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Sari:and we're the Simpson Siblings and it's Christmas time and we're excited. And we're going to talk about Christmas episode. Last year, we talked about Simpsons roasting on an open fire. So this year we're going to do March, be not proud, which is a favorite of mine. It's a fun one. Yeah. There's so much in this one. And it's got a good balance of fun and some heartfelt stuff as well.
Shaun:The Christmas episodes always have like some conflict, but that feels at the end.
Sari:Yeah, it, it was good fields. So, uh, this is season seven, episode 11, originally aired December 17th, 1995, um, written by Mike Scully and directed by Steven Dean Moore. And our guest stars are Lawrence Tierney and Phil Hartman.
Shaun:And then we have the chalkboard sing at the beginning. I will not stop talking about the 12 inch pianist. Um,
Sari:when I saw that the intro, I was like, I can't wait to hear Sean say,
Shaun:I remember this joke going around. Ellenville in elementary school and we'll just. If you don't know what it means, Google it, no. Don't
Sari:oh God,
Shaun:we have the couch gag where Homer there's a big, large drain in the middle and Homer pulls the plug and they all get sucked down, which would, if he would've pulled that drain on the last one that we did, where. The carpet.
Sari:So to, to water the. Water carpet themes, Simpsons couch gags, which is a weird thing to say, carpet diem.
Shaun:Don't know why.
Sari:Oh God. Oh. So we start right off the bat with the crusty kind of Christmas. Which reminds me of the crusty comedy classic. Like he needs to stop doing words in three sets of cases.
Shaun:He's like, oh, that's not good. That's
Sari:not good at the ILG. Little sweetheart. Cupcakes bed is perfect. I'm pretty sure the tanker area doing that voice
Shaun:feature on a fields too. It
Sari:does silly like your body's chemicals after you die. My little sweetheart cupcakes, acidity subsidiary of G
Shaun:on the kids' Christmas show.
Sari:Oh God. I love how it makes one of those Christmas specials that would always have like famous people stopping by. Yeah. Those were pretty big in the eighties and nineties and
Shaun:his awful way he presents. Oh, hi. I didn't hear you. Come in.
Sari:You always get quality. When you get crusty. He's synonymous with quality. Quality.
Shaun:Okay. So good.
Sari:So I did a little bit of research. The first guests that he has is Tom Landry, who was a football player in coach, which is why I didn't recognize him. But you may recognize him because Homer bought his hat in. You only move twice. Oh, remember when he had that little hat? Yeah. Yeah. Um, he specifically said he bought Tom Landry's hat and the, uh,
Shaun:uh, uh, that lady.
Sari:You can speak Spanish and this supposed to be south American, they speak Spanish in south America, which means you should try and pronounce it. Or it's Brazil.
Shaun:So she is
Sari:She is a parody of AXA or Zaza, who is an actress and TV host from Brazil. So she's not actually a real, yeah, but it's
Shaun:a spoof. She does come up later in episode. Blame it on Lisa, where she's on the fame. Very famous kids. Yep.
Sari:I'm glad you got to say that part. Cause I looked it up and I was like, I don't feel like saying that. And then you did it for me. I think you have to say it now. No. Um, the other thing that was also just, I guess, just, um, either it was a really well-placed joke because it wasn't dated yet, or it was badly placed for how close it came to it. But the video Christmas card from Tupac Shakur, he would die less than a year after this episode aired.
Shaun:Oh, I thought it was before, which is kind of like my, they were making a joke out of it, but
Sari:no, no like, well he died a year after this episode aired. Yeah. So the joke was before he
Shaun:died. Yeah. But the way he presented, I thought he would have died
Sari:before. Oh. Before the episode aired, because it's a video. Yeah. So instead it's, I mean, that could be like one of those, like
Shaun:Samsung for directors, but I mean, Let's do like so many jokes per minute, JPM the JPMs off the
Sari:charts that who knows what's happening anymore. We don't have that kind of luxury in 2021.
