About Last Night…THE SIMPSONS, THE GREAT NORTH, and HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET

Let’s talk about Sunday night’s TV!

THE SIMPSONS: Okay, I knew that logline was too vague and quasi-similar to other plots to be the true story of the episode. I actually loved that Homer got to be a real hero—encouraged by food—and actively save the day. (As opposed to stumbling into a solution.) And the moment with his mother was sweet; it’s hard to bring Mona back these days, but it worked here.

(Okay, it was kind of weird it was supposed to be October since we don’t normally get specific periods of time episodes are tied to unless they are actually holiday-centric.)

THE GREAT NORTH: I thought maybe we’d have a clear holiday theme somewhere since there was a random episode dropped, but, nope. Just movie homages. I enjoyed it! I’ve missed this show! But it made me more confused about what Fox is doing with it, to a distracting degree. (Beef giggling was delightful, though; it’s as funny hearing Nick Offerman giggle as a cartoon as it is watching him do it in live-action acting.)

HOMICIDE: “A Doll’s Eyes”: An important, odd note before I get into my thoughts about this episode: This is the first time I have (ever, as far as I can recall?) experienced real technical issues while trying to watch an episode on a streamer. I’m not talking about glitching or closing out—it was overlaying dialogue (in the right spot) over scenes way later in the episode. At first, I thought it was a creative choice (it started as the parents were talking with Tim and Frank about whether to donate their child’s organs, and overlayed with the footage of that happening), but it quickly became clear it was a glitch. I turned it off and tried it again hours later and ran into the same problem. (It also played the credits 39 minutes into the episode and wouldn’t let me watch the end-end.) It was an odd experience.

And yet…the episode was still gutting. Marica Gay Harden and Gary Basaraba were incredible as the grieving parents of a child who was brain dead after a shooting, but not sure how to actually move forward. The case being complicated by a victim who was not technically dead, yet, gave the show a lot to work with, too. On a basic level, even the fact homicide detectives were talking to Paul and Joan while they were in shock and their child was in surgery added tension and trauma to the whole experience. We as an audience knew it was going to fall apart for the kid given the show we’re watching, but the parents still had hope at that point. (Also, the episode title? Oh my God, the kick in the gut when they revealed what it meant. Eesh.)

Kenneth Fink also did a great job directing, and the ambitious camerawork as we were shown all of the shell casings littered throughout the mall was one of the more memorable shots the show has done. (At least so far.)

But there was also lightness, too. Tim’s back acting up was funny—and it was even more hilarious when Frank pointed out some of the issues might be because he sits on his freaking wallet.

Which shows did you watch last night?

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