Into The Dreams Of Homer

The Simpsons, S23E16

I wasn't sure where this story was going this time at first.  I had heard last week that they were going to do a sort of Inception spoof, but I didn't remember that until well after Dr. Fink had sent the family into Homer's dreams.  I don't think this was the best parody of that movie, but for this show at its current state, it was a fair try.

At the beginning, Homer gets everyone to steal some supplies after Smithers leaves the door slightly open.  I like that he encourages his co-workers to take things that they could easily afford themselves.  I can relate to that because I've taken my share of computer paper, pens, and folders from my office.  I have no idea why it's so tempting to take something you really could buy yourself and at a better quality.

I thought it was kinda gross that Homer was wetting the bed out of some guilt, which even from the beginning I didn't think that it was due to him throwing his friends under the bus for the office supply theft, but I didn't think it would be tied to Bart and Homer fishing on his "earned" day off.  While Homer was chastising his brain for not controlling his bladder better, he reveals that he enjoys watching Chloe and Lamar.  So even Homer has hopped on the Kardashian bandwagon.  Wow.

Besides the heart pinata inside of the Homer pinata, my favorite thing about Homer throwing a "Pardon Me" party for his friends to appease karma was that it didn't solve his bed-wetting problem.  In the words of Homer:

I did the right thing for nothing!

Ah, Homer.  He's always good for quotes like that.  Basically never admitting that the right thing is good within itself.  I miss these kinds of Homer lines that I would be nodding my head to back at my house.

 The best things about them going into the dream world were when Frink said that they would die if they died in the dream because he neglected to update Adobe Acrobat (God, I don't know why I refuse to update it until it gets in the way of me doing something) and that one dream that sent them back to early 90s-style Simpsons.  They didn't go as fantastical as they could have with the dreams (skiing, Shakespearean-like theater, food land), but I appreciate a shout out to the classic episodes of this show.  They weren't the best, but the contrast between their initial character (and voice) design is so interesting.

Mona Simpson (I guess I forgot Glenn Close was guest-starring) made an appearance this time, but since it was technically a dream, I won't be too outraged that she was back for a third time.  The first time she appeared was such a beautifully sweet episode that I'm annoyed whenever they cheapen that episode with other ones with Homer's mom coming back.  I sort of liked that they connected Homer peeing the bed with his guilt about his parents splitting up.  It wasn't an intensely brilliant explanation, but it worked fine enough.

After the episode ended, I heard Glenn Close and I guess Dan Castellaneta singing a song at the end.  That was a bit nice, though I wonder if many fans were still watching at that point.  Their guest star didn't have much screen time (which I didn't mind because they really need to stop with the "stars"), so I guess they gave her a little song so her time wasn't wasted?

I think I can put this episode in the decent pile for this season.  I'm not going to expect anything stellar, so if I can enjoy a Homer quote and see a parody that references something I know or have seen, I think it can be considered "good."  Next time, let's see if they can keep this trend going and not backtrack to their usual pattern of crap this season.