Shaun:No, we do not. I don't know. I don't know what I mean by
Sari:this. We're just spit balling at this point. Um, And then Lisa goes, isn't Carsey Jewish, and then parts line is so perfect. And the delivery of it. It's so perfect. Christmas is a time where people of all religions come together to worship Jesus Christ. Oh man. And some people do legitimately think like that. Yeah. Yeah. This is where we get the bone strong commercial. And we're going to spend like half of this episode talking about the bone storm commercial. Cause I wrote over a page of notes on the boat and storm commercial.
Shaun:I feel under prepared. Now,
Sari:God, John, you're going to fail this test on the bone storm commercial, which I abbreviated as BS commercial. Um, the, uh, so I did a lot of pausing during the season. Cause I feel like it was just so much in it. The video game system, they have, it looks like a PlayStation one. With like some extra do hickeys on it, but the controllers look like Genesis controllers and it has a it's cartridge based. Yeah. Um, and they start out, there's just a guy trying to fight a tank and that's, and they're like getting bored of the game. Um, I love that there's a girl playing too, because they didn't show a lot of girls playing video games, black man. And. Santa NOx through the wall. Kool-Aid man style. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And knocks over their Christmas tree and the reindeer seemed to be rabid or something and they're wearing like spiked collars.
Shaun:Don't really, I can't remember which part of it the commercial does, but have like flames coming to their
Sari:nostrils. Yeah, that happens a little later. Yeah. They're very, these are the most extreme reindeer you've ever seen. Um, Santa has extreme 90 sunglasses. And he speaks the way he speaks to the camera car minds, me Pucci, when he says, okay, kids always recycle to they extra. He's got that in your freestyle. He's got that in. He does. Sienna's got that. Um, he takes out a bazooka in the booth. Zucca is electrified. Why is that? It's a scary science and then he points it at the children. He points it at the children. The children are like cowering for like a split second and they move out of the way just in time for a cart, like a game cartridge to burst out of the bazooka and into their system. And I noticed after the fact, it literally like the cartridge goes through the cartridges it's already in the system. It's yes. It like bursts through it to the other side. And the other cartridges, like. It's like hanging out of it like this, because it's just in, I'm thinking I'm making gestures, but pretend I'm doing
Shaun:gestures in your mind detail that gets looked over someone animated.
Sari:Yeah. Like it literally it's like the it's like the arrow being shot on top of the arrow kind of thing. Um, Yeah. And Bart's eaten this all up.
Shaun:Yeah. He's the target audience.
Sari:Exactly. Uh, the, the game bone storm is obviously a rip off of mortal combat and you've just got these people with like six arms just punching each other while like body parts fall in through the air and Sienna says, buy me bone store number, go to. Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas. It's
Shaun:beautiful. The language part aside, I felt like this could have been like a early nineties video game.
Sari:Oh yeah. They got extreme and they got weird. And this just, this is a great parody because it takes you right back to that time, um, of video game criminal. And, uh, of course Bart repeats this verbatim tomorrow by me. Boom server, go to hell. And, um, Homer's response.
Shaun:Oh, I didn't write it down, but it was just basically like, When he got like the mini electronic football game in the moral of the story is when he got the game, it was the happiest he'd been in his life. It helped to like sway him away from wanting the game. It's just reaffirming that you may not get this, but when I got what I wanted, I was happy.
Sari:Yup. And I wonder like, something I mentioned later is that. Like there's so much stacking on top of Bart's motivation, like so many different scenes that set him up to when he finally does the
Shaun:shoplifting. There's a lot of pressure. Yeah. It's a path leading him there. Now.
Sari:Marge is so cute with her little tuck into bed. Um, which becomes very important later. Yes. There's a lot of that in this episode too, where it's like a scene that doesn't seem like it's that important, having a really good payoff later. Um, and her tuck-in song kind of reminds me of mother Simpson when she sings the, the fig Newtons on whore. Yeah.
Shaun:Yeah. And it's funny how Lisa just soaks it all up and then. Versus like, oh, no know I'm a little bit older. I'm too much. I'm too old for this. Yeah.
Sari:Yup. So Bart sees the ad for bone storm 99 cents from the Android's dungeon. And he runs in. Oh, this whole conversation. Um, or it turns out that's like the rental price and he's like, yes. Oh, please take my money.
