The Review Nebula

Homer: I did it! I’ve changed the world! Now I know exactly how God feels.
Marge: You want turkey, sausage or ham?
Homer: Bring me two of every animal!
– The appropriate response to blogging, I assume?

Airdate: December 3rd, 2000.

Written By: John Swartzwelder.

Plot: After missing a day off of work because he didn’t receive the email explaining the closure, Homer decides to enter the world of the INTERNET! Some experimenting later, he sets up his own tacky website. Initial slowness is corrected when he begins to report on rumors regarding the events of Springfielders. Aiding his crusade is that he disguises himself as Mr. X. But his fame is fleeting, and when he tries to keep the hits going, he gets in trouble with mysterious forces.

Review:

Well, here it is. The Simpsons episode that caused me to review all 17 episodes of a cult 60s British Spy-Fi show.

Why did I decide to take on that little project? I mean, a lot of people who watched “Computer Wore Menace Shoes” have never seen an episode of The Prisoner before. Some fans, however, have and have expressed joy at The Prisoner. I figured that, as somebody that never watched the series before, I would be able to provide some sort of buildup to this particular episode, create some level of excitement, all while trying to decipher what Mike Scully was getting on about by writing a very direct parody of one of the most cult-like of cult hits in the history of television.

The effects? For one, I finally got to realize what Prisoner fans were banging on about, as the show really is one of the most brilliant that I have ever seen. Even with the passage of fifty years, the advances in storytelling and cinematography that have occurred, and the shifts in geopolitics that we have encountered, the show remains highly relevant, provocative, and downright ingenious. So in that regard, I have to thank Mike Scully for getting me to sit down and watch one of the greatest cult hits of all time.

So with that, we reach the effective (for now) denouement of my Prisoner analysis – the reason why I reviewed that show in the first place. Homer Simpson takes on the Internet!

Oh boy.

Well, let’s begin with this connection. If the 60s marked the era of grand societal reform via the civil rights movement and the entry of the Boomers as a political entity, the 90s threw in a grand technological innovation – the introduction of the Internet. It wasn’t until the back half of the 90s, however, that the internet became more commonplace in the West. Of course, the Internet has gone on to impact virtually every facet of our daily lives – dating, politics, religion, employment, education, shopping, sports, entertainment, you name it.

In that vein, the episode doesn’t have a particularly bad base to start on. Homer enters the Internet age after getting locked out of work because he didn’t receive the email. Turns out, he doesn’t know what the hell e-mail is. (Granted, I find it hard to believe that there was no announcement, it would require Homer to be in full-blown Scully-era stupidity… oh, wait.) One $5000 credit line later, Homer Simpson is the proud owner of a Computer he barely knows how to operate.

Yay? Yeah, the first half of the first act contains vignettes of him learning how the thing works. They range from mildly amusing (“You have the right to remain fabulous!“) to rather moronic (Homer drags his computer behind his car), and even somewhat confusing in terms of tone (Homer praises his website all while Bart laments his uncharacteristic anger issues). It really speaks to how the show used to nail 90% of the comedy for me, and now it’s lucky to get 50%.

Anyway, this flows into the main plot, which, again, has some relevance even twenty years on. Homer wants hits to his website, which starts out as full of copyrighted GIFs and no anonymity. Two changes send his website into the stratosphere. First, he takes up a pseudonym – Mr. X. Second, he relays a rumor about corruption related to the use of public funds for a pothole that Homer hit earlier in the day – glad to see some cohesion in terms of episode structure.

Oh, bet I should talk about that part about Homer exposing the pothole via a rumor. Yeah, the rise of the internet has produced something of a dual-edged sword in terms of information transmission. On one hand, there is the increased ability for information to reach the everyman in seconds in this day in age, and given the seemingly limitless potential the internet has, there are no ties to news blocks, radio schedules, print sizes, et cetera. Personal blogs can be used to transmit opinions on current events or (if you don’t mind me getting a bit meta here) popular culture, and can attract surprisingly large bases. Andrew Sullivan, for instance, set the mold of the political blog verse with his Daily Dish.

Concurrently, however, this has given rise to more dubious, or at least more openly opinionated, sources for news. We have information, but it has become more questioned regardless of its history of integrity, particularly in the modern age. (Or, we’re more willing to take dubious or satirical information at face value – also concerning.) While a concern dating back to 1995 with Terry Pratchett, his has particularly become an issue with the rise of social media, particularly when sites tailor people’s news feeds to fit their political biases, resulting in more openly opinionated and dubious sites being transmitted, further entrenching the cycle. News on the internet is truly a dual-edged sword, and we’ll have to take a look at how to best analyze that in the coming years.

