No One Wants Those Kids

The Simpsons, S24E11

After getting trapped in a life-threatening situation, Homer and Marge sought to find guardians for their children.  They were unable to find appropriate guardians among people they knew, so they happened upon a surfer and an environmental lawyer who were too eager to take the kids.  Homer and Marge learned quickly that this couple was prepared to take their kids before Homer and Marge had even passed.

Well, this was a mildly interesting topic for a story: who would raise Bart and the girls if Homer and Marge died?  Well, despite they know pretty much everyone in town, there aren't a lot of people that they were willing to give the kids to, nor a lot of people in Springfield willing to take them.  I guess I thought it was little funny that they were being avoided by anyone who passed them in town after they failed to find anyone in the family who could properly take the kids.  People were actually opening circles around them like they were playing "guardian tag."  It's sort of sad that they had to cruise around some beach to find strangers rather than anyone they had an actual relationship with.

What I liked best about the couple who agreed to have the kids was that Portia was voiced by Rashida Jones.  She just has a cute voice that sort of sounds like a bit of a know-it-all (not unlike Lisa).  I actually had hoped that the couple would turn out to be not as good as they sounded and something more exciting would happen at the end, but it was just that they liked Bart, Lisa, and Maggie so much that they were willing to take them into their family before it was all legal.  That was the disappointing part.  I had hoped something more unexpected might have happened that would make Homer and Marge run back to get their kids.

I didn't really think anything was that funny.  There's only about two things that almost made me laugh.   One of such was when Homer was having Portia and Mav sign the papers and Portia asked where Bart was:

Oh, uh, well, he wanted to be here, but I’m going to decrease the volume of my voice and mumble so you can’t really understand what I’m saying, and I’ll just keep doing it.

Another was at the beginning when Lisa revealed that playing Emissaries to Byzantium wasn't her idea either:

I don’t like this game. Nobody likes this game. Even the kids on the box look bored. They’re miserable.

The kids on the box looked like they were going to die from boredom.  That was about the most visually amusing thing in the whole episode.

I didn't really care for this episode. It got me thinking about what would happen if Homer's foolhardy actions made both him and Marge die, but in the end, they didn't really come to a solution.  That would have been fine if the path they took to get to that conclusion was fun to watch, but it was missing excitement and humor.  There weren't a lot of memorable scenes, so I can easily see myself forgetting this episode even existed.

I Think I Just Ate A Slop Popper

The Cleveland Show, S03E22

Roberta gave Junior a makeover in the hopes it would boost his confidence and create a new image for him.  It was slightly successful in that Junior attracted the attention of a girl named Daisy who thought Junior was a lesbian, and he allowed her to believe that.  He didn't reveal his true self to her until he made a grand speech at Daisy's prom about having pride about who you are.  Cleveland also battled against another Slop Popper fan to see who was the "true Popper King."

I didn't expect much from Roberta's makeover, considering that her idea to make herself stand out was to grow larger boobs (or buy them, possibly), but she managed to do worse for Junior's image than I could have imagined.  I couldn't see how anyone would think Junior was a girl, even a less than feminine one.  I doubt that anyone would be fooled just by the way he was dressed and a different hairstyle.  This strange turn of events wasn't welcomed by me because it seemed to have no meaning.  It only started to look like there was something to the story when Junior decided to go to Daisy's prom without her, deciding to make a stand against those who would ban same-sex couples to enjoy the event.  I thought that was a nice gesture, even though Junior wasn't a woman.  I was surprised that Roberta was on board too.  That gives her a little more credit in my eyes.  They didn't change everyone's minds, I think, but at least Junior seemed to have given Daisy a little more courage to be herself.  I think that's why she didn't get too angry at him for his deception (which was partially her fault for making assumptions based on appearances).

Cleveland's story was a little funnier, mainly because he was so concerned about this microwavable snack that resembled Hot Pockets, but seemed nastier.  Even the name of it suggested that eating said product would give you horrible diarrhea, a joke often used about HPs.  But that didn't seem to deter Cleveland, who was seen heating one up in his room.  It was really funny how he just randomly had a microwave and fridge right by the bed, but it was even funnier when Rallo came into the room with his hair all disheveled.  I had a good laugh at Rallo telling us that the fan from the back of the microwave was connected to his room and blowing on him.  Damn.  Waking up a child just so you can enjoy a fatty snack--how much of a sorry fatso can you be?

Despite that Cleveland's eating obsession interfered with his son's sleeping, Rallo was the one who set up a showdown for him and his Wikipedia rival.  I might have preferred that he kept obsessing over an "invisible" enemy that changed the information he wrote about the Poppers, than have this trivia contest about them where you buzz in by smashing the Poppers.  The room looked like someone had eaten a couple of the Poppers and failed to find a toilet so they used that room.  Was really disgusting to see all those brown stains everywhere.  I just wanted the match to hurry up and end.  And it did when the creator came around and condemned both Cleveland and the little boy he was fighting.  I really liked how he was horrified that someone could eat five of the Poppers in a day and still be alive.  That had me rolling.  I bet there are people like that who eat HPs just as often.  The story made me a little sick, but it brought some welcomed gross comedy against a lack of it in the main story.

Despite this was a story about Junior, thanks to Roberta's hand in his new image, things didn't develop into a situation that was very funny.  It was just slightly interesting that Junior was looked upon as a lesbian (though I found that hard to believe) and stood against those who wished to be intolerant and punish those who differ from themselves.  I think I mostly enjoyed that Rashida Jones voiced Daisy, more than I liked the story itself.  The side story was better, although it was about a nasty food that Cleveland enjoyed too much for his own good.  Perhaps if that had been expanded into the main story, the episode would have been more of a success.  For me, this episode was overall equal to what happens when you eat too many Hot Pockets in one sitting.