Shaun:He reaches for it. And like how he just uses like a Sharpie pen. Not just finger away. Like I'm not going to touch you. I'm just going to prod you
Sari:away. Oh, oh my gosh. Seeing as you were unfamiliar with sarcasm,
Shaun:sorry, doctor, what a great idea.
Sari:Oh man. He does like the sarcasm.
Shaun:Yeah. This sarcasm ever. Exactly.
Sari:Well, and then, uh, we get introduced really quickly to Lee Carvallo and his putting challenge,
Shaun:which is also very important for later,
Sari:very important, and also a very good danke miss song. Yes. Um, we get, uh, the thrill house scene, which is probably even though it's such a small, almost insignificant scene. It's probably the most popular moment of the episode. As far as like internet culture and meme culture, at
Shaun:least. Plain like Overwatch and stuff. I've seen several people named thrill house.
Sari:Yeah. Like people have throw house tattoos. And I am honestly, I would love to be one
Shaun:like the last letter missing to thrill.
Sari:Oh man. Like it's such an iconic scene, but really over the, as for the. Episode as a story it's not super important,
Shaun:but it just kind of shows the hype over the game. Like all the kids are excited just to hear the music on the
Sari:menu. And like, it's, it's like, there's a, there's like a fan blowing on him. Cause like his hair's going back and what's
Shaun:that, isn't that like when the old like RCA commercials or something. Oh, with the error where that whole positioning, where it's like straight on the side, looking at the TV. Everything blowing back. It's awful. Look it up. It's like it's an old, like commercial or still image.
Sari:Okay. I didn't recognize that connection. And uh, we get part wanting to play with him and Millhouse doesn't want to share, and we get the line, mom, Burt, swearing, and we have mill houses. Mom just sort of like nudging him out of the house, which is another scene that comes back later. So Bart goes into the try and save,
Shaun:which conveniently is wearing that purple sweater for the very first time in like ever.
Sari:And doesn't he say, he's going to stand next to it. Looking sad, hoping someone will buy it. Yeah.
Shaun:And let's try and remember to. Like the way the case is, or it's like a plexiglass screen with holes where they could like touch the game, but not pull it out. Was that ever a thing? I don't remember seeing that
Sari:they at least never had them at any stores here, but that could have been something that was just in like certain stores or in certain parts of the country or the world. I feel like they, it's such a very specific design that I feel like it should have been somewhere first.
Shaun:Yeah. Um, well, as games are expensive too, like March said, they're up to, and including $70, which made me appreciate game prices today, because if back then games were 60 or $70 and they're still that price today and we're getting a pretty good deal.
Sari:That's true. That's true. Uh, we get to meet Gavin who Bart says must be the happiest kid in the world. And man, this kid, this kid's a piece of work. Oh. So he calls his mom's stupid. He demands to get the game and he says to get to, I'm not sharing with Kaitlin. So he's literally making his sister have a different cartridge, just cause he doesn't want to share the cartridge with.
Shaun:But that again, builds up the hype, like you said, like putting down that show cause mill house did the same thing. He didn't even want to play two-player player motive part. He just wanted to play on his own.
Sari:Yeah. Yeah. That's true. And uh, I think probably the, the last nail in the coffin is Nelson and Jimbo showing him that the four finger discounts, cause they only have four things. And the practicality of Nelson stealing the same vest and him saying, it's the kind, I like, like, no kids says that,
Shaun:but it also makes you realize he's not wearing a ragged vest. It's just comes that way. The jeans that have holes in them already.
Sari:That's true. That's true.
Shaun:Well, and it's okay that he's stealing it because you know, it's a victimless crime
Sari:like punching someone in the dark, which makes you wonder what his definition of victim is. Like if a victim is just, when you get caught doing something,
Shaun:the person that accuses you when
Sari:you were caught. Exactly. It's not whether or not you're hurting the person. Okay. Here's one of those really nice scenes where you can find a lot of writing in the background. So I paused it
Shaun:when
Sari:he's grabbing the game and these are all the other games shown.
Shaun:I'm glad you did that to
Sari:that. Okay. So we've got swim, meet. Save Hitler's brain. So let's Hitler two
Shaun:episodes in a row.
