking sick leave, and the charismatic Mr. Bergstrom (unforgettably voiced by Dustin Hoffman) takes her place. For the first time, Lisa meets someone who truly understands and respects the person she is, and responds with a mixture of feelings incorporating a pre-teen crush, and a desperate need for the paternal attention she rarely receives from her father (hence the real meaning of the “Substitute” in the title). The episode climaxes in a beautifully written train station goodbye, which sees Mr Bergstrom giving Lisa a note containing something she should never forget. He departs, leaving her alone to open it: “You are Lisa Simpson”. It’s so simple, yet beautifully profound, and the single most moving moment in the series. The ending is equally lovely, diving right to the core of who Lisa and Homer are before reconciling the estranged pair and concluding strongly.

Although the majority of the episodes are stellar, a few strike me as being weaker. “Dancin’ Homer” has a novel narrative structure with its story being told retroactively, but the plot moves slowly and lacks an engaging hook, while “War of The Simpsons” is an unneeded ‘marriage crisis’ episode. Feeling like a season one holdover, this edition fails to provide a compelling story, painting Homer and Marge as one-dimensional and seeming odd when the series had gone to great lengths to show the enduring strength of their relationship. “Bart Gets Hit By A Car” is also a little flawed, with some great satire on the ‘sue everyone’ legal system bizarrely turning into a Homer/Marge tale in its last three minutes before resolving in a predictable manner.

DVD Extras

The season’s 22 episodes are presented attractively across four discs. However, I do have a minor gripe – the box set folds out as opposed to having a flipbook structure. While this in itself is not an issue, I have found that one of my disc holders fails to do its job, meaning that a DVD comes loose every time I open or close the set up – making it vulnerable to scratches or other damage. A mini-episode guide booklet is also provided, giving fairly detailed explanations of the plots that you may want to avoid if you’ve yet to see the episodes.

As for the on-DVD additions, I was a little annoyed by their main layouts. The menu screen requires you to press your DVD remote’s ‘select’ (or equivalent) button three times before it displays the episode list, which is grating if you’re like me and watch one or two at a time rather than all at once. I would also have appreciated a ‘play all’ feature. However, the menus are easy to navigate and clear visually, making this a minor gripe.

All 22 episodes come with commentaries (accessible through the language options on each episode’s sub-menu). I found these to be an improvement on those provided on the season one set, but once again, the 12-year gulf between the creation of the episodes and the recording of the commentaries is evident. In general, I enjoyed the talks on my favourite episodes the most, but this was more due to my increased investment and interest in those editions as opposed to the actual level of information given. Other extras include picture galleries, examples of storyboards, a couple of obvious cash-in music videos (with Bart ‘rapping’), and brief interviews from 1990-1991 with show creator Matt Groening and David Silverman, who is heavily involved with the series’ art process. Both provide some nice snippets of info, and you also get to laugh at their amusing post-eighties hair and clothes.

Conclusions

If season one was the year that established the bare bones of “The Simpsons”, the second year provided the show with its heart and soul. I am honestly incredibly impressed by the finesse in which “The Simpsons” was able to ground its witty quips with real, believable plots and characters you could truly care about, and each one of the 22 episodes here makes its mark. Although there is an almost inevitable variation in quality from edition to edition, the season is consistently strong, never dropping below ‘good’ and attaining some truly stunning peaks. It was the year that made “The Simpsons” a cultural phenomenon, and rightfully so. As such, I’m happy to rate it with five fully earned stars – roll on season three!

***
"The Simpsons" On DVD:
Season One; Season Two; Season Three; Season Four; Season Five; Season Six; Season Seven; Season Eight; Season Nine; Season Ten