This The Simpsons review contains spoilers.
The Simpsons Season 33 Episode 5
The lingering shadow of The Devil’s Tower is actually felt at Dr. Hibbert’s office, where we learn the long-abandoned ride was infested with longer-festering bacterial dangers which have to be taken care of with a four week regimen of intensive steroid intake. Steroids mean two things to growing bodies, they are associated with bodybuilding, but actually cause extreme weight gain. While Bart goes off on what seems to be a fun ‘roid rage trip, Lisa’s rage turns inward and comes out as a very public tantrum.
It is somewhat incongruous that the limiting beliefs which cloud Lisa’s self-esteem come from Marge. She has always been the most accepting and enabling character in the household, and at first it might even seem like she is still doing this, as Marge is blissfully ignorant to what her words mean to Lisa. But it also gives those words, and that parental disappointment, more emotional punch, because it is coming from the most nurturing parent.
Marge singsongs how Lisa is getting a little “chunky,” and the word gets stuck in her head. Chunky used to be a chocolate bar, but now it is a concrete barrier to self-acceptance. Lisa experiences a Simpsons standby, the obsessive repetition found in every conversation about the very thing which is driving the character to distraction. It is a well-used short fuse for detonation. “Chunky” comes out of every mouth, replacing even Nelson’s “haw haw,” until Lisa causes a scene at the mall.
“When the world hurts your feelings, and on certain words you tend to dwell. Live life like your aunties, and tell those jerks to go to hell,” the Bouvier sisters sing to the tune of “The Age of Aquarius,” and Lisa joins the age of who gives a crap? It is exactly the answer The Simpsons should be giving, and Lisa’s takeaway is perfection. She feels a lot better about herself and much worse about everyone else. The sequence is the high point of the episode, and a testament to Julie Kavner’s versatile vocalizations. With the three characters, she captures a wide emotional range, and is both villain and hero, insensitive and empathetic, contradictory and healing.
Kavner inflects each of these many traits into all the voices. Patty and Selma are obviously insensitive. They’re singing about not giving a crap while dismantling a park. But they are also giving Lisa exactly the kind of emotional support she needs. It is an excellent use of the Bouvier families’ talents. Even Marge’s mother gets into the act, as the first destructive voice to bring disharmony and misunderstanding to Marge, but which also provides the empathic puzzle piece she needs to understand her daughter.
Bart’s education is similar, but slightly sadder because it comes from a place of mischief and mayhem. He lives the dream of being accepted by his tormentors, and even learns valuable street lessons like how you’re supposed to insult cops, because they expect it and respect it. He also learns that pubes are any new hair growth. But sadly he also learns he’s still a kid, and when he crawls out the window away from the cool, bully kids, he’s actually crawling away from maturity. Good for him. Nothing swoll can last.
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The episode was not without its silly asides. Principal Skinner’s standoff with the praying mantises is good for a chuckle, as is the revelation that Jimbo and the gang’s weight room used to be a padded cell for left-handed students. Marge’s reaction to Luann Van Houton enthusing over how similar the two of them are is also a great underhandedly wicked retort: “are we, though?” It is not exactly in character, but it is very satisfying.
The hypnotherapist, Dr. Wendy Sage, voiced by Renee Ridgeley, actually provides the strongest non-verbal message. She is obviously a breast cancer survivor who has taken control of how she defines herself, proudly uni-boob, which is subliminally as effective as her spinny thing. The hypnosis session itself breaks the walls between Lisa and Marge, but this time it’s their attitude which could use adjustment, having nothing to do with body issues. Lisa thinks hypnosis is a little “woo-woo,” scientifically, and the word which has been lodged so uncomfortably in Sage’s subconscious is “quack.” This has two meanings as well. It is the word skeptics use to describe the wacky world of mental health professionals, but it’s also the thing hypnotists are supposed to make their clients do after the most clichéd sessions. This makes her as universal a victim of bad words as any major character.