Sari:Yeah, that's really weird. Cause we had Hitler in the last one too. Um, Canasta master, which I don't even know I've heard of Canasta, but I'm not sure how it works. Operation rescue a streetcar named death. Electric Biafra lawn Angus pod, Gorney caper, toss, and celebrity to topsy, which I never knew what they cause it almost, I kept looking at it, trying to figure out if it was autopsy, but definitely was a T.
Shaun:Operation rescue that people just looked really weird. Yeah.
Sari:Like I feel like that's the one that they kind of, it was almost a throw away. It wasn't really, it was like just a placeholder essentially. Yeah.
Shaun:And Canasta master. I feel like it should've been Canasta Masta
Sari:oh, that would have been correctly.
Shaun:I should have been
Sari:a writer for this episode. You should have, even though you were eight at the time. Yeah. Do we want people to know how old we are?
Shaun:We can do the whole dub, like Mr. Black. Okay. So what we'll do, we'll leave this in, but we'll go back and dub over like, oh, God years old or something like
Sari:I was years old when
Shaun:you get Microsoft Sam voice, the text to speech thing.
Sari:Oh yeah.
Shaun:Thanks for listening everybody.
Sari:Some of that might get caught. Um, oh God. Okay. Okay. So I actually wrote out, you can see all of the steps that it takes for Bart to decide to steal it. So first you get the commercial and then you get Homer's stupid story where he talks about how it was the best day of. And then you get the, um, disappointment at trying to buy it for 99 cents. Cause he thinks that there's a way for him to get it. And then you get Millhouse enjoying the game, but not letting him play. Then you get Gavin and finally Nelson and Jimbo. And then kind of the last part is the fact that the case. Kept open. So it's almost like a perfect situation where all these little things just kind of come into place. And, um, it's almost like the world is mocking Bart here.
Shaun:Yeah. Like everything is like, you got to do at this point. I'm not saying it's right, but it's in his mind. It's just like, this is the only choice. Yup. Yup.
Sari:And when we get the cute little scene with the game mascots, and it's interesting. It's interesting to see their designs at this point in time because they weren't, they were still all relatively new. Yeah. And the whole take it thing from Sonic. I use that like almost daily, the purple Sonic. So Bart ends up sealing it and he kinda sneaks out and, uh, outside to try and save it. I noticed the sign. It says in honor of our Lord and savior, try and save is open all day. That's nice them. Oh, isn't that sweet of them. And Bert, as soon as he gets outside of the store, he goes, I got away with it. That's not something you should say out
Shaun:loud. Yeah. He shouldn't have stopped. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Sari:So of course he gets caught and then we get Gavin again. And, um, and his mom saying that those parents must've made some horrible mistakes. Shut up, shut up, mom. So now the security guy takes Bart to the back room and Santa his whole reaction. Oh,
Shaun:he's disappointed and mad.
Sari:He's like holding a candy cane and he just kind of crushes it.
Shaun:This is like the dark side of Santa. I'm like,
Sari:oh my gosh. Um, so he sits parked down in the security room.
Shaun:Well, on their way to the security room, there's just like a lady in her bra smoking. They had to decide to actively like create this throwaway character and put her there.
Sari:I think it's almost like showing the weird underbelly of like retail break rooms. Like the part that you don't see. So let me get the trauma color video. And I don't think it says thereby completing my plea bargain with the, the good people at Footlocker and Beverly. So he got in some trouble. He's a shoe thief. Yes. And I love that. Like, they're trading this, they're not treating it. Like let's teach you why stealing is bad. This is just a straight up history of stealing
Shaun:that's called shoplifting because they will lift the shop.
Sari:It wasn't me stealing like
Shaun:olives, like the sweet olives hidden inside.
Sari:We all deal with it. And he's like, oh, let's go to ancient Babylonia. And that's when they stopped the tape. Um, and Bart gets kind of desperate here. He keeps saying, well, it's okay. I'll pay for it. You know, I'll do whatever you want that might
Shaun:fly at lamps. Plus
Sari:is there. It's just a ton of people, but like trying to steal lamps,
Shaun:I feel like someone on the writing staff used to work there and has like a grudge or a story I'd love to that. He's like a detective.
