No one out-fats me

Puffless

Couch gag: The family are cars, which reverse park onto the couch. Maggie, as a monster truck, crushes them.

Director: Rob Oliver

Guest Voices:
Jon Lovitz as the cigarette
Yo-Yo Ma as himself

Synopsis: After discovering lung cancer killed their father, Patty and Selma quit smoking. Maggie befriends some animals.

Discussion: Maybe it’s the sleep deprivation talking, but I started out liking this episode. It really felt like a flashback to when The Simpsons was cool; Mr Burns and Grampa vying for Mrs Bouvier’s affections and her admission that she didn’t tell the twins about their father’s lung cancer because she thought their smoking made them look cool.

But then… Maggie. Sure, it’s hard to give Maggie her own storyline; there’s not much you can do with a one year old baby who doesn’t talk. It’s cute and I’m all for the return of Spider-Pig… but this just made it feel like half an episode. In ye golden days, The Simpsons often had two simultaneous, unconnected storylines with varying success. Maggie’s story was as complete as it could be whereas Patty and Selma’s story could have been developed a lot more.

It wasn’t a terrible episode (to my complete surprise!) but it could have been better. And… SPIDER-PIG!