What does this have to do with this episode? Well, “Mr. X” becomes an iconic figure after transmitting many rumors and secrets about the people of Springfield. Guerilla journalism on a local level, Homer sets himself up as a secret muckraker… or at least a one-man TMZ operation. Again, very forthcoming of how many blogs have grown into substantial parts of pop culture, even if some of their content is questionable. A risky maneuver? Most certainly. But it makes the Mr. X website a quite popular source of information across Springfield. It does work better if you consider Springfield a microcosm of America itself, but even that’s tempered by Homer’s overall behavior across the episode.

Yet again, he’s never quite right in terms of demeanor. He’s either a complete and utter moron, highly callous, or some combination of the two. I don’t think a scene passes where I am not at least annoyed by him. This reaches its apex when he reveals his identity. Why did he do so? Because he was set to receive a Pulitzer prize (just go with it, it’s not the most insane part of this episode), but his cash award was slated to go to starving children. He exposes himself, and as he counts his cash at home, reflects that “they’re with God now”. You know, it’s normally a good idea to make your protagonist not a punchable ass. Or if you’re going to do so, make him utterly pathetic and prone to utter failure.

To be fair, after exposing himself, nobody trusts him or is willing to divulge information in front of him. Accordingly, his website loses relevance and audience rapidly. Ironic that this episode features a site running out of material and losing relevance. It reminds me of a certain television show, what was it… oh, yes, The Thompsons. Anyway, to get his clicks and relevance back, Homer decides to turn his site from a mere rumor mill into Fake News. No, this isn’t a slang term, Homer literally makes up news out of thin air.

Yeah, it is kind of interesting to look at this episode in the dying days of the 2010s and see how this has impacted how I feel about this character. This is meant to be a rather pathetic gasp for relevance, admittedly, so some kudos to Scully and Company with that aspect. But recent events regarding how “fake news” is spread through social media have made this come off less sympathetically, especially given that some of the fake news stories are brought by the townsfolk (because they are even stupider than normal because plot), adversely affecting them. Oh, and he’s already shown to be a moronic, narcissistic ass during much of this episode, so even discounting contemporary events, this plunge into sharing misinformation makes him come off as even more of an alienating character.

It’s an issue that I’ve mentioned many times before – even discounting the fact that these were pre-established characters, The Simpsons does not know how to write an utter ass of a protagonist. They can’t do an Arnold Rimmer or an Eric Cartman. To create something like the former, you need a strong sense of pathos underneath the character, to flesh him out, and to make him utterly pathetic. Homer is merely going through the motions – his plots are becoming increasingly cliche, his character is increasingly one-dimensional, and his few pathetic moments are self-imposed selfishness instead of a lack of talent. To try and craft a Cartman-esque character, you need to a) make his victories few and far between, b) make those rare victories memorable, c) go all-in on the utterly callous elements, and d) treat the character like the contemptible disaster he is within the canon. Jerkass Homer wins way too often, his odious elements are treated as one-offs when they happen frequently, and the show has rolled over to make him no less than a mild nuisance when he belongs in a nuthouse.

In short, Jerkass Homer is unlikable, he has no genuine pity points, he’s close to indestructible (or at least gets off very easily), and the show doesn’t treat his behavior like it’s almost normal. Congrats, I don’t give a damn what happens to him. For all I’m concerned, he could be kidnapped by a mysterious group, knocked out with drugs, and hauled off to a mysterious island vaguely similar to a British drama to spend the rest of his days. Yeah, like the show would do that.

You can probably guess what happens in this episode, then.

Alright, here we go – second only to the Jockey Elves in moments that proved that The Simpsons had utterly detached from reality in a way that made Fonzie’s shark jump look restrained in comparison. (Believe me, The Simpsons has spent the past four seasons perfecting the art of jumping over dangerous creatures.)

After publishing a rather successful vaccination story (make of that what you will), Homer’s trip to the Kwik-E-Mart proves rather faulty, as it turns out to be a fake – the store is loaded onto a flatbed truck and hauled off to parts unknown. He wakes up on “The Island”, a place where people who know too much are kidnapped and harbored, animals don masks, and characters look suspiciously like they came out of 1960s spy fiction.

Where have I seen this before?

Yup, The Simpsons has formally gone full Prisoner.

So, what the hell is wrong with this? And no, “everything” is not an answer.

Because, to be honest, having seen The Prisoner, there are some moments that I did find were very mildly amusing regarding shout-outs. (As in, I chuckled once, probably won’t chuckle too much in the future if I subject myself to this episode again.)