Sari:Yeah. He's like very, like, he's like a detective on a eighties crime
Shaun:show, but he's just security for
Sari:trying to say. And he takes his job very serious. This line, oh my God. If I wanted smoke up my ass, I'd be at home with a pack of cigarettes and a short length of hose.
Shaun:It's visual.
Sari:It is such a visual and I wish I haven't, I hadn't
Shaun:seen that mental image. If you haven't seen the episode, check it out on Disney plus. Yeah,
Sari:all of this is fantastic. Oh, good. Um, oh, so I actually read somewhere that, um, so the Brad cook guy was the guest star Lawrence Tierney. And I guess when he did this part with the phone call, he didn't understand the joke, like the whole joke where it sounds like he's talking to someone, but he's really not. And they actually had to record it with him talking to another.'cause he couldn't, he just couldn't understand what the joke was about. Wow. Which I can kind of, it's a weird joke,
Shaun:but it's like, once you explain it, I get that. He was
Sari:kind of an older guy too. Like I think at the time he was pretty old. Um, and I don't know if maybe just the style of humor was just, it just didn't click. Right. But yeah, it was, it was kind of hard to get him to do that scene. Um, So he leaves a message on their answering machine, but it sounds like he's talking to them. And so Bart's like, okay, so he left a message on the machine and he gives him the warning that if he sees him, then there again, he will go to juvenile hall Kapeesh. And he said, do you understand? And Bart says,
Shaun:Does it now or later when he's like catfish? Oh,
Sari:that's a little later. So Bart says, well, I understood everything except Kapeesh the whole scene of Bart racing home to change the tape, which is very Ferris Bueller ask, but very short. And, um, he's going, God, I gotta change that tape. We got to change that tape. And then the car passes by with Homer. Marjan Maggie
Shaun:got to change your mag. You got to change Maggie, even March her head's like out the window. So it's not just homework, it's a real emergency. And
Sari:that's, I, I thought that was kind of a cute moment that, you know, you know, just having a baby that's, that's something that's going to happen those times where it's. There you're in the car and you can't change it quite yet. And holy heck, oh man. And this is one of my favorite lines where he turns on the tape and it's camp Granada, a little mother, father Grenada. And then Homer goes, Marge is Lisa at camp Grenada.
Shaun:I love that line.
Sari:First of all, he has to think that that's how Lisa sounds and that she's, for some reason, singing it to them.
Shaun:And he doesn't know where his daughter actually is.
Sari:There's so many layers to it and I love it. So we get a Homer buying up all the eggs. Before the government takes it away. Again,
Shaun:it's like a conspiracy.
Sari:We only get 30 suite Nagi day.
Shaun:Which the day eggnog shows up on the shelves. I am always happy.
Sari:It's always exciting. Yeah, it happens earlier now. I mean, we get probably a good 60 Sweden on,
Shaun:and then I don't want to get too much. And then by the time it's gone, I wish it would've gotten more. That's how it
Sari:goes anyway. Okay. Um, and Lisa has kind of gotten upset stomach cause she's literally eating cereal with eggnog in it just hurts. Oh God, that's terrible. Uh, and Marge tells Bart that they're going to get ready to go get their picture taken and he's fine with it until he finds out that it was at the try and saved.
Shaun:And this visual here with the steam coming out of his ears. Is there a first year, like this isn't Simpson style and then, oh, Marshall just boiling two pots of water, two
Sari:teapots. And they're just perfectly positioned so that they're coming out of his ears. Bart has sort of a flash back imagination type thing where he has to go to juvenile hall and the sign says juvenile hall, proud home of the soap box, the soap bar beating and, uh, And then there's that whole scene that I got a book, a carpet samples last Tuesday's newspaper. It's just like the worst things you could get a soiled wig.
Shaun:And then that guy on the other side of the window.
Sari:Oh, is that what he says? Yeah, he says Merry Christmas and happy new year.
