D'oh! We're in lockdown, with nothing but the launch of Disney Plus to raise our spirits. Luckily, our friends from Springfield have been through this all before (see The Simpsons Movie) and are on the new streaming service to guide us through these tough times. We know you think you've seen all of the good episodes from the show's golden era in the 1990s, but there's been plenty of big hitters since the Millennium ball dropped too. Add Simpsons episodes these to your watch list now…
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1. ‘Trilogy Of Error’ (S12)
Linguo – the grammar-correcting robot created by Lisa for her science project and instantly broken by Homer after he pours beer down its throat – is the star of the show, but the Rashomon-style narrative structure, with three different characters’ days converging, make this a wholly satisfying episode of comic perfection. The highlight? Lisa stumbling into an unfamiliar school and a French class who laugh at her and are then reprimanded by their Gallic-stereotype teacher who instructs them to laugh at her “en Francais”, which they do.
2. ‘The Frying Game’ (S13)
Arguably the best episode from the last consistently strong Simpsons series, “The Frying Game” offers an insightful critique of reality TV culminating in a dazzling finale that riffs on the classic tropes of Warner Bros jailhouse movies. Homer sits in the electric chair awaiting his fate when what seems to be a last-minute reprieve instead sees his executioner declare, “The Governor says, he hopes you’re a twitcher.” One of the finest ten seconds in Simpsons’ history.
3. ‘I (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot’ (S15)
Slapstick was good enough for the silent-era clowns and The Simpsons has reinvented it for a generation that thought it passé. It’s here in abundance as Homer attempts to win Bart’s love by disguising himself as Chief Knock-A-Homer in a Robot Wars-style contest. But when Homer faces death in the final at the hands of Professor Frink’s creation, and reveals himself as human, the robot obeys Asimov’s first law of robotics and will not hurt him. Slapstick, but with an MSc.
4. ‘Brick Like Me’ (S25)
There is something profoundly unsettling about seeing The Simpsons’ characters outside their familiar milieu, which is one of the reasons why most episodes set in the future with grown-up versions of Bart and Lisa fall flat. That and the fact that no one wants to imagine Bart as a male stripper. So to render an entire episode in Lego form was a huge risk, but one brilliantly executed. From the moment Maggie is seen in Duplo – and therefore bigger than everyone else – you knew it would work.
5. ‘Sweet And Sour Marge’ (S13)
One of the show’s enduring strengths is the depth and range of its characters, nowhere shown to greater effect than in this episode when Springfield rises up as one after Marge successfully campaigns to have sugar banned from the town. Rapid-fire sight gags combine with effortlessly spare dialogue while Gil, as an incompetent lawyer channelling Glengarry-era Jack Lemmon, is an unalloyed delight.
6. ‘Moe Baby Blues’ (S14)
The irrational and quixotic nature of the mob was a powerful recurring theme in the show’s golden era (remember the building of the monorail?) and it’s revisited beautifully here when Moe – on the point of committing suicide – saves Maggie’s life and is transformed from social pariah to hero. Naturally, Moe blows it, but not before telling Maggie the plots of both Godfather films (including Moe Greene’s assassination) as a bedtime story. Extra marks too for the Spike Lee title reference.
7. ‘Sex Pies And Idiot Scrapes’ (S20)
Any appearance from the psychotic Irish leprechaun is always welcome and, sure enough, his cameo here – a fistic encounter with his equally violent Ulster counterpart that sparks a St Patrick’s Day riot – initiates a classic episode wherein Homer and Ned Flanders team up as bounty hunters while Marge works as an erotic baker. Plot and character in perfect harmony.
8. ‘Eternal Moonshine Of The Simpson Mind’ (S19)
While The Simpsons has always parodied pop culture, a degree of laziness has entered the process in recent years, as if reference alone to contemporary culture – minus any commentary – is worthy of our applause. This episode, by contrast, works overtime to blend references to Eternal Sunshine, Memento and It’s A Wonderful Life into a compelling story of Homer awaking to find his memory of the previous 24 hours blank while Marge sports an unexplained black eye. The darker terrain inspires some outstanding storytelling while never forgetting the gags.
9. ‘The Seemingly Never-Ending Story’ (S17)
Another example of The Simpsons’ narrative mastery, this is the series 17 writers room showing that they can construct a Swiss timepiece of a story every bit as well as previous generations. That it also reveals Snake’s backstory as an archaeologist with the unhelpful surname of Jailbird is just an added joy. For Simpsons’ diehards, the title recalls a Lionel Hutz court case mentioned in series four and this episode could hold its own in that era.
10. ‘24 Minutes’ (S18)
The show has a tremendous track record of delivering episodes bursting with relentless energy and coherent narrative – see “Trilogy Of Error” in this list and “22 Short Films About Springfield”, source of the now ubiquitous “steamed hams” meme – so it’s no stretch for it to replicate the kinetic action of its Fox stablemate in this beautifully rendered episode-long spoof. Indeed, the complex series of events, culminating in Martin delivering a wedgie upon himself, suggest the show’s writers could have lent Jack Bauer’s crew a hand with their plotting.
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