*NOTE – This review may contain spoilers.
Our favourite yellow humans reach for the bright lights of Marvel, animated TV shows and the school band in this week's episode. Comic Book Guy struggles to ask the perfect question at a convention, Bart finds his calling in the world of animation, and Lisa falls for another not-so nice guy. To summarise: we're in for a treat.
Comic Book Guy is our lead this week as he finds his way into a "Comicalusa" convention. After a quick and funny gag with Agnes Skinner selling him Principal Skinner's almost useless merchandise collection, we go straight into the action; can he come up with a question so good that he can secure his dream of working for Marvel?
As his name suggests, it's rare for Comic Book Guy to have a non-pop culture themed arc, but every time he is placed under the spotlight, it becomes clear why that is the case. We love the comic store owner for his dry humour and consistent references, and this episode is full of them.
'Three Dreams Denied' is denied as an excuse to let Comic Book Guy be the dorky, obnoxious and laughable nerd we know him to be. Filled to the brim with humour centred on comic book movie shade,
, the character less famously known as Jeff Albertson takes ahold of the reigns perfectly.
Whilst the Marvel fanboy attempts to get a new job, Lisa is swooning over Blake (voiced by Ben Platt from Netflix's 'The Politician'). This story is pretty predictable, as Blake ends up turning on her in hopes of stealing her spot in the school band. However, that doesn't mean it's necessarily bad.
Sometimes 'The Simpsons' are at their most effective when they're simple. Lisa's story has been done before, and Blake's faux charm is noticeable from the moment he steps on the screen, but it gives us a reason to seeing a lovestruck and giddy Lisa, which is always worth it.
What proves to receive the largest sum of chuckles this episode is Bart's journey, as he is very quickly given a role as a voice actor in a TV show. We're all aware of how much trouble the actors have been in with the network, so digs such as Bart bragging about how easy it is to be a voice actor, compiled with Homer's belief that a check from Warner Bros. Animation isn't something to brag about make it the highlight of the episode, comedy wise.
As Bart ends up playing the role of a woman, it's easy for the programme to fall into the cliche gender jokes, which at one point they do succumb to. However it isn't what carries the arc, it's actually Bart's journey and the aforementioned jokes that do so.
The young Simpson's contribution to this episode is the icing on the cake for a pretty great half-hour. Between the shade thrown in Bart and Jeff's arcs to Lisa's predictable but enjoyable story, 'The Dreams Denied' is an entertaining episode worth your time, and proves to be a strong addition to what starts off as a bit of a wobbly season.