Shaun:See to me, I just thought it was nonsensical
Sari:stuff for a while. I thought it was at two and then I like the first time I heard it. I couldn't unhear it. Yeah. Okay. So we have, um, Bart kind of taking his time getting ready because he's nervous and Marge saying, if you're having a problem with your zipper, I can send your father.
Shaun:Whereas like this disgusted look,
Sari:I love the joke of the nice family photo. She's like, I just want one nice family photo. And they show all of the old family photos and it's used as a gag, but it comes back in a big way later. Yeah. Yeah. Bart holding up the sign saying I stink in Homer going, I don't remember saying
Shaun:that to his logic that it's like a captioning or something.
Sari:Oh, the Homer lodge. And this is where he says catfish when they're driving to the train save, which also shows that disconnect, that, that Bart does not understand the word
Shaun:capeesh on that weird, like the back seat, like morphs into this
Sari:guy. I don't like that.
Shaun:It's it like catfish,
Sari:catfish. So we've got them going into the try and save. Bart's all nervous. We've got the scene with the security camera where he's like on top of Homer's shoulders and the security care of it. And just following him everywhere. Um, Marge and the watch, or she like really likes the watch
Shaun:and Homer brilliant thinking, oh God, she thinks I'm getting her the watch until she really knows that I got her an
Sari:ironing board cover.
Shaun:Yes, earning board covered.
Sari:Oh man. Primers logic. He's just any, any time when he's giving a gift to Marge, it's always. A terrible failure. So, um, I never noticed there's this really cute moment. It's really small, but when they're getting ready to get the picture taken, the picture, Kai keeps messing with Lisa's hat, like adjusting. And she looks really annoyed and pissed off. It lasts like two seconds and it's in the background, but she is so pissed about it. And this photo guy with him trying to cheer up
Shaun:Maggie. Oh, he's trying so hard. The
Sari:balloon
Shaun:is doing the high-pitch wisely. Oh, it's just air. Oh,
Sari:it's just, ah,
Shaun:It's funny too, because a big part of me when they were looking at like the past family photos, like why wouldn't they have just retaken the photos when he made that face, but it was a film camera. You got the family all dressed and he did the quick face. And you didn't realize till months later, and it was too
Sari:late, it was processed. Yeah. That's it's so weird. How far things have come
Shaun:at the scene? I was looking at like a huge camera that he has
Sari:yup. Yup. So Bart gets caught again. Yeah. And he seems it's, it's weird because he's, he's very specifically not wanting March to see it, even though Homer is the one more likely to punish him. March is the one that he doesn't want to disappoint. I just found that kind of interesting. And then we have, uh, the broadcast die meeting, the rest of us. MSNs it's great. Giving him the warning that right now he might be still in video games, but one day he'll be a grown man, sealing stadiums and query.
Shaun:What has this guy seen?
Sari:Like, wow, that's a big, that's a big problem. These days. Homer's like freaking out at him saying like, oh, well, didn't you learn anything? Have you learned anything from that guy? Give sermons at church captain. What's his name? Why do you think I check it? All of those police academy movies for fun.
Shaun:Yeah. And then we're surprised by Marge's reaction that she's just, she's broken almost. She's
Sari:just sitting there. She's got that like quiet disappointment. Um,
Shaun:just like when you asked what to do and she's just like, maybe you should go to bed and just, just like, uh, I'm done kind
Sari:of thing. And, uh, Lisa kind of gives Bart a talk in the bathroom and she says something that is so. Illogically grown-up is that she says, I'll admit I haven't known mom, as long as you have. What kids says that to their sibling. Cause Bart's like two years older than her. And she's like, imagine me going to you and saying, you know, I admit I haven't known mom as much as long as you have. It's
Shaun:technically true. As much as you try, you'll never
Sari:catch up. I know. That's the thing. You don't, that's such a weird wording to say to your sibling about your parent, but it makes sense. And it's very Lisa because she's always talking like she's older, like she's probably heard an adult say that to another adult about a third adult who is not related to them, but I just think that line so cute. Um,
Shaun:well then she goes into a great metaphor too, for. Hello, this is going to go over with March saying that it's not like the porcelain sink, that everything can be quite clean. It's like that word rug on the fourth. It just syncs everything
Sari:up. And then when Bart walks over it and it doesn't make sense, squishy sound
Shaun:and it's like, it's not gray. It's not brown. It's just, it looks like it's growing many things.