I mean, Homer was kidnapped on a flatbed truck – “Fall Out”, anybody? I guess the rationale for Six’s resignation here is amusing depending on how you read the hints towards Six’s reason for departure in the series. Rover being easily beatable by a fork was good for a chuckle, as well as the reactions of the Powers That Be. (“Shut up, that’s why!”) The doppelganger vaguely reminds me of “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh, My Darling” which might almost improve that episode, as well.

And if you remove it from the rest of The Simpsons, Homer stealing Six’s raft is an amusing reference to how Six got stabbed in the back many times throughout the series. So if you’re looking at it via a Prisoner parody… eh, it’s not completely awful. McGoohan’s voice is always nice to listen to, even though he doesn’t really channel Six too well here (although he was getting on in years, so some leeway is never bad to have.) Also, one could argue that all the drugs being administered was a reference to how, in The Prisoner, Six is implied to have been put on drugs quite a few times to get information from him.

So, yeah, it’s not particularly brilliant in terms of “parody”, which is what might have been able to save the third act.

Alright, enough with the good. Let’s discuss the bad.

Oh, geez.

This is one of the most out-of-left-field, insane, “we don’t know how to finish this plot, so here’s a reference to a British TV series” plot twists in the history of The Simpsons. It rivals the Jockey Elves. Whether in context or out of context, this whole “Island” plot twist is as far removed from the normal barriers of the Simpsons universe as almost anything else during the Scully era. Hell, this whole third act doesn’t even feel like The Simpsons – more like what I would expect from Robot Chicken or SNL, or something to that effect.

Now, let’s be fair here. This isn’t the first time that The Simpsons has directly sent up a classic piece of TV or cinema. Here’s the counterargument to that – “Rosebud”, from the astonishing Season 5. “Rosebud” worked because you didn’t have to see Citizen Kane to find it amusing. The comedy was classic Simpsons, the characters were at their best (it’s probably one of the finest character pieces for Mr. Burns), and the plot was a genuine classic. It finds itself unlucky to be in competition with so many other episodes for my favorite because it is so damn good.

This? Let’s pretend that I didn’t watch The Prisoner. The act is insane, the comedy is mediocre at best, the whole plotting goes straight to hell in a handbasket, animals show up randomly because lol random apparently, there’s quite a bit of filler involving Homer being missing as well as his doppelganger (which requires the Simpson clan to lose even more IQ points), and surprise surprise, Homer proves himself to be a moronic asshat many times over, particularly when he jacks Six’s boat meant for two. Congrats, I still want the protagonist dead. In other words, it’s not that far different compared to “Saddlesore Galactica”, except replace “giving the bras d’honneur to the fans via Jockey Elves and obsessive nerds” with “sending up cult spy-fi show in the most obvious way possible” in terms of intent.

Now, let’s bring in The Prisoner. I guess it was good enough for McGoohan to join up, but really… there are still many issues. It just feels more like a general 60s pastiche than anything. Yes, The Prisoner was very 60s, but this parody all feels very surface-level (outside of the few possibilities I mentioned above). It doesn’t feel like it expanded on anything the show did, it’s just “Hey, look, this reminds us of this show some of you might like, keep watching our show!” Even the amusing scenes listed above are only just that – amusing. Worthy of a smile if you can separate it from the utter debacle that is The Simpsons going off the rails.

About the only thing I could say is that, in retrospect, Jerkass Homer might make a decent foil from the Original Six. The latter was a suave and fit spy, an ethical civil servant who has a rather aloof personality, but who has a rather strong ethical code, grows into a selfless person, can be quite warm towards children, and runs on intellect. His reasons for resignation are implied to have something to do with a conflict of ethics, and he ends the show in some form of psychological conflict with himself, an implication that he can never truly win. We feel like we can be him, and yet, we can look up to him. Jerkass Homer? Calling him a “moron” is an understatement, he’s willing to trade in fake news for internet clicks and fame, has no sense of being “fit” or charming, suffers from unfunny mood swings, is astonishingly selfish, is content with children starving, and is not a pleasant or endearing character.

This could work, but there’s one issue. They’ve destroyed a perfectly good character to get him to this state. The show used to tell a compelling story with interesting characters, and maybe send up a TV series or two. Now? They’ll twist any character into a pretzel for the sake of a joke, or parody, or whatever.

I’m invoking the eight deadly words at this point – “I don’t care what happens to these people.” Case in point, the episode ends with the whole family gassed and sent to the island. I guess it was a reference to how the whole family now knows about The Island and they have to be detained… but whatever. They’re all content with life on the Island, but I don’t care anymore. Maybe that was the point since The Prisoner ended with a somewhat open ending. But that was meant to be allegorical. This is just “oops, we wrote 21 minutes, throw something at the wall to provide some sort of ending”, or at least, it comes off that way. No attempt at shining a light on the allegory – at least “Rosebud” had a somewhat original ending, a surprisingly more uplifting one (unique, given that the character involved was Mr. Burns, but still.)

