Viva Ned Flanders: Should’ve Been a Two-Parter
For the most part, I applaud The Simpsons format. Let’s face it: there are a lot of shows out there that are just too long. I’ve still never finished shows like The Sopranos and Mad Men, shows that I genuinely love, for one simple reason: someday I will die. In the time it takes to watch one episode of one of these HBO shows I can blast through three episodes of The Simpsons, and have a better time doing it. The storytelling on a good episode of The Simpsons is so tight, so dense with jokes, so alive with personality… For an hour or two of casual enjoyment, there’s really no other show that beats it.
All these freakin HBO shows are all the same. They have about 30 minutes of fascinating material with characters you’re actually invested in, and then they fill up the other 30 with boring subplots and unnecessary deviations featuring people you couldn’t care less about. It’s maddening, but you keep watching because you want to know what’s going on with Tony and Don and Peter Dinklage. You suffer through the boring shit to get to the stuff you actually want to see. You can’t just fast-forward, because that boring shit might be important later. It might tie into the main narrative. But it never does, because then it wouldn’t be a waste of your time. It really pisses me off. So anyway, what I’m trying to say is that Viva Ned Flanders is too short.
As far as I know, The Simpsons has only done one two-parter: Who Shot Mr. Burns. It is a story so rich with detail, one classic joke after another… it’s just the best. The Simpsons used the extra time so well in that case that it made me wonder whether or not they should have utilized the format more often. In the case of Viva Ned Flanders, I think it would have really helped. There is simply too much story here to cram into 20 minutes. And by rushing things they not only do a disservice to their narrative, but to the character of Ned as well.
I left this episode with so many questions, questions I don’t care for. For example, did Homer and Ned cheat on their wives? They woke up in Vegas married to cocktail waitresses with almost no memory of the previous night. Apparently, Matt Groening wanted them to wake up without clothes on because it would “raise some questions.” Well here’s the problem, Matt: you’re never gonna answer those questions. You don’t have the time or the inclination. I’m already wondering if these characters I love are adulterers now and you want to show them waking up naked? Why don’t you just punch my childhood right in the face while you’re at it?
Marge is great and Maude is… okay and I don’t want to see either of them get cheated on. And if you’re gonna introduce that possibility then make an episode about it, like the classic The Last Temptation of Homer. These aren’t things I should have to wonder about. They’re too important for that. I often love ambiguous art. I love a movie that makes me wonder what’ll happen after the credits roll. That Denzel movie that just came out, The Little Things, the ambiguity made that movie. If they’d wrapped everything up with a bow on top it would have felt mundane. But, at the same time, The Simpsons is not some dark artsy movie with murder and deceit. In the context of this show, leaving questions like these hanging just feels… wrong.
My main complaint in general with Season 10, and I’ve mentioned this before, is that no one ever learns their lesson. This show used to be so emotional, so human. In this episode Ned begins to think he’s a square, so he asks Homer to teach him how to have fun. This results in them ending up drunk and penniless in Las Vegas with new wives. At this point, I’ve known Ned for a decade. I know without a doubt that this situation would make him absolutely furious. And I was just waiting for Homer to get his comeuppance. And waiting… and waiting…
Yet there’s no scene where Ned calls out Homer for potentially ruining his life. There’s no point where Ned confronts the possibility that he cheated on Maude, something which would destroy him and upend his entire value system. The episode should end with Flanders realizing that there’s nothing wrong with the way he’s living if it makes him happy, that Homer doesn’t know any more about living “the right way” than Ned does. Instead you’re just left wondering. Their wives don’t know where they are, they have no car, they’re stuck in the middle of the desert and they might have just done something horrible. But don’t worry, it’ll all be back to normal next week.
My major issues with the storytelling aside, this episode is pretty funny. It begins with some unusually self-aware humor where they reference the Monty Burns Casino from $pringfield and that time they moved the entire town from Trash of the Titans. There’s also a nice cameo by Lance Murdoch from Bart the Daredevil. I like references like these, as it flirts with the possibility of the show having some lasting continuity. I mean, the show does go against that by having Bart be 10 for 30 years, but maybe on this version of Earth the years are literally 30 years long. And there’s something in the atmosphere that makes people age super slowly. And it wasn’t there before the show started because we can see in flashbacks that everybody used to age normally and you know what never mind. I liked the fan service, okay?
Also, does this mean that Springfield is within driving distance of Las Vegas? THE CLUES ARE PILING UP.
I don’t want to be too hard on this one. I liked some of the humor, I liked seeing the friendship between Homer and Ned, I liked the feel of the episode. I want to say I enjoyed it overall. But I don’t like having to guess whether or not Homer and Ned cheated on Marge and Maude. I don’t like seeing Ned’s character served so poorly by a rushed script. And, most importantly, I don’t like having to picture Mrs. Krabappel licking maple syrup off of Principal Skinner’s stomach. Jesus Christ when she said that I almost vomited in terror.
So yeah, not a bad episode, but one with tons of missed potential. I couldn’t help but constantly think about how they would have handled this premise in an earlier season when they weren’t afraid of telling a story with some emotional stakes. My advice: if you want to watch an episode about Homer maybe cheating on Marge watch The Last Temptation of Homer. If you want to watch an episode where Ned freaks out watch Hurricane Neddy. If you want to watch an episode about the dynamics of Homer and Ned’s friendship watch Homer Loves Flanders. I wouldn’t put any of those episodes in my personal top 20, but they’re all a lot better than Viva Ned Flanders.
Also, yeah, The Hangover maybe owes The Simpsons some money.