Sari:Yeah. It's a gross color. Like that thing needs to be burned. Okay. So we've got Homer's punishment, which he's writing down on a piece of paper. Can you try to figure out for Bart? So he's grounded and know leaving the house even for school? No eggnog. In fact, no nog period. I know. Cause you know, all those other kinds of nugs, he can't watch any star Trek. Deep space nine. No.
Shaun:Well, this is a few episodes in August and
Sari:then yeah, I guess you're right. Um, no ceiling for three months.
Shaun:I mean minimum three months.
Sari:Oh. And then they get talking for a bit and they sh they eventually show at Homer's writing and it's like a robot roasting, a hot dog.
Shaun:Oh, it looks so determined on how he's writing too. Like he's furiously
Sari:writing. So we get, is this when he gets tucked in.
Shaun:Yes. Okay. Yeah, because Homer is writing the notes like in bed, like as they're getting ready and then they go to,
Sari:yeah. And that's, it's, it's kind of sad too, because when, when Bart hears that Marge coming for him next, he kind of. He kind of puts his blanket slightly further down, like in order to give her something to do. Yeah. It's sort of like a subconscious movement that he's able to talk himself in, but he still wants her to do it subconsciously. Um, and then she just kind of says goodnight and
Shaun:closes the door. That's all goodnight. Very flat monotone. Yeah.
Sari:And then he wakes up in the morning and we have. Oddly really delicious looking marshmallow slice.
Shaun:I'm trying to figure out how, why that happened though. Yeah. Is it just like a realization that he needs his mom so much that he can't even put marshmallow in hot chocolate?
Sari:Right. Really? I feel like there's certain things that you almost like don't know how to do when you're a kid, even though they seem so simple when you're in a. Yeah, but grandpa really wants a slice slice. Okay. So we've got Bart asking Millhouse. If he's worried, his mom will never love him. And like, he's really trying to have a heart to heart here with him. Instead, Millhouse goes, I'm more scared about parent. This is my quote of the episode. I love this quote so much. Did you see that movie where they sent a nuclear submarine to fight the Paranas and one of them swims right down the Periscope and bites the guy in the eye and he goes, huh? And then he told them it would have.
Shaun:Energy there like his screaming.
Sari:Oh. And his movements, like he's covering his eyes. And the fact that that is such like a nineties disaster movie plot. It's so good. And this next little portion, I feel like this really tells a lot about the episode that Bart is finally given the opportunity to play bone storm. Like Millhouse, literally hands him the game. And he says, he's not interested in anymore. He's having more fun with the cup and ball, which is just one of those cups with the little string and a ball. And you got to get the ball in the cup. Those are hard. Yeah. They're hard as heck. And, and you literally gives them the game and says, go ahead and play it. And he suddenly wants to play the cup of wallet instead. So it was never really about playing the game. It was about doing.
Shaun:What's popular and cool at the moment. Exactly.
Sari:Exactly. He, once again, tries to get Bart out of his room by calling for his mom, except this time he says, mom, Bart's smoking
Shaun:the way she gets him, flicking his ears almost.
Sari:And he asks if he can hang out with her while she does mom's stuff. And he just kind of sits with her while she labels Christmas cards. And it's just such a weird scene. She's very happy though. Yeah. Yeah. But you can tell the further it goes in, she kind of realizes just how weird it is, especially with, at the end, when he goes, please tell me I'm good. Yeah. He
Shaun:went too far there.
Sari:Yeah, that was too far. So he ends up going home and he finds it. The rest of the family has made a snowman family without him. And this is it's almost, I don't know. I almost wonder if that was Marge taking it a little bit too far.
Shaun:I don't know though. It seems to work.
Sari:That's true. It does. And, um, Like, oh, there's some snow left under the car,
Shaun:the old, dirty snow, like the print into a black sheep snowman.
