This evening saw the debut of the sixth episode of The Simpsons’ 36th season, entitled “Women In Shorts,” and below are my brief recap and thoughts on this installment of the long-running animated sitcom.
Way back in The Simpsons’ seventh season, squarely during the series’ prime, a now-classic episode entitled “22 Short Films About Springfield” (mostly) set aside the Simpson family to focus on the supporting characters around town in a collection of abbreviated tales. That installment of the show was such an instant and enduring fan-favorite that I’m shocked the powers that be have not followed up on it until now, but I have to say it was worth it, by and large. “Women In Shorts” takes the same premise but shifts the spotlight to the ladies of Springfield, starting with a reconfigured opening title sequence that replaces Bart writing on the chalkboard with Lisa, who scrawls “I will not get detention to practice cursive” over and over again. This segues into a couch gag at the Van Houten home instead of the usual Simpson residence, as the ladies chase poor Kirk (voiced, as always, by Hank Azaria) off his sofa so that they can host their book club meeting.
And that’s where the episode proper kicks in, though the meeting turns out to be an intervention for Luann Van Houten (Maggie Roswell), who has evidently become addicted to purchasing kitschy wine-related merchandise… a clever bit except for the fact that Saturday Night Live did a similar sketch a handful of years ago. When her friends, including Marge Simpson (Julie Kavner), convince her to switch to “proud slut” apparel and signage, the scene dissolves to a parody of 2023’s smash-hit Barbie movie but with Malibu Stacy venturing into the “real” world to meet her biggest fan. No, it’s not Lisa (Yeardley Smith)– much to her chagrin– but the bully Shauna Chalmers (Tress MacNeille), who would rather beat up Malibu Stacy until her plastic head flies off than admit she still plays with dolls. The head soars into the street, causing Waylan Smithers (Harry Shearer) to scream bloody murder, and we zoom in on his mouth and out through the mouth of Nelson Muntz, whose mother tells him a not-so-safe-for-children bedtime fairy tale from the “Kingdom of the Classy Ladies…” AKA the strip club where she works.
Next we find ourselves at the drugstore, where Homer Simpson (Dan Castellaneta) plays dumb so he doesn’t have to buy his wife Marge any tampons, so the employees put on a big song-and-dance number called “Incompetent Husband” that serves as a pretty fun parody of the song “Officer Krupke” from West Side Story. Next news anchor Kent Brockman (also Shearer) reports that a shipment of Laramie cigarettes has gotten stuck in the Panama Canal, so Marge’s twin sisters Patty and Selma (both voiced by Kavner as well) duel to see how many of them have stockpiled more of their smokes. At a fancy restaurant, Dr. Hibbert (Kevin Michael Richardson) fails at roleplaying to spice up his marriage to Bernice (Dawnn Lewis). Then we get a courtroom-drama parody called “Mamma-at-Law!” starring Luigi’s (Azaria) immigrant mother, with opening titles parodying the 90s sitcom The Nanny. Lunchlady Dora (MacNeille) takes the spotlight for a documentary-style look at her cooking techniques, Lisa becomes the queen of Narnia in her dreams only to be met with pesky regulatory setbacks, and Agnes Skinner (MacNeille yet again) uses an online service to find a new nemesis after her old one passes away.
At the First Church of Springfield, Helen Lovejoy (Roswell) hears a radio broadcast informing listeners of an imminent apocalypse, so she runs around town doing all the things she would do in her final 15 minutes– including punching Ned Flanders (Shearer), kissing Moe Szyslak (Azaria), and destroying her husband’s train set– only to hear a second broadcast revealing it to be an ad for a sale. At Springfield Elementary, the teachers place bets on what tragedies will befall the children on the playground that day, and at the end of that segment we learn that Ms. Peyton (Kerry Washington) has been paying off Lisa to tip the scales in her favor. Lisa uses her ill-gotten money to buy a jazz record, and then bicycles past a bunch of references to all the scenes we just saw. A mid-credits sequence is entitled “Maggie Simpson: Origins,” but it’s really just Homer suggesting to Marge that they “go upstairs” after his wife is turned on by Jake from State Farm. I thought this was a sharp, spry, energetic episode that pleasantly hearkened back to one the series’ highest points, and I would say I’d like to see this kind of freeform thing happen more often, but maybe they should keep spacing them out every 29 seasons just to keep the idea fresh.
New episodes of The Simpsons air Sunday evenings on FOX.