Maybe Swartzwelder just wanted to mess with the staff, and they weren’t in on the joke. If this is true… yeah. Of course, Swartzwelder was the pen behind Season 11’s absolutely execrable “Kill the Alligator and Run”. Either he’s lost the Midas touch he once had, or the writing room is that far gone.

It wasn’t a great parody of The Prisoner, but more importantly, “The Computer Wore Menace Shoes” is an overall lousy episode of The Simpsons. The plot is barely coherent during the first two acts, goes off the rails in the third, and neither characterization nor comedy is anywhere close to engaging. Even the possible ties to cultural relevance this episode might have are not nearly worth it. It feels like my critiques are rather repetitive, but damn it, this episode is unique for showing how this series has not delivered in terms of parody.

There’s one genuine positive I can give this episode, however. It got me to watch The Prisoner. It was a genuinely brilliant series, and I have a renewed respect for that type of television now. For that, my coverage of every episode of the Mike Scully era of The Simpsons might just be worth it.

Tidbits:

• The episode was actually conceived by John Swartzwelder as Homer becoming Matt Drudge. For the uninitiated, Drudge operates the news aggregator Drudge Report, and it made its mark by claiming to have broken the Lewinsky Scandal – which does add some slight cleverness to Mr. X’s first story being a scandal involving city hall. (Not enough to balance out the episode’s poor points, but still.)
• By the way, with a little help from the Internet Archive, there was a Mr. X Website that you can still access today.
• If I had to pick one scene that astonished me as to why they thought it appropriate, it would have to be one aspect of Homer’s fake news crusade. Ned Flanders “discovers” the scandal behind vaccinations, and is pleased that his sons aren’t inoculated. Cue the two kids shivering on the couch, clearly disturbingly ill. Dear god, that’s pretty damn unnerving enough. The cherry on top? Todd, clearly in the midst of delirium, calls out “Mommy”. That death was already the show’s nadir, and they’ve chosen instead to spit on it instead with an utterly tasteless scene. Maybe I’m just overreacting, but I wonder what the producers managed to do to get Roswell back on their show. This just seems like another middle finger to her departure from the series.
• One could argue that Comic Book Guy’s quest for, um, internet material not particularly safe for work (and his subsequent discovery of Mr. X’s website) is a follow-up to his scene in “Das Bus”. One can assume that he upgraded his 28.8 kilobaud internet connection to a 1.5 megabit fiber optic T1 line, complete with an IP router compatible with his Token Ring Ethernet LAN Connection.
• The whole idea of Homer wanting to obscure himself to escape copyright notices references an old stereotype of Simpsons fandom. Way back in the before time in the long long ago, there were three certainties – death, taxes, and Simpsons fansites being hounded by copyright. A lot of these fansites had many frame grabs, audio clips, character bios, et cetera. FOX wasn’t too fond of it, and many were culled around the turn of the millennium. Many did survive, and some of my earlier internet memories involved going to these fansites. They have, however, become a rare breed indeed – the rise of social media and Wikipedia has made these sorts of sites redundant, and many fans have just plum abandoned the series. It says something when the most famous fansite for The Simpsons is a blog launched to advocate that the show be put out of its misery. There are Simpsons rewatch blogs on the internet, though, so… the fandom still lives.

Wrap-Up:

Zaniness Factor: 5. Holy macaroni, this episode just completely lost it. Then again, I guess that makes this episode more like The Prisoner than I thought… except that was pretty good.

Jerkass Homer Meter: 5. Let’s see – idiot, trades in dubious news, callous across the board. How did this man get married? Why are we supposed to root for him?

Favorite Scene: There were occasionally amusing quips, but none of them really warrant a mention here. So I’ll just say, once again, Patrick McGoohan was a good sport acting in this episode.

Least Favorite Scene: Three options here – “Mommy?” “They’re with God now.” “That’s the third time that’s happened!” Close tie, but I’m going with Homer shoving over Six to get into the raft. Our hero.

Score: 2. It would be a 1, but this episode is a) marginally less odious than “Homer vs. Dignity, b) has more jokes that connect, and c) I can at least see where the writers were going at, even if they executed it in a less than satisfactory manner. But the end result is still an insane disaster area.

Thank god that the inspiration behind this episode was so brilliant, though – an almost fair trade-off, in my opinion.

Be seeing you.