Sari:Um, so that, that seems like the last, the, like the last straw for him. And he goes back to the try and save. And, um, you kind of don't see what he does. Yeah. Yeah. And we also get to see Nelson again, stealing the wheel for the wheelbarrow, which he has no reason to own.
Shaun:He just, the thrill,
Sari:it's the thrill of it. Whichever it's the thrill house, all that's true. And, um, we come back, we, it kind of cuts right after that, too. Back to the house when they're doing the spray on snow with Lisa. And Lisa looks like she's about to pass out at any second. There's
Shaun:still a little bit of green left on the tree.
Sari:Oh God. And she just like drops the can, like her eyes kind of become vacant and she just drops the can, like, she's just going to pass out. And then Bart comes back into the house and he's hiding something. And this part was really intense to me as a kid.
Shaun:Oh yeah. It's almost like if it was the game, you can hear that panic that would have been in his voice, but it's like a different type of panic and he's just really trying, like, it makes me think what was the, was the one where he accidentally shot. The mama bird. And he like saved the eggs and stuff. He was trying to hide them and everything. It's almost that same kind of like panic I'm trying to do good, but please don't ruin it.
Sari:Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's very true. I didn't make that comparison, but that does make a lot of sense. We've got March saying don't try to hide for me. I spend 23 hours a day here for Mars. And Homer's whole a good a ma
Shaun:yeah. When he like closes the gate.
Sari:It's kinda cute though. Cause he's helping her and he's being like sly about it. And then we got the emotional part where Bart gives Marge what he was hiding and it was a picture of him and. The receipt attached to it is a good touch because we don't have to add extra dialogue with Marge saying, did you steal this or did you steal a frame or anything like that? Yes,
Shaun:this is paid
Sari:in full and you can kind of picture that even if he did run into the security guard, if he told him, look, I've got this and I paid for it, you can kind of fill in all those blanks. Yeah. March is so happy. And I love too that when she puts the frame in the other frame, it kind of levels it.
Shaun:Yeah. It kind of like get there kind of made a job, almost showcasing it when she hangs it tilts right away. Like things aren't right at this moment, something's offs. Someone's a skew.
Sari:Oh, you need those a frame adjusters. You ask questions. Like, who are you? And what are you doing? Oh, God. And I, I kind of love the symbolism as well, that in the end he still doesn't get more bone storm. He gets the leak. Her wall is putting challenge, but he's still happy about it. Cause that's not really what he wanted. He wanted the approval of his mom and, and the, you know, knowing that she's not disappointed in him for this,
Shaun:she's trying to reward
Sari:him. Yeah. Just like he, him trying to. Get the photo to her was his gesture. That was her gesture to him. And at the end, we get a little, a little preview of what Lee Carvello is. Putting challenge looks like what looks like a
Shaun:great
Sari:game. Oh, it looks like high quality. And once again, there is a high quality dank miss remix of Lee CarVal's potting challenge. Yes, there is. Yes. We gotta, we gotta mention the dank must. We must. And that's, that's
Shaun:it. Yeah. And also good. Like I like mostly Christmas episodes and this one was really well done.
Sari:Oh yeah. I would say this is my second favorite eights. It's pretty, I'd have a hard time picking between this and Simpsons roasting, but they're just both good. I think I'd have to put Simpsons rushing just a little bit higher, possibly just cause it's the first episode ever. But yeah, it's a good one. Yeah. We're gonna take off for a little bit for the holidays. So this one should be releasing on the 15th and we're not going to be coming back again till January 5th. So we will see you in the next year. Um, before I forget quick, shout out to Timothy Burlington. We love you. Thank you. He is our patron and, uh, check us out on patrion.com/sips and siblings know it's not Simpson siblings. It's patrion.com/simpson sibs. See the link in the description. You can get some cool stuff, some smooth next time. We're going to be trying to tackle a character study for Mona Simpson Homer's mother. We haven't done a character study in a while and we actually announced this one, like six months ago and never got to it. So I'm looking forward to it though. Yeah, it should be fun. Something a little different, and that will be January 5th. So, uh, hope everyone has a good Christmas, new year's and Hanukkah and whatever you celebrate. Have a good one. So until then, happy
Shaun:holidays.
Sari:By me bone story. We're going to hell.