This evening saw the debut of the 16th episode in the 35th season of The Simpsons on FOX, entitled “The Tell-Tale Pants” (a play on the title of the classic Edgar Allan Poe story “The Tell-Tale Heart”) and below are my brief recap and thoughts on this installment of the long-running animated sitcom.
“The Tell-Tale Pants” begins with an extended dream sequence of the Simpson family attending an event called the “Springy Awards,” during which members of the Springfield community receive recognition for their contributions to society, like Ned Flanders (voiced, as always, by Harry Shearer) getting an award for Nicest Resident and Baby Gerald winning for Best Silent Baby instead of Maggie. The ceremony culminates with Marge Simpsons (Julie Kavner) winning the award for Most Underappreciated Springfieldian, but then sadly Marge wakes up from her dream, with the spring-shaped awards really just being springs popping out of her and Homer’s well-worn mattress. So the episode establishes off the top that Marge is feeling less-than-appreciated once again, and we see a montage of her going through her day running errands, like taking Santa’s Little Helper to the vet, who offers to put the dog and/or Grampa Simpson (Dan Castellaneta) down when they both start showing signs of “Dogheimers” and/or dementia.
But when Bart (Nancy Cartwright) breaks both his middle fingers in a little-league baseball game, Marge genuinely needs Homer’s (also Castellaneta) help to get through the day. Sadly her husband is unreachable thanks to bartender Moe Szyslak (Hank Azaria) having installed a cell-phone signal blocking device in his tavern. Homer tears his pants after getting drunk with Lenny (Shearer again) and Carl (Alex Désert) and falling through a stained-glass window, and returns home to an angry Marge, who reluctantly agrees to sew them for him. And while watching an Antiques Roadshow-type program, she realizes that Homer’s vintage jeans may actually be worth a couple thousand dollars. She tells Homer that they are unfixable and the next day brings them into a shop run by Comic Book Guy’s cousin (also Azaria), who goes by the name CPD (Collectible Pants Dude) instead of CBG. And after several scenes of her wrestling with her conscience, Marge decides to buy herself a really nice ring with the money she earns.
There’s a really funny subplot here concerning Homer’s need to wear sweatpants to work after his pants are damaged, and I thought it was hilarious to see Mr. Burns (Shearer) grumble to Smithers (Shearer yet again) about how he’s sick of J. Robert Oppenheimer getting all the attention after the biopic about him became so popular last year. Of course, Smithers enjoyed a different movie in the summer of 2023– one that finally gave him the courage to dye his hair bright pink. But Burn’s jealousy inspires him to strive for a nuclear achievement that Oppenheimer never accomplished, though it nearly causes a meltdown at the power plant that only Homer can avert thanks to the freedom of movement his loose-waisted sweatpants afford him. Then Homer returns home to find that Marge has suffered a severe guilt trip and left the ring out for him to find, along with a number of apologetic gestures to her family for wasting the money on herself. Naturally the episode ends with Homer realizing just how much Marge does for him, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, and the conclusion that Marge deserves to keep the ring, even after another particularly funny mid-credits sequence with newscaster Kent Brockman (Shearer, would you believe it?) explaining how ashamed anyone should be to own it.
I enjoyed this episode for the most part, though I thought it had too many musical numbers (there’s an overlong Elton John parody with a reprise near the end and at one point Moe sings about what a bad husband Homer is via an homage to the How the Grinch Stole Christmas cartoon for some reason). But like I said above, the best part was the Burns-and-Smithers subplot, and I also got a kick out of Marge hiding Homer’s jeans by stuffing them into her hair. The Springy awards had some good gags as well, but I’m glad that turned out to be a dream as it came across as too out-there for the usually-at-least-semi-grounded world of The Simpsons… or at least it feels grounded when it’s working, even when it involves plot points like Homer stuffing nuclear material down his sweatpants.
New episodes of The Simpsons air Sunday evenings on FOX.