This The Simpsons review contains spoilers.
The Simpsons Season 34 Episode 8
After 34 seasons, The Simpsons knows the things which truly unite people: childhood trauma and unregulated slumber parties. “Step Brother from the Same Planet” separates these universal rites of passage into two fully satisfying storylines, each of which land with silly subversion, and serious evasion.
The episode reverts to form in the subplot, Lisa and Bart work together against the greater good. When they team up, there’s nothing they can’t do. In the past, they’ve saved Krusty the Clown from jail, “Itchy and Scratchy” from censors, and Springwart’s School of Magicry from Lord Montymort. Of course, they can throw the ultimate slumber party. “No rules,” Lisa proclaims. “No limits, and dare I say it: no slumbering.”
Sherri and Terri score a great putdown with the “blanket that tattles and kills all joy” assessment, making their overall arc with Lisa that much more effective, and letting them jump on the bed all they want. The party scenes themselves are fun. Millhouse finds his calling as the tactical diversion at the cellphone switchboard, especially when he refers to himself as a fellow parent. Lisa’s inner neediness comes through hysterically in the lollipop addiction, and her dramatic exit drives the point home with sirens blaring. It is also funny that Bart is the one who first tries to slow the ultimate wakeup call.
Irony is the secret sauce to The Simpsons, which celebrates the negatives in order to accessorize the positive. “Step Brother from the Same Planet” makes no attempt to redeem Abe, and allows Lisa her rebel yell. There are a lot of individual laugh lines, not so many gags, and the sadness is humorously weaponized even as it still packs enough heartache to register. The mismatched eyes badly glued on the seashell is a very effective emotional visual which exemplifies the art of contradictory storytelling. It looks silly, sloppy, and unfulfilled, but is actually a perfectly poignant payoff that doesn’t lose sight of the